Tag: dpkg

Tips about FFserver & FFmpeg

FFmpeg

Today, I want to share one tip about ffmpeg and ffserver multimedia video tools and  server. FFmpeg is a open source project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data. FFserver is a HTTP and RTSP multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts. It can also time shift live broadcast.

All the settings used in this article have been tested on AMD64 Debian Squeeze OS using
FFmpeg Debian packages of the Debian-Multimedia repositories:

ffmpeg 5:0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2

You can get the Debian Multimedia repositories adding this lines to your APT sources.list
file:

deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org squeeze main
deb-src http://www.debian-multimedia.org squeeze main

Note that, with this same version, I’ve observe a problem trying to run ffserver:

Mon Apr 25 13:29:09 2011 Aspect ratio mismatch between encoder and muxer layer

To work ffserver in this version of ffmpeg is neccesary to hack the source code:

    1. Install DPKG development tools:  apt-get install dpkg-dev
    2. Get sources: apt-get source ffmpeg
    3. Go to sources directory: cd ffmpeg-dmo-0.6.1+svn20101128/
    4. Apply the patch: 
      Index: libavutil/rational.h
===================================================================
--- libavutil/rational.h    (revision 25549)
+++ libavutil/rational.h    (working copy)
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
#define AVUTIL_RATIONAL_H

#include <stdint.h>
-#include <limits.h>
#include "attributes.h"

/**
@@ -44,16 +43,13 @@
* Compare two rationals.
* @param a first rational
* @param b second rational
- * @return 0 if a==b, 1 if a>b, -1 if a<b, and INT_MIN if one of the
- * values is of the form 0/0
+ * @return 0 if a==b, 1 if a>b and -1 if a<b
*/
static inline int av_cmp_q(AVRational a, AVRational b){
const int64_t tmp= a.num * (int64_t)b.den - b.num * (int64_t)a.den;

if(tmp) return ((tmp ^ a.den ^ b.den)>>63)|1;
-    else if(b.den && a.den) return 0;
-    else if(a.num && b.num) return (a.num>>31) - (b.num>>31);
-    else                    return INT_MIN;
+    else    return 0;
}

/**
  • Install all the dependences neccesaries to build the package: 
    apt-get install  debhelper libmp3lame-dev zlib1g-dev libvorbis-dev libsdl-dev libfaac-dev quilt texi2html libxvidcore4-dev liblzo2-dev libx264-dev  libtheora-dev libgsm1-dev ccache libbz2-dev libxvmc-dev libdc1394-22-dev libdirac-dev   libschroedinger-dev libspeex-dev yasm libopenjpeg-dev libopencore-amrwb-dev libvdpau-dev libopencore-amrnb-dev libxfixes-dev libasound-dev libva-dev libjack-dev libvpx-dev  librtmp-dev doxygen
  • Build the packages: dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
  • Finally you’ll have the new *deb packages: 
    # ls ../*.deb
ffmpeg_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb         libavfilter-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
ffmpeg-dbg_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb     libavformat52_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
ffmpeg-doc_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_all.deb     libavformat-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavcodec52_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb     libavutil50_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavcodec-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb     libavutil-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavcore0_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb     libpostproc51_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavcore-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb     libpostproc-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavdevice52_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb     libswscale0_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavdevice-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb  libswscale-dev_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb
libavfilter1_0.6.1+svn20101128-0.2_amd64.deb

After to install the ffmpeg packages, you’ll can to run ffserver adjusted like you want. for this aim, you can run as follow: ffserver -f your_ffserver_settings.conf. The ffserver configuration file should have this structuration:

