[MPlayer-users] SqueezeCenter Installation [Solved]

[C. Andrews Lavarre]

Dominik hello. Thank you for your time and clarification.

Happy New Year!

> Assuming you're running OpenSUSE, that's where you went off track.
> You should always use the distribution-provided tools for software
> installation. 

Well thanks, I agree, but if the repositories and installation disks are 
blank for the requested subject then you really are left with doing it 
manually:

Entering
	mplayer
into yast2 results in
	no results
which sent me down the path I outlined.

>> So then I try to download the svn source: svn checkout 
>> svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
>>
>> Nothing happens. Yes, I have all the svn modules installed, but it just 
>> hangs.
> 
> How long have you waited? It works fine here. Your firewall might be blocking
> the svn:// protocol.

Thanks, google gives me
	http://svn.haxx.se/users/archive-2007-02/0443.shtml:
	> the svn:// protocol uses port 3690

Well of course. I should have known that... :-)

So based on this tip, I opened TCP port 3690 and tried again here:
	svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
and now it downloads a long list of files to /root/mplayer.

Running {{{./configure}}} as root results in a list of loaded and 
disabled codecs. Then running make goes on for a very long time, like 
about 15 minutes.

{{{make install}}} is instantaneous. Phew.

So now it works. Thanks for the clue:

The clue is:

*** svn is a protocol that requires opening port 3690. As this is well 
beyond the first 1024 common ports it requires some kind of awareness, 
not some dude just wanting to play music...

:-)

 >> A work in progress.
 >>
 >> We need to do a lot better.
 >
 > Perhaps. Any constructive suggestions?

Well, it depends on what we are trying to do. IF it is art for arts sake 
then we proceed on course. If it is to offer free software (with all its 
philosophical and ethical implications) as an alternative to inferior 
proprietary offerings then we need to make it a lot easier. I am neither 
a newbie nor a novice in computers, development, or even Linux 
administration. But I clearly was ignorant of svn. Never heard of it. I 
know CVS but had not stumbled across svn, nor its requirement for 
opening a firewall port.

In terms of constructive:

I guess my point is that it really needs to be a lot easier than 
presented by the homepage and download sites.

How about adding a paragraph on the download page to the effect of the 
following, now posted on my blog page 
(http://genietvanhetleven.blogspot.com/) feel free to copy:
===============================
MPLAYER DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION FOR DUMMIES

1. Always try to download mplayer using your distribution's software 
manager:
| Distro | Manager|
|OpenSuse | YaST |
|Fedora | yum |
|Debian |apt|
|Ubuntu | ~|

If these fail then add the "packman" repository to your manager:

	http://opensuse-community.org/Package_Sources/Packman

(see that page).

If you are using OpenSuSE 11.1 then issue the following command as root 
(all one line):

	zypper addrepo --repo 
http://packman.mirrors.skynet.be/pub/packman/suse/11.1/Packman.repo

and then try again by asking YaST for mplayer. It should give you a host 
of modules, select them all and click ACCEPT.

If that fails then the best answer is to use the ''svn'' repository. 
''svn'' is a process ("protocol") for frequently updating the status and 
files of a software project, such as mplayer. Developers submit daily 
changes to the component files. The files are accessed by using the 
program ''svn'', which may already have been installed on your machine 
by your installation system. Type
	svn help
as root at a terminal to determine whether or not it exists, and if not 
then install it.

Once installed, svn uses a unique internet permissions protocol, called 
a "port", to access the updated files. Your firewall needs to give 
permission for the port to be seen and accessed by servers on the 
internet. Otherwise svn cannot find its target.

"Guarddog" from http://www.simonzone.com/ is an excellent tool to 
configure your firewall. You can add "ports" in the Advanced tab of the 
program, then tick the boxes in the Protocol tab for Internet, local and 
your local network.

Check your results with  https://www.grc.com/ (using the ShieldsUp! 
option) to ensure you have not exposed yourself by opening this port.

Once past all that housekeeping, simply enter the following commands in 
sequence in a terminal //as root//:
	
svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
	# This will download the main software and most of its dependencies and 
associated codecs. It will not get ALL of them... :-(

	cd /root/mplayer	# This moves you to where the files have been downloaded

	./configure	# This is the normal start of an installation sequence that 
creates a "makefile" summary of all the files that need to be installed

	make	# This uses the results of ./configure to compile the program

	make install # This installs the program.

Test your result by typing

	mplayer

as either user or root.

For the explorers among you, this site seems to say it all:

http://linux.justinhartman.com/FFmpeg,_FFmpeg-PHP,_Lame,_Libogg,_Libvorbis,_FLVtool2,_Mplayer,_Mencoder,_AMR_Installation#Download_all_the_files_needed

If it works, Enjoy!

If it doesn't, then have a nice day. Google is your friend. Consider 
joining:

"MPlayer usage questions, feature requests, bug reports" 
<mplayer-users at mplayerhq.hu>
===============================

How's THAT for constructive?  :-)

The rest is mooted by these discoveries, thanks, but for the record:

In OpenSUSE's case, you should add packman's repository
> to your software sources list and install MPlayer via yast or zypper,
> either of which should resolve the dependencies and download them all.

Um, how do I do that? There is nothing on the homepage about doing this. 
Googling "packman repository" does show me where to go, and I 
successfully do so, and yast2 installs ALMOST all the modules (

>> OK, now try for a tar ball. First check the repository:
>> 	http://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk/
>> nothing visible there.
> 
> MPlayer nightly snapshots are linked from the download page. You must've
> missed them.

Thanks again, I agree, but what does it take to not miss them. I'm at 
the homepage
	http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html
If the links are not on the download page then where //are// they?

I then go to the repository http://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk/ and 
see no entries. I try to add it to yast2 as a http repository, but yast 
replies
	Unable to create repository from URL http://svn.mplayerhq.hu

I then enter the server and directory as an explicit repository but it 
gets saved as a "service" rather than a "repository". I then tell yast 
to search for repositories filtered on (severally) svn and mplayer, but 
it does not find anything.

So there is something afoul in Finland (or Hungary) that this cannot be 
added as a repository to YaST in the straightforward manner...
> 
>> So then I try a bz2 source archive: All kinds of googling, no joy, but 
>> FINALLY I find
>> http://linux.justinhartman.com/FFmpeg,_FFmpeg-PHP,_Lame,_Libogg,_Libvorbis,_FLVtool2,_Mplayer,_Mencoder,_AMR_Installation#Download_all_the_files_needed
>>
>> What a joy.
>>
>> But alas subversion fails again.
>>

This is an exhaustive (and exhausting) site, again well past my 
currently available skills and resources (time).

So, in summary, I think embedding the above snippet or simply pointing 
folks to my blog would solve the problem for a lot of people.

So again, bottom line, while I have solved MY problem, thanks to your 
tip, the homepage needs to be more expositional. Perhaps my 
"constructive" offering above may help.

Thank you for YOUR time in replying.

Kind regards, Andy