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applied Nilmoni Debian's (and Diego Burrick) patch
author gabucino
date Wed, 08 May 2002 18:00:26 +0000
parents 6cc15e96d709
children 3ca1f8cf7bfc
comparison
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6013:7f6e02a16ac4 6014:4f0b13262397
10 10
11 <BODY BGCOLOR=white> 11 <BODY BGCOLOR=white>
12 12
13 <FONT CLASS="text"> 13 <FONT CLASS="text">
14 14
15 <P><B><I>In medias res</I></B></P> 15 <P><B>In medias res</B></P>
16 16
17 <P>There are two major topic which always causes huge dispute and flame on the 17 <P>There are two major topics which always cause huge dispute and flame on the
18 <A HREF="http://www.MPlayerHQ.hu/cgi-bin/htsearch">mplayer-users</A> 18 <A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</A>
19 mailing list. Number one is of course the topic of the</P> 19 mailing list. Number one is the topic of the</P>
20 20
21 <A NAME=gcc><P><B><I>GCC 2.96 series</I></B></P> 21 <P><A NAME=gcc><B>GCC 2.96 series</B></A></P>
22 22
23 <P><B>Also read <A HREF="gcc-2.96-3.0.html">this</A> text !!!</B></P> 23 <P><B>The background:</B> The GCC <B>2.95</B> series is an official GNU release
24 and version 2.95.3 of GCC is the most bug-free in that series.
25 We have never noticed compilation problems that we could trace to gcc-2.95.3.
26 Starting with Red Hat Linux 7.0, <B>Red Hat</B> included a heavily
27 patched CVS version of GCC in their distribution and named it <B>2.96</B>. Red
28 Hat included this version in the distribution because GCC 3.0 was not finished at
29 the time, and they needed a compiler that worked well on all of their supported
30 platforms, including IA64 and s390. The Linux distributor <B>Mandrake</B>
31 also followed Red Hat's example and started shipping GCC 2.96 with their
32 Linux-Mandrake 8.0 series. </P>
24 33
25 <P>The <I>background</I> : there were/are the GCC <B>2.95</B> series. The 34 <P><B>The statements:</B> The GCC team disclaimed any link with GCC 2.96 and issued an
26 best of them was 2.95.3 . Please note the style of the version numbering. 35 <A HREF="http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-2.96.html">official response</A> to GCC 2.96.
27 This is how the GCC team numbers their compilers. The 2.95 series are good. 36 Many developers around the world began having problems with GCC 2.96, and
28 We never ever saw anything that was miscompiled because of the 2.95.3's faultiness.</P> 37 started recommending other compilers. Examples are
38 <A HREF="http://www.apachelabs.org/apr-mbox/200106.mbox/%3c20010623194228.C25512@ebuilt.com%3e">Apache</A>,
39 <A HREF="http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-3.23.html">MySQL</A>,
40 <A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net/news-old1.htm">avifile</A> and
41 <A HREF="http://www.winehq.com/news/?view=92#RH 7.1 gcc fixes compiler bug">Wine</A>.
42 Other interesting links are
43 <A HREF="http://www.realtimelinux.org/archives/rtai/20017/0144.html">Real time Linux</A>,
44 <A HREF="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rgooch/linux/docs/kernel-newsflash.html">
45 Linux kernel news flash about kernel 2.4.17</A> and
46 <A HREF="http://www.voy.com/3516/572.html">Voy Forum</A>.
47 <B>MPlayer</B> also suffered from intermittent problems that were all solved by
48 switching to a different version of GCC. Several projects started implementing
49 workarounds for some of the 2.96 issues, but we refused to fix other people's
50 bugs, especially since some workarounds may imply a performance penalty.</P>
29 51
30 <P>The <I>action</I> : <B>RedHat</B> started to include a GCC version of <B>2.96</B> 52 <P>You can read about the other side of the story
31 with their distributions. Note the version numbering. This should be the GCC 53 <A HREF="http://www.bero.org/gcc296.html">here</A>.
