[FFmpeg-devel] FFMPEG DLL proposal

[Pierre Chatelier]

Hello,

>> I would like to use FFMPEG "under the hood" in an application (...)  
>> but I do not like the idea to embedd ffmpeg.exe, I would prefer a  
>> shared library.
> so write a shared lib that calls ffmpeg.exe

> yes, and the biggest does not seem related to programming, its your  
> philosophical dislike of calling an executable instead of a dll.
I agree that there is no performance hit or any difficulty to call the  
ffmpeg executable. The problem here is about distributing an  
application in an "atomic" form. A dependency to an external exe is  
less practical than a shared library resolution.
You seem to think that my idea would put some mess in FFmpeg. Actually  
I disagree. Getting rid of static variables and encapsulating ffmpeg  
calls is a way to cleanup the code. And my modifications only concern  
static variables of ffmpeg.c and cmdutils.c : the maintainers would  
have the same functions calls and the same code inside... (with the  
extra "context" struct parameter). That's why I though that such  
simplicity and such benefits would    balance the (very) little work  
implied.

Regards,

Pierre Chatelier