[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] avcodec: deprecate sonic

[Vittorio Giovara]

On Thu, Feb 29, 2024 at 7:47 AM J. Dekker <jdek at itanimul.li> wrote:

> This is an experimental and research codec of which ffmpeg is the only
> encoder and decoder, development has stalled since 2013 and these files
> don't exist in the wild.
>
> Deprecate the encoders to be removed next major bump, decoders to be
> removed one bump afterwards. We also disable the the encoders by default
> in configure, the decoders should be disabled by default next bump.
>
> Signed-off-by: J. Dekker <jdek at itanimul.li>
> ---
>
>  Since this codec was added in 2004, there has only been one major
>  non-maintenance, non-bugfix commit in 2013 (6026a5ad4f). That's 1 out of
> 107
>  total commits touching this file.
>
>  This isn't a matter of the codec being unpopular like a niche game codec
> or
>  some other codec with media found in the wild, it's an experiment which
> didn't
>  continue and we continue to pay the maintenance cost.
>
>  Deprecating the codec instead of immediate removal gives a grace period
> for
>  anyone interested to pick up the format and make it the most advanced
> audio
>  codec in FFmpeg if they so wish. It encourages an action to be taken
> whether
>  that be improving the codec, or leaving it to be removed later.
>
>  configure                  | 3 +++
>  libavcodec/version_major.h | 4 ++++
>  2 files changed, 7 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index bb5e630bad..f11c035796 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -4234,6 +4234,9 @@ do_random(){
>      $action $(rand_list "$@" | awk "BEGIN { srand($random_seed) } \$1 ==
> \"prob\" { prob = \$2; next } rand() < prob { print }")
>  }
>
> +# deprecated components (disabled by default)
> +disable sonic_encoder sonic_ls_encoder
> +
>  for opt do
>      optval="${opt#*=}"
>      case "$opt" in
> diff --git a/libavcodec/version_major.h b/libavcodec/version_major.h
> index 161442df95..97e4c47d45 100644
> --- a/libavcodec/version_major.h
> +++ b/libavcodec/version_major.h
> @@ -57,5 +57,9 @@
>
>  // reminder to remove CrystalHD decoders on next major bump
>  #define FF_CODEC_CRYSTAL_HD        (LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR < 61)
> +// reminder to remove Sonic Lossy/Lossless encoders on next major bump
> +#define FF_CODEC_SONIC_ENC         (LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR < 62)
> +// reminder to remove Sonic decoder on next-next major bump
> +#define FF_CODEC_SONIC_DEC         (LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR < 63)
>
>  #endif /* AVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR_H */
> --
>

unless objections I'd like to push this patch

@Josh Dekker <josh at itanimul.li> Do you have an updated version (also of the
2/2 patch)?

Thanks
-- 
Vittorio