Bug#954173: vlc: man page and help should mention MRL/URL v4l2:// to open webcam
Package: vlc
Version: 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Severity: minor
Dear Maintainer,
the documentation is missing a few words on how to open a webcam.
I tried the (advanced) help:
% vlc --longhelp --advanced | grep -i webcam
VLC media player 3.0.8 Vetinari (revision 3.0.8-0-gf350b6b5a7)
% vlc --longhelp --advanced | grep -i v4l2://
VLC media player 3.0.8 Vetinari (revision 3.0.8-0-gf350b6b5a7)
and the man page but could not find anything.
The "URL syntax" section seems like a good place to add a line:
% vlc --longhelp --advanced
[...]
URL syntax:
file:///path/file Plain media file
http://host[:port]/file HTTP URL
ftp://host[:port]/file FTP URL
mms://host[:port]/file MMS URL
screen:// Screen capture
dvd://[device] DVD device
vcd://[device] VCD device
cdda://[device] Audio CD device
udp://[[<source address>]@[<bind address>][:<bind port>]]
UDP stream sent by a streaming server
vlc://pause:<seconds> Pause the playlist for a certain time
vlc://quit Special item to quit VLC
[...]
I would suggest:
v4l2://[device] Video4Linux capture device (i.e. USB webcams, TV tuners)
Mentioning 'v4l2' in the 'ITEMS' of vlc(1) would be nice too:
ITEMS
VLC recognizes several URL-style items:
*.mpg, *.vob, *.avi, *.mp3, *.ogg, *.opus
Various multimedia file formats
dvd://[<device>][@<raw device>][#[<title>][:[<chapter>][:<angle>]]]
DVD device (for instance dvd:///dev/dvd). The raw device is optional and must have been prepared beforehand.
vcd://[<device>][@{E|P|E|T|S}[<number>]]
VCD device (for instance vcd:///dev/cdrom).
udp://[@[<multicast address>][:<local port>]]
UDP stream, such as one sent by VLS or another VLC. Usually "udp://" is enough.
http://<server address>[:<server port>]/[<file>]
HTTP stream
rtsp://<server address>[:<server port>]/<stream name>
RTSP Video On Demand stream
vlc://<command>
Execute a playlist command. Commands are: pause (pause execution of other items), and quit (close VLC).
I would suggest:
v4l2://[device]
Video4Linux capture device (i.e. USB webcams, TV tuners). The device defaults to "/dev/video0".
I am fine with providing a patch if you are ok with my suggestion. I didn't file an upstream bug (yet).
Please let me know what you think.
Regards && thank you for maintaining vlc,
- Darsha
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 10.3
APT prefers stable-updates
APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386
Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
Versions of packages vlc depends on:
ii vlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii vlc-plugin-base 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii vlc-plugin-qt 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii vlc-plugin-video-output 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Versions of packages vlc recommends:
ii vlc-l10n 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
pn vlc-plugin-notify <none>
pn vlc-plugin-samba <none>
pn vlc-plugin-skins2 <none>
pn vlc-plugin-video-splitter <none>
pn vlc-plugin-visualization <none>
vlc suggests no packages.
Versions of packages libvlc-bin depends on:
ii libc6 2.28-10
ii libvlc5 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Versions of packages libvlc5 depends on:
ii libc6 2.28-10
ii libvlccore9 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Versions of packages libvlc5 recommends:
ii libvlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Versions of packages vlc-bin depends on:
ii libc6 2.28-10
ii libvlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii libvlc5 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Versions of packages vlc-plugin-base depends on:
ii liba52-0.7.4 0.7.4-19
ii libaom0 1.0.0-3
ii libarchive13 3.3.3-4+deb10u1
ii libaribb24-0 1.0.3-2
ii libasound2 1.1.8-1
ii libass9 1:0.14.0-2
ii libavahi-client3 0.7-4+b1
ii libavahi-common3 0.7-4+b1
ii libavc1394-0 0.5.4-5