  • Main settings: 
     # Port on which the server is listening. You must select a different
 # port from your standard HTTP web server if it is running on the same
 # computer.
 Port 8090
 # Address on which the server is bound. Only useful if you have
 # several network interfaces.
 BindAddress 0.0.0.0
 RTSPPort 554
 RTSPBindAddress 0.0.0.0
 # Number of simultaneous HTTP connections that can be handled. It has
 # to be defined *before* the MaxClients parameter, since it defines the
 # MaxClients maximum limit.
 MaxHTTPConnections 2000
 # Number of simultaneous requests that can be handled. Since FFServer
 # is very fast, it is more likely that you will want to leave this high
 # and use MaxBandwidth, below.
 MaxClients 1000
 # This the maximum amount of kbit/sec that you are prepared to
 # consume when streaming to clients.
 MaxBandwidth 1000
 # Access log file (uses standard Apache log file format)
 # '-' is the standard output.
 CustomLog -
 # Suppress that if you want to launch ffserver as a daemon.
 NoDaemon
  • Definition of the live feeds. Each live feed contains one video and/or audio sequence coming from an ffmpeg encoder or another ffserver. This sequence may be encoded simultaneously with several codecs at several resolutions. You must use ffmpeg to send a live feed to ffserver. In this example, you can type ffmpeg http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm  or ffmpeg   -f alsa   -i hw:1   -f video4linux2 -r 25 -s 352x288  -i /dev/video0   http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm: 
     ################################################################################
 <Feed feed1.ffm>
 # ffserver can do time shifting. It means that it can stream any
 # previously recorded live stream. The request should contain:
 # "http://xxxx?date=[YYYY-MM-DDT][[HH:]MM:]SS[.m...]".You must specify
 # a path where the feed is stored on disk. You also specify the
 # maximum size of the feed, where zero means unlimited. Default:
 # File=/tmp/feed_name.ffm FileMaxSize=5M
 File /tmp/feed1.ffm
 FileMaxSize 100M
 # You could specify
 # ReadOnlyFile /saved/specialvideo.ffm
 # This marks the file as readonly and it will not be deleted or updated.
 # Specify launch in order to start ffmpeg automatically.
 # First ffmpeg must be defined with an appropriate path if needed,
 # after that options can follow, but avoid adding the http:// field
 # Launch ffmpeg
 # Only allow connections from localhost to the feed.
 ACL allow 127.0.0.1
 </Feed>
  • Setting a RTSP/RTP stream: 
     ################################################################################
 # It's a lot of important the .sdp extension to allow RTP working well.
 #
 # Note that AVOptionVideo is only interesting for libx264 video codec:
 # For RTSP:
 # ffplay  rtsp://10.121.55.148:554/live.sdp
 #
 # For SDP (RTP):
 #   vlc  http://10.121.55.148:8090/live.sdp
 #
 <Stream live.sdp>
 Format rtp
 Feed feed1.ffm
 ### MulticastAddress 224.124.0.1
 ### MulticastPort 5000
 ### MulticastTTL 16
 # NoLoop
 VideoSize 352x288
 VideoFrameRate 15
 VideoBitRate 200
 # Alternative video codecs:
 # VideoCodec h263p
 # VideoCodec h263
 # VideoCodec libxvid
 # VideoQMin 10
 # VideoQMax 31
 VideoCodec libx264
 AVOptionVideo me_range 16
 AVOptionVideo i_qfactor .71
 AVOptionVideo qmin 30
 AVOptionVideo qmax 51
 AVOptionVideo qdiff 4
 # AVOptionVideo coder 0
 # AVOptionVideo flags +loop
 # AVOptionVideo cmp +chroma
 # AVOptionVideo partitions +parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8
 # AVOptionVideo me_method hex
 # AVOptionVideo subq 7
 # AVOptionVideo g 50
 # AVOptionVideo keyint_min 5
 # AVOptionVideo sc_threshold 0
 # AVOptionVideo b_strategy 1
 # AVOptionVideo qcomp 0.6
 # AVOptionVideo bf 3
 # AVOptionVideo refs 3
 # AVOptionVideo directpred 1
 # AVOptionVideo trellis 1
 # AVOptionVideo flags2 +mixed_refs+wpred+dct8x8+fastpskip
 # AVOptionVideo wpredp 2
 ## AVOptionVideo flags +global_header+loop
 # NoAudio
 AudioCodec libmp3lame
 AudioBitRate 32
 AudioChannels 1
 AudioSampleRate 24000
 ## AVOptionAudio flags +global_header
 </Stream>
  • Setting a FLV stream ouput: 
