[FFmpeg-devel] Nice to have general version / build string

[Don Moir]

> On date Wednesday 2012-09-26 23:19:12 -0400, Don Moir encoded:
>> >On 26/09/12 10:24 PM, Don Moir wrote:
>> >>I see there is avutil_version, avcodec_version, etc
>> >>
>> >>I see there is show_banner and useless for GUI app.
>> >>
>> >>I don't see a way to retreive the general ffmpeg version or build 
>> >>string.
>> >>
>> >>e.g. 11.1 and N-44123-g5d55830
>> >>
>> >>Would be good if there was a avutil function for this if there
>> >>isn't some way already.
>> >>
>> >>Don
>> >
>> >version.h defines FFMPEG_VERSION. Look for example cmdutils.c and
>> >ffprobe.c.
>> >
>> >Regards
>>
>> I see that but I think version.h is built with a shell script. When
>> I build ffmpeg my
>> version.h file contains #define FFMPEG_VERSION "0.11.1.git"
>>
>> I also took a look at cmdutils.c before posting. Could be my
>> FFMPEG_VERSION string is not being created properly due do a
>> directory issue.
>>
>> I develop under windows and generally I don't mess around with
>> building ffmpeg but I would need to run the version.sh file just to
>> get the version.h file.
>>
>
>> So this seems awkward and would be nice if I could just call some
>> function easily to get this info and this seems reasonable but not
>> sure how much trouble it would be.
>
> version.h is defined in the top dir of the project, and refers to the
> whole project, it is not a library specific thing and in general
> libraries should not refer to that version. For library specific things
> there are the library version numbers.
>
> We could still expose this global version in the library, but I cannot
> understand which is your use case.
> -- 

Not sure how often the libraries change there version. If it's for every 
patch for the library in question then ok I could use those versions.

The build string just seems like a better overall indicator and it changes 
with every patch or daily builds as far as I know.

If the various libraries are not changing their version for every patch or 
group or daily builds then those versions numbers don't do me any good.

I need a reference I can cross-check with users and display in the app that 
is unique for each build.