Package: vlc Version: 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Severity: minor Dear Maintainer,
the documentation is missing a few words on how to open a webcam. I tried the (advanced) help: % vlc --longhelp --advanced | grep -i webcam VLC media player 3.0.8 Vetinari (revision 3.0.8-0-gf350b6b5a7) % vlc --longhelp --advanced | grep -i v4l2:// VLC media player 3.0.8 Vetinari (revision 3.0.8-0-gf350b6b5a7) and the man page but could not find anything. The "URL syntax" section seems like a good place to add a line: % vlc --longhelp --advanced [...] URL syntax: file:///path/file Plain media file http://host[:port]/file HTTP URL ftp://host[:port]/file FTP URL mms://host[:port]/file MMS URL screen:// Screen capture dvd://[device] DVD device vcd://[device] VCD device cdda://[device] Audio CD device udp://[[<source address>]@[<bind address>][:<bind port>]] UDP stream sent by a streaming server vlc://pause:<seconds> Pause the playlist for a certain time vlc://quit Special item to quit VLC [...] I would suggest: v4l2://[device] Video4Linux capture device (i.e. USB webcams, TV tuners) Mentioning 'v4l2' in the 'ITEMS' of vlc(1) would be nice too: ITEMS VLC recognizes several URL-style items: *.mpg, *.vob, *.avi, *.mp3, *.ogg, *.opus Various multimedia file formats dvd://[<device>][@<raw device>][#[<title>][:[<chapter>][:<angle>]]] DVD device (for instance dvd:///dev/dvd). The raw device is optional and must have been prepared beforehand. vcd://[<device>][@{E|P|E|T|S}[<number>]] VCD device (for instance vcd:///dev/cdrom). udp://[@[<multicast address>][:<local port>]] UDP stream, such as one sent by VLS or another VLC. Usually "udp://" is enough. http://<server address>[:<server port>]/[<file>] HTTP stream rtsp://<server address>[:<server port>]/<stream name> RTSP Video On Demand stream vlc://<command> Execute a playlist command. Commands are: pause (pause execution of other items), and quit (close VLC). I would suggest: v4l2://[device] Video4Linux capture device (i.e. USB webcams, TV tuners). The device defaults to "/dev/video0". I am fine with providing a patch if you are ok with my suggestion. I didn't file an upstream bug (yet). Please let me know what you think. Regards && thank you for maintaining vlc, - Darsha -- System Information: Debian Release: 10.3 APT prefers stable-updates APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Foreign Architectures: i386 Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores) Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) LSM: AppArmor: enabled Versions of packages vlc depends on: ii vlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii vlc-plugin-base 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii vlc-plugin-qt 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii vlc-plugin-video-output 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Versions of packages vlc recommends: ii vlc-l10n 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 pn vlc-plugin-notify <none> pn vlc-plugin-samba <none> pn vlc-plugin-skins2 <none> pn vlc-plugin-video-splitter <none> pn vlc-plugin-visualization <none> vlc suggests no packages. Versions of packages libvlc-bin depends on: ii libc6 2.28-10 ii libvlc5 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Versions of packages libvlc5 depends on: ii libc6 2.28-10 ii libvlccore9 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Versions of packages libvlc5 recommends: ii libvlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Versions of packages vlc-bin depends on: ii libc6 2.28-10 ii libvlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii libvlc5 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Versions of packages vlc-plugin-base depends on: ii liba52-0.7.4 0.7.4-19 ii libaom0 1.0.0-3 ii libarchive13 3.3.3-4+deb10u1 ii libaribb24-0 1.0.3-2 ii libasound2 1.1.8-1 ii libass9 1:0.14.0-2 ii libavahi-client3 0.7-4+b1 ii libavahi-common3 0.7-4+b1 ii libavc1394-0 0.5.4-5 ii libavcodec58 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libavformat58 