     ################################################################################
 # FLV output - good for streaming
 <Stream test.flv>
 # the source feed
 Feed feed1.ffm
 # the output stream format - FLV = FLash Video
 Format flv
 VideoCodec flv
 # this must match the ffmpeg -r argument
 VideoFrameRate 15
 # generally leave this is a large number
 VideoBufferSize 80000
 # another quality tweak
 VideoBitRate 200
 # quality ranges - 1-31 (1 = best, 31 = worst)
 VideoQMin 1
 VideoQMax 5
 VideoSize 352x288
 # this sets how many seconds in past to start
 PreRoll 0
 # wecams don't have audio
 Noaudio
 </Stream>
  • Setting a ASF stream ouput: 
     ################################################################################
 # ASF output - for windows media player
 <Stream test.asf>
 # the source feed
 Feed feed1.ffm
 # the output stream format - ASF
 Format asf
 VideoCodec msmpeg4
 # this must match the ffmpeg -r argument
 VideoFrameRate 15
 # transmit only intra frames (useful for low bitrates, but kills frame rate).
 # VideoIntraOnly
 # if non-intra only, an intra frame is transmitted every VideoGopSize
 # frames. Video synchronization can only begin at an intra frame.
 VideoGopSize 40
 # generally leave this is a large number
 VideoBufferSize 1000
 # another quality tweak
 VideoBitRate 200
 # quality ranges - 1-31 (1 = best, 31 = worst)
 VideoQMin 1
 VideoQMax 15
 VideoSize 352x288
 # this sets how many seconds in past to start
 PreRoll 0
 # generally, webcams don't have audio
 # Noaudio
 AudioCodec libmp3lame
 AudioBitRate 32
 AudioChannels 1
 AudioSampleRate 24000
 </Stream>
  • Other streams availables: 
     # Multipart JPEG
 #<Stream test.mjpg>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Format mpjpeg
 #VideoFrameRate 2
 #VideoIntraOnly
 #NoAudio
 #Strict -1
 #</Stream>
 # Single JPEG
 #<Stream test.jpg>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Format jpeg
 #VideoFrameRate 2
 #VideoIntraOnly
 ##VideoSize 352x240
 #NoAudio
 #Strict -1
 #</Stream>
 # Flash
 #<Stream test.swf>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Format swf
 #VideoFrameRate 2
 #VideoIntraOnly
 #NoAudio
 #</Stream>
 # MP3 audio
 #<Stream test.mp3>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Format mp2
 #AudioCodec mp3
 #AudioBitRate 64
 #AudioChannels 1
 #AudioSampleRate 44100
 #NoVideo
 #</Stream>
 # Ogg Vorbis audio
 #<Stream test.ogg>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Title "Stream title"
 #AudioBitRate 64
 #AudioChannels 2
 #AudioSampleRate 44100
 #NoVideo
 #</Stream>
 # Real with audio only at 32 kbits
 #<Stream test.ra>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Format rm
 #AudioBitRate 32
 #NoVideo
 #NoAudio
 #</Stream>
 # Real with audio and video at 64 kbits
 #<Stream test.rm>
 #Feed feed1.ffm
 #Format rm
 #AudioBitRate 32
 #VideoBitRate 128
 #VideoFrameRate 25
 #VideoGopSize 25
 #NoAudio
 #</Stream>
  • Other special streams: 
     # Server status
 <Stream stat.html>
 Format status
 # Only allow local people to get the status
 ACL allow localhost
 ACL allow 192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255
 #FaviconURL http://pond1.gladstonefamily.net:8080/favicon.ico
 </Stream>

 # Redirect index.html to the appropriate site
 <Redirect index.html>
 URL http://www.ffmpeg.org/
 </Redirect>

Extra references:

Debian package guide: Latest Python policy

From a couple of days ago, I has been recycling my knowledge about Debian-Python packages. Debian 6.0 is currently next to be released and we’ll need effort to adapt many of own packages from etch to squeeze.

I’ve been following the Debian-Python mailling list from one year ago and I know many several troubles, changes or  improvements  which was occurred during this period.

As a brief resume, many things has changed: default Python interpreter for Debian 6.0,  the backend frameworks to build packages (CDBS with python-distutils.mk, Python-central or Python-support) …

All these changes have been discussed on Debian Wiki and have been formalized as the new Python Policy. This policy is already accessible on http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/python-policy/.