(Copied to the wxperl-users list for information). Hi Guys,
Well I've been having problems with wxMediaCtrl, the GStreamer backend on Linux (Kubuntu) since 2009. My issues are well documented here, on wxperl-users and on www.perlmonks.org. The main issues are: 1. Playback crashes at the end of the file; 2. Segfault on load of a second file; 3. There is no toolbar; 4. I can't play a live feed. My attempts to fix or find workarounds for these are also documented. I have wxMediaCtrl working well with a fixed file, and I have workarounds for issues 1 and 2. I don't care about 3 because I want to specify my own toolbar anyway, but if it could pop into life with a little effort, that might help generally with the positioning of this module. But 4 is a real problem. I tried upgrading to later versions of Kubuntu, but the problems here are even more acute. It seems wxMediaCtrl is effectively unmaintained and is gradually falling out of the toolset. I don't want wxWidgets or wxPerl to fade out of the competition with Qt and Gtk, because modules are dropping off. Gtk is closely integrated with GStreamer, and if I were starting again now that might well be the better choice. My proposal is therefore to spend a considerable chunk of time (maybe the next 2 months) understanding and fixing GStreamer media backend and maybe updating the control module too (wxMediaCtrl). I propose to address 1, 2 and 4 above plus add functionality to store in file form the output from a live feed for later viewing or editing. I am open to adding some interface functionality to take wxMediaCtrl in an iPad-like direction if someone could help me specify it. However, if it is going to take up my whole schedule, I may have to pass. My hope is that I can get some help here. So, I need to choose a compiler and a development environment to compile and debug GStreamerMediaBackend.cpp on Kubuntu. Does anyone have any suggestions? My proposed workplan is as follows: * Set up compiler and development tools; * Install and compile samples; * Reproduce issues; * Fix, test and document issues; * Test upgrades to (K)ubuntu 10.10, 11,04 and later 11.10; * Specify and extend functionality for saving video files from a live feed; * Release fixes through wxWidgets; * Wrap functionality with wxPerl; * Release fixes through wxPerl. * Deploy. Any other suggestions, comments or just positive background noise, would be very welcome. Regards Steve
