HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Install FFmpeg and x264 on Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10

Karmic is unsupported and this guide will not be updated.

Get the Dependencies
1. Uninstall x264, libx264-dev, and ffmpeg if they are already installed. Open a terminal and run the following:

sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg x264 libx264-dev

2. Next, get all of the packages you will need to install FFmpeg and x264 (you may need to enable the universe and multiverse repositories):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential git-core checkinstall yasm texi2html libfaac-dev \
    libmp3lame-dev libopencore-amrnb-dev libopencore-amrwb-dev libsdl1.2-dev \
    libvorbis-dev libx11-dev libxfixes-dev libxvidcore-dev zlib1g-dev

Install x264
3. Get the current source files, compile, and install x264.

cd
git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264
cd x264
./configure --enable-static
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=x264 --pkgversion="1:0.svn$(date +%Y%m%d)+$(git rev-list \
    HEAD -n 1 | head -c 7)" --backup=no --deldoc=yes --default

Install libvpx (optional)
4. This is used to encode and decode VP8 video. Add --enable-libvpx to the ./configure line in step 7 if you decide to install libvpx:

cd
git clone git://review.webmproject.org/libvpx
cd libvpx
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=libvpx --pkgversion="$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M)-git" --backup=no \
    --deldoc=yes --default

Install libtheora (optional)
5. This is used to encode to Theora, the video type usually found in OGG/OGV files. The repository libtheora is too old, so it must be compiled. Add --enable-libtheora to the ./configure line in step 7 if you decide to install libtheora.

sudo apt-get install libogg-dev
cd
wget http://downloads.xiph.org/releases/theora/libtheora-1.1.1.tar.gz
tar xzvf libtheora-1.1.1.tar.gz
cd libtheora-1.1.1
./configure --disable-shared
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=libtheora --pkgversion="1.1.1" --backup=no --deldoc=yes \
    --default

Install LAME (optional)
6. This is used to encode to mp3 audio. Once again, the repository version is too old. Add --enable-libmp3lame to the ./configure line in step 7 if you decide to install LAME:

sudo apt-get remove libmp3lame-dev
cd
wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/lame/lame/3.98.4/lame-3.98.4.tar.gz
tar xzvf lame-3.98.4.tar.gz
cd lame-3.98.4
./configure --disable-shared
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=lame-ffmpeg --pkgversion="3.98.4" --backup=no --deldoc=yes \
    --default

Install FFmpeg
7. Get the most current source files, compile, and install FFmpeg.

cd
git clone git://git.videolan.org/ffmpeg
cd ffmpeg
./configure --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc \
    --enable-libfaac --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb \
    --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion="5:$(./version.sh)" --backup=no \
    --deldoc=yes --default

hash x264 ffmpeg ffplay ffprobe ffserver

That's it for installation. You can keep the ~/x264 and ~/ffmpeg directories if you later want to update the source files to a new revision. See "Updating Your Installation" on the first page of this guide for more details.

Now head back to the FFmpeg guide for usage instructions and more.

Reverting Changes Made by This Guide
To remove FFmpeg/x264 and other packages added for this guide:

sudo apt-get autoremove x264 ffmpeg build-essential git-core checkinstall yasm \
    texi2html libfaac-dev lame-ffmpeg libogg-dev libsdl1.2-dev libtheora libvorbis-dev \
    libvpx libx11-dev libxfixes-dev libxvidcore-dev zlib1g-dev

Lastly, delete the ffmpeg, libtheora, libvpx, lame-3.98.4, and x264 directories in your home folder.

[FokkerCharlie]

Thanks for the guide; helped me a lot.

