[MPlayer-DOCS] CVS: homepage/src news.src.en,1.123,1.124
Diego Biurrun CVS
syncmail at mplayerhq.hu
Wed Jun 9 04:06:02 CEST 2004
CVS change done by Diego Biurrun CVS
Update of /cvsroot/mplayer/homepage/src
In directory mail:/var2/tmp/cvs-serv25987/src
Modified Files:
news.src.en
Log Message:
more HTML sanity and uniformity
Index: news.src.en
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mplayer/homepage/src/news.src.en,v
retrieving revision 1.123
retrieving revision 1.124
diff -u -r1.123 -r1.124
--- news.src.en 7 Jun 2004 13:30:27 -0000 1.123
+++ news.src.en 9 Jun 2004 02:05:59 -0000 1.124
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@
<!-- $Revision$ -->
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="linuxtag2004">2004.06.02, Wednesday :: MPlayer presence at Linuxtag 2004</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Diego</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
The MPlayer team will be represented at
<a href="http://www.linuxtag.org/2004/index.html">Linuxtag 2004</a>
by at least Alex Beregszaszi, Sascha Sommer and Diego Biurrun.
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@
and be present for the full four days. Hopefully we will also be able to hold
a small conference with as many developers as possible. If you ever wished to
have a chat with us, that would be the perfect opportunity.
+</p>
@@ -26,41 +28,46 @@
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="vuln03">2004.04.28, Wednesday :: Exploitable remote buffer overflow vulnerability in the Real RTSP streaming code</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Diego</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
-<b>Summary:</b>
-<br>
+<h3>Summary:</h3>
+
+<p>
Multiple vulnerabilities have been found and fixed in the Real-Time
Streaming Protocol (RTSP) client for RealNetworks servers, including a
series of potentially remotely exploitable buffer overflows. This is a
joint advisory by the MPlayer and xine teams as the code in question is
common to these projects. The xine team has assigned ID XSA-2004-3 to this
security announcement.
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>Severity:</b>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<h3>Severity:</h3>
+
+<p>
High (arbitrary remote code execution under the user ID running the player)
when playing Real RTSP streams.
At this time, there is no known exploit for these vulnerabilities.
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>Prerequisites:</b>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<h3>Prerequisites:</h3>
+
+<p>
The players are only vulnerable when playing Real RTSP streams.
There is no risk if Real RTSP (realrtsp) streaming is not employed.
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>Solution:</b>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<h3>Solution:</h3>
+
+<p>
A fix was checked into MPlayer CVS on Sat, 24 Apr 2004 12:33:22 +0200 (CEST).
This fix is included in MPlayer 1.0pre4. Users of affected MPlayer versions
should upgrade to MPlayer 1.0pre4 or later.
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
xine-lib fix was checked into CVS on Fri, Apr 23 21:59:04 2004 UTC. This fix
is included in xine-lib 1-rc4. Users of affected xine-lib versions should
upgrade to xine-lib 1-rc4 or later.
@@ -69,38 +76,39 @@
$(xine-config --plugindir)/xineplug_inp_rtsp.so. If installed with default
paths, that is: /usr/local/lib/xine/plugins/1.0.0/xineplug_inp_rtsp.so
This workaround disables RTSP streaming.
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>Affected versions:</b>
-<br>
-MPlayer 1.0pre1-pre3try2
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<h3>Affected versions:</h3>
+
+<p>
+MPlayer 1.0pre1-pre3try2<br>
xine-lib 1-beta1 to 1-rc3c
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>Unaffected versions:</b>
-<br>
-MPlayer 0.92.1 and below
-<br>
-MPlayer 1.0pre4 and above
-<br>
+<p>
+
+<h3>Unaffected versions:</h3>
+
+<p>
+MPlayer 0.92.1 and below<br>
+MPlayer 1.0pre4 and above<br>
MPlayer CVS HEAD
-<br>
-<br>
-xine-lib 1-beta0 and below
-<br>
-xine-lib 1-rc4 and above
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+xine-lib 1-beta0 and below<br>
+xine-lib 1-rc4 and above<br>
xine-lib CVS HEAD
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>History / Attack Vectors:</b>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<h3>History / Attack Vectors:</h3>
+
+<p>
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 Diego Biurrun found a crashing bug in the MPlayer
realrtsp code that Roberto Togni confirmed to be a buffer overflow
vulnerability later that day. The xine team was notified and independent
code audits were performed by Miguel Freitas (xine) and Roberto Togni
(MPlayer), revealing multiple vulnerabilities.
+</p>
+
<ol>
<li>Fixed length buffers were assigned for the URL used in server requests
and the length of the input was never checked. Very long URLs could thus
@@ -125,29 +133,32 @@
vulnerability. Since we believe that the bugs described in this advisory
are exploitable we have released this proactive advisory.</li>
</ol>
-<b>Download:</b>
-<br>
-<br>
+
+<h3>Download:</h3>
+
+<p>
MPlayer 1.0pre4 can be downloaded from the MPlayer homepage or one of its many
mirrors. Go to the
<a href="dload.html">MPlayer download page</a>
to get MPlayer 1.0pre4 source code.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
xine-lib 1-rc4 can be downloaded from the
<a href="http://xinehq.de/index.php/releases">xine homepage</a>.
+</p>
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="mplayer10pre4">2004.04.28, Wednesday :: MPlayer 1.0pre4 released</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by the release team</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
A long time has passed without a release and really a lot has
happened. Between the KiSS affair and the farewell of some developers
one might almost get the impression that not much development has been
@@ -164,20 +175,23 @@
that have to be taken care of to make such a big project a success. But if
you thought MPlayer development was stalled, just have a look at the huge
changelog.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
We fixed a remotely exploitable security vulnerability in the Real
RTSP code, please read our advisory for details. Many thanks go to the
<a href="http://www.xinehq.de">xine</a> team for cooperating so well
with us in the audit of this shared code.
