Mercurial > mplayer.hg
annotate DOCS/xml/en/users-vs-dev.xml @ 11076:64329cda90c5
ffmpeg moved to MPlayerHQ
author | gabucino |
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date | Sat, 11 Oct 2003 08:04:26 +0000 |
parents | 49b1a67e7381 |
children | ff78d7ceecaa |
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2 <!-- $Revision$ --> |
9675 | 3 <appendix id="users-vs-dev"> |
4 <title>Developer cries</title> | |
5 | |
6 <sect1 id="gcc-296"> | |
7 <title>GCC 2.96</title> | |
8 | |
9 <formalpara> | |
10 <title>The background:</title> | |
11 <para> | |
10111 | 12 The GCC <emphasis role="bold">2.95</emphasis> series is an official GNU release and |
9675 | 13 version 2.95.3 of GCC is the most bug-free in that series. We have never |
14 noticed compilation problems that we could trace to gcc-2.95.3. Starting | |
10111 | 15 with Red Hat Linux 7.0, <emphasis role="bold">Red Hat</emphasis> included a heavily |
9675 | 16 patched CVS version of GCC in their distribution and named it |
10111 | 17 <emphasis role="bold">2.96</emphasis>. Red Hat included this version in the |
9675 | 18 distribution because GCC 3.0 was not finished at the time, and they needed |
19 a compiler that worked well on all of their supported platforms, including | |
10111 | 20 IA64 and s390. The Linux distributor <emphasis role="bold">Mandrake</emphasis> also |
9675 | 21 followed Red Hat's example and started shipping GCC 2.96 with their |
22 Linux-Mandrake 8.0 series. | |
23 </para> | |
24 </formalpara> | |
25 | |
26 <formalpara> | |
27 <title>The statements:</title> | |
28 <para> | |
29 The GCC team disclaimed any link with GCC 2.96 and issued an | |
30 <ulink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-2.96.html">official response</ulink> | |
10111 | 31 to GCC 2.96. Many developers around the world began having problems with |
9675 | 32 GCC 2.96, and started recommending other compilers. Examples are |
33 <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-3.23.html">MySQL</ulink>, | |
34 <ulink url="http://avifile.sourceforge.net/news-old1.htm">avifile</ulink> | |
35 and | |
36 <ulink url="http://www.winehq.com/news/?view=92#RH 7.1 gcc fixes compiler bug">Wine</ulink>. | |
37 Other interesting links are | |
38 <ulink url="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rgooch/linux/docs/kernel-newsflash.html"> | |
39 Linux kernel news flash about kernel 2.4.17</ulink> | |
40 and | |
41 <ulink url="http://www.voy.com/3516/572.html">Voy Forum</ulink>. | |
42 <application>MPlayer</application> also suffered from intermittent problems | |
43 that were all solved by switching to a different version of GCC. Several | |
44 projects started implementing workarounds for some of the 2.96 issues, but | |
45 we refused to fix other people's bugs, especially since some workarounds | |
46 may imply a performance penalty. | |
47 </para> | |
48 </formalpara> | |
49 | |
50 <para> | |
51 You can read about the other side of the story | |
52 <ulink url="http://www.bero.org/gcc296.html">at this site</ulink>. | |
53 GCC 2.96 does not allow <literal>|</literal> (pipe) characters in assembler | |
54 comments because it supports Intel as well as AT&T Syntax and the | |
55 <literal>|</literal> character is a symbol in the Intel variant. The | |
56 problem is that it <emphasis>silently</emphasis> ignores the whole | |
57 assembler block. This is supposedly fixed now, GCC prints a warning instead | |
58 of skipping the block. | |
59 </para> | |
60 | |
61 <formalpara> | |
62 <title>The present:</title> | |
63 <para> | |
64 Red Hat says that GCC 2.96-85 and above is fixed. The situation has indeed | |
65 improved, yet we still see problem reports on our mailing lists that | |
66 disappear with a different compiler. In any case it does not matter any | |
67 longer. Hopefully a maturing GCC 3.x will solve the issue for good. If you | |
68 want to compile with 2.96 give the <option>--disable-gcc-checking</option> | |
69 flag to <filename>configure</filename>. Remember that you are on your own | |
10111 | 70 and <emphasis role="bold">do not report any bugs</emphasis>. If you do, you will only |
9675 | 71 get banned from our mailing list because we have had more than enough flame |
72 wars over GCC 2.96. Please let the matter rest. | |