32 team's versioning. They patched the CVS version of GCC (something between 2.95 and 3.0) 54 GCC 2.96 does not allow | (pipe) characters in assembler comments
33 They patched it very deep, and used this version in the distrib because 3.0 55 because it supports Intel as well as AT&amp;T Syntax and the | character is a
34 wasn't out at time, and they wanted IA64 support ASAP (business reasons). 56 symbol in the Intel variant. The problem is that it <B>silently</B> ignores the
35 Oh, and GCC 2.95 miscompiles bash on the s390 architecture...</P> 57 whole assembler block. This is supposedly fixed now, GCC prints a warning instead
58 of skipping the block.</P>
36 59
37 <P>The <I>facts</I> : <B>MPlayer</B>'s compile process needs the 60 <P><B>The present:</B> Red Hat says that GCC 2.96-85 and above is fixed. The
38 <CODE>--disable-gcc-checking</CODE> to proceed upon detecting a GCC version of 61 situation has indeed improved, yet we still see problem reports on our
39 2.96 (apparently it needs this option on <B>egcs</B> too. It's because we don't 62 mailing lists that disappear with a different compiler. In any case it does not
40 test <B>MPlayer</B> on egcs. Pardon us, but we rather develop <B>MPlayer</B>). 63 matter any longer. Hopefully a maturing GCC 3.x will solve the issue for good.
41 If you know <B>MPlayer</B>, you should know that it has great speed. It 64 If you want to compile with 2.96 give the <CODE>--disable-gcc-checking</CODE>
42 achieves this by having overoptimized MMX/SSE/3DNow/etc codes, fastmemcpy, and 65 flag to configure. Remember that you are on your own and <B>do not report any
43 lots of other features. <B>MPlayer</B> contained MMX/3DNow instructions in a 66 bugs</B>. If you do, you will only get banned from our mailing list because
44 syntax that all Linux compilers accept it... except RedHat's GCC (it's more 67 we have had more than enough flame wars over GCC 2.96. Please let the matter rest.</P>
45 standard compliant). It simply <B><I>skips</I></B> them. It doesn't give
46 errors. It doesn't give warnings. <B>And</B>, there is Lame. With gcc 2.96, its quality check
47 (<CODE>make test</CODE> after compiling) <I>doesn't even run !!!</I>
48 But hey, it compiles bash on s390 and IA64.</P>
49 68
50 <P>The <I>statements</I> : most developers around the world begun having 69 <P>If you have problems with GCC 2.96, here is how you can get GCC 3.0.4 to work
51 bad feelings about RedHat's GCC 2.96 , and told their RedHat users to 70 (submitted by <A HREF="mailto:willis_matthew@yahoo.com">Matt Willis</A>):</P>
52 compile with other compiler than 2.96 . RedHat users' disappointment slowly
53 went into anger. What was all good
54 for, apart from giving headaches to developers, putting oil on anti-RedHat
55 flame, confusing users? The answer, I do not know.</P>
56 71
57 <P><I>Present age, present time</I> : RedHat says that GCC 2.96-85 and above 72 <UL>
58 is fixed, and works properly. Note the versioning. They should have started 73 <LI>Go to the
59 with something like this. What about GCC 2.96.85 ? It doesn't matter now. 74 <A HREF="http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html">GCC mirrors page</A>
60 I don't search, but I still see bugs with 2.96 . It doesn't matter now, 75 page and download the following (you may not need everything):<BR>
61 hopefully now <B>RedHat will forget about 2.96</B> and turn towards <B>3.0</B>. 76 <CODE>gcc-g++-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
62 Towards a deep patched 3.0... 77 gcc-objc-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
78 gcc-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
79 gcc-g77-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
80 gcc-testsuite-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
81 gcc-core-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
82 gcc-java-3.0.4.tar.gz</CODE>
83 </LI>
84 <LI>Unpack the files, make a build directory, and build:<BR>
85 <CODE>tar -xvzf gcc-*3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
86 mkdir gcc-build<BR>
87 cd gcc-build<BR>
88 ../gcc-3.0.4/configure --prefix=/opt --program-suffix=-3.0.4<BR>
89 make bootstrap; mkdir -p /opt; make install</CODE></LI>
90 <LI>Set your path to include <CODE>/opt/bin</CODE><BR>
91 <CODE>export PATH=/opt/bin:${PATH}</CODE></LI>
92 </UL>
93
94 <P><A NAME=binary><B>Binary distribution of MPlayer</B></A></P>
95
96 <P>This was the second big problem but has been solved as of version
97 0.90-pre1. <B>MPlayer</B> previously contained source from the OpenDivX project,
98 which disallows binary redistribution. This code has been removed and you are now
99 welcome to create binary packages as you see fit.</P>
100
101 <P>Another impediment to binary redistribution was compiletime optimizations
102 for CPU architecture. <B>MPlayer</B> now supports runtime CPU detection.
