Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 218419
xine-lib will not play back MPEG files
Last modified: 2007-11-30 17:11:50 EST
Description of problem: This version of xine-lib will not play MPEG movie files. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 1.1.2-17 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Use an MPEG (*.mpg) movie file. 2. Attempt to view it using Kaffeine, which uses xine-lib. Actual results: The error message saying "No plugins found" pops up. Expected results: The movie playback should start. Additional info: The Livna package, xine-lib-1.1.2-4.lvn5.i386.rpm, works perfectly. Once I run "yum update" to update it to the Extras 1.1.2-17 version, then the MPEG playback will not work anymore.
Software MPEG playback cannot be included in Fedora packages due to patent issues. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ForbiddenItems
Fine, but then why did you make it so it would "update" an existing Livna version, which plays back MPEG? At least should you not make sure the Extras version should not overwrite the Livna version?
No: yum install xine-lib-extras-nonfree
The problem is, for the customer who already has the Livna version of xine-lib installed on their system, there's no way of knowing the change. All we see is the updated version of xine-lib suddenly not working anymore. How are we supposed to know that xine-lib-extras-nonfre is now available via Livna? Just running "yum" won't tell us anything like that. I don't want to sound bitter, but this is one extra step that I had to take to do what I've been doing without any problem. I'd certainly understand it if the change came along with a new version, such as FC6.
The term "customer" is inappropriate. ;) As "a user" of a 3rd party repository, you may need to stay informed about any incompatible changes in package development which affect you. There are mailing-lists, for instance, where moving xine-lib has been a topic. Fedora Extras is free to override packages from 3rd party repositories any time. Even in cases where some coordination is possible, often it is much more convenient to just go ahead with a change instead of trying to spend a lot of time into trying to come up with a smart solution that might suffer from other pitfalls. Whether this change could have been announced in a (hopefully) prominant place, is a different topic. Much of Fedora Extras and Livna would benefit from additional contributors.