mirror of https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv
225 lines
9.6 KiB
XML
225 lines
9.6 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
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<!-- $Revision$ -->
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<appendix id="users-vs-dev">
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<title>Developer cries</title>
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<sect1 id="gcc-296">
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<title>GCC 2.96</title>
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<formalpara>
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<title>The background:</title>
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<para>
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The GCC <emphasis role="bold">2.95</emphasis> series is an official GNU release and
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version 2.95.3 of GCC is the most bug-free in that series. We have never
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noticed compilation problems that we could trace to gcc-2.95.3. Starting
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with Red Hat Linux 7.0, <emphasis role="bold">Red Hat</emphasis> included a heavily
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patched CVS version of GCC in their distribution and named it
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<emphasis role="bold">2.96</emphasis>. Red Hat included this version in the
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distribution because GCC 3.0 was not finished at the time, and they needed
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a compiler that worked well on all of their supported platforms, including
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IA64 and s390. The Linux distributor <emphasis role="bold">Mandrake</emphasis> also
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followed Red Hat's example and started shipping GCC 2.96 with their
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Linux-Mandrake 8.0 series.
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</para>
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</formalpara>
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<formalpara>
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<title>The statements:</title>
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<para>
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The GCC team disclaimed any link with GCC 2.96 and issued an
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<ulink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-2.96.html">official response</ulink>
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to GCC 2.96. Many developers around the world began having problems with
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GCC 2.96, and started recommending other compilers. Examples are
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<ulink url="http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-3.23.html">MySQL</ulink>,
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and
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<ulink url="http://avifile.sourceforge.net/news-old1.htm">avifile</ulink>.
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Other interesting links are
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<ulink url="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rgooch/linux/docs/kernel-newsflash.html">
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Linux kernel news flash about kernel 2.4.17</ulink>
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and
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<ulink url="http://www.voy.com/3516/572.html">Voy Forum</ulink>.
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<application>MPlayer</application> also suffered from intermittent problems
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that were all solved by switching to a different version of GCC. Several
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projects started implementing workarounds for some of the 2.96 issues, but
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we refused to fix other people's bugs, especially since some workarounds
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may imply a performance penalty.
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</para>
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</formalpara>
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<para>
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GCC 2.96 does not allow <literal>|</literal> (pipe) characters in assembler
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comments because it supports Intel as well as AT&T Syntax and the
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<literal>|</literal> character is a symbol in the Intel variant. The
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problem is that it <emphasis>silently</emphasis> ignores the whole
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assembler block. This is supposedly fixed now, GCC prints a warning instead
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of skipping the block.
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</para>
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<formalpara>
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<title>The present:</title>
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<para>
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Red Hat says that GCC 2.96-85 and above is fixed. The situation has indeed
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improved, yet we still see problem reports on our mailing lists that
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disappear with a different compiler. In any case it does not matter any
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longer. Hopefully a maturing GCC 3.x will solve the issue for good. If you
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want to compile with 2.96 give the <option>--disable-gcc-checking</option>
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flag to <filename>configure</filename>. Remember that you are on your own
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and <emphasis role="bold">do not report any bugs</emphasis>. If you do, you will only
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get banned from our mailing list because we have had more than enough flame
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wars over GCC 2.96. Please let the matter rest.
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</para>
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</formalpara>
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<para>
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If you have problems with GCC 2.96, you can get 2.96-85 packages from the
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Red Hat <ulink url="ftp://updates.redhat.com">ftp server</ulink>, or just
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go for the 3.0.4 packages offered for version 7.2 and later. You can also
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get <ulink url="ftp://people.redhat.com/jakub/gcc/3.2.3-11/">gcc-3.2.3-11 packages</ulink>
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(unofficial, but working fine)
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and you can install them along the gcc-2.96 you already have. MPlayer will
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detect it and use 3.2 instead of 2.96. If you do not want to or cannot use
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the binary packages, here is how you can compile GCC 3 from source:
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</para>
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<procedure>
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<step><para>
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Go to the
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<ulink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html">GCC mirrors page</ulink>
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page and download <filename>gcc-core-<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>.tar.gz</filename>
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where <replaceable>XXX</replaceable> is the version number. This includes the complete
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C compiler and is sufficient for <application>MPlayer</application>. If you also want
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C++, Java or some of the other advanced GCC features
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<filename>gcc-<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>.tar.gz</filename> may better suit your needs.
