[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 2/2] Implement dynamic loading of NewTek NDI library

[Marton Balint]

On Thu, 22 Feb 2018, Nicolas George wrote:

> Marton Balint (2018-02-22):
>> I think what CE ment was static v.s. dynamic lib names
>
> I am pretty sure he asked if the file name of the library could be
> different at run time than at compile time, which would be the only
> reason to justify using an environment variable.

The environment variable contains the directory to the library, not the 
library name itself.

> By the way, using an environment variable to load a dynamic library is a
> terrible idea in terms of security. Let us not do it.

LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_PRELOAD is an environment variable as well, so I don't 
see why it is different from security standpoint.

And it's not unprecedented, there is FREI0R_PATH, or LADSPA_PATH for 
example. Okay, these are plugins, so not entirely the same thing, yet the 
approach is similar.

>
>> With dynamic loading we can rely on the library name defined in the NDI SDK
>> headers which should be the proper one for each OS/arch.
>
> So basically, we should add 100+ lines of ugly code just because these
> guys are unable to follow the same rules as any other library?

I'd rather say that we should add 100+ lines of code because:
  - it fixes some portability issues with the library names
  - dynamic loading alone has some pros (e.g. not needing the SDK
    on every machine where you use your built ffmpeg)
  - we can use the SDK suggested way to find the library using an
    environment variable
  - the author who is the de facto maintainer prefers it this way
I also tried to help making the code "less ugly" in my review.

Regards,
Marton