[FFmpeg-user] ffmpeg issue

[Thomas Worth]

>> I mean, seriously, I assume linux has some sort of standalone executable program format - why is there no
>> equivalent of ffmpeg.exe? The windows binaries end up being many, many megabytes with everything included, but the
>> point is: they actually work, whereas linux, as we've seen, causes endless problems in this regard.

Phil, you can certainly do this on Linux. I build FFmpeg on both OS X
and Linux in this way. The equivalent would be a binary named "ffmpeg"
(no .exe). You would launch it exactly the same way you would on
Windows from a terminal/command prompt (and feed it the exact same
options). If you didn't have it in a directory in your PATH (e.g. a
path the system uses to look for commands, sort of like C:\WINDOWS),
you would execute it like this: $ ./ffmpeg. Otherwise, you could just
do what you do on Windows and execute it like this: $ ffmpeg.


> because linux software usually DOES NOT link static and this is good so
> you get an update for an vulnerable librarie ffmpeg is using and
> ffmpeg is fixed, for windows you need a new ffmpeg

Eh, this isn't quite accurate. You can certainly link FFmpeg static on
Linux have one binary that does everything. I actually prefer this,
although I agree there are reasons to link dynamically. However, the
convenience of being able to copy one binary across multiple machines
far outweighs the pain of having to install all the libraries on every
machine, in my opinion. If newer versions of these libraries are
released, you can just recompile a new binary.

I understand Phil's frustration. It is _way_ easier to compile FFmpeg
on Linux/*nix. To do this on Windows, you pretty much have to set up a
Unix-like environment using MSYS and MinGW. This gives you the shell
and binaries needed to run configure, as well as gcc. If you're not
experienced with Linux/*nix, it can take a minute to get the hang of,
but once you do it works fine. Even in 64 bit! :-D

Phil, I recommend grabbing MSYS/MinGW and playing around with it. Or,
if you have a spare machine around you might just try loading Ubuntu
and compiling FFmpeg there. Chances are you'll have more success on a
Unix system until you understand the process enough to know how to
troubleshoot if you can't get it working on Windows.