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</para></step>
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<step><para>
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Extract the archive with
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<screen>tar -xvzf gcc-core-<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>.tar.gz</screen>
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</para></step>
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<step><para>
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GCC is not built inside the source directory itself like most programs,
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but needs a build directory outside the source directory. Thus you need
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to create this directory via
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<screen>mkdir gcc-build</screen>
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</para></step>
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<step><para>
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Then you can proceed to configure gcc in the build directory, but you
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need the configure from the source directory:
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<screen>
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cd gcc-build
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../gcc-3.<replaceable>XXX</replaceable>/configure</screen>
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</para></step>
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<step><para>
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Compile GCC by issuing this command in the build directory:
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<screen>make bootstrap</screen>
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</para></step>
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<step><para>
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Now you can install GCC (as root) by typing
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<screen>make install</screen>
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</para></step>
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</procedure>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="mplayer-binary">
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<title>Binary distribution</title>
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<para>
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<application>MPlayer</application> previously contained source from the
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OpenDivX project, which disallows binary redistribution.This code has been
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removed in version 0.90-pre1 and the remaining file <filename>divx_vbr.c</filename>
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that is derived from OpenDivX sources has been put under the GPL by its authors
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as of version 0.90pre9. You are now welcome to create binary packages as you
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see fit.
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</para>
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<para>
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Another impediment to binary redistribution was compiletime optimizations
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for CPU architecture. <application>MPlayer</application> now supports
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runtime CPU detection (pass the
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<option>--enable-runtime-cpudetection</option> to <command>configure</command>).
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It is disabled by default because it implies a small speed sacrifice, but it is
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now possible to create binaries that run on different members of the Intel
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CPU family.
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</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="nvidia-opinions">
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<title>nVidia</title>
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<para>
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We dislike the fact that <ulink url="http://www.nvidia.com">nVidia</ulink>
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only provides binary drivers (for use with XFree86), which are often buggy.
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We have had many reports on
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<ulink url="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</ulink>
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about problems related to these closed-source drivers
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and their poor quality, instability and poor user and expert support.
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Many of these problems/issues keep appearing repeatedly.
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We have been contacted by nVidia lately, and they said these bugs do not
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exist, instability is caused by bad AGP chips, and they received no reports
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of driver bugs (like the purple line). So if you have a problem with your
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nVidia card, you are advised to update the nVidia driver and/or buy a new
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motherboard or ask nVidia to supply open-source drivers. In any case, if
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you are using the nVidia binary drivers and facing driver related problems,
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please be aware that you will receive very little help from our side
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because we have little power to help in this matter.
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</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="joe-barr">
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<title>Joe Barr</title>
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<para>
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Joe Barr became infamous in december 2001 by writing a less than favorable
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<application>MPlayer</application> review called
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<ulink url="http://www.linuxworld.com/story/32880.htm">MPlayer: The project from hell</ulink>.
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He found <application>MPlayer</application> hard to install, and concluded
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that the developers were unfriendly and the documentation
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incomplete and insulting. You be the judge of that.
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He went on to mention Arpi negatively in his
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<ulink url="http://www.linuxworld.com/story/32887.htm">10 Linux predictions for 2002</ulink>.
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In a followup review of xine called
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<ulink url="http://www.linuxworld.com/story/32716.htm">A streaming media player for the rest of us</ulink>
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he continued stirring up controversy. Ironically at the end of that article
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he quotes his exchange with G<>nter Bartsch, the original author of <application>xine</application>,
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that perfectly summarizes the whole situation:
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<blockquote><para>
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However, he also went on to say that he was "surprised" by my column about
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<application>MPlayer</application> and thought it was unfair, reminding me that it is
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a free software project. "If you don't like it," Bartsch said, "you're free not to use it."
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</para></blockquote>
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Almost two years later in october 2003 he wrote another review called
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<ulink url="http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/10/02/0343200">Mplayer revisited</ulink>.
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In it he came to the following conclusions:
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<blockquote><para>
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I would have to say that there have been improvements in the number of
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features, in performance, and in documentation. It's still not the
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easiest install in the world, especially for newbies, but it's a
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little better than it used to be.
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</para></blockquote>
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and
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<blockquote><para>
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But more importantly, I didn't notice any recent comments about user
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abuse. I think I deserve some of the credit for that, even if I do say
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so myself. Arpi and the rest of the project team must feel that way
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too, because they have taken care to remember me in a special section
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of the documentation included in the tarball. Like I said at the
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start, some things haven't changed at all.
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</para></blockquote>
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We could not have summarized our feelings towards Joe Barr better:
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"It's still not the fairest or best researched article in the world,
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but it's better than it used to be." Hopefully the next time around
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we will meet each other's expectations. However, the credit for maturity
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goes to our increasing age only, and maybe to being weary of flame wars.
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</para>
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</sect1>
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</appendix>
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