[wellylug] Help mplayer download

[jumbophut]

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:09:15 +1200, dave elliott wrote:

> I  recently  downloaded  mplayer  for  Redhat9  as  a  plugin  for
> Websites.

<snip complaints>

> Why  is  it
> so  difficult  to  get  files/program  downloads  to  automatically
> launch  themselves  without  the  hassle.

mplayer is legally problematic for many distros because it implements
patented algorithms (e.g. transcoding to mpeg).  A bunch of the codecs
are also not supposed to be redistributed.  The mplayer site is based
in Hungary, and historically this was partly to get around the legal
problems.  In contrast, the big distros are not based in Hungary.

So in answer to your question, the reason it is so difficult to get
*this* program to download and automatically launch is that the
distros typically aren't putting much effort into getting it all
integrated.

There are alternatives, depending on what you want to do.  xine,
gstreamer etc., and they will be better integrated.  mpeg encoding is
something you probably won't get though.

I don't think it is entirely fair to extrapolate your experiences with
mplayer, and in particular with mplayer and rpm, to files/program
downloads in general.

Cheers
Tony