[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] [RFC] avformat/options_table: do not merge sidedata by default

[wm4]

On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 00:42:38 +0100
Michael Niedermayer <michaelni at gmx.at> wrote:

> This requires applications to pass side data from demuxer to
> decoder and demuxer to muxer.
> If we want this change then a #if MAJOR_VERSION would need to be
> added around it as it adds the new requirement of passing side data
> around too (through all queues an application has between its demuxer
> and muxer/decoder layers)
> 
> Do applications support this kind of side data passing already ?
> 
> Suggested-by: wm4
> Signed-off-by: Michael Niedermayer <michaelni at gmx.at>
> ---
>  libavformat/options_table.h |    2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/libavformat/options_table.h b/libavformat/options_table.h
> index 8145325..76b9d6a 100644
> --- a/libavformat/options_table.h
> +++ b/libavformat/options_table.h
> @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ static const AVOption avformat_options[] = {
>  {"direct", "reduce buffering", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = AVIO_FLAG_DIRECT }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D|E, "avioflags"},
>  {"probesize", "set probing size", OFFSET(probesize), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 5000000 }, 32, INT_MAX, D},
>  {"packetsize", "set packet size", OFFSET(packet_size), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = DEFAULT }, 0, INT_MAX, E},
> -{"fflags", NULL, OFFSET(flags), AV_OPT_TYPE_FLAGS, {.i64 = AVFMT_FLAG_FLUSH_PACKETS }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D|E, "fflags"},
> +{"fflags", NULL, OFFSET(flags), AV_OPT_TYPE_FLAGS, {.i64 = AVFMT_FLAG_FLUSH_PACKETS | AVFMT_FLAG_KEEP_SIDE_DATA}, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D|E, "fflags"},
>  {"flush_packets", "reduce the latency by flushing out packets immediately", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = AVFMT_FLAG_FLUSH_PACKETS }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D, "fflags"},
>  {"ignidx", "ignore index", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = AVFMT_FLAG_IGNIDX }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D, "fflags"},
>  {"genpts", "generate pts", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = AVFMT_FLAG_GENPTS }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D, "fflags"},

Background: if this flag is unset, libavformat appends side data to the
packet data, using a magic 64 bit constant as footer (see
av_packet_merge_side_data). libavcodec calls av_packet_split_side_data(),
which unpacks the side data if it recognizes the magic footer.

From an application point of view, this appends random data to the
demuxed packet data (which us bad), and also clears any side data from
the packet (which is bad).

Also, should raw data happen to contain the footer, libavcodec might
interpret it as side data, which is kind of inelegant to say the least.

Libav doesn't have this mechanism, so any application which actually
wants to work on a wide range of distributions has to support passing
through side data. Likewise, applications primarily developed on Libav
might run into trouble if they don't see the side data, or if they
don't like random data appended to demuxed packets.

I'd say libavcodec shouldn't attempt to split side data by default
either. A flag should be added for it, and it should be off by default.
Applications which for some reason don't want to pass along side data
(MPlayer?) can enable this hack explicitly.