[FFmpeg-devel] ffserver: current status and future plans

[Michael Fritscher]

Hello,

as promised I started to work on ffserver. The focus of the first week 
was to remake a fresh building environment - incl. FATE - and get an 
overview what it is needed to be done.

1. FATE
There is already a test for ffserver, but out of FATE. This test does 
not work for me, but this is a cygwin related problem (wget <blah> | dd 
bs=1 count=20k : wget isn't exited automatically if dd exits, and 
because of that the test hangs) Does anybody know more details of the 
warning

"
Unfortunately ffserver is broken and therefore its regression test fails 
randomly. Treat the results accordingly.
"
in the Makefile regarding this test?

2. rtsp server
I was told that the rtsp-demuxer can listen now as well. Can this 
demuxer cope with multiple concurrent connections as well? If not, is 
this a problem with this demuxer or the demuxer API in general? If the 
later one I would like to get some advise how to solve this.

3. ffm
3.1. Using it as a ring buffer.
I think that can be solved rather easy.
3.2. Using it for transfering the streams.
Not that big story either - there are other formats like nut.
3.3. Using it for negotiating the needed video formats.
This is by far(!) the biggest obstacle I found. This is the main cause 
ffm is plant to be removed I guess (because of the AVCodecContext 
problem). Additionally, some people doesn't like the idea that ffserver 
sets the streaming options. Honestly, I personally like this, and there 
is a ffserver_ignore flag even today. I think that via a new protocol 
this can be solved. This protocol will be only used to configure the 
streams of ffmpeg.

4. other issues
The other internal includes are less critical I think - rather utility 
functions etc. Did I miss something?

5. time frame
I know that ffserver hinders removal of some internal stuff (most 
importantly ffm with its usage of AVCodecContext). On IRC, the idea of a 
deadline popped up. Honestly I like this idea - it would be a clear rule 
and would avoid a lot of confusion. I propose the 2016-12-31 - if by 
then the usage of the internal things is not solved ffserver is going to 
be removed. At least the things which are announced to me by 2016-10-15. 
I would be more than happy making a detailed list what is to be done - 
this mail being the first step.

Best regards,
Michael Fritscher
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