[FFmpeg-devel] Why C++ support has been removed from ffmpeg headers ??

[Guillaume POIRIER]

Hello,

Diego will probably hate me for replying to this mail, but I think
what I'm going to say is worth saying.

On 7/4/07, kabi <zdenek.kabelac at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2007/7/4, V?ctor Paesa <wzrlpy at arsystel.com>:
> > kabi dijo:
> > > Can anyone explain me please, why there has been removed support
> > > for C++ from exported ffmpeg headers ?
> >
> > The quite lengthy explanation is at the ffmpeg-devel archives, just look
> > for
> > C++ and headers.
>
>
>
> Ohh I see - that happens when I do not have time to read the conference :(
>
> I knew there are going to be troubles when people starts to take religion
> into programing....
>
> I hope some developers finaly grow and will find out, that open-source is
> about
> writing the best code and satisfy the most users and not to write the
> lines like 'We will teach them...'

This wasn't and isn't not a question of religion or personal belief,
it's strictly technical:
FFmpeg is written in C, and "happened" to work with C++ programs
sometimes for some reasons.
Rather than having a half-broken C++ support it was decided to drop
support for C++. This is really a question of raising the quality of
FFmpeg by forcing people who use FFmpeg with other languages to use
the C API, that is supported actively.

There are a lot of different people writing bindings for other
languages (I know that there's at least people maintaining C++ and
Java bindings), and I advise you to join their efforts if you care
about C++ bindings.

This situation isn't different from GTK+'s situation, where people
created bindings for Perl, Python, C++, Ruby.

IMHO, FFmpeg team didn't make a religious decision by removing C++
support: again, it was done purely on technical basis.

Guillaume
-- 
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