[MPlayer-users] Annoying new message from CVS mplayer

[The Wanderer]

Earlier this morning, I noticed for the first time a message in mplayer 
output which hadn't been there before; it appears to occur numerous 
times (dozens/hundreds) over the course of playing any video in which it 
occurs at all.

L3: BigValues too large, doesn't make sense 416 384

The numbers given are the most common, but do vary.

I've tried a few different files, and have received this message only in 
comparatively high-quality AVIs; it does not appear to occur in .mpg 
files or low-quality AVIs, and I have yet to try any others.

I've tracked this down to mp3lib/layer3.c, where the message is printed 
in two different locations, both delimited by #ifdef L3_DEBUG #endif. 
Commenting out both of those blocks removes the message, without 
breaking the compile or appearing to affect functionality.

Near the beginning of the file, there are these three lines:

#if 0
#define L3_DEBUG 1
#endif

Commenting out this block breaks the compile.

I have been assured that, as seems intuitive, #if 0 will always be 
false; however, this does not seem consistent with this case, as if it 
were false then removing the block by commenting it out should not 
change anything.

My question is, what is the procedure for reporting this?

It isn't precisely a bug, and doesn't seem suited for the standard 
bug-report procedure anyhow. The shortsighted type of fix is simple, 
especially since this appears to be mis-handled debugging code. I don't 
feel justified posting to the development list about it, especially 
since it seems likely that if the problem is both not mainly unique to 
me and actually not intentional someone with more background is likely 
to have noticed it already - but given the lack of comment, much less 
fix, no one appears to have done so.

I don't provide my system details, since this appears to be purely a 
matter of mplayer internal code and does not appear to rely on any 
hardware or external software. If it turns out that I'm mistaken in this 
perception, just let me know and I can correct the omission.

-- 
       The Wanderer


A government exists to serve its citizens, not to control them.