We also found a buffer overflow in the Matroska demuxer and in
the CDDB code, so we strongly urge you to upgrade.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
Apart from that there are so many changes it gets hard to pick out the
highlights.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
As usual the documentation has been improved and extended and our many
ports have been improved. The BSDs are getting closer and closer to
the Linux version, Mac OS X and PowerPC users will enjoy as
@@ -185,45 +199,54 @@
and a native Quartz (Mac OS X) output driver. The Windows version of
MPlayer is shaping up to be an equal contender to the Unix versions,
grab and spread it.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
If you had problems with streaming in the past this may be the release
for you. We fixed tons of bugs and added support for SMIL playlist to
Real streaming and now support Nullsoft Streaming Video (NSV)
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
With (experimental) AVI OpenDML read and write support we have knocked
a longstanding item from the wishlist. Now is the time to play and
create huge AVI files.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
Our video filter system has been extended by no less than seven
filters and is thus more flexible than ever.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
If you are an oldschool text mode addict and like ASCII art output you
can now enjoy it in full color with the caca output driver.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
On the codec front we now support XviD 1.0, VP5 and VP6 and the
existing codecs have been improved and optimized. Accordingly the
codec package has been extended by a few DLLs, don't forget to grab a
new one.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
As usual we would be nothing without
<a href="http://www.ffmpeg.org">FFmpeg</a> and the many native codecs
they provide. FLAC among others has joined their long list of
supported codecs and the rest has seen notable speed and quality
improvements.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
Enjoy...
-<br>
-<br>
-<b>MPlayer 1.0pre4: <i>"YAML Counter"</i></b><br>
-<br>
-<b>Security:</b>
+</p>
+
+
+<h3>MPlayer 1.0pre4: <i>"YAML Counter"</i></h3>
+
+<h4>Security:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>HTTP parser remote heap overflow vulnerability fixed</li>
<li>Real RTSP remote buffer overflow vulnerability fixed</li>
@@ -231,7 +254,8 @@
<li>potentially exploitable buffer overflow in CDDB TOC code</li>
</ul>
-<b>DOCS:</b>
+<h4>DOCS:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>new Copyright file covers files from other projects and their licenses</li>
<li>new DOCS/tech/translations.txt explains how to properly translate MPlayer</li>
@@ -245,7 +269,8 @@
<li>miscellaneous updates all over the place</li>
</ul>
-<b>Ports:</b>
+<h4>Ports:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>better PA-RISC detection</li>
<li>support for VAX (tested on VAXstation 4000/VLC) -- really, believe me!</li>
@@ -263,7 +288,8 @@
<li>GCC 3.4 support (due to changed behaviour in ASM code snippets)</li>
</ul>
-<b>Demuxers:</b>
+<h4>Demuxers:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>Matroska containing RealVideo works better</li>
<li>fixed random segfaults in VIVO</li>
@@ -284,7 +310,8 @@
<li>AVI OpenDML read and write support</li>
</ul>
-<b>Streaming:</b>
+<h4>Streaming:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>SMIL playlist parser</li>
<li>support for URL redirection</li>
@@ -295,7 +322,8 @@
<li>many improvements and bug fixes in the streaming code</li>
</ul>
-<b>Decoders:</b>
+<h4>Decoders:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>compilation failure without zlib in vd/lcl fixed</li>
<li>removed obsoleted decoders (which were moved to libavcodec), affected:
@@ -311,7 +339,8 @@
<li>liba52 dynamic range compression support</li>
</ul>
-<b>Filters:</b>
+<h4>Filters:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>vf_bmovl bugfixes</li>
<li>vf_filmdint now handles 15fps NTSC input</li>
@@ -328,7 +357,8 @@
<li>vf_divtc: duplicate frame removal from deinterlaced telecined video</li>
</ul>
-<b>Drivers:</b>
+<h4>Drivers:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>ao/esd behaves better over network now</li>
<li>support for Radeon 9200/9600/9600 Pro/9700 in VIDIX</li>
@@ -343,7 +373,8 @@
<li>support for VIDIX when ATI FireGLX drivers are used</li>
</ul>
-<b>FFmpeg/libavcodec:</b>
+<h4>FFmpeg/libavcodec:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>H.263 AIC and MQ encoding support</li>
<li>fixed low delay decoding</li>
@@ -390,7 +421,8 @@
<li>native G.726 codec</li>
</ul>
-<b>Others:</b>
+<h4>Others:</h4>
+
<ul>
<li>-codecs-file option for specifying alternative codecs.conf file</li>
<li>fixed some minor bugs in the GUI</li>
@@ -410,27 +442,44 @@
<li>less verbosity in Win32 loader and other places</li>
</ul>
-<br>
-
+<p>
MPlayer 1.0pre4 can be downloaded from the following locations:
+</p>
+
<ul>
- <li>Hungary 1, HTTP -> <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Hungary 1, FTP -> <a href="http://ftp1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">ftp://ftp1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Hungary 2, HTTP -> <a href="http://www2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">http://www2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Hungary 2, FTP -> <a href="ftp://ftp2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">ftp://ftp2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>USA 1, HTTP -> <a href="http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>USA 1, FTP -> <a href="ftp://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">ftp://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>USA 2, HTTP -> <a href="http://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">http://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>USA 2, FTP -> <a href="ftp://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">ftp://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Switzerland, HTTP -> <a href="http://www4.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">http://www4.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Australia, FTP -> <a href="ftp://ftp6.mplayerhq.hu/pub/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">ftp://ftp6.mplayerhq.hu/pub/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Bulgaria, FTP -> <a href="ftp://ftp8.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">ftp://ftp8.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
- <li>Finland, HTTP -> <a href="http://www7.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">http://www7.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2</a></li>
+ <li>Hungary 1
+ <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">HTTP</a>
+ <a href="http://ftp1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
+ <li>Hungary 2
+ <a href="http://www2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">HTTP</a>
+ <a href="ftp://ftp2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
+ <li>USA 1
+ <a href="http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">HTTP</a>
+ <a href="ftp://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
+ <li>USA 2
+ <a href="http://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">HTTP</a>
+ <a href="ftp://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
+ <li>Switzerland
+ <a href="http://www4.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">HTTP</a></li>
+ <li>Australia
+ <a href="ftp://ftp6.mplayerhq.hu/pub/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
+ <li>Bulgaria
+ <a href="ftp://ftp8.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
+ <li>Finland
+ <a href="http://www7.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre4.tar.bz2">HTTP</a></li>
</ul>
-MD5SUM: <b>83ebac0f05b192516a41fca2350ca01a</b><br><br>
+
+<p>
+MD5SUM: <b>83ebac0f05b192516a41fca2350ca01a</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
Grab the Windows port from here: <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/win32-beta/">http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/win32-beta/</a><br>
-Also don't forget to visit the downloads page for the updated codec pack!