73 </para> | |
74 </formalpara> | |
75 | |
76 <para> | |
77 If you have problems with GCC 2.96, you can get 2.96-85 packages from the | |
78 Red Hat <ulink url="ftp://updates.redhat.com">ftp server</ulink>, or just | |
79 go for the 3.0.4 packages offered for version 7.2 and later. You can also | |
80 get <ulink url="ftp://people.redhat.com/jakub/gcc/3.2-10/">gcc-3.2-10 packages</ulink> | |
81 (unofficial, but working fine) | |
82 and you can install them along the gcc-2.96 you already have. MPlayer will | |
10043 | 83 detect it and use 3.2 instead of 2.96. If you do not want to or cannot use |
10111 | 84 the binary packages, here is how you can compile GCC 3 from source: |
9675 | 85 </para> |
86 | |
87 <procedure> | |
88 <step><para> | |
89 Go to the | |
10111 | 90 <ulink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html">GCC mirrors page</ulink> |
91 page and download <filename>gcc-core-<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>.tar.gz</filename> | |
92 where <replaceable>XXX</replaceable> is the version number. This includes the complete | |
93 C compiler and is sufficient for <application>MPlayer</application>. If you also want | |
94 C++, Java or some of the other advanced GCC features | |
95 <filename>gcc-<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>.tar.gz</filename> may better suit your needs. | |
9675 | 96 </para></step> |
97 <step><para> | |
98 Extract the archive with | |
10111 | 99 <screen>tar -xvzf gcc-core-<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>.tar.gz</screen> |
9675 | 100 </para></step> |
101 <step><para> | |
102 GCC is not built inside the source directory itself like most programs, | |
103 but needs a build directory outside the source directory. Thus you need | |
104 to create this directory via | |
105 <screen>mkdir gcc-build</screen> | |
106 </para></step> | |
107 <step><para> | |
108 Then you can proceed to configure gcc in the build directory, but you | |
109 need the configure from the source directory: | |
110 <screen> | |
111 cd gcc-build | |
10111 | 112 ../gcc-3.<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>/configure</screen> |
9675 | 113 </para></step> |
114 <step><para> | |
115 Compile GCC by issuing this command in the build directory: | |
116 <screen>make bootstrap</screen> | |
117 </para></step> | |
118 <step><para> | |
119 Now you can install GCC (as root) by typing | |
120 <screen>make install</screen> | |
121 </para></step> | |
122 </procedure> | |
123 </sect1> | |
124 | |
125 | |
126 <sect1 id="mplayer-binary"> | |
127 <title>Binary distribution</title> | |
128 | |
129 <para> | |
130 <application>MPlayer</application> previously contained source from the | |
131 OpenDivX project, which disallows binary redistribution.This code has been | |
132 removed in version 0.90-pre1 and the remaining file <filename>divx_vbr.c</filename> | |
133 that is derived from OpenDivX sources has been put under the GPL by its authors | |
134 as of version 0.90pre9. You are now welcome to create binary packages as you | |
135 see fit. | |
136 </para> | |
137 | |
138 <para> | |
139 Another impediment to binary redistribution was compiletime optimizations | |
10111 | 140 for CPU architecture. <application>MPlayer</application> now supports |
9675 | 141 runtime CPU detection (specify the |
142 <option>--enable-runtime-cpudetection</option> option when compiling). It | |
10111 | 143 is disabled by default because it implies a small speed sacrifice, it is |
9675 | 144 now possible to create binaries that run on different members of the Intel |
145 CPU family. | |
146 </para> | |
147 </sect1> | |
148 | |
149 | |
150 <sect1 id="nvidia-opinions"> | |
151 <title>nVidia</title> | |
152 | |
153 <para> | |
154 We dislike the fact that <ulink url="http://www.nvidia.com">nVidia</ulink> | |
155 only provides binary drivers (for use with XFree86), which are often buggy. | |
156 We have had many reports on | |
157 <ulink url="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</ulink> | |
158 about problems related to these closed-source drivers | |
159 and their poor quality, instability and poor user and expert support. | |
160 Here is an example from the | |