Charlie

[darkeclypse]

Hi, i'm on Lucid Lynx x64, after a successful make, I was checkinstall ffmpeg and I've got this error message:
"dpkg-deb - erreur*: version (amont) («*SVN-r*») ne contient pas de chiffres
dpkg-deb: 1 erreurs dans le fichier de contrôle"
in inglish: dpkg-deb - error*: version (amont) («*SVN-r*») doesn't containt digit
dpkg-deb: 1 errors in the control file

Thanks for your help

[FakeOutdoorsman]

darkeclypse,

Hi, i'm on Lucid Lynx x64, after a successful make, I was checkinstall ffmpeg and I've got this error message:
"dpkg-deb - erreur*: version (amont) («*SVN-r*») ne contient pas de chiffres
dpkg-deb: 1 erreurs dans le fichier de contrôle"
in inglish: dpkg-deb - error*: version (amont) («*SVN-r*») doesn't containt digit
dpkg-deb: 1 errors in the control file

Thanks for your help

It worked for me. Are you using a nightly FFmpeg snapshot instead of subversion? You can get the current FFmpeg source files with subversion as shown in this guide:

svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg

or you can download a nightly FFmpeg snapshot. Some users may prefer using snapshots, but I did not test the checkinstall command on this method. Here is a new checkinstall command for you to try:

sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "5:0.5.1" --backup=no --default

I'm not sure why the original checkinstall command didn't work for you. Is anyone else having trouble with the checkinstall command on the first page of this guide?


prupert,

Hi

I have used your excellent script on numerous occasions for various machines. To make it easier, I have created a script that runs all this for me automatically. There are two scripts, one for the first time I use your method for installing ffmpeg and then another to update to the latest version (with, if I can get it to work, a list of the new revisions from SVN can't seem to get that info from git yet).

Perhaps can use the svn log to see new updates. This example will show you the last 12 revisions:

svn log -l 12 svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk

You could also display these entries by date or revision number.

I was hoping to make this script public on my website and also on Google code, but as the majority of it comes from your excellent post (I just wrapped it in some not-so-clever bash goodness) I wanted to check that this would be ok with you first.

The script does acknowledge that I took the commands from you and gives your name and the link to this thread...

So, is it ok if I post my script on google code and on my website?

Cheers

Yes, of course. Thanks for asking. Can you share the link to your web site when you are finished?

[kamatschka]

Thank you for your tutorial.

Now ps3mediaserver can transcode much more of my media than before.

Thank you

[darkeclypse]

darkeclypse,


It worked for me. Are you using a nightly FFmpeg snapshot instead of subversion? You can get the current FFmpeg source files with subversion as shown in this guide:

svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg

or you can download a nightly FFmpeg snapshot. Some users may prefer using snapshots, but I did not test the checkinstall command on this method. Here is a new checkinstall command for you to try:

sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "5:0.5.1" --backup=no --default

I'm not sure why the original checkinstall command didn't work for you. Is anyone else having trouble with the checkinstall command on the first page of this guide?

The command "sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "5:0.5.1" --backup=no --default" worked for me.
It seems like it is "`svn info | grep Revision | awk '{ print $NF }'`" that made the problem.

Thanks anyway

[flyone]

The command "sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "5:0.5.1" --backup=no --default" worked for me.
It seems like it is "`svn info | grep Revision | awk '{ print $NF }'`" that made the problem.

Thanks anyway

Hello i got the same problem... change "grep Revision" to "grep Révision"... because we are french we have somme anoying accent...



sorry for my poor english

[nothingspecial]

Do you happen to know how to do this easily on a minimal install without it wanting to pull X in?

Full ffmpeg, no X?

[leonidv]

Hello i got the same problem... change "grep Revision" to "grep Révision"... because we are french we have somme anoying accent...



sorry for my poor english

You can do it before compiling:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...postcount=1109
Then all svn messages will be in English.

[andrew.46]

Hi flyone,

Hello i got the same problem... change "grep Revision" to "grep Révision"... because we are french we have somme anoying accent...

I love fiddling with these things:

svn info | sed '5!d' | awk '{ print $NF }'

Would always work unless the number of lines changed, reasonably unlikely... A variation:

svn info | sed -e '5!d' -e 's/^.\{10\}//'

Andrew