[MPlayer-users] gui suggestions

[frederik at ugcs.caltech.edu]

>> I've just started using mplayer; I'm running running 0.90pre3-gcc
>> on

I'm sorry, it turns out the version I'm using is actually
0.90rc5-3.1.1 (pre3 is on my other computer).

>> debian-powerpc. It's been a good experience overall but there was a
>> small snag. An old man page says that "-gui" will "Start mplayer in
>> GUI mode", without mentioning gmplayer. The new one mentions gmplayer,
>> but also responds to the -gui flag:
>> 
>>     $ mplayer -gui 
>>     ...
>>     The gui option can't be used on the command line
>> 
>> This isn't a very useful error message, as it suggests that the gui
>> option should be used somewhere else. Putting it in
>> "~/.mplayer/config" causes a segfault, no more informative to the user.
>
> Run "gmplayer".

I know, please reread the above paragraphs. To recap, the issue is
that users who try -gui by accident will be led to a dead end. There
are two things to fix:

1. The message "The gui option can't be used on the command line"
should be changed to "Use gmplayer to start mplayer in gui mode" or
something else which references gmplayer.

2. There shouldn't be a segfault when the options in ~/.mplayer/config
are parsed (try putting "-gui" or "gui" as one of the lines). If
developers can't reproduce this bug, I can fire up gdb. But I was
assuming it would be easy to reproduce.

>> Another complaint about the -gui mode is the continuous stream of
>> dialog boxes, even when user input isn't required. I would prefer if
>> informative messages were sent to stdout or stderr - just as with
>> mplayer. Keeping an xterm open to look at these messages is easy and
>> works a lot better, no constant interruptions to say that my computer
>> is too slow. If some users prefer the dialog boxes, they could be
>> controlled via a switch, perhaps with default "off" when stdout is a
>> tty.
>
> I agree totally, but I don't work on the GUI or use it.
>
> I will, however, add an option for 'advanced' users to disable the
> stupid 'your computer is too slow' message entirely, when I get around
> to it. :)

This sounds like a good idea. But I should add that I found the
message quite informative when trying to debug speed problems, so I
don't think it should ever be removed entirely.

Thanks for your quick reply, by the way.

Frederik