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libavutil56 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libbasicusageenvironment1 2018.11.26-1.1 ii libbluray2 1:1.1.0-1 ii libc6 2.28-10 ii libcairo2 1.16.0-4 ii libcddb2 1.3.2-6 ii libchromaprint1 1.4.3-3 ii libcrystalhd3 1:0.0~git20110715.fdd2f19-13 ii libdbus-1-3 1.12.16-1 ii libdc1394-22 2.2.5-1 ii libdca0 0.0.6-1 ii libdvbpsi10 1.3.2-1 ii libdvdnav4 6.0.0-1 ii libdvdread4 6.0.1-1 ii libebml4v5 1.3.6-2 ii libfaad2 2.8.8-3 ii libflac8 1.3.2-3 ii libfontconfig1 2.13.1-2 ii libfreetype6 2.9.1-3+deb10u1 ii libfribidi0 1.0.5-3.1+deb10u1 ii libgcc1 1:8.3.0-6 ii libgcrypt20 1.8.4-5 ii libglib2.0-0 2.58.3-2+deb10u2 ii libgnutls30 3.6.7-4+deb10u2 ii libgpg-error0 1.35-1 ii libgroupsock8 2018.11.26-1.1 ii libharfbuzz0b 2.3.1-1 ii libixml10 1:1.8.4-2 ii libjpeg62-turbo 1:1.5.2-2+b1 ii libkate1 0.4.1-9 ii liblirc-client0 0.10.1-5.2 ii liblivemedia64 2018.11.26-1.1 ii liblua5.2-0 5.2.4-1.1+b2 ii libmad0 0.15.1b-10 ii libmatroska6v5 1.4.9-1+deb10u1 ii libmicrodns0 0.0.10-1 ii libmpcdec6 2:0.1~r495-1+b2 ii libmpeg2-4 0.5.1-8 ii libmpg123-0 1.25.10-2 ii libmtp9 1.1.16-2 ii libncursesw6 6.1+20181013-2+deb10u2 ii libnfs12 3.0.0-2 ii libogg0 1.3.2-1+b1 ii libopenmpt-modplug1 0.4.3-1 ii libopus0 1.3-1 ii libpng16-16 1.6.36-6 ii libpostproc55 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libprotobuf-lite17 3.6.1.3-2 ii libpulse0 12.2-4+deb10u1 ii libraw1394-11 2.1.2-1+b1 ii libresid-builder0c2a 2.1.1-15 ii librsvg2-2 2.44.10-2.1 ii libsamplerate0 0.1.9-2 ii libsdl-image1.2 1.2.12-10+deb10u1 ii libsdl1.2debian 1.2.15+dfsg2-4 ii libsecret-1-0 0.18.7-1 ii libshine3 3.1.1-2 ii libshout3 2.4.1-2 ii libsidplay2 2.1.1-15 ii libsndio7.0 1.5.0-3 ii libsoxr0 0.1.2-3 ii libspatialaudio0 0.3.0+git20180730+dfsg1-2 ii libspeex1 1.2~rc1.2-1+b2 ii libspeexdsp1 1.2~rc1.2-1+b2 ii libssh2-1 1.8.0-2.1 ii libstdc++6 8.3.0-6 ii libswscale5 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libsystemd0 241-7~deb10u3 ii libtag1v5 1.11.1+dfsg.1-0.3 ii libtheora0 1.1.1+dfsg.1-15 ii libtinfo6 6.1+20181013-2+deb10u2 ii libtwolame0 0.3.13-4 ii libudev1 241-7~deb10u3 ii libupnp13 1:1.8.4-2 ii libusageenvironment3 2018.11.26-1.1 ii libva-drm2 2.4.0-1 ii libva2 2.4.0-1 ii libvlccore9 [vlc-plugin-abi-3-0-0f] 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii libvorbis0a 1.3.6-2 ii libvorbisenc2 1.3.6-2 ii libx264-155 2:0.155.2917+git0a84d98-2 ii libx265-165 2.9-4 ii libxcb-keysyms1 0.4.0-1+b2 ii libxcb1 1.13.1-2 ii libxml2 2.9.4+dfsg1-7+b3 ii libzvbi0 0.2.35-16 ii vlc-data 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii zlib1g 1:1.2.11.dfsg-1 Versions of packages vlc-plugin-base recommends: ii xdg-utils 1.1.3-1 Versions of packages vlc-plugin-base suggests: ii libdvdcss2 1.4.0-dmo1 Versions of packages vlc-plugin-qt depends on: ii libc6 2.28-10 ii libgcc1 1:8.3.0-6 ii libqt5core5a 5.11.3+dfsg1-1+deb10u3 ii libqt5gui5 5.11.3+dfsg1-1+deb10u3 ii libqt5svg5 5.11.3-2 ii libqt5widgets5 5.11.3+dfsg1-1+deb10u3 ii libqt5x11extras5 5.11.3-2 ii libstdc++6 8.3.0-6 ii libvlccore9 [vlc-plugin-abi-3-0-0f] 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii libwayland-client0 1.16.0-1 ii libx11-6 2:1.6.7-1 Versions of packages vlc-plugin-qt recommends: ii vlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 Versions of packages vlc-plugin-video-output depends on: ii libaa1 1.4p5-46 ii libavcodec58 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libavutil56 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1 ii libc6 2.28-10 ii libcaca0 0.99.beta19-2.1 ii libegl1 1.1.0-1 ii libgl1 1.1.0-1 ii libgles2 1.1.0-1 ii libplacebo7 1.7.0-2 ii libva-drm2 2.4.0-1 ii libva-wayland2 2.4.0-1 ii libva-x11-2 2.4.0-1 ii libva2 2.4.0-1 ii libvlccore9 [vlc-plugin-abi-3-0-0f] 3.0.8-0+deb10u1 ii libwayland-client0 1.16.0-1 ii libwayland-egl1 1.16.0-1 ii libx11-6 2:1.6.7-1 ii libxcb-keysyms1 0.4.0-1+b2 ii libxcb-shm0 1.13.1-2 ii libxcb-xv0 1.13.1-2 ii libxcb1 1.13.1-2 -- no debconf information