+</p>
+<p>
+Also don't forget to visit the downloads page for the updated codec pack!
+</p>
@@ -439,13 +488,16 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="newforums">2004.04.26, Monday :: New ways of communication</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Alex</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
Since a while, MPlayer has two official IRC channels on the
<a href="http://www.freenode.net/">freenode</a> network:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li><b>#mplayer</b> for users</li>
<li><b>#mplayerdev</b> for developers</li>
@@ -460,21 +512,27 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="resurrection">2004.04.23, Friday :: Resurrection</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Alex</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
After two (nowadays not so active, but valuable) developers leaving the project
(both of them posting an unneeded news article about it), one could think it's
almost dead now. This assumption is false, other developers are still active,
-but busy with work.<br>
-<br>
+but busy with work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
Be prepared for a new tech release!
-<br><br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
<i>Just for clarification: I say 'unneeded news article', because many
developers left already without news entries and more joined the project
after them.</i>
+</p>
@@ -482,22 +540,24 @@
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="bxl2004">2004.04.23, Friday :: Say NO to software patents - Bruxelles 2004</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Alex</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
The <a href="http://www.ffii.org/">FFII</a> has organized a demo this year
just like the one in 2003.<br><br>
The MPlayer project is proud to be a part of the conferences: Diego Biurrun
and myself have been there and talked about patents and the KiSS issue with
known and great authorities, such as Alan Cox and George Greve (President
of FSF Europe).
-<br><br>
+</p>
+<p>
As a report, read
<a href="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-dev-eng/2004-April/025420.html">this</a>
post from Diego.
+</p>
@@ -511,20 +571,24 @@
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="leave2">2004.04.23, Friday :: Leaving</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
I've decided to leave the MPlayer project. Personal thanks go to:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li><b>A'rpi, Pontscho, Alex</b> for all the fun we've been through together</li>
<li><b>LGB</b> for his poetry</li>
<li><b>Diego Biurrun</b> for never giving up</li>
</ul>
-Farewell.
+<p>
+Farewell.
+</p>
@@ -538,57 +602,80 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="vuln02">2004.03.30, Tuesday :: Exploitable remote buffer overflow vulnerability in the HTTP parser</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+
+<h3>Severity:</h3>
-<b>Severity:</b><br>
+<p>
HIGH (if playing HTTP streaming content)<br>
LOW (if playing only normal files)<br>
<br>
-<b>Description:</b><br>
+
+<h3>Description:</h3>
+
+<p>
A remotely exploitable buffer overflow vulnerability was found in MPlayer.
A malicious host can craft a harmful HTTP header ("Location:"), and trick MPlayer
-into executing arbitrary code upon parsing that header.<br>
-<br>
-<b>affected MPlayer versions:</b><br>
+into executing arbitrary code upon parsing that header.
+</p>
+
+<h3>affected MPlayer versions:</h3>
+
+<p>
MPlayer 0.90pre series<br>
MPlayer 0.90rc series<br>
MPlayer 0.90<br>
MPlayer 0.91<br>
MPlayer 1.0pre1<br>
MPlayer 1.0pre2<br>
-MPlayer 1.0pre3<br>
-<br>
-<b>unaffected MPlayer versions:</b><br>
+MPlayer 1.0pre3
+</p>
+
+<h3>unaffected MPlayer versions:</h3>
+
+<p>
MPlayer releases before 0.60pre1<br>
MPlayer 0.92.1<br>
MPlayer 1.0pre3try2<br>
MPlayer 0_92 CVS<br>
-MPlayer HEAD CVS<br>
-<br>
-<b>Notification status:</b><br>
+MPlayer HEAD CVS
+</p>
+
+<h3>Notification status:</h3>
+
+<p>
Developers were notified on <b>2004.03.29</b> (by <b><a href="mailto:blexim at hush.com">"blexim"</a></b>)<br>
Fix was commited into HEAD CVS at <b>2004.03.30 12:58:43 CEST</b><br>
<i>MPlayer 0.92.1 (vuln-fix-only release)</i> was released on <b>2003.03.30
16:45:00 CEST</b><br>
<i>MPlayer 1.0pre3try2 (vuln-fix-only release)</i> was released on <b>2003.03.30
-16:51:00 CEST</b><br>
-<br>
-<b>Patch availability:</b><br>
+16:51:00 CEST</b>
+</p>
+
+<h3>Patch availability:</h3>
+
+<p>
A <a href="../../MPlayer/patches/vuln02-fix.diff">patch</a> for all
-vulnerable versions is available.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Suggested upgrading methods:</b><br>
-MPlayer 1.0pre3 users should upgrade to <b>latest CVS</b><br>
-MPlayer 0.92 (and below) users should upgrade to <b>0.92.1</b> OR
-<b>latest CVS</b><br>
-<br>
+vulnerable versions is available.
