[MPlayer-dev-eng] [RFC] binary codec default support and default directories

[A Mennucc]

On Tue, Oct 31, 2006 at 09:36:07AM +0100, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 31, 2006 at 08:09:39AM +0100, A Mennucc wrote:
> > 
> > Diego Biurrun ha scritto:
> 
> At compile time, there is (currently) no runtime selection of this
> directory.

then my (humble) opinion is : dont do compile time "smart" selection !
compile time  selection is a *bad* idea:
you cannot predict what will happen when users compile the package;
this is going to create heisen-bugs and many nuisances.

example scenario:
0) configure selects between dir X and Y , with fallback on Z
  (currently, also, there is no fallback ; but suppose there is one)
1) user downloads mplayer and compiles , in a newly installed GNU/Linux;
 since  there is no X and Y  , Z is set as default for codecs
2) user reads on internet that X is a good place to put codecs, so s/he does
3) mplayer cannot find codecs : user posts request to m-users, nobody
 understand why... since now X  exists!

my solution: if the user does not provide a 'configure' option, then
the default should be a straight
_win32codecsdir=${prefix}/lib/codecs
and similarly for all others

this is similar to what is usually done by "configure" scripts
generated by autotools ; and will avoid the above scenario

if you wish I can provide a patch

a.

-- 
Andrea Mennucc