103 Although this implies a small speed sacrifice, it is now possible to create
104 binaries that run on different members of the Intel CPU family. For optimum
105 performance you may wish to disable runtime CPU detection before compilation
106 (<CODE>configure --disable-runtime-cpudetection</CODE>).</P>
107
108 <P><A NAME=nvidia><B>nVidia</B></A></P>
109
110 <P>We dislike the fact that <A HREF="http://www.nvidia.com">nVidia</A>
111 only provides binary drivers (for use with XFree86), which are often buggy.
112 We have had many reports on
113 <A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</A>
114 about problems related to these closed-source drivers
115 and their poor quality, instability and poor user and expert support.
116 Here is an example from the
117 <A HREF="http://www.nvnews.net/forum/showthread.php?s=fda5725bc2151e29453b2da3bd5d2930&threadid=14306">
118 nVidia Linux Forum</A>.
119 Many of these problems/issues keep appearing repeatedly.
120 We have been contacted by nVidia lately, and they said these bugs
121 do not exist, instability is caused by bad AGP chips, and they received
122 no reports of driver bugs (like the purple line). So if you have a
123 problem with your nVidia card, you are advised to update the nVidia driver
124 and/or buy a new motherboard or ask nVidia to supply open-source drivers.
125 In any case, if you are using the nVidia binary drivers and facing driver related problems,
126 please be aware that you will receive very little help from our side because we have
127 little power to help in this matter.</P>
128
129 <P><A NAME=kotsog><B>Joe Barr</B></A></P>
130
131 <P>Joe Barr became infamous by writing a less than favorable
132 <A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/1214.mplayer.html">
133 <B>MPlayer</B> review</A>. He found <B>MPlayer</B> hard to install, but then
134 again he is not very fond of
135 <A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-06/lw-06-exam.html">reading documentation</A>.
136 He also concluded that the developers were unfriendly and the documentation
137 incomplete and insulting. You be the judge.
138 He went on to mention <B>MPlayer</B> negatively in his
139 <A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/1227.predictions.html">10 Linux predictions for 2002</A>
140 In a followup
141 <A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0125.xine.html">review of xine</A>
142 he continued stirring up controversy. Ironically at the end of that article he
143 quotes his exchange with Günter Bartsch, the original author of xine, that
144 perfectly summarizes the whole situation:</P>
145
146 <BLOCKQUOTE>
147 However, he also went on to say that he was "surprised" by my column about
148 Mplayer and thought it was unfair, reminding me that it is a free software
149 project. "If you don't like it," Bartsch said, "you're free not to use it."
150 </BLOCKQUOTE>
63 </P> 151 </P>
64 152
65 <P><I>What I don't understand</I> is why are we hated by RedHat users for 153 <P>He does not reply to our mails. His editor does not reply to our mails.
66 putting warning messages, and stay-away documents in <B>MPlayer</B> . 154 Here are some quotes from different people about Joe Barr, so you can form your
67 Why are we called "brain damaged", "total asshole", "childish" by 155 own opinion:</P>
68 <B>RedHat users</B>, on our mailing list, and even on the <B>redhat-devel</B> .
69 They even considered forking <B>MPlayer</B> for themselves. RedHat users.
70 Why? It's RedHat that made the compiler, why do <U>you</U> have to hate us?
71 Are you <U>that</U> fellow RedHat worshippers? Please stop it. We don't hold
72 a grudge against users, doesn't matter how loud you advertise its contrary.
73 Please go flame Linus Torvalds, the DRI developers (oh, now I know why
74 there were laid off by VA!), the Wine, avifile. Even if we are arrogant,
75 are we not the same as the previously listed ones? Why do <B>we</B> have
76 to suffer from your unrightful wrath?</P>
77 156
78 <P><A HREF="mailto:willis_matthew@yahoo.com">Matt Willis</A> kindly submitted 157 <P>Marc Rassbach has <A HREF="http://daily.daemonnews.org/view_story.php3?story_id=2102">something to say</A>
79 a simple GCC-3.0.3 compiling howto, I'm copying it here:</P> 158 about the man
80
81 <P>
82 <UL>
83 <LI>Download gcc. Go to the <A
84 HREF="http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html">http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html</A>
85 page.
