Darren: >> If the plugins have different filenames or are intalled to different >> subdirectories of $HOME/.gstreamer-0.10/plugins (as you suggest above >> with >> "uname -p"), then GStreamer does support the same $HOME directory having >> plugins for different architectures. >> >> However, codeina unfortunately does not yet take advantage of this >> feature. >> Since their x86 and Sparc plugins have the same name, you can only >> install >> one of them at a time (unless a user were to rename them or install them >> to arch-specific subdirs by hand). >> >> In talking with the codeina developers, they had not considered this use >> case before. >> >> I filed a bug against codeina about this issue, so it can get addressed. > > IMO this is not a bug it is a fundamental architectural issue that must > be resolved. Placing binaries into users home dirs requires that cross > architecture issues must be resolved.
Filing a bug with the upstream community is just a necessary step to getting the bug fixed upstream. I think your request that codeina install plugins to the user's $HOME directory in a way that supports cross architecture use is reasonable. Since GStreamer already supports the infrastructure, it is a small amount of work to fix codeina to work this way before we integrate. Would it be acceptable to approve this ARC case with the assertion that this issue will be fixed before codeina is integrated? > Is if there is a way to have codeina install into the system wide > GStreamer plugin directory. Yes, codeina does support a plugin mechanism so that a distro can specify that the plugin be installed in any fashion desired. However, to install to the system-wide GStreamer plugin directory, the user would obviously need access to the root password, or the RBAC role which allows package installation. We could, for example, get this to work via gnome-su or sudo and ask the user for the root password after purchasing the plugin if RBAC is not setup for the user to be able to install straightaway. Or we could tell the user "Set up RBAC and run codeina again". Since the user has already purchased the plugin, they are free to download it again as many times as they like with their Fluendo account username and password. However, I think it would be a mistake to set up codeina in this way. Remember that codeina is targeting novice end-users and not experienced system administrators. A system administrator should be clever enough to check the README information associated with the plugin to learn how to install it properly for system-wide use. Requiring the user to set up RBAC, or enter root passwords adds complication that is unnecessary, and somewhat defeats the purpose of having a program like codeina for novice users on the system. So, instead, I would prefer to just fix the way codeina installs files to the users $HOME directory to support cross architecture setups. Is this reasonable? Brian
