Since Jan/Feb this year I’ve found the Packman repos to have become very unreliable or is this just me? This is the 32bit and 64bit packages.
Some of the packages I’ve had problems with:
FFMPEG, I dont think that the latest build should be offered as it breaks other apps - Packman should offer an older build i.e. 0.6.1/2 branch and not 0.6.3. When a newer build proves to be reliable it can replace the older reliable package. A little QA that’s all.
DVDstyler 0.8.3 is broken, should Packman not revert to 0.8.2 with DVDauthor 0.6.x? I’m not sure what the problem is? Perhaps its the FFMPEG package affecting it?
2ManDVD the sound is broken.
Kdenlive 0.8 or MLT 0.7.2 breaks each time FFMPEG is updated!
If Packman want to provide the very latest and cutting edge libs and apps should there not be a testing ground before releasing them into the wild. Replacing the older working packages with newer broken packages doesn’t make sense. By serving up broken packages will only keep people away from this brilliant distro. I’ve had to use another distro for my multimedia needs, as other have. What a shame.
In the last few months I have tried to build my own rpms but simply do not have the knowledge or time to learn the science and requirements of each package let alone the various build options of the apps and libs etc. My profession is not in IT and have no inclination to become a professional package builder. I’ve survived happily with Opensuse and Packman since SuSE 8.1.
Or have I got this package reliability all wrong? At the moment I don’t think so. Come on Packman introduce some quality albeit a 3rd party repo.
I recall some time back chatting about packman packaged apps with Yaloki (one of the packman packagers) and he noted there is NOT a lot of testing done on those apps after they are packaged. The packagers REALLY RELY on the openSUSE community to support them in the testing.
ie they expect YOU and ME to do the testing. They expect the COMMUNITY to do the testing. So I think you should rephrase your post and say COME ON COMMUNITY and start testing and don’t forget YOU and ME are part of the community.
So definitely follow malcolmlewis’s advise to report breakage to Packman packagers.
Now having typed that, I don’t agree with all that you note.
**ffmpeg **
Yes ffmpeg has been through a LOT of updates which do cause breakage. But I also note it has been like this for as long as I can remember with SuSE/openSUSE (ie for more than 6 or 7 years) and my experience is the breakage we are experiencing now is NO where close to how bad it was in the past. In the past it was so bad I always kept the older ffmpeg versions (and their dependencies) on my hard drive so I could roll back…
Speaking of rolling back, keep a copy on your hard drive. This is GNU/Linux and this operating system is about choice. NOTHING is stopping you from keeping the older packages. There is no law saying you can’t keep them. You can keep them, dissect them, modify them, give them away , etc … all for free.
.
kdenlive
Years ago ffmpeg I saw ffmpeg break kdenlive a number of times. I have not seen it happen this year. Now I do not update EVERY day, but rather maybe once a month or so I will update. So possibly I missed the breakage. Still, my kdenlive now with the latest ffmpeg runs BETTER than it has ever run in the past. MUCH MUCH BETTER. It would run WORSE with older ffmpeg versions, so I do not share your opinion here.
Best wishes in your efforts and don’t forget to advise the Packman packager mailing list of problems you might have.
I have had very good experience with packman for a lot of years, this weekend i ran in to the first major problem i have discovered so far.
I updated my HTPC and XBMC was updated with a new build, and now i can’t play rar,ed movies / files anymore, but so far i haven’t had the time to investigate the problem, just noted the same when updating my laptop that also have XBMC installed, got the same issue.
Well with a bit of lck it will get fixed soon, or i just have to compile it myself or something
I have glitches occasionally, but nothing I wasn’t able to work around myself.
That said, once a system is running well, nobody forces you to keep upgrading software. The bleeding edge can at times cause something to bleed.
Stability is a relevant thing when it comes to the software “you” use. If what you have isn’t broken, don’t fix it by going for the latest and greatest.
If you are mature enough to understand that some third party repositories are making changes on a regular basis and you want stable applications, then install what works, and leave it alone.
Last weekend I ran into nearly the same problem like hahnson: After a packman update I can’t play DVD folders (VIDEO_TS structure) in XBMC anymore. After selecting a movie to play nothing happens (XBMC log file message “WARNING: could not find codec parameters for /path_to_movie/VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.IFO”).
I posted in the XBMC forum ([LINUX] Playback of DVD folders broken - XBMC Community Forum](http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=104263) and on the packman mailing list - both with nearly none response until now.
Like hahnson I reproduced the problem on my laptop too: After the following updates the problem occurs:
Vodoo, yes the Packman men are working overtime and I’m optimistic that working packages will be served up soon
Just as a thought, should we not have a Packman or 3rd party forum which would address the communities feedback in a more open manner. A little more transparent than merely sending an isolated email to the packager? Perhaps even have designated package testers to aid the QA process? Or would this merely distract and waste the packager’s time? I am also mindful that we do not want a place to slate anyone off or frustrated commentaries but to have a constructive dialog with our packagers and community players.
ahhh … well if you look at the ‘help’ tab on the packman packager page, it will take you here: PackMan :: Dokumentation
It references the packman packager mailing list: Packman Info Page A mailing list is more than just an ‘isolated’ email. There is a community that hangs out and participates in that list. In many respects it is similar to a forum but the format/structure of course is different.
@allianux/oldcpu:
I agree to allianux idea! The drawback of the mailing list is, that all none-members does not see any actual discussions, because the mail archive is updated on a monthly period.
I am pleased to advise that DVDStyler (1.8.4.2-1.pm.2.8) from the 64bit Packman repro is working again. Apologies for those on 32bit installs I have not tested it.
For those who have dvdauthor 0.6.18-1.pm.2.1 and dvdauthor07 0.7.0±1.pm.1.1 installed, please ensure dvdauthor07 is installed last (I re-entered YAST after the initial install to do this).
I’m not sure if the rebuild of libwxsvg0 had anything to do with it but I’ve installed wxsvg 1.1.2-1.pm.1.1 from Packman too.
As for Kdenlive (0.8-1.pm.1.4) it still produces errors after rendering but the video files do seem to work for .VOB and .mp4 (using ffmpeg-0.8.1-0.pm.1.2 and kaffeine-1.2.2-1.pm.1.3).
[packman] Packman is becoming like a leaky boat full of patches.](