[MPlayer-dev-eng] GUI status

[Alban Bedel]

On Mon, 7 Apr 2008 13:14:46 +0200
"Guillaume LECERF" <foxcore at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2008/4/7, Ivan Kalvachev <ikalvachev at gmail.com>:
> > The whole MPlayer is rotting. The whole audio system is also left
> >  completely unmaintained. It doesn't mean we should remove it at
> > first sign of trouble.
> 
> Come on!
> Comparing the audio system, a root functionality for a media _player_,
> with the GUI, which is 1. unmaintained 2. hackish 3. deprecated by
> many external projects, is not doable.

I somewhat agree, however keep in mind that next to no dev use a GUI,
but nearly every user use one (at least that was my impression when I
used to read -users). And your point 1. and 2. apply quiet well to
libao.

> For people who cares about the gui (whom i'm not part of), some effort
> have to be made IMHO to add an abstraction layer between the actual
> gui code and the functionalities it needs, which then will have to be
> made available through slave mode.

Again, we already have such an API, the properties.

> Then, the slave mode will be enhanced with new functionnalities, and
> cleaning/reviewing/rewriting the slave mode to act as the famous
> "libmplayer" idea won't be unfeasible.

Properties already provide the "back channel" that was missing from the
"one-way" commands. Having a dedicated communication channel (like a
socket) would make things a little easier, but not fundamentally
different from what is available ATM.

	Albeu