[MPlayer-dev-eng] supported ALSA versions

[Clemens Ladisch]

> On Fri, Nov 04, 2011 at 04:57:25PM +0100, Reimar Döffinger wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 11:06:15PM +0100, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> > > I looked into the baroque ALSA check in configure and noticed that we
> > > support ALSA versions from 2000 (last 0.5 release) and 2003 (last 0.9
> > > release).  While maintaining compatibility and such is all nice and
> > > great a decade sounds like the timeframe when one can safely eliminate
> > > cruft.
> > > 
> > > Am I overlooking something non-obvious about systems without ALSA
> > > versions from at least 2003 (first 1.0 release)?

There really isn't much difference between 0.9* and 1.0; there weren't
any big technical reasons for the version change.  There was a small
API change, but the libraries are binary compatible (as long as no
newer APIs are used).

OTOH, 0.5 was a completely different API and considered somewhat of
a prototype.

All 0.9/1.0 alsa-lib and kernel versions should be compatible; I think
it somewhat unlikely that somebody would use a new mplayer without
being able to update alsa-lib.

It should be noted that ao_alsa.c uses some functions introduced in
0.9.0rc4, which was after the move to alsa/, so <sys/asoundlib.h>
support can be dropped.

> > The ais on the other hand someone thought it a good idea to duplicate
> > the whole file because of what essentially is 7 lines difference.

With "#define ALSA_PCM_NEW_*_API", ai_alsa1x.c can be used for both.

With these defines (and with 0.5 dropped), no version check is needed
in configure.


Regards,
Clemens