+</p>
+
+<h3>Suggested upgrading methods:</h3>
+
+<p>
+MPlayer 1.0pre3 users should upgrade to <b>latest CVS</b>.<br>
+MPlayer 0.92 (and below) users should upgrade to <b>0.92.1</b> or <b>latest CVS.</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
MPlayer 0.92.1
<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-0.92.1.tar.bz2.asc">(PGP signature)</a>
<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-0.92.1.tar.bz2.md5">(MD5 checksum)</a>
can be downloaded from the following sites:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li>Hungary 1 <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-0.92.1.tar.bz2">HTTP</a>
<a href="ftp://ftp1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-0.92.1.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
@@ -602,8 +689,14 @@
<li>Australia <a href="ftp://ftp6.mplayerhq.hu/pub/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-0.92.1.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
<li>Finland <a href="http://www7.mplayerhq.hu/pub/mplayer/releases/MPlayer-0.92.1.tar.bz2">HTTP</a></li>
</ul>
-<br>
-MPlayer 1.0pre3try2 <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre3try2.tar.bz2.asc">(PGP signature)</a> <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre3try2.tar.bz2.md5">(MD5 checksum)</a> can be downloaded from the following sites:
+
+<p>
+MPlayer 1.0pre3try2
+<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre3try2.tar.bz2.asc">(PGP signature)</a>
+<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre3try2.tar.bz2.md5">(MD5 checksum)</a>
+can be downloaded from the following sites:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li>Hungary 1 <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre3try2.tar.bz2">HTTP</a>
<a href="ftp://ftp1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-1.0pre3try2.tar.bz2">FTP</a></li>
@@ -631,19 +724,22 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="arpiton">2004.03.26, Friday :: Leaving MPlayer</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by A'rpi</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
I (A'rpi) already left MPlayer G1 a year ago, when 0.90 was released.
This is not YAML (Yet Another Mplayer Leaving :)), I left G1 dev
to work on MPlayer G2. Now I'm leaving the whole MPlayer project,
including G2 development and all the rest, except for MPHQ server
administration (for technical reasons). I did not read mplayer
lists (any) since months (except for a few mails pointed to me),
-and I lost the rest of my interest towards MPlayer development.<br>
-<br>
+and I lost the rest of my interest towards MPlayer development.
+</p>
+
+<p>
About G2, my primary reason of giving up on it was the dual
licensing issues, discussed recently on the g2-dev list.
My opinion about GPL was proven again, ie. it doesn't protect us
@@ -653,11 +749,14 @@
but GPL is too strict for this, and all other license options
were immediately refused by all other (potential) G2 developers.
Of course G2 can be written as free GPL software (free as RMS:)) too,
-but it will took long, and I have no interest to participate.<br>
-<br>
+but it will took long, and I have no interest to participate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
What's now with me? I'm back to some of my old projects, like AMC,
and I've started a new project about heuristic email virus scanning,
called <a href="http://mplayerhq.hu/~arpi/pymavis">pymavis</a>.
+</p>
@@ -668,22 +767,25 @@
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="poncsotilos">2004.03.10, Wednesday :: Radio interview with Pontscho</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
The hungarian <a href="http://www.tilos.hu">Tilos Radio</a>'s
<b>Speedlight</b> program has made a live interview with
Zoltán Ponekker (Pontscho), one of the MPlayer founders who has
developed significant parts of MPlayer, most notably the GUI
(Graphical User Interface).
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
Download the interview here (Hungarian):
<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/tilos/1800.mp3">1. part</a> |
<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/tilos/1830.mp3">2. part</a> |
<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/tilos/1900.mp3">3. part</a> |
+</p>
@@ -694,23 +796,25 @@
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="softonic2003">2004.03.06, Saturday :: Softonic Multimedia Award Won</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
Thanks to our fellow users, we've won another award, this time it is
<a href="http://www.softonic.com">Softonic's</a> <i>"Mejor Reproductor
de Vídeo"</i> trophy.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
<center>
<a href="http://www.softonic.com/premios/premios2003_linux.html">
-<img src="../images/softonic2003.png" alt="Softonic Award 2003" border=1></a></center>
-<br>
-Thanks for the support!
+<img src="../images/softonic2003.png" alt="Softonic Award 2003" border=1></a>
+</center>
+<p>
+Thanks for the support!
+</p>
@@ -721,95 +825,121 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="scsi">2004.01.26, Monday :: MPlayerHQ server update: moved to SCSI disks</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Arpi</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
Thanks to the great donations by Charlie (Adaptec 29160 controller)
and Lupin III (2 x 36GB 10krpm disks), we could finally move OS and
data (mailing lists, cvs, web etc) to SCSI base,
hopefully solving the continous stability issues we had with those
old IBM IDE disks since December. It should also improve speed and
-reaction time of the server.<br>
+reaction time of the server.
