Howto: Build the svn MPlayer under the latest release version of Ubuntu

[sudodus]

Hi!

I found this thread, and hope to get some help from you. I have used linux for a while, and I can help people with simple tasks, but the kind of stuff you are discussing in this thread is way beyond my knowledge and skill.

I'm testing Precise beta (12.04) with particular focus on the i386 version, to make sure it will work on old computers, for example without pae. The default media player in Lubuntu is mplayer, but unfortunately there is a bug in the version that comes with the iso files. It works well on my two 64-bit computers, but doesn't work on my

- IBM Thinkpad T41 without pae and
- Dell Dimension 4600 (P4, 2.8 GHz)

Yes, I have booted all computers from the same USB pendrive made from the same 32-bit 'i386' iso file. And yes, I have installed vlc into this precise beta version, and it works on all my computers, but vlc needs more horsepower than mplayer to play video with the same quality.

See more details in this link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1955027
You find the daily build here http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/
and the lubuntu iso file in particular for example via the following command

rsync -tzhhP rsync://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/lubuntu/daily-live/current/precise-desktop-i386.iso .

Can you help solving this problem, please!

1. The software issue
- to find the problem
- to make mplayer work

2. The logistics issue
- to make the the development team aware of the problem
- to make them update the included version

We are many users who are happy that we can select and update the software, but we are far from developing or even compiling from source code.

best regards
sudden

[andrew.46]

You have come at a time when this thread is slowly withering away I'm afraid, and the guide itself gone . I see the nub of the error on your launchpad page:

MPlayer interrupted by signal 4 in module: read_subtitles_file
- MPlayer crashed by an 'Illegal Instruction'.
  It usually happens when you run it on a CPU different than the one it was
  compiled/optimized for.
  Verify this!

The 'different cpu' thing would be unusual as most MPlayer packages can have the option --enable-runtime-cpudetection which runs MPlayer according to the capabilities of the host system. I am not sure if the Lubuntu package is compiled in this way. Have you tried running MPlayer without subtitles in either of the following ways:

mplayer -noautosub majaa.mp4
mplayer -nosub majaa.mp4

This might eliminate a few possibilities. And on top of the slow withering of this thread I am afraid that I am not terribky familiar with MPlayer2, I use and describe the original MPlayer .

A final thought: have you thought of getting on irc and going to Freenode #lubuntu? You might get some lubuntu-centric advice perhaps...

[sudodus]

You have come at a time when this thread is slowly withering away I'm afraid, and the guide itself gone . I see the nub of the error on your launchpad page:

MPlayer interrupted by signal 4 in module: read_subtitles_file
- MPlayer crashed by an 'Illegal Instruction'.
  It usually happens when you run it on a CPU different than the one it was
  compiled/optimized for.
  Verify this!

The 'different cpu' thing would be unusual as most MPlayer packages can have the option --enable-runtime-cpudetection which runs MPlayer according to the capabilities of the host system. I am not sure if the Lubuntu package is compiled in this way. Have you tried running MPlayer without subtitles in either of the following ways:

mplayer -noautosub majaa.mp4
mplayer -nosub majaa.mp4

This might eliminate a few possibilities. And on top of the slow withering of this thread I am afraid that I am not terribky familiar with MPlayer2, I use and describe the original MPlayer .

A final thought: have you thought of getting on irc and going to Freenode #lubuntu? You might get some lubuntu-centric advice perhaps...

Thank you for trying to help.

Both your commands lead to the following output:

Otillåten instruktion (minnesutskrift skapad)

which means illegal instruction (memory output written). But where is that (is it a core dump)? by the way, I made the clip(s) myself with a camera and then I have converted them with avidemux and/or ffmpeg. There are no subtitles, only the video and audio streams.

It makes a difference, since the output without the sub options is as follows:

MPlayer2 UNKNOWN (C) 2000-2011 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing 00007_720-50p.mp4.
Detected file format: QuickTime/MPEG-4/Motion JPEG 2000 format (libavformat)
[lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (aac), -aid 0, -alang und
VIDEO:  [H264]  1280x720  24bpp  50.000 fps  4125.5 kbps (503.6 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 major_brand: isom
 minor_version: 512
 compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
 creation_time: 1970-01-01 00:00:00
 encoder: Lavf52.64.2
Load subtitles in .


MPlayer interrupted by signal 4 in module: read_subtitles_file
- MPlayer crashed by an 'Illegal Instruction'.
  It usually happens when you run it on a CPU different than the one it was
  compiled/optimized for.
  Verify this!
- MPlayer crashed by bad usage of CPU/FPU/RAM.
  Recompile MPlayer with --enable-debug and make a 'gdb' backtrace and
  disassembly. Details in DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports_what.html#bugreports_crash.
- MPlayer crashed. This shouldn't happen.
  It can be a bug in the MPlayer code _or_ in your drivers _or_ in your
  gcc version. If you think it's MPlayer's fault, please read
  DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html and follow the instructions there. We can't and
  won't help unless you provide this information when reporting a possible bug.

[andrew.46]

Interesting... can you post the troublesome file somewhere so I can have a look?

[sudodus]

I am afraid that I am not terribky familiar with MPlayer2, I use and describe the original MPlayer .

A final thought: have you thought of getting on irc and going to Freenode #lubuntu? You might get some lubuntu-centric advice perhaps...

I don't know the difference. Would it be possible to install the original MPlayer from the ubuntu repositories? Or would I have to compile it. It need not be the latest and greatest version, as long as it runs in oneiric and/or precise.

I have no irc account, and I have not done any programming for decades, so maybe I wouldn't ask the right questions or maybe I wouldn't understand the answers. But if that's the best way to go, maybe I'll try ...

[sudodus]

Interesting... can you post the troublesome file somewhere so I can have a look?

Which file? The dump file, (where would it be written)? Or the video clip?

[andrew.46]

Video clip would be great.

[sudodus]

Video clip would be great.

Did you get the link, and could you download the file?

[andrew.46]

Thanks for the clip . There is absolutely nothing wrong with the clip that I could find and certainly it played well enough on my 64bit non-ubuntu system. I will download the Lubuntu live cd but because of bandwidth restrictions this will take a little while ---> a couple of days as I am going back to work as well. In the meantime you should chase up the Lubuntu developers as well .

[sudodus]

Hi again Andrew,

Now I have done some more testing. I had a thorough look at the available mplayer versions via Synaptic and found that both mplayer and mplayer2 were installed. But that is the names of the packages. The executable file (the command) is always the same. I guess mplayer2's mplayer somehow puts a link before the original mplayer in PATH. Anyway, after removing mplayer2, I had 'your' mplayer. The output of

mplayer -version

switched from something including mplayer2 to

$ mplayer -version
Unknown option on the command line: -version
Error parsing option on the command line: -version
MPlayer svn r34540 (Ubuntu), built with gcc-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team

Does this tell you anything about the version (if it is reasonably up to date and efficient according to your standards)?

And it was not buggy. 'Your' mplayer can play video, the clip in the link as well as other clips. But I found that it is actually not as efficient as vlc, while on the 64-bit computers, this same 32-bit mplayer2 was outperforming vlc. Could it be that mplayer2 is using some speed boost function, that is not available in old CPUs?

What do you think?

best regards
sudden