Hi all
I’ve been having some issues with codecs lately and I am currently on Arch. I want to move back to Tumbleweed but I still have some issues (I tried a fresh install earlier) so basically, I want to ask 3 questions.
- What’s the best/correct way to install codecs now. I know some people have said flatpaks but I want to be able to use the codecs in multiple apps.
- VLC is broken at the moment for me when I try to install it, is this related or am I doing something wrong?
- I am no longer getting video thumbnails in Dolphin, again is this related?
So I know that Packman is doing some updating at the moment and I don’t know if these problems are down to that or how I have been installing the codecs (with ‘opi codecs’).
Can someone please help
opi codecs is how I installed them on my TW installation. IIRC, it pulls from Packman, so them doing updates may well be an underlying cause.
When you say “VLC is broken”, what specifically do you see - what error messages and what causes them to do that?
I don’t use KDE/Plasma, so I can’t help with #3, so someone else will have to weigh in on that - but it may be related.
No fancy actions needed. Since years I use the following: Installing Packman Codecs
Try this and come back if problems persist.
After a breakout case of distrohopping when i had a day off and nothing to do yesterday, I attempted a fresh install of Tumbleweed. I had similar issues as you. opi codecs was, frankly, under serious construction. Micro OS, however, is working great.
Nope. opi codecs works fine:
erlangen:~ # opi codecs
Do you want to install codecs from Packman repository? (Y/n)
Repository 'Packman' is up to date.
Repository 'google-chrome' is up to date.
Repository 'jalbum' is up to date.
Repository 'myrepo' is up to date.
Repository 'Haupt-Repository (NON-OSS)' is up to date.
Repository 'Haupt-Repository (OSS)' is up to date.
Retrieving repository 'Packman' metadata ...............................................................................................................................................................................................[done]
Repository 'Hauptaktualisierungs-Repository' is up to date.
All repositories have been refreshed.
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Computing distribution upgrade...
Nothing to do.
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
'ffmpeg' not found in package names. Trying capabilities.
'ffmpeg-4' providing 'ffmpeg' is already installed.
'vlc-codecs' is already installed.
No update candidate for 'vlc-codecs-3.0.18-7.6.x86_64'. The highest available version is already installed.
'libavcodec-full' not found in package names. Trying capabilities.
'libavcodec58_134' providing 'libavcodec-full' is already installed.
'libavcodec59' providing 'libavcodec-full' is already installed.
Resolving package dependencies...
The following 36 NEW packages are going to be installed:
gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-bad-codecs gstreamer-plugins-bad-lang gstreamer-plugins-libav gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-ugly-codecs gstreamer-plugins-ugly-lang libSoundTouch1 libavtp0 libfaac0 libgssdp-1_6-0
libgstadaptivedemux-1_0-0 libgstbadaudio-1_0-0 libgstbasecamerabinsrc-1_0-0 libgstcodecparsers-1_0-0 libgstcodecs-1_0-0 libgstisoff-1_0-0 libgstmpegts-1_0-0 libgstsctp-1_0-0 libgsturidownloader-1_0-0 libgstva-1_0-0 libgstvulkan-1_0-0
libgstwayland-1_0-0 libgstwebrtc-1_0-0 libgupnp-1_6-0 libgupnp-igd-1_0-4 liblrdf2 libmicrodns1 libmodplug1 libnice10 libopenaptx0 libopenh264-7 libspandsp3 libsrtp2-1 libzbar0 pipewire-aptx
36 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 5.8 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 15.2 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y): n
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
'gstreamer-plugins-good' is already installed.
No update candidate for 'gstreamer-plugins-good-1.20.5-1.1.x86_64'. The highest available version is already installed.
Resolving package dependencies...
The following 30 NEW packages are going to be installed:
gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-bad-lang gstreamer-plugins-good-extra gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-ugly-lang libSoundTouch1 libavtp0 libgssdp-1_6-0 libgstadaptivedemux-1_0-0 libgstbadaudio-1_0-0
libgstbasecamerabinsrc-1_0-0 libgstcodecparsers-1_0-0 libgstcodecs-1_0-0 libgstisoff-1_0-0 libgstmpegts-1_0-0 libgstsctp-1_0-0 libgsturidownloader-1_0-0 libgstva-1_0-0 libgstvulkan-1_0-0 libgstwayland-1_0-0 libgstwebrtc-1_0-0
libgupnp-1_6-0 libgupnp-igd-1_0-4 libiec61883-0 liblrdf2 libmicrodns1 libnice10 libspandsp3 libsrtp2-1 libzbar0
30 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 4.8 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 12.8 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/...? shows all options] (y): n
erlangen:~ #
However it tries to install some 30 packages I never needed so far. Beware of this extra stuff.
Actually, if you only need h264 codec, you can use the new official codec repo: openSUSE Simplifies Codec Installation - openSUSE News
According to the news post, the repo has been enabled on latest tumbleweed iso. The repo provides 4 packages: gstreamer-1.20-plugin-openh264, libopenh264-7, libopenh264-devel, and mozilla-openh264. This is sufficient for my use case (mostly firefox, and I use vlc/mpv/steam from flatpak) so now I can avoid packman repo completely.
What is the interaction between all these methods?
Say I have an old installation (mid January), so i don’t have the new opensuse h.264 codec.
I want it, but i also want the other codecs that packman supplies.
Do I first do packman via the forum instructions:
zypper addrepo --refresh --priority 90 http://ftp.fau.de/packman/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/ packman
zypper **dist-upgrade** --allow-vendor-change --allow-downgrade --from packman
And then do the new opensuse instructions for h.264:
sudo zypper ar http://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Tumbleweed repo-openh264
sudo zypper in gstreamer-1.20-plugin-openh264
Feels like there could be more clarity provided with these new changes…
I think packman already provides the h264 codec, so probably you wouldn’t need the new repo.
1 Like
Are we making the argument that the opensuse h264 codec is irrelevant, because you always need more so you might as well prefer packman?
For ref: my question above was exploring whether it is possible to prefer the opensuse h264 codec - to make at least one popular codec immune to the vagaries of packman breakage…