+</p>
+
+<p>
Anyway we still have a small problem: the disks have 80-pin (SCA)
connectors, and the 80-to-68pin converters I could buy here
don't work in LVD mode, thus limiting bandwith to 40Mb/sec (SE mode).
It should be enough for our current needs, but if you have 2 pieces of
spare LVD-capable 80/68 converters, don't hesitate to donate! :)
+</p>
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="HUPAward2003">2004.01.19, Monday :: HUP Reader's Choice Awards 2003</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Alex</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+
+<p>
+2003 seems to be the year of MPlayer. Yet another award we got!
+</p>
-2003 seems to be the year of MPlayer. Yet another award we got!<br><br>
+<p>
The Hungarian Unix Portal - the biggest Hungarian free software site -
promoted it's first Reader's Choice Awards in November 2003. Members
could vote starting on 19th November 2003 until the 20th December 2003.
-<br><br>
-For the people, who don't speak Hungarian, here are the results:<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the people, who don't speak Hungarian, here are the results:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li>1. MPlayer (<b>96%</b>)</li>
<li>2. xine (<b>2%</b>)</li>
<li>3. VideoLan and avifile - head to head</li>
</ul>
+
+<p>
The Hungarian speaking minority could visit the portal:
<a href="http://www.hup.hu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4977">article</a>
about the winners.
+</p>
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="LqAward2003">2004.01.18, Sunday :: LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Diego</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
<a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/">LinuxQuestions.org</a> has
finished voting for its LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award and
MPlayer has been voted
<a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116684">Multimedia application of the Year</a>.
-<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
<center>
<a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116684">
-<img src="../images/LQ-2003MCA-MultimediaApp.gif" alt="2003 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award" border=1></a></center>
-<br>
+<img src="../images/LQ-2003MCA-MultimediaApp.gif" alt="2003 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award" border=1></a>
+</center>
+
+<p>
MPlayer received 44.61% of the votes, beating
<a href="http://www.xmms.org">XMMS</a> with 27.90% and
<a href="http://www.xinehq.de">xine</a> with 17.40%.
+</p>
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="ext2sux">2004.01.15, Thursday :: Mailing lists problem</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Arpi</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
Thanks to the serie of IDE HDD crashes we've got in past weeks,
-some of the mailman config/user databases got corrupted.<br>
-<br>
+some of the mailman config/user databases got corrupted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
Especially the <b>MPlayer-G2-dev</b> list, which is uncorrectable, so
I've re-created the list today, and subscribed everyone again, at
least who subscribed until Aug 15 this year. I have no info
about member (un)subscribes past that date, as I've disabled the
-notification. Please verify your membership and settings!<br>
-<br>
+notification. Please verify your membership and settings!
+</p>
+
+<p>
Since the <b>MPlayer-users</b> list also got somehow corrupted,
several people reported that they either stop receiving mail
or begin to receive them again despite of their are no longer
member (they've already unsubscribed). Anyway this list has
-over 1500 members, many of them with broken (bouncing) addresses.<br>
-<br>
-<i><b>UPDATE:</b></i>
+over 1500 members, many of them with broken (bouncing) addresses.
+</p>
+
+<h3>UPDATE:</h3>
+
+<p>
So, to clean things up, I've created an mplayer-newusers list, but
Attila Kinali suggested a better method: send a mail asking everyone
at mplayer-users to subscribe again, mass unsubscribe everyone,
@@ -817,80 +947,100 @@
So, you have to subscribe again, even if you were already subscribed:
<a href="http://mplayerhq.hu/mailman/listinfo/mplayer-users/">
SUBSCRIBE</a>.
+</p>
-
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="kiss05">2004.01.10, Saturday :: Radio interview: Kiss VS MPlayer</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
The Danish National Radio (<a href="http://dr.dk">http://dr.dk</a>) has
made an interview with me (as MPlayer representative), and
<a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a>'s
managing director
-<a href="mailto:peter.wilmar.christensen at kiss-technology.com">Peter Wilmar Christensen</a>.<br>
-<br>
+<a href="mailto:peter.wilmar.christensen at kiss-technology.com">Peter Wilmar Christensen</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
It is going to be broadcasted tonight at 20:35, but it is also
downloadable from the Internet right now:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li><a href="rtsp://real01.dr.dk/p1/harddisk/040108_kiss-vs-mplayer.rm">streaming</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/mp-kiss-gabu.rm">downloadable file</a></li>
</ul>
+
+<p>
A written article is <a href="http://www.dr.dk/videnskab/harddisken/artikler/2004/kiss-vs-mplayer.asp">also available</a>,
-in Danish.<br>
-<br>
+in Danish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
We have made a rough english translation of the session (thanks to
-Anders Rune Jensen). <u>Our commentaries can be found at the bottom</u>.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The development of <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> was started by a little group of
-Hungarian programmers 3 years ago.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> We needed a program that could play media files under Linux
+Anders Rune Jensen). <u>Our commentaries can be found at the bottom</u>.
+</p>
+
+<dl>
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>The development of <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> was
+ started by a little group of Hungarian programmers 3 years ago.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>We needed a program that could play media files under Linux
and were so unsatisfied with the existing choices that we started making
a better alternative - said Gabucino, the spokesperson for the
-<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> programmers.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> has reached a wide recognition in the Open Source
+<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> programmers.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd><a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> has reached a wide recognition in the Open Source
community. Gabucino emphasizes the program's stability and ability to
-play many different movie formats as some of the obvious advantages.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The trouble with <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss technology</a> started recently when one of
+play many different movie formats as some of the obvious advantages.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>The trouble with <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss technology</a> started recently when one of
the MPlayer developers was shopping for a new DVD player
and went for a product by the Danish company. For fun the programmer
started looking at the software in the Danish DVD player, the so
called firmware, and compared it with MPlayer's own code. There were
enough similarities to take a closer look at the case and make the
-<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team angry - Gabucino said.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The specific part of the code in which the similarities are found
+<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team angry - Gabucino said.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>The specific part of the code in which the similarities are found
is the one controlling the subtitles when playing movies.
