[mythtv-users] Myth approach to including libraries

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Dec 5, 2008, at 3:31 PM, Dave Badia wrote:

> Have a basic question about the code structure of myth.  I've  
> noticed that the source for libraries it uses (ffmpeg for example)  
> are included in the myth source itself.  Why is the code lumped into  
> myth source?  I'm simply curious.  Being a professional developer  
> (java mostly), this was a surprise to me, as I thought it would be  
> advantageous to invoke the library as the externally complied object.
> Are there modifications made to the source of the library?  Perhaps  
> a non-public API needs to be accessed?  Is this common practice  
> among open source/linux/C++ projects?
> I see the periodic announcements of merging the the latest ffmpeg  
> code, which made me wonder.  I figured this was a basic enough  
> question to post to the users list instead of dev.

ffmpeg often changes in ways that would break mythtv. It's common  
practice to keep a compatible version of 3rd party libraries in your  
repository so you have control over it and decide when you update and  
make required changes when you do. In fact, I've never worked on  
software that didn't do this – even commercial software written in  
java. I don't know off-hand if myth developers change any ffmpeg code,  
but even if they don't this is reason enough to make updating a manual  
and deliberate process.

-Brad