ffmpeg import hang before setting ffmpeg lib path

[sunset06]

Hi, I notice with 1.39, 1.3.10, that on fresh install (from rpm package on Fedora 12), that attempting to import audio using ffmpeg hangs audacity, requiring killing it.

If I go to preferences first, and find lib, it is instantly found and ffmpeg import works fine. Since I am the RPM Fusion packager of audacity, I would like this to work better by default, by not requiring the user to choose it first.

I can see in src/FFmpeg.cpp the constructor, and method: FFmpegLibs::FindLibs.

I'm thinking that if you hit file|import|select ffmpeg type, then the find ffmpeg code should run, and if the mLibAVFormatPath does find the libs, then they are automatically initialized. Would it be possible, and make sense to:
- if import ffmpeg is selected then
run the code associated with find lib in the background, so that it just works
- else if can't find then
show the preferences gui open at the correct page, so that the user could insert the lib path manually
- if it was found
import the file without further steps.
?

[Gale Andrews]

Hi, I notice with 1.39, 1.3.10, that on fresh install (from rpm package on Fedora 12), that attempting to import audio using ffmpeg hangs audacity, requiring killing it.

Could this be a fault in the Fedora package? What should happen (and does for me in Audacity CVS HEAD on Ubuntu 9.10) is that if Audacity cannot find the FFmpeg libraries, it will display a dialogue asking the user to locate them via Preferences.

If I go to preferences first, and find lib, it is instantly found and ffmpeg import works fine. Since I am the RPM Fusion packager of audacity, I would like this to work better by default, by not requiring the user to choose it first.

I can see in src/FFmpeg.cpp the constructor, and method: FFmpegLibs::FindLibs.

I'm thinking that if you hit file|import|select ffmpeg type, then the find ffmpeg code should run, and if the mLibAVFormatPath does find the libs, then they are automatically initialized. Would it be possible, and make sense to:
- if import ffmpeg is selected then
run the code associated with find lib in the background, so that it just works
- else if can't find then
show the preferences gui open at the correct page, so that the user could insert the lib path manually
- if it was found
import the file without further steps.
?

I agree FFmpeg detection should be automatic where possible (as it is for LAME on Windows and Mac when the library is where it is expected to be). It does seem pointless to me to have to click on "Locate" to look for FFmpeg, to be told that the the libraries have already been automatically detected. I am tracking this as an issue and hope we will address it ultimately (though perhaps not until after our next 2.0 release).


Thanks


Gale