[FFmpeg-devel] Prioritize static builds and self-compilation over distro packages

[Clément Bœsch]

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 07:19:28PM +0100, Werner Robitza wrote:
> From my experience with troubleshooting ffmpeg end user problems it
> often turns out that users have terribly outdated versions installed.
> Not even mentioning the avconv/ffmpeg mess on Ubuntu 12.04 and
> derivates, one of the problems I see is that the FFmpeg download page
> itself advertises outdated distro packages over compiling yourself or
> just getting a static build.

> The Ubuntu PPAs are out of date, and I suppose the same holds true for
> Debian and Red Hat.

I fully agree, especially for the PPA... Care to send a ffmpeg-web patch
to drop these links, and/or better, provide yourself PPA for the project?

> 
> The problem is that the old versions really don't work that nicely.
> 

> Also, the download page does not explicitly mention compiling yourself
> as a viable option.

Huh? Isn't it the first thing on that page?

> Granted, ffmpeg is a power user tool as well and
> many people know you could download the source and hack away, but to
> many end users, this is not clear.
> 
> My request – or at least the start of a discussion: Would it be possible to:
> 
> - feature the static builds more prominently (move the repo sources a bit)
> - mention that compiling FFmpeg is easy (and link to the compilation
> guides on Trac)
> 

Since you are on ffmpeg-devel mailing and not opening a bug on the trac,
I'm assuming you are willing to help: so again, what about sending some
ffmpeg-web patches? (the url for the repository holding the website
sources is on the download page).

> For example:
> 
> "You can retrieve the source code through the standard Git client by
> using the command: … You can then easily compile FFmpeg by following
> the compilation guides on the FFmpeg Wiki."
> 
> "Static builds are available at: … They are snapshots of recent FFmpeg
> versions and should be preferred over distribution packages …" (or
> something)
> 

> Yay or nay?

Yay, please send patches :)

(Honestly, that's trivial, but we are really busy with a lot of stuff)

-- 
Clément B.
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