[aklug] Re: Debian Day August 16, 2015

On 08/16/2015 10:37 PM, Royce Williams wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 10:25 PM, Greg Schmitz <greg@amipa.org> wrote:
>> From Wheezy a while back, "This package contains the deprecated ffmpeg
>> program. This package also serves as a transitional package to libav-tools.
>> Users are advised to use avconv from the libav-tools package instead of
>> ffmpeg." <https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/ffmpeg>
>>
>> My issue with Debian has to do with trust and the integrity of the OS
>> package, as well as functionality. At least one of the folks in a position
>> to influence what is/was included in the Debian distro was also affiliated
>> with libav (forked from ffmpeg) and managed to get ffmpeg pulled from the
>> Debian distro. I was shocked when I installed a Debian package and was
>> informed that ffmpeg was "Deprecated," which was of course a lie (and not
>> included in the distro or the repository either). FFmpeg is a tool that I
>> use on a regular basis. What other packages have been discarded by Debian
>> for reasons other than functionality and use? Ironically Debian has now
>> moved back to ffmpeg and dropped libav [1].
>>
>> --greg schmitz
>>
>> [1] Corbet, Jonathan. "Why Debian returned to FFmpeg" 2015 July 13;
>> https://lwn.net/Articles/650816/
> Very informative - hadn't heard about the libav/ffmpeg tussle. Thanks
> for relaying this.
>
> Royce

Corbet, it seems to me, is careful in his article about Debian returning
to ffmpeg to avoid a discussion of why the choice was made to remove
ffmpeg from the Debian distro in the first place. That has been
discussed elsewhere and makes for interesting reading. It's also worth
noting that the battle has taken its toll and that Michael Neidermayer
has resigned from the ffmpeg project:

"The leader of the FFmpeg open source project has resigned amid ongoing
turmoil among the project's
developers."<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/05/ffmpeg_leader_steps_down/
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/05/ffmpeg_leader_steps_down/>>

FWIW Neidermayer, who is one of the folks working on the ffv1 open
source codec <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFV1>, has, it seems,
offered assurances that he will continue his work on the codec.

--greg schmitz

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Received on Mon Aug 17 00:12:43 2015