Bug#456165: Details from Handbrake as to why it is statically linked to libraries

Alex Brooks askoorb+debian at gmail.com
Wed Sep 12 11:45:33 UTC 2012


Hello,

I'm new to the Debian bugs system, so please excuse me if I break etiquette.

I'm really looking forward to Handbrake being available in the main
repositories, but I thought that the packagers need to be aware of
some information that the Handbrake devs have written about why they
statically link to libraries.

First, from their development FAQ (https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/SupportFAQ):

>Why doesn't HandBrake use my system libraries?
>HandBrake requires a lot of control over the specific versions of 3rd party libraries it utilizes. To make sure everything is to its specifications, it downloads and builds most of its dependencies and statically links them, all without touching your system libraries."

and

>"Why can't I build HandBrake? x264 fails to compile and then libhb does too.
>You need to build and install yasm for x264 to use cpu acceleration."

Also, in the source, there is a file called README.debian.  I've
pasted the contents of the file at the bottom of this message.  It's
very informative.

Thanks, and good luck with getting Handbrake packaged up!

Alex Brooks

======================

handbrake for Debian
--------------------

HandBrake bundles its own copies of ffmpeg and related media libraries. This is
an upstream decision that the Ubuntu maintainers will respect.

This is done by running contrib/getcontrib.sh which wgets each library from
HandBrake's website.


Upstream has asked us to do this because they have modified their libraries to
address the finickiness of the platforms that they support, along with
prerelease patches that add support for advanced HandBrake functionality such as
surround-sound downmixing.

HandBrake then statically links against these libraries, and they are not
installed to the system so it doesn't interfere with other parts of the system.
Different or older versions of these packages are included in the Ubuntu
distribution already, and have passed our guidelines for Multiverse inclusion.


=== Detailed Breakdown of Bundled Libraries and Reasons ===

a52dec - 0.7.4
patch to allow downmix to dolby prologic ii

faad2 2.6.1
patch to configure.ac so it will build with libtool 2.2.x

ffmpeg svn 15462
patch for building on beos
patch that adds aac-latm codec
patch fixes memory leak provoked by h264 streams with lots of errors
patch for cygwin
patch for solaris

libdca svn 81
newer than released version

libdvdread 0.9.7
patch for os x, changes path to dvdcss
patch for cygwin, configure fixes

faac
patch for cygwin configure

lame version 3.98

libmp4v2 svn 45
project was stagnant. using a fork that has picked up development

libmkv 0.6.3

mpeg2dec 0.5.1

libogg 1.1.3

libsamplerate 0.1.4

libvorbis aotuv fork b5

libtheora 1.0

libx264 git 1028
patch for cygwin configure
patch for solaris build scripts
patch to allow forcing an IDR frame

xvidcore 1.1.3
patch for os x configure
patch for cygwin configure
patch configure to recognize nasm 2.0

 -- John Dong <jdong at ubuntu.com>  Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:17:16 -0500



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