[Howto] Successfully install the svn MPlayer under Hardy Heron

[andrew.46]

================================================== ====
Howto: Compile the svn mplayer against the latest x264
================================================== ====

A little bit extra for this svn mplayer guide if anyone is interested? If you wish to compile mplayer against the very latest release of x264 to optimise encoding you will need to follow these steps before compiling the svn mplayer:

First download a few utilities that may or may not already be on your system:

$ sudo apt-get install  build-essential xmlto git-core gpac libgpac-dev libgpac0.4.4

Next download and compile the assembler required for optimal x264 compilation. I could not get x264 to recognise the repository offerings in any shape or form so I suggest that you compile your own as I did:

$ cd $HOME
$ wget http://www.tortall.net/projects/yasm/releases/yasm-0.7.0.tar.gz
$ tar xvf yasm-0.7.0.tar.gz
$ cd yasm-0.7.0
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ make clean

Next to download the x264 source code from the videolan git repository, the svn repository now being only a memory. First uninstall the repository x264 dev file that was used previously when compiling the svn mplayer and then download, compile and install the x264 source code:

$ cd $HOME
$ sudo apt-get remove libx264-dev 
$ git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264.git
$ cd x264
$ ./configure --enable-shared --enable-pthread --enable-mp4-output
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ make clean

And finally compile the svn mplayer as before and the new x264 libraries should be picked up automagically. How easy is that! I would suggest the following steps as well so that when you wish to update x264 it can be done very simply. First set up an alias:

$ git config --global alias.up "pull --rebase"

and then you can update from the x264 directory as follows:

$ git up

Further details about how to manipulate the videolan git repository can be found at: http://wiki.videolan.org/Git

Don't forget that x264 can be used as standalone program as well. Simply run x264 --help to see the options available. And remember: Have Fun!

Andrew

[unlotto]

================================================== ====
Howto: Compile the svn mplayer against the latest x264
================================================== ====

Andrew

Hey there Andrew. I haven't read all pages of this forum post, so I don't know if it has been mentioned before. I'd like to add that x264 is a library for encoding h264, and so has no effect on the decoding performance (playback) of, for example, 1080p mkv files with h264 video.

Maybe it would be a good idea to mention this in your #1 post or the x264 post.

Just to add, the codec responsible for decoding of h264 in mplayer is from ffmpeg. It's called ffh264.

Before I go too much off topic I just want to mention; if people are after a performance increase of said codec, I would suggest trying playback with

mplayer -lavdopts fast:threads=2

(if dual core). If the machine just can't playback smoothly one need to look at mplayer + coreavc, which I wrote briefly about here in case someone is interested. It is not a howto.

[gillza]

Hi all,

I have compiled and installed mplayer+gui twice using this guide before. Both times successfully. Today while installing I got a little snag. After installation, tried to run gmplayer and got:

The program 'gmplayer' is currently not installed.

It looks like gmplayer is not created during "make" (or i might be wrong). Tried searching for gmplayer and found only a header file.
--enable-gui was specified during configuration. I wonder if anyone encountered the same problem and how you solved it?

Thank you.

[andrew.46]

Hi,

Glad this guide has been useful to you. It scares me a little that it has now hit 30,000 views . I still wonder if I will get a free Ubuntu T-shirt at this number?

You have encountered the turbulence that is surrounding the svn mplayer with some substantial reworking of the config / makefile setup:

I have compiled and installed mplayer+gui twice using this guide before. Both times successfully. Today while installing I got a little snag. After installation, tried to run gmplayer and got:

The program 'gmplayer' is currently not installed.

It looks like gmplayer is not created during "make" (or i might be wrong). Tried searching for gmplayer and found only a header file.
--enable-gui was specified during configuration. I wonder if anyone encountered the same problem and how you solved it?