The reality is that the code doesn't contain anything really brilliant. On
the contrary, it's very simple. So Gabucino is puzzled why anyone would
even bother using the code instead of writing it themselves. He
-suggests that it could be laziness on the programmer's side.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> I think it's actually a very normal thing that programmers
+suggests that it could be laziness on the programmer's side.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>I think it's actually a very normal thing that programmers
borrow Open Source code because they are too lazy to write it
themselves. There have been some cases prior to this which have
caused quite a lot of trouble. I think there are hundreds of
-examples like this that we just don't hear about - Gabucino said.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team has published the accusation of the code
+examples like this that we just don't hear about - Gabucino said.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>The <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team has published the accusation of the code
theft on their website and has tried to document it by listing the
strings in the code which are identical in the two pieces of software.
According to Gabucino, there are so many similarities that it's
-unthinkable that this might be a coincidence.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> Normally this type of code is different depending on who
+unthinkable that this might be a coincidence.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>Normally this type of code is different depending on who
implemented it, so, when there are so many identical strings, it's
-obvious that we're dealing with theft, the Hungarians believe.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> GPL or General Public License which <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> is licensed under
+obvious that we're dealing with theft, the Hungarians believe.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>GPL or General Public License which <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> is licensed under
is a very widely used Open Source license, which gives the users
certain rights and certain duties. Long story short, it is okay to take
the code from <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> and develop it further, as long as the result is
@@ -899,9 +1049,10 @@
the software used in its DVD players. And makes it clear that it is
not a matter of getting some money from the Danish company, but a
matter of fulfilling the requirements of the GPL and releasing the
-software.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> at first didn't react to the Hungarians'
+software.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd><a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> at first didn't react to the Hungarians'
inquiry, but after the story began to get large publicity in the
different net-medias and forums the company began to investigate
the case this week. There are two main questions: whether
@@ -916,9 +1067,10 @@
licenses. But <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss</a> proclaims that the programs used in the machines on
top of the operating system, which enables them to play video and
music files are the company's own and therefore are not required to be
-released, the managing director Peter Christensen explains.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> I would say that the is no truth to the accusations. In large
+released, the managing director Peter Christensen explains.</dd>
+
+<dt>Peter:</dt>
+<dd>I would say that the is no truth to the accusations. In large
there has been some interest regarding our applications recently and
around GPL, which is the software used in the Open Source community
which requires you to publish the source code if you use it. And there
@@ -932,14 +1084,16 @@
player like we know from Real Player, Microsoft Media Player is the
application used to display movies. It is a fundamental thing for our
player, because it's what we are known for, being able to play a wide
-range of different formats.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The documentation the Hungarians has presented on their
+range of different formats.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>The documentation the Hungarians has presented on their
website is parts from your code. By simply comparing the strings line
for line and concludes that they are so identical that this can be no
-coincidence. What is your comment on this?<br>
-<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> We are currently investigating exactly that specific part, how
+coincidence. What is your comment on this?</dd>
+
+<dt>Peter:</dt>
+<dd>We are currently investigating exactly that specific part, how
that can be and if it's really true what they say. Currently we have
not investigated it enough to be sure whether or not they are right or
wrong in their accusations. What is important is that we do not use
@@ -954,18 +1108,20 @@
we do not use their application. If there are a few identical lines
then one might ask themselves how that has happened. But it could have just
as well come from one side as from the other. In any case, we are under no
-circumstances of the opinion that we have borrowed code.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> Whoever made the code for subtitles in the Hungarian software
+circumstances of the opinion that we have borrowed code.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>Whoever made the code for subtitles in the Hungarian software
and in the Danish DVD players can be thought of as a minor issue in
today's world. But what is important is the matter of principles in
this specific issue and what private companies can allow themselves
when they use Open Source and on the other hand what the Open Source
community can expect from the companies. Because of the current case,
managing director Peter Wilmar Christensen has had a closer look
-at the GPL license and evaluated its legal status.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> We have confirmed what we already knew, that when using code
+at the GPL license and evaluated its legal status.</dd>
+
+<dt>Peter:</dt>
+<dd>We have confirmed what we already knew, that when using code
licensed under the GPL then we have to publish any derivative work.
This means that the legal foundation is very thin and there is no
place in the world that I know of where the GPL has been tested in
@@ -974,33 +1130,39 @@
Open Source community which I think - all in all - is positive.