86 I downloaded the following, but you don't need everything:<BR>
87 <CODE>gcc-g++-3.0.3.tar.gz<BR>
88 gcc-objc-3.0.3.tar.gz<BR>
89 gcc-3.0.3.tar.gz<BR>
90 gcc-g77-3.0.3.tar.gz<BR>
91 gcc-testsuite-3.0.3.tar.gz<BR>
92 gcc-core-3.0.3.tar.gz<BR>
93 gcc-java-3.0.3.tar.gz</CODE>
94 </LI>
95
96 <LI>Unpack the files, make a build directory, and build<CODE><PRE>
97 tar xvzf gcc-*3.0.3.tar.gz
98 mkdir gcc-build; cd gcc-build
99 ../gcc-3.0.3/configure --prefix=/opt --program-suffix=-3.0.3
100 make bootstrap; mkdir -p /opt; make install</PRE></CODE>
101
102 <LI>Set your path to include /opt/bin<BR>
103 <CODE>export PATH=/opt/bin:${PATH}</CODE>
104
105 <LI>Now you can build MPlayer.</LI>
106 </UL>
107 </P> 159 </P>
108 160
109 <A NAME=nvidia><P><B><I>NVidia</I></B></P> 161 <BLOCKQUOTE>
110 162 You may all remember the LinuxWorld 2000, when he claimed that Linus T said
111 <P>We don't like nvidia's binary drives, their quality, unstability,
112 non-existant user support, always appearing new bugs. And most users behave
113 the same. We've been contacted by NVidia lately, and they said these bugs
114 don't exist, unstability is caused by bad AGP chips, and they received
115 no reports of driver bugs (the purple line, for example). So: if you have
116 problem with your NVidia, update the nvidia driver and/or buy a new
117 motherboard.</P>
118
119 <A NAME=kotsog><P><B><I>Joe Barr</I></B></P>
120
121 <P>He doesn't reply to our mails. His editor doesn't reply to our mails.
122 The net is full with his false statements and accusitions (he apparently
123 doesn't like for example the BSD guys, because of their different viewpoints
124 [about what?]).</P>
125
126 <P>Now some quotes from different people about Joe Barr (just for you
127 understand why doesn't he matter at all):</P>
128
129 <P><I>"You may all remember the LinuxWorld 2000, when he claimed that Linus T said
130 that 'FreeBSD is just a handful of programmers'. Linus said NOTHING of the 163 that 'FreeBSD is just a handful of programmers'. Linus said NOTHING of the
131 sort. When Joe was called on this, his reaction was to call BSD supporters 164 sort. When Joe was called on this, his reaction was to call BSD supporters
132 assholes and jerks."</I></P> 165 assholes and jerks.
166 </BLOCKQUOTE>
133 167
134 <P><I>"He's interesting, but not good at avoiding, um... controversy. Joe Barr 168 <P>A <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/2001-December/009118.html">quote</A>
169 from Robert Munro on the
170 <A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</A>
171 mailinglist:</P>
172
173 <BLOCKQUOTE>
174 <P>He's interesting, but not good at avoiding, um... controversy. Joe Barr
135 used to be one of the regulars on Will Zachmann's Canopus forum on Compuserve, 175 used to be one of the regulars on Will Zachmann's Canopus forum on Compuserve,
136 years ago. He was an OS/2 advocate then (I was an OS/2 fan too). 176 years ago. He was an OS/2 advocate then (I was an OS/2 fan too).<P>
137 He used to go over-the-top, flaming people, and I suspect he had some hard 177
178 <P>He used to go over-the-top, flaming people, and I suspect he had some hard
138 times, then. He's mellowed some, judging by his columns recently. Moderately 179 times, then. He's mellowed some, judging by his columns recently. Moderately
139 subtle humor was not his mode in those earlier days, not at all."</I></P> 180 subtle humor was not his mode in those earlier days, not at all.</P>
181 </BLOCKQUOTE>
140 182
141 </HTML> 183 </HTML>