I will admit to not having installed the gmplayer for a while but I can certainly confirm the problem you have experienced when I compiled with this enabled. The easiest way to enable gmplayer at the moment seems to be to add the line "sudo make install-gui" after the usual install. So:

$ cd $HOME/Desktop/mplayer
$ ./configure --enable-gui --enable-menu
$ make 
$ sudo make install
$ sudo make install-gui
$ sudo make clean

and this certainly worked on my own system. I have not added this to the walkthrough as I am not sure if this a temporary glitch or a permanent change. I have queried mplayer-users on this issue at:

http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/...ay/073015.html

Andrew

[gillza]

Hi,

Glad this guide has been useful to you. It scares me a little that it has now hit 30,000 views . I still wonder if I will get a free Ubuntu T-shirt at this number?

I think you definitely deserve a t-shirt!!! Not only for this howto but for your prompt responses as well!

$ cd $HOME/Desktop/mplayer
$ ./configure --enable-gui --enable-menu
$ make 
$ sudo make install
$ sudo make install-gui
$ sudo make clean

This has worked!!! Thank you very much!

I have not added this to the walkthrough as I am not sure if this a temporary glitch or a permanent change. I have queried mplayer-users on this issue at:

http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/...ay/073015.html

Andrew

Let's hope that this is just a temporary problem. I wonder though, how did you find out about make install-gui I have searched and not found anything about it... i wonder if i missed it somehow..

Anyway, thank you very much! I'm off to enjoy freshly downloaded anime watching it through mplayer )

[andrew.46]

I think you definitely deserve a t-shirt!!! Not only for this howto but for your prompt responses as well!

I was only kidding about the T-shirt of course, I get a huge amount of enjoyment out of this walkthrough and tinkering with mplayer.

Let's hope that this is just a temporary problem. I wonder though, how did you find out about make install-gui I have searched and not found anything about it... i wonder if i missed it somehow..

I found the solution on the mplayer-users list by searching their archives:

http://archives.free.net.ph/list/mplayer-users.en.html

Usually if there is a problem in the current svn their will be a discussion there and this is true in this case. Unfortunately things move a little slowly with the gui as there is a lack of enthusiasm for its development so we will see if it will be rectified. The problem is in the makefile I suspect and this could be easily patched but that makefile is huge ...

But good news that it is all running again for you!

Andrew

[andrew.46]

Well it may be very temporary as it turns out:

Let's hope that this is just a temporary problem.

I spent some time looking at the makefile where there had been an obvious blockage and I believe I have found the error. Line 641 reads:

INSTALL_TARGETS-$(GUI)      += install-gui

while it should actually be:

INSTALL_TARGETS-$(GUI_GTK)  += install-gui

I have submitted a patch and with any luck it will be applied, the problem will be fixed and the glory will be mine

Index: Makefile
===================================================================
--- Makefile	(revision 26746)
+++ Makefile	(working copy)
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@
 
 INSTALL_TARGETS-$(MPLAYER)  += install-mplayer  install-mplayer-man
 INSTALL_TARGETS-$(MENCODER) += install-mencoder install-mplayer-man
-INSTALL_TARGETS-$(GUI)      += install-gui
+INSTALL_TARGETS-$(GUI_GTK)  += install-gui
 INSTALL_TARGETS             += $(INSTALL_TARGETS-yes)
 
 DIRS =  . \

Looks like this error occurred in Revision 26398 on April 11th where this change was overlooked.

Andrew

[andrew.46]

Hi again!

Time to congratulate me:

Let's hope that this is just a temporary problem.

My patch has been applied and the problem rectified:

http://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer?view=rev&revision=26754

Woooooooooo hooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Andrew

[12barz]

Couldn't resist doing it, even though a Noob. Thanks. Now for the Noob question. Do I need to leave all the files on my desktop? Obviously the tar's can be deleted. Anything else? Would it hurt to move whatever must remain? Where do people usually keep them?

[andrew.46]

Hope it all worked well?

Couldn't resist doing it, even though a Noob. Thanks. Now for the Noob question. Do I need to leave all the files on my desktop? Obviously the tar's can be deleted. Anything else? Would it hurt to move whatever must remain? Where do people usually keep them?

This is a housekeeping issue really. I keep all my downloaded source code in subdirectories under $HOME/source. The svn mplayer source code is special too as you can navigate to its directory and update all the code by running:

$ svn update

Different people will do this in different ways I guess. The choice I made to base everything on the Desktop was arbitrary.

Andrew