[FFmpeg-devel] Hello,

[Måns Rullgård]

Baptiste Coudurier <baptiste.coudurier at gmail.com> writes:

> On 07/16/2009 12:10 PM, M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
>> Jean-Daniel Dupas<devlists at shadowlab.org>  writes:
>>
>>> Le 16 juil. 09 ? 20:26, M?ns Rullg?rd a ?crit :
>>>
>>>> Jean-Daniel Dupas<devlists at shadowlab.org>  writes:
>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm new to this list and to this project. I'm looking to use
>>>>> libavformat&  libavcodec in some application and would like to
>>>>> contribute to improve ffmpeg.
>>>>> And so, to try to get into the code, I did a little patch to improve
>>>>> alias support in dref in mov files on OS X. This patch uses native
>>>>> Mac
>>>>> OS X API to resolve the alias if possible instead of trying to infer
>>>>> the path from opaque data.
>>>> I'd rather improve our own code if it is incomplete.  Can you
>>>> elaborate on what it's missing?
>>>> <big elephant in the room>  Why native Mac OS X API?</big elephant
>>>> in the room>
>>> I will answer the two questions.
>>>
>>> First, an alias as defined by the Mac OS File Manager reference is a
>>> blob of "data that is private to the Alias Manager". There is
>>> absolutely no guarantee about what it contains. And so, the native API
>>> is the only futur proof and reliable way to resolve it. That why I
>>> suggest to use it when available.
>>>
>>> Now, about what is missing in the current code. The actual code assume
>>> the alias contains a path (either relative or absolute), but an alias
>>> is more than that. It contains enough informations to locate a file
>>> that was renamed and moved (as long as it remain on the same volume).
>>> As this is an opaque struct, I never tried to look at what it does,
>>> but I assume it is using FSVolumeRefNum, and nodeID (inode) under the
>>> hood.
>>> In fact, the alias manager is even able to resolve path on file that
>>> are stored on remove volumes and to mount this volume if needed.
>>
>> Such a ridiculous feature is best left unsupported in my opinion.
>
> Well, I'd like to support this feature, the patch is small and does
> not cause any harm IMHO.

Q: What happens if the file is copied to another computer, perhaps not
even running macos?  A: It fails.

I don't want to deal with bug reports resulting from this lunacy being
handled on macos and not elsewhere.  Better to have it fail
consistently everywhere.

-- 
M?ns Rullg?rd
mans at mansr.com