FFmpeg deprecated (in Ubuntu)?

[dinkypumpkin]

On 26/06/2012 17:43, Andy Bircumshaw wrote:
>
> On 26 June 2012, at 00:16, dinkypumpkin wrote:
>> ...
>> It has been on the radar for a while.  At present, get_iplayer would need a few minor changes to work with avconv.  Not sure when Debian/Ubuntu will force this on us.  It would probably be a good idea to make get_iplayer compatible with avconv by the time of next Ubuntu release, but no idea if it will actually be necessary.
>
> I doubt if there's any hurry to do so - surely the compatibility interface will be kept around for some time to come?

I'm not so sure.  I also thought Libav was providing a compatibility 
wrapper of some sort, but it's actually just a snapshot of the the 
original FFmpeg main application.  They have already removed that from 
their Git master branch, so once they cut a new release branch it will 
be gone (unless they resurrect it in the interim).  I suspect Jon's 
guesstimate of 1 year for this to affect Ubuntu might be about right.

> If we make get_iplayer compatible with avconv then it will surely break downloads for users still using the original ffmpeg.org.

Probably not.  The hitch get_iplayer ran into stemmed from the fact that 
Libav removed some command line options that have only been deprecated 
in the original FFmpeg.  Those options are going away anyway, so 
get_iplayer might as well adapt.  It's a very small change, but it's 
tied up with the double-muxing of AAC audio that needs to be cleaned up 
as well.  I'll get that done before the name-with-a-Q version of Ubuntu 
rolls out later this year.

> I think it's great that, this change is being brought to Ubuntu & Debian users' attention. If one is committed to that environment and writing a Bash script that may be used for years to come or which will be posted to the Ubuntu forums, then this is important.

Agreed.  But Debian/Ubuntu got into bed with Libav, so they have to 
accept that the Libav application can't go on forever impersonating 
ffmpeg.  The Debian Multimedia repo contains an up-to-date FFmpeg, so at 
least there is a choice for users.

> However it's not clear to me that everyone is using the fork, and perhaps it would be a political decision on our behalf to force users to do so. Would it not be advisable to wait until one tine of the fork offers a clear advantage over the other?

My unscientific survey tells me that Debian, Ubuntu and all their 
DEB-based derivatives have gone the Libav route, while Fedora, openSUSE 
and other RPM-based distros (plus Gentoo) have stayed with FFmpeg.  So, 
I think we'll have to straddle that divide.

I don't see us needing to assign the advantage to one or the other.  The 
two forks share vast amounts of code, require similar dependencies, have 
virtually the same command options, and basically work in the same way, 
so I doubt they are going to diverge very much.  get_iplayer uses ffmpeg 
in a very simple fashion, using (with the one exception noted above) 
only basic options, so it should be able to work with both apps.  Of 
course, at some future date Libav may decide to be contrary and break 
compatibility, in which case we'll have to implement run-time checking 
of some sort.