ii libavcodec58 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libavformat58 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libavutil56 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libbasicusageenvironment1 2018.11.26-1.1
ii libbluray2 1:1.1.0-1
ii libc6 2.28-10
ii libcairo2 1.16.0-4
ii libcddb2 1.3.2-6
ii libchromaprint1 1.4.3-3
ii libcrystalhd3 1:0.0~git20110715.fdd2f19-13
ii libdbus-1-3 1.12.16-1
ii libdc1394-22 2.2.5-1
ii libdca0 0.0.6-1
ii libdvbpsi10 1.3.2-1
ii libdvdnav4 6.0.0-1
ii libdvdread4 6.0.1-1
ii libebml4v5 1.3.6-2
ii libfaad2 2.8.8-3
ii libflac8 1.3.2-3
ii libfontconfig1 2.13.1-2
ii libfreetype6 2.9.1-3+deb10u1
ii libfribidi0 1.0.5-3.1+deb10u1
ii libgcc1 1:8.3.0-6
ii libgcrypt20 1.8.4-5
ii libglib2.0-0 2.58.3-2+deb10u2
ii libgnutls30 3.6.7-4+deb10u2
ii libgpg-error0 1.35-1
ii libgroupsock8 2018.11.26-1.1
ii libharfbuzz0b 2.3.1-1
ii libixml10 1:1.8.4-2
ii libjpeg62-turbo 1:1.5.2-2+b1
ii libkate1 0.4.1-9
ii liblirc-client0 0.10.1-5.2
ii liblivemedia64 2018.11.26-1.1
ii liblua5.2-0 5.2.4-1.1+b2
ii libmad0 0.15.1b-10
ii libmatroska6v5 1.4.9-1+deb10u1
ii libmicrodns0 0.0.10-1
ii libmpcdec6 2:0.1~r495-1+b2
ii libmpeg2-4 0.5.1-8
ii libmpg123-0 1.25.10-2
ii libmtp9 1.1.16-2
ii libncursesw6 6.1+20181013-2+deb10u2
ii libnfs12 3.0.0-2
ii libogg0 1.3.2-1+b1
ii libopenmpt-modplug1 0.4.3-1
ii libopus0 1.3-1
ii libpng16-16 1.6.36-6
ii libpostproc55 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libprotobuf-lite17 3.6.1.3-2
ii libpulse0 12.2-4+deb10u1
ii libraw1394-11 2.1.2-1+b1
ii libresid-builder0c2a 2.1.1-15
ii librsvg2-2 2.44.10-2.1
ii libsamplerate0 0.1.9-2
ii libsdl-image1.2 1.2.12-10+deb10u1
ii libsdl1.2debian 1.2.15+dfsg2-4
ii libsecret-1-0 0.18.7-1
ii libshine3 3.1.1-2
ii libshout3 2.4.1-2
ii libsidplay2 2.1.1-15
ii libsndio7.0 1.5.0-3
ii libsoxr0 0.1.2-3
ii libspatialaudio0 0.3.0+git20180730+dfsg1-2
ii libspeex1 1.2~rc1.2-1+b2
ii libspeexdsp1 1.2~rc1.2-1+b2
ii libssh2-1 1.8.0-2.1
ii libstdc++6 8.3.0-6
ii libswscale5 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libsystemd0 241-7~deb10u3
ii libtag1v5 1.11.1+dfsg.1-0.3
ii libtheora0 1.1.1+dfsg.1-15
ii libtinfo6 6.1+20181013-2+deb10u2
ii libtwolame0 0.3.13-4
ii libudev1 241-7~deb10u3
ii libupnp13 1:1.8.4-2
ii libusageenvironment3 2018.11.26-1.1
ii libva-drm2 2.4.0-1
ii libva2 2.4.0-1
ii libvlccore9 [vlc-plugin-abi-3-0-0f] 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii libvorbis0a 1.3.6-2
ii libvorbisenc2 1.3.6-2
ii libx264-155 2:0.155.2917+git0a84d98-2
ii libx265-165 2.9-4
ii libxcb-keysyms1 0.4.0-1+b2
ii libxcb1 1.13.1-2
ii libxml2 2.9.4+dfsg1-7+b3
ii libzvbi0 0.2.35-16
ii vlc-data 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii zlib1g 1:1.2.11.dfsg-1
Versions of packages vlc-plugin-base recommends:
ii xdg-utils 1.1.3-1
Versions of packages vlc-plugin-base suggests:
ii libdvdcss2 1.4.0-dmo1
Versions of packages vlc-plugin-qt depends on:
ii libc6 2.28-10
ii libgcc1 1:8.3.0-6
ii libqt5core5a 5.11.3+dfsg1-1+deb10u3
ii libqt5gui5 5.11.3+dfsg1-1+deb10u3
ii libqt5svg5 5.11.3-2
ii libqt5widgets5 5.11.3+dfsg1-1+deb10u3
ii libqt5x11extras5 5.11.3-2
ii libstdc++6 8.3.0-6
ii libvlccore9 [vlc-plugin-abi-3-0-0f] 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii libwayland-client0 1.16.0-1
ii libx11-6 2:1.6.7-1
Versions of packages vlc-plugin-qt recommends:
ii vlc-bin 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
Versions of packages vlc-plugin-video-output depends on:
ii libaa1 1.4p5-46
ii libavcodec58 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libavutil56 7:4.1.4-1~deb10u1
ii libc6 2.28-10
ii libcaca0 0.99.beta19-2.1
ii libegl1 1.1.0-1
ii libgl1 1.1.0-1
ii libgles2 1.1.0-1
ii libplacebo7 1.7.0-2
ii libva-drm2 2.4.0-1
ii libva-wayland2 2.4.0-1
ii libva-x11-2 2.4.0-1
ii libva2 2.4.0-1
ii libvlccore9 [vlc-plugin-abi-3-0-0f] 3.0.8-0+deb10u1
ii libwayland-client0 1.16.0-1
ii libwayland-egl1 1.16.0-1
ii libx11-6 2:1.6.7-1
ii libxcb-keysyms1 0.4.0-1+b2
ii libxcb-shm0 1.13.1-2
ii libxcb-xv0 1.13.1-2
ii libxcb1 1.13.1-2
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