HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[andrew.46]

I'd be interested to know if there is an alternative method of getting alacconvert to compile without the patch.

It is a little ugly but the following does the same as the patch:

sed -i_bak 's/$(CC) $(LFLAGS) $(OBJS) -o alacconvert/$(CC) $(OBJS) -o alacconvert $(LFLAGS)/' makefile

Should be a neater way to do this though....

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Thanks for the sed solution, but I was revealing my ignorance of LFLAGS because I was wondering if the patch is really the best solution to it not compiling correctly. I found the patch here: Apple Lossless Audio Codec ためしに FreeBSD でビルドしてみたら makefile を少し修正するだけでビルドできてしまってつまらなかった。

However, maybe your sed method would be good for the Arch Linux PKGBUILD, but then I couldn't conveniently borrow the patch file for this thread.

[andrew.46]

Hmmm... I am not sure. I crafted a beautifully detailed ticket at the apple site:

http://alac.macosforge.org/trac/newticket

but the ticket would not submit with a bunch of python errors on the remote site . Should keep the complaints down anyway if bugs cannot be submitted!

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I was wondering why there were no bugs. Perhaps a message to ealdrich at apple would prod them into fixing it.

In other news, FFmpeg now has a ProRes encoder.

[andrew.46]

I was wondering why there were no bugs. Perhaps a message to ealdrich at apple would prod them into fixing it.

I have mixed feelings about pursuing it too much further: the encoder produces files that I have yet been unable to play with any media software available to me, there is a compile problem, the bug-reporting mechanism is broken....

[Mguel]

Hi, great guide, thanks FakeOutdoorsman.

But I had one problem which prevent me from getting ffmpeg installed.

On the step:
$ hash x264 ffmpeg ffplay ffprobe
I get error messages:
bash: hash: ffmpeg: not found
bash: hash: ffplay: not found
bash: hash: ffprobe: not found

Something similiar it seams that happened to http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...postcount=1388 but he didn't post again.

I checked as suggested for him:
$ echo $SHELL
and get:
/bin/bash

If I run:
$ ffmpeg -version
I get:
The program 'ffmpeg' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg


BTW I'm using Lubuntu 11.10, so maybe it has something to do with being a more lightweight ubuntu

I would appreciate any help, thanks!

[Mguel]

Or is it a way to do manually what hash command is supposed to do?

Searching on google for hash man, it states it:
Remember the full pathnames of commands specified as name arguments, so they need not be searched for on subsequent invocations.


Maybe create a link from /usr/bin to the place where it was downloaded/compiles ~/ffmpeg or move the executable there?

[FakeOutdoorsman]

...I have yet been unable to play with any media software available to me...

I noticed this after I made the guide, unfortunately. So much for realtime, crappily tested guide writing...

Hi, great guide, thanks FakeOutdoorsman.

But I had one problem which prevent me from getting ffmpeg installed.

On the step:

$ hash x264 ffmpeg ffplay ffprobe
I get error messages:
bash: hash: ffmpeg: not found
bash: hash: ffplay: not found
bash: hash: ffprobe: not found

Strange. Did the ffmpeg, ffplay, and ffprobe binaries actually get installed?

$ ls /usr/local/bin/ff*

Or is it a way to do manually what hash command is supposed to do?

The hash command in this guide isn't terribly important. When the ffmpeg binary from the repository is executed, and then replaced by a compiled ffmpeg while using the same shell session, the shell will still think ffmpeg is installed to /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin. Using hash tells the shell to remember the new location of the binary. Or something like that.

You can try "hash -r". That will, "forget all previously remembered utility locations". If that doesn't resolve the issue then the problem probably isn't with hash.

[Mguel]

Strange. Did the ffmpeg, ffplay, and ffprobe binaries actually get installed?

$ ls /usr/local/bin/ff*

Hi, thanks a lot for the answer!:

Nope, it did not get installed:

$ ls /usr/local/bin/ff*
ls: cannot access /usr/local/bin/ff*: No such file or directory


there are only the following files on /usr/local/bin:

$ ls /usr/local/bin/
vp8_scalable_patterns vpxdec vpxenc x264

if I manually copy the ff* files from ~/ffmpeg to /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin?



PS: I'm not cursing when I mention ff* files LOL

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Something must have gone wrong with the Install FFmpeg step. Navigate to the ffmpeg source directory, run make distclean, and update your source code:

cd ~/ffmpeg
make distclean
git pull

Then continue with Step 5 starting with the ./configure line. Make note if it fails again and when it fails: either ./configure, make, or checkinstall.

if I manually copy the ff* files from ~/ffmpeg to /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin?

That's a somewhat messy way of doing it and will not integrate the package into the package management system like checkinstall will.