Re: Debian policy on multimedia ?
On Saturday 18 February 2006 03:41, Junichi Uekawa was like:
> Hi,
>
> > I think if we are making policy here, then setting ALSA as the basic
> > sound system with JACK used in all cases where applications need to be
> > able to communicate about audio signals in realtime, is the only sensible
> > option. This will force everything else to be compatible, which is a Good
> > Thing (TM). There are very few 'professional' quality audio applications
> > that don't use these protocols. A/DeMuDi has enforced ALSA/JACK
> > compatibility for two or three years now.
>
> Being a Debian policy, I don't think it's useful to have a policy that
> excludes most of the classic applications. OSS is a good standard
> interface.
I'm not suggesting making Policy that would exclude applications. Which do you
regard as 'classic'? OK, let's break it down a bit. I shall try to be RFC2119
compliant. (not to be read as shouting ;)
ALSA MUST be the core sound system. Life would be much simpler if OSS were
deprecated, but there is a perfectly useable compatibility layer, which is
available by default. I trust there is little disagreement on these points?
I don't regard OSS as 'bad', actually it's quite good and in some situations
performs better than ALSA, however ALSA is now in the kernel by default and
OSS is an unnecessary duplication (apart from compatibility reasons). Forgive
me if I am a little technically vague. From a user's point of view this all
needs to be transparent. Ideally ALSA SHOULD be auto-configured on install
and jo user SHOULD be able to play music files and watch videos with sound as
soon as they first log in. They don't need to know about the rest. We can
assume that JACK is being used by Audio specialists.
> > The one thing that would be magic would be to get video apps to send and
> > receive JACK transport signals. We would score major points if it were
> > possible to sync totem up to Ardour or Rosegarden, particularly if it
> > were possible to export the combined output to an ogg-theora file (or
> > whatever).
>
> I'll be careful not to force jack usage upon those which do not need
> it, but considering video usually contains audio also, jack transport
> protocol might be a viable option. I'm not quite sure if jack
> transport is really adopted by many; the last time I looked it wasn't
> too well-supported.
JACK: Yes, I understand your point. We cannot say 'SHOULD' about JACK. We can,
however recommend it strongly. JACK transport is pointless if only a few apps
use it - unfortunately this is the current situation and therefore what we
have to work with, I concede that point. I would like this wishlisted,
however.
> > I also think we should start considering 3d graphics support as a serious
> > issue. I know this is largely driver-dependent. 3d graphics have some
> > 'serious' applications in the multimedia realm. If we are looking to the
> > future this must not be relegated to 'eye-candy for gamers' - it is more
> > important than that IMO.
>
> This is Debian, and we're better off supporting something free. I'm
> not confident enough with free drivers for 3d graphics cards that they
> are quite ready.
We MUST ONLY support that which is DFSG free. Which is why I collect Voodoo
Banshee cards. ;) So agreed, but I still think it's an important issue and
ought to be mentioned in the Policy document, even if it is only a stub to
say that free 3d support is lacking unless you use 3dfx based cards.
I feel passionately that it is important that the issues of realtime operation
and 3d graphics support SHOULD be covered by Policy even if that amounts to
'mostly harmless'[*] or whatever. This would serve to keep the issues in the
frame. I understand that this is not the primary purpose of Policy, but I
think these issues SHOULD be addressed. Is that inappropriate?
I need to get myself better aquainted with what Policy documents SHOULD and
SHOULD NOT contain before getting much deeper into this discussion. I know
these points are important, the main question is where to place them and how
best to present them. Anyway, I am rambling now.
--
cheers,
tim hall
http://glastonburymusic.org.uk/tim
[*] H2GT2G
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