ffmpeg needs updating.

[Fabian Greffrath]

Dear Derek,

user.vdr schrieb:
> I did try to compile the ffmpeg svn, which was successful but (of
> course) the svn didn't come with debian/rules so the only way to
> create a package out of it, that I'm aware of, was using checkinstall.
>  This was the method recommended to me.  The problem is that for
> everything that expects the '-dev' packages, it failed to detect them
> even though the .so's were in the right place.

Checkinstall is crap, please do not use it!

If you realy want to stay on the "bleeding edge", I'd recommend to use 
the packages that we provide in experimental.

> If I may ask, what's the reason for leaving heavily used packages such
> as ffmpeg in such an old state when newer more capable source exists
> that has proven to be stable?

Please have a look at the changelog of the package currently in lenny:
http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/f/ffmpeg-debian/ffmpeg-debian_0.svn20080206-15/changelog

You'll see that it has been uploaded in March 2008 to experimental. 
Since then we have applied many, many changes to the package. Patches 
have been removed, configure flags have been added, etc. All this 
effort has been done to *stabilize* the package. The highest priority 
for the Debian stable release (which is what Lenny is about to become) 
is stability. You can say, the package needed about one year from its 
initial upload to stabilize and reach a state in which it can be 
released as part of Debian stable in good faith.

Thank you for your understanding,
Fabian

-- 
Dipl.-Phys. Fabian Greffrath

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Lehrstuhl für Energieanlagen und Energieprozesstechnik (LEAT)
Universitätsstr. 150, IB 3/134
D-44780 Bochum

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E-Mail:  greffrath at leat.ruhr-uni-bochum.de