[PATCH] gnu: icecat: Add ffmpeg support.

[PATCH] gnu: icecat: Add ffmpeg support.

[Mathieu OTHACEHE]

* gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm (icecat)[inputs]: Add ffmpeg.
[libxul-linked-libraries]: Add avcodec and avutil libraries (provided by
ffmpeg).

Signed-off-by: Mathieu OTHACEHE <m.othacehe@gmail.com>
---

Hi,

Thanks to this patch, icecat is able to use ffmpeg to
decode various codecs previously unhandled.

Mathieu

 gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm | 3 ++-
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm b/gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm
index 07ed2af0b..0698d0bcc 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm
@@ -423,6 +423,7 @@ standards.")
        ("libxcomposite" ,libxcomposite)
        ("libxt" ,libxt)
        ("libffi" ,libffi)
+       ("ffmpeg" ,ffmpeg)
        ("libvpx" ,libvpx)
        ("icu4c" ,icu4c)
        ("pixman" ,pixman)
@@ -544,7 +545,7 @@ standards.")
               (("^# This needs to be last")
                "OS_LIBS += [
     'GL', 'gnome-2', 'canberra', 'Xss', 'cups', 'gssapi_krb5',
-    'gstreamer-1.0', 'gstapp-1.0', 'gstvideo-1.0' ]\n\n"))
+    'gstreamer-1.0', 'gstapp-1.0', 'gstvideo-1.0', 'avcodec', 'avutil']\n\n"))
             #t))
          (replace
           'configure
-- 
2.11.0

Re: [PATCH] gnu: icecat: Add ffmpeg support.

[Danny Milosavljevic]

Hi,

On Mon,  9 Jan 2017 22:28:39 +0100
Mathieu OTHACEHE <m.othacehe@gmail.com> wrote:

> * gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm (icecat)[inputs]: Add ffmpeg.
> [libxul-linked-libraries]: Add avcodec and avutil libraries (provided by
> ffmpeg).

What advantage does using both gstreamer and ffmpeg in the same program bring to just using gstreamer? Aren't they both multimedia frameworks?

Re: [PATCH] gnu: icecat: Add ffmpeg support.

[Mark H Weaver]

Mathieu OTHACEHE <m.othacehe@gmail.com> writes:

> * gnu/packages/gnuzilla.scm (icecat)[inputs]: Add ffmpeg.
> [libxul-linked-libraries]: Add avcodec and avutil libraries (provided by
> ffmpeg).

icecat is already configured to use 'gstreamer', and we have the
'gst-libav' package that provides access to ffmpeg codec via gstreamer.

Have you tried installing 'gst-libav' in your profile?  That's what I
do, and I'm able to watch videos in icecat that use those codecs.

      Mark

Re: [PATCH] gnu: icecat: Add ffmpeg support.

[Mathieu OTHACEHE]

> Have you tried installing 'gst-libav' in your profile?  That's what I
> do, and I'm able to watch videos in icecat that use those codecs.

Yes I tried but I'm still not able to read videos from dailymotion or
vimeo for instance. With this patch, it seems to work.

Youtube also report support for H.264 and MSE & H.264 is problematic
with current icecat (with or without gst-libav), but working with this
patch.

See: https://www.youtube.com/html5

Do you share the same observations ?

Thanks,

Mathieu

Re: [PATCH] gnu: icecat: Add ffmpeg support.

[Mark H Weaver]

Mathieu OTHACEHE <m.othacehe@gmail.com> writes:

>> Have you tried installing 'gst-libav' in your profile?  That's what I
>> do, and I'm able to watch videos in icecat that use those codecs.
>
> Yes I tried but I'm still not able to read videos from dailymotion or
> vimeo for instance. With this patch, it seems to work.
>
> Youtube also report support for H.264 and MSE & H.264 is problematic
> with current icecat (with or without gst-libav), but working with this
> patch.
>
> See: https://www.youtube.com/html5
>
> Do you share the same observations ?

Indeed, you're right.  For some reason, our current IceCat package
doesn't acknowledge the existence of the H.264 decoder in gst-libav,
although 'totem' is able to play such files via gstreamer and gst-libav.

It would be preferable to find out why the gstreamer approach is not
working properly.  I see at least three disadvantages of depending on
ffmpeg directly:

1. Every time ffmpeg is updated, IceCat would need to be recompiled.

2. Users who wish to avoid codecs under threat by patent holders would
   have no easy recourse, whereas currently they can simply avoid
   installing 'gst-libav'.

3. Supporting all of the codecs in ffmpeg entails a security risk,
   because it contains a large number of codecs, some of which surely
   have security flaws.  An attacker can find an obscure codec in there
   that nobody uses and exploit it.  At present, users can greatly
   mitigate this risk by installing only 'gst-plugins-good'.

For multiple reasons, it would be best to isolate patent-encumbered
codecs to optional plugins, rather than "baking them in" to our
packages.

What do you think?

Thank you for looking into this.

       Mark