Bug#86837: realplayer: realplayer locks up when xmms is playing (probably other audio software too)
Package: realplayer
Version: 8.0
Severity: wishlist
hi
an easy mistake to make with realplayer is to have another
program using the audio device. realplayer responds to this
by freezing. in my case it happens when i have xmms in play
or in pause mode. i then try to watch something in realplayer,
and it takes me a while to realise that xmms is clashing
with it. i am using ALSA for my sound, without esd (i found
esd made the music skip more). an even more naive user than
me (i've been using linux for years) mightn't realise that
there was a clash, and think realplayer was broken, as i did
until i realised it was waiting for the audio device.
of course the proper fix is to get realplayer to behave more
sensibly when it can't open the audio device; or to create
a new audio/video streaming format that's open source and
have it become the dominant format. ;)
but meanwhile i added the following line to /usr/bin/X11/realplayer
/usr/bin/xmms --stop
which helps me stay sane for the next time i gut this bug
and forget what causes it.
perhaps somehting more general could be done, e.g. a warning
to users when running realplayer if they don't have esd
installed or something...
-- System Information
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Kernel Version: Linux focus.physics.usyd.edu.au 2.2.17 #1 Thu Aug 17 23:13:16 EST 2000 i686 unknown
Versions of the packages realplayer depends on:
ii cpio 2.4.2-32 GNU cpio -- a program to manage archives of
ii debconf 0.3.65 Debian configuration management system
ii libc6 2.2.1-1 GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone
ii xlib6g 4.0.2-1 pseudopackage providing X libraries
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