But it is clear that as a commercial company living off selling its
product, can not and will not release its proprietary code. It is naturally
-so that one should not use GPL code in proprietary systems.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b>According to Gabucino, the Hungarian software
+so that one should not use GPL code in proprietary systems.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>ccording to Gabucino, the Hungarian software
developers of <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> are glad that
-their accusation against the Danish company has reached the media. <br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> As he said, there are no big economical options for
+their accusation against the Danish company has reached the media. </dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>As he said, there are no big economical options for
dragging the case to court. Instead they hope that the Open Source
community will put so much pressure on Kiss Techonology that they
-will be forced to release all its software.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> But that completely out of the question, said the managing
+will be forced to release all its software.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>But that completely out of the question, said the managing
director Peter Wilmar Christensen, even though he is very keen on
-staying good friends with the Open Source community.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> We don't have any intentions of working against or in another
+staying good friends with the Open Source community.</dd>
+
+<dt>Peter:</dt>
+<dd>We don't have any intentions of working against or in another
way make enemies with the people in this community. We try to tell
what we use and what guidelines we follow. Have we made any error,
such as making incorrect descriptions in our manuals then we will of
course fix those things. It is not so that we in any way want
confrontation, but we have to make a clear statement that our
-software will not be released as Open Source.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> What is your conclusion of this case, what will it be after
-this?<br>
-<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> The conclusion will be that the licenses in this area are a good
+software will not be released as Open Source.</dd>
+
+<dt>Speaker:</dt>
+<dd>What is your conclusion of this case, what will it be after
+this?</dd>
+
+<dt>Peter:</dt>
+<dd>The conclusion will be that the licenses in this area are a good
description of how one ought to operate within this community. They're
more of a tool to describe how to operate than a set of rules that can
be used in court. And I think that the Open Source circles uses far
@@ -1010,35 +1172,50 @@
much and see it as a good thing for the industry. Generally that there
is an alternative to the Microsoft community. But we think that the
community should respect the companies who use Linux and not hunt
-them because I don't think that's beneficial for anyone.<br>
-<br>
-<i>END OF TRANSLATION</i><br>
-<br>
+them because I don't think that's beneficial for anyone.</dd>
+</dl>
+
+<p>
+<i>END OF TRANSLATION</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
<b>Gabucino's comments</b>: I find it quite disgusting to read so much
plain lies. It's obvious how companies like Kiss or SCO treat
-open source. Let's read these particular sentences again:<br>
-<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> <i>...There are a lot of things
+open source. Let's read these particular sentences again:
+</p>
+
+<dl>
+<dt>Peter:</dt>
+<dd><i>...There are a lot of things
that could have happened, one could imagine that code from our
community has spread to other communities included the Open Source and
code originating from our player could accordingly be a part of
<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>, if in fact there are any similarities. It can be hard to
tell how those similarities have supposedly started. What is important is that
we do not use their application. If there are a few identical lines
-then one might ask themselves how that has happened.</i><br>
-<br>
+then one might ask themselves how that has happened.</i></dd>
+</dl>
+
+<p>
It's quite clear that they've never read our News section, because we
hurried to state they've even stolen <b><i>our own</i></b> subtitle
file format MPsub (<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/subosd.html#mpsub">see our
-specifications</a>).<br>
-<br>
+specifications</a>).
+</p>
+
+<p>
Its idea was mine, then I asked <i>laaz</i> if he would be so kind as
to implement it in MPlayer. Then in 2001 October 12 at 13:51:58 he
commited the support, as can be
<a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/main/subreader.c.diff?r1=1.27&r2=1.28">seen here</a>.
-The format was never spotted in the wild.<br>
-<br>
-Several things can be concluded:<br>
+The format was never spotted in the wild.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Several things can be concluded:
+</p>
+
<ol>
<li><a href="mailto:peter.wilmar.christensen at kiss-technology.com">Mr. Christensen</a>
never took the time to read our announcements.</li>
@@ -1054,9 +1231,13 @@
another way make enemies with the people in this (Open
Source) community."</i></li>
</ol>
+
+<p>
Actually we can picture a quite nice representation of their viewpoint,
especially after seeing their unwillingness to start a conversation
with us in E-Mail. <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a>'s views are:
+</p>
+
<ol>
<li><i>"...making our source open to public is out of
question"</i></li>
@@ -1074,8 +1255,10 @@
'our sources are ours, it's completely obfuscated, but yes,
our claims are the truth, yours are plain lies'</li>
</ol>
-How come companies like Kiss cant'be punished by Law?
+<p>
+How come companies like Kiss cant'be punished by Law?
+</p>
@@ -1085,22 +1268,31 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="kiss04">2004.01.07, Wednesday :: Update on Kiss Technology</a>
- <br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+ <br>mv <span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
+</h2>
+<p>
The binaries in Kiss Technology's newer firmwares doesn't seem to
contain our strings <i>at the first sight</i>.
First we though they are encrypted, or obfuscated in some other way,
like an executable packer. Actually these new files are simply
-compressed with gzip. Decompressing them is very simple:<br>
-<br>
-<code>dd if=fileplayer.bin bs=64 skip=1 | gunzip > fileplayer.bin.decomp</code><br>
-<br>
-The strings are still there. Nothing has changed.<br>
-<br>
-Downloads:<br>
+compressed with gzip. Decompressing them is very simple:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<code>dd if=fileplayer.bin bs=64 skip=1 | gunzip > fileplayer.bin.decomp</code>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The strings are still there. Nothing has changed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Downloads:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li><a href="http://kiss-technology.com/files/firmware/KiSS_DP-1000_FW2.8.0_PAL.zip">a new firmware</a></li>
</ul>
@@ -1114,29 +1306,37 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="kiss03">2004.01.03, Saturday :: Another stolen software in Kiss firmware</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
It has been brought to my attention, that the now famous <i>Kiss
Technology</i> - already <a href="#kiss01">in violation of the GNU
General Public License</a> - has been confirmed stealing another
-program which is also completely under the GPL license.<br>
-<br>
+program which is also completely under the GPL license.
+</p>
+
+<p>
The software in question is the high-quality MPEG audio codec,
<a href="http://www.underbit.com/products/">MAD</a> (libmad).
