ffmpeg support not compiled in

Audacity 3 Help Forum GNU/Linux
1

Which version of Linux you are using - MINT DEBIAN - LMDE
The exact three-section version of Audacity 2.0.1 (downgraded from 2.0.5)
Audacity from repositories

===================================

I’m a remarkably dim and ignorant computer user who has just spent longer than I’d care to admit to on finding a workaround to a recent problem with Audacity. It may be a stupid way to do it, but posting it here in case it is useful to someone else (but possibly won’t work once Wheezy repos are updated)

PROBLEM:
Audacity 2.0.5 gave error message when attempting to open (ok - import) WMA files.

wma audacity cannot open this type of file due to patent restrictions
audacity ffmpeg support not compiled in

I did not have old version in my apt cache.

I uninstalled Audacity 2.0.5

changed repository to wheezy repository:

deb http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main

updated apt-get

installed Audacity again - version 2.0.1 this time.

Put repositories back to original settings.

Then, under package menu of synaptic, Lock version of Audacity and Audacity data.

(This might have worked because Wheezy repos might tend to be a bit older??)

My update icon is blue now, but that is a small price to pay to be able to edit WMA files once more.

I know there are older versions of Audacity available for download but building from one of these didn’t work for me.

2

Audacity source code supports FFmpeg up to 0.8, and support is enabled by default.

Uninstall the Audacity 2.0.1, try this link, then you can have latest Audacity code and FFmpeg: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/CompilingAudacityForBeginners#simple .

If you prefer 2.0.5 release, substitute this in Step 2 of the compiling steps linked to above:

svn checkout http://audacity.googlecode.com/svn/audacity-src/tags/Audacity_2_0_5 audacity-read-only

Gale

3

Thanks, but those are the instructions I was trying to follow.
I couldn’t get past sudo apt-get build-dep audacity.

4

Why not? What errors did that produce?

5

Have just tried it again to answer that question and get:

$ sudo apt-get build-dep audacity
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: You must put some ‘source’ URIs in your sources.list

Then after enabling source code in the repository and updating -

$ sudo apt-get build-dep audacity
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Unable to find a source package for audacity

  • which is where I got stuck on Saturday.

My sources.list file currently reads as follows:

deb Index of /debian wheezy main

deb-src Index of /debian wheezy main



deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

\

deb http://download.barry.netdirect.ca/barry-latest/ squeeze main

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import

deb http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free

deb http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

deb http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/latest testing main contrib non-free

deb http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb Index of /debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb-src Index of /debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import #Added by software-properties

6

You probably need to enable source code for debian main non-free, though with all of those non-standard repositories I’d be very cautious about changing anything.
There’s always a strong temptation to enable lots of repositories, but if you want a stable machine it’s advisable to resist.
You may be best to seek advice from the Mint community about the recommended repositories.