[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH v4 3/7] cmdutils: use new iteration APIs

[wm4]

On Thu, 22 Mar 2018 12:32:29 +0100
Nicolas George <george at nsup.org> wrote:

> Josh de Kock (2018-03-22):
> > There is always the option to just merge lavf and lavd. The state of them
> > being sort-of merged, but not really, isn't very good and adds a lot of
> > complexity especially in inter-library dependencies (which are unneeded if
> > lavf and lavd are either merged or actually separate).  
> 
> You are driving your reasoning the wrong way: you start from the
> limitations of your new API, and based on what it can do you intent huge
> changes to the project that affect user interface. It should be the
> opposite: first decide on the user interface and general design, and
> then make sure the API allow it.
> 
> For user interface, I state:
> 
> 1. FFmpeg should allow users to select devices the same way as
>    (de)muxers, because it allows them to use devices in a basic way even
>    when applications are not explicitly prepared for them, that makes
>    extra features for free.

Devices are not muxers/demuxers and can behave significantly
differently. Thus they should be accessible via a different API, and in
particular avoid accidental use of device (de)muxers if only normal
(de)muxers are wanted by the application.