This codec is used by a lot of other audio players, like
<a href="http://mpg321.sourceforge.net/">mpg321</a>, a command line
-MP3 player found in most Linux distributions - including Debian.<br>
-<br>
+MP3 player found in most Linux distributions - including Debian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
The strings from the Kiss firmware (matching
<a href="ftp://ftp.mars.org/pub/mpeg/libmad-0.15.0b.tar.gz">libmad sources</a>),
can be <a href="http://mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/kiss/libmad.str">viewed</a> -
-but you can also check it for yourself, it's really easy.<br>
-<br>
+but you can also check it for yourself, it's really easy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
And if you do: don't be surprised when you run into <b>more</b> strings -
which match <a href="http://www.ijg.org">libjpeg</a>'s.
+</p>
@@ -1146,16 +1346,20 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="kiss02">2004.01.03, Saturday :: Kiss Tech comment</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
Before I get another 10 mails about this: the <code>GPL.ZIP</code> file
which they offer for download on their site contains <i>only the Linux
-kernel and busybox sources</i>, not MPlayer's!<br>
-<br>
+kernel and busybox sources</i>, not MPlayer's!
+</p>
+
+<p>
Thanks.
+</p>
@@ -1166,21 +1370,28 @@
-<h3>
+<h2>
<a name="kiss01">2004.01.02, Friday :: Another GPL violation: Kiss Technology</a>
<br><span class="poster">posted by Gabucino</span>
-</h3>
+</h2>
+<p>
Basically <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a>
is specialized in particular kinds of media hardware, namely DVD and
MPEG-4 players,
-set-top-boxes, <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=profile&v=company">and such.</a><br>
-<br>
-There is nothing wrong with that.<br>
-<br>
+set-top-boxes, <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=profile&v=company">and such.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is nothing wrong with that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
However, if a careless user initiates a string search in one of their
-firmwares:<br>
-<br>
+firmwares:
+</p>
+
+<p>
<code>
$ strings KiSS_DP-508_FW2.7.4_PAL.iso | grep -A 3 -B 6 MPSub<br>
Microdvd<br>
@@ -1194,9 +1405,13 @@
Subrip 0.9<br>
Jacosub<br>
</code>
-<br>
-Running the same command on the MPlayer binary:<br>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Running the same command on the MPlayer binary:
+</p>
+
+<p>
<code>
$ strings /usr/bin/mplayer | grep -B 8 mpsub -A 4<br>
<...><br>
@@ -1212,26 +1427,38 @@
jacosub<br>
<...><br>
</code>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
You can also check the <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/main/subreader.h?rev=1.29&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup"><code>subreader.h</code></a>
or the <a href="http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/main/subreader.c?rev=1.126&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup"><code>subreader.c</code></a>
-files in MPlayer sources.<br>
-<br>
+files in MPlayer sources.
+</p>
+
+<p>
As you can see, the KiSS firmware contains the subtitle formats in
the very same order as we do. The thing that really catches the eye is
the <b>MPSub</b> format, which is our own subtitle format, which hasn't
-been used anywhere else so far.<br>
-<br>
+been used anywhere else so far.
+</p>
+
+<p>
Another nice nit is the <i>"dunnowhat"</i> AKA <i>"unknown"</i>
subtitle format, whose name remains unknown for us - thus the naming.
-It's the same in KiSS' files.<br>
-<br>
+It's the same in KiSS' files.
+</p>
+
+<p>
This of course is hardly enough for a proof. What really makes it
a one hundred percent stealing is quite obvious: the sscanf() calls
which contains the patterns of the subtitle formats known to the subtitle
-parser, in order to identify the chosen subtitle file.<br>
-<br>
+parser, in order to identify the chosen subtitle file.
+</p>
+
+<p>
Let's take an easy example:
+</p>
+
<pre><code>
$ strings fileplayer.bin
<...>
@@ -1264,15 +1491,20 @@
-->>
<...>
</code></pre>
-<br>
+
+<p>
These are the patterns we use to identify a SAMI subtitle file.
We have one more pattern in our parser, which was commited on
2003 July 20, in effect of supporting a new subtitle format,
called "ASS". Kiss Tech's files are missing this one, so they must
-have lifted our code before that date.<br>
-<br>
-Let's see another:<br>
-<br>
+have lifted our code before that date.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let's see another:
+</p>
+
+<p>
<code>
$ strings fileplayer.bin<br>
<...><br>
@@ -1283,7 +1515,9 @@
<%*[tT]ime %*[bB]egin="%d:%d.%d" %*[Ee]nd="%d:%d.%d"%*[^<]<clear/>%n<br>
<...><br>
</code>
-<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>
<code>
$ strings subreader.o<br>
<...><br>
@@ -1294,16 +1528,23 @@
<%*[tT]ime %*[bB]egin="%d:%d.%d" %*[Ee]nd="%d:%d.%d"%*[^<]<clear/>%n<br>
<...><br>
</code>
-<br>
-These are the patterns we use to identify an RT subtitle file.<br>
-<br>
+
+<p>
+These are the patterns we use to identify an RT subtitle file.
+</p>
+
+<p>
<b>Every single one</b> of their patterns match ours! This is not
coincidence. This is stealing GPL code into a proprietary
product! Kiss Technology failed to answer our inquiry for their
source files (which they are obligated to provide), so this news
-entry is posted.<br>
-<br>
-Downloads:<br>
+entry is posted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Downloads:
+</p>
+
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com/files/firmware/KiSS_DP-508_FW2.7.4_PAL.zip">Kiss firmware</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/kiss/kiss-fileplayer.bin.str">Kiss fileplayer strings</a></li>
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