[clue-tech] mozilla-mplayer

[Collins Richey]

On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 8:41 PM, David L. Anselmi <anselmi at anselmi.us> wrote:
> Collins Richey wrote:
>>

> Does this help? http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=527293

Not really. I read lots of bugs, but not this one. I had a later
verion of mozilla-mplayer than the one proposed as a fix. None of the
bug reports (or the threads I found) mentioned the fact that the
package was deprecated and no longer in the repository. I found this
only by accident (as noted) as a single quote in a longer thread. No
one else in the thread seemed to be aware of the deprecation.


>
> apple.com/trailers works for me.

Workes for me again after installing the replacement package.

>
>> In typical FOSS fashion, the gurus-that-be have decided to abandon
>> mozilla-mplayer, and the replacement is called gecko-mediaplayer.
>> Said package drags in (sigh! typical) a bunch of gnome crepe but at
>> least it works.
>
> The Debian package is deprecated (but still there) because upstream
> abandoned it.  Perhaps he died.  In FOSS fashion, just like in corporate
> monopoly fashion, someone decided to stop doing voluntary work that was
> useful to you.

Yep, and there's probably some magic way to know that the package was
abandoned, but I didn't find any clear presentation of the situation.
Even after 3 years I'm still a big enough Debian lightweight that such
matters are extremely frustrating. On any other list than my distro,
one of the heavyweights would have picked up on this quickly. And it
doesn't help when apt-cache search reports the package without any
indication that it's gone.

> You could ask the Debian maintainer or the upstream why it was abandoned.

I don't care WHY. I just care that the package disappeared without any
notice that I as an average user could easily find. If I had known
from the start that the package was abandoned and replaced, I would
have avoided the frustration .. And yes, a frequently occurring FOSS
deficiency isd the fact that all-too-frequently separate volunters (of
their own free will) reinvent the wheel and start over on the same
functionality instead of building on what is already known. Just think
of all the frustration caused by the constantly shifting audio
support!

>
> Are the gnome dependencies really that big a deal?  Otherwise it looks like
> gecko-mediaplayer is a pretty close replacement.
>

Not really. It's just my aversion to the "Gnome is the only thing"
mentality in so many Linux offerings. The replacement appears to be
functional.

-- 
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.