161 <ulink url="http://www.nvnews.net/forum/showthread.php?s=fda5725bc2151e29453b2da3bd5d2930&threadid=14306">nVidia Linux Forum</ulink>. | |
162 Many of these problems/issues keep appearing repeatedly. | |
163 We have been contacted by nVidia lately, and they said these bugs do not | |
164 exist, instability is caused by bad AGP chips, and they received no reports | |
165 of driver bugs (like the purple line). So if you have a problem with your | |
166 nVidia card, you are advised to update the nVidia driver and/or buy a new | |
167 motherboard or ask nVidia to supply open-source drivers. In any case, if | |
168 you are using the nVidia binary drivers and facing driver related problems, | |
169 please be aware that you will receive very little help from our side | |
170 because we have little power to help in this matter. | |
171 </para> | |
172 </sect1> | |
173 | |
174 | |
175 <sect1 id="joe-barr"> | |
176 <title>Joe Barr</title> | |
177 | |
178 <para> | |
179 Joe Barr became infamous by writing a less than favorable | |
180 <ulink url="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/1214.mplayer.html"> | |
181 <application>MPlayer</application> review</ulink>. | |
182 He found <application>MPlayer</application> hard to install, but then | |
183 again he is not very fond of | |
184 <ulink | |
185 url="http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-06/lw-06-exam.html">reading documentation</ulink>. | |
186 He also concluded that the developers were unfriendly and the documentation | |
187 incomplete and insulting. You be the judge. | |
188 He went on to mention <application>MPlayer</application> negatively in his | |
189 <ulink url="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/1227.predictions.html">10 Linux predictions for 2002</ulink>. | |
190 In a followup | |
10144 | 191 <ulink url="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0125.xine.html">review of xine</ulink> |
9675 | 192 he continued stirring up controversy. Ironically at the end of that article |
10144 | 193 he quotes his exchange with Günter Bartsch, the original author of <application>xine</application>, |
9675 | 194 that perfectly summarizes the whole situation: |
195 | |
196 <blockquote><para> | |
197 However, he also went on to say that he was "surprised" by my column about | |
10111 | 198 <application>MPlayer</application> and thought it was unfair, reminding me that it is |
199 a free software project. "If you don't like it," Bartsch said, "you're free not to use it." | |
9675 | 200 </para></blockquote> |
201 </para> | |
202 | |
203 <para> | |
204 He does not reply to our mails. His editor does not reply to our mails. | |
205 Here are some quotes from different people about Joe Barr, so you can form | |
206 your own opinion: | |
207 </para> | |
208 | |
209 <para> | |
210 Marc Rassbach has | |
211 <ulink url="http://daily.daemonnews.org/view_story.php3?story_id=2102">something to say</ulink> | |
10111 | 212 about the man. |
9675 | 213 |
214 <blockquote><para> | |
215 You may all remember the LinuxWorld 2000, when he claimed that Linus T said | |
216 that 'FreeBSD is just a handful of programmers'. Linus said NOTHING of the | |
217 sort. When Joe was called on this, his reaction was to call BSD supporters | |
218 assholes and jerks. | |
219 </para></blockquote> | |
220 </para> | |
221 | |
222 <para> | |
223 A <ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/2001-December/009118.html">quote</ulink> | |
224 from Robert Munro on the | |
225 <ulink url="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</ulink> | |
226 mailing list: | |
227 | |
228 <blockquote> | |
229 <para> | |
230 He's interesting, but not good at avoiding, um... controversy. Joe Barr | |
231 used to be one of the regulars on Will Zachmann's Canopus forum on | |
232 Compuserve, years ago. He was an OS/2 advocate then (I was an OS/2 fan | |
233 too). | |
234 </para> | |
235 | |
236 <para> | |
237 He used to go over-the-top, flaming people, and I suspect he had some hard | |
238 times, then. He's mellowed some, judging by his columns recently. | |
239 Moderately subtle humor was not his mode in those earlier days, not at all. | |
240 </para> | |
241 </blockquote> | |
242 </para> | |
243 | |
244 </sect1> | |
245 </appendix> |