1GStreamer 1.20.x stable series 2 3WHAT IT IS 4---------- 5 6This is GStreamer, a framework for streaming media. 7 8WHERE TO START 9-------------- 10 11We have a website at 12 13 https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org 14 15Our documentation, including tutorials, API reference and FAQ can be found at 16 17 https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/ 18 19You can subscribe to our mailing lists: 20 21 https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/gstreamer-announce 22 23 https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/gstreamer-devel 24 25We track bugs, feature requests and merge requests (patches) in GitLab at 26 27 https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/ 28 29You can join us on IRC - #gstreamer on irc.oftc.net 30 31GStreamer 1.0 series 32-------------------- 33 34Starring 35 36 GSTREAMER 37 38The core around which all other modules revolve. Base functionality and 39libraries, some essential elements, documentation, and testing. 40 41 BASE 42 43A well-groomed and well-maintained collection of GStreamer plug-ins and 44elements, spanning the range of possible types of elements one would want 45to write for GStreamer. 46 47And introducing, for the first time ever, on the development screen ... 48 49 THE GOOD 50 51 --- "Such ingratitude. After all the times I've saved your life." 52 53A collection of plug-ins you'd want to have right next to you on the 54battlefield. Shooting sharp and making no mistakes, these plug-ins have it 55all: good looks, good code, and good licensing. Documented and dressed up 56in tests. If you're looking for a role model to base your own plug-in on, 57here it is. 58 59If you find a plot hole or a badly lip-synced line of code in them, 60let us know - it is a matter of honour for us to ensure Blondie doesn't look 61like he's been walking 100 miles through the desert without water. 62 63 THE UGLY 64 65 --- "When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." 66 67There are times when the world needs a color between black and white. 68Quality code to match the good's, but two-timing, backstabbing and ready to 69sell your freedom down the river. These plug-ins might have a patent noose 70around their neck, or a lock-up license, or any other problem that makes you 71think twice about shipping them. 72 73We don't call them ugly because we like them less. Does a mother love her 74son less because he's not as pretty as the other ones ? No - she commends 75him on his great personality. These plug-ins are the life of the party. 76And we'll still step in and set them straight if you report any unacceptable 77behaviour - because there are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: 78those with a rope around their neck and the people who do the cutting. 79 80 THE BAD 81 82 --- "That an accusation?" 83 84No perfectly groomed moustache or any amount of fine clothing is going to 85cover up the truth - these plug-ins are Bad with a capital B. 86They look fine on the outside, and might even appear to get the job done, but 87at the end of the day they're a black sheep. Without a golden-haired angel 88to watch over them, they'll probably land in an unmarked grave at the final 89showdown. 90 91Don't bug us about their quality - exercise your Free Software rights, 92patch up the offender and send us the patch on the fastest steed you can 93steal from the Confederates. Because you see, in this world, there's two 94kinds of people, my friend: those with loaded guns and those who dig. 95You dig. 96 97The Lowdown 98----------- 99 100 --- "I've never seen so many plug-ins wasted so badly." 101 102GStreamer Plug-ins has grown so big that it's hard to separate the wheat from 103the chaff. Also, distributors have brought up issues about the legal status 104of some of the plug-ins we ship. To remedy this, we've divided the previous 105set of available plug-ins into four modules: 106 107- gst-plugins-base: a small and fixed set of plug-ins, covering a wide range 108 of possible types of elements; these are continuously kept up-to-date 109 with any core changes during the development series. 110 111 - We believe distributors can safely ship these plug-ins. 112 - People writing elements should base their code on these elements. 113 - These elements come with examples, documentation, and regression tests. 114 115- gst-plugins-good: a set of plug-ins that we consider to have good quality 116 code, correct functionality, our preferred license (LGPL for the plug-in 117 code, LGPL or LGPL-compatible for the supporting library). 118 119 - We believe distributors can safely ship these plug-ins. 120 - People writing elements should base their code on these elements. 121 122- gst-plugins-ugly: a set of plug-ins that have good quality and correct 123 functionality, but distributing them might pose problems. The license 124 on either the plug-ins or the supporting libraries might not be how we'd 125 like. The code might be widely known to present patent problems. 126 127 - Distributors should check if they want/can ship these plug-ins. 128 - People writing elements should base their code on these elements. 129 130- gst-plugins-bad: a set of plug-ins that aren't up to par compared to the 131 rest. They might be close to being good quality, but they're missing 132 something - be it a good code review, some documentation, a set of tests, 133 a real live maintainer, or some actual wide use. 134 If the blanks are filled in they might be upgraded to become part of 135 either gst-plugins-good or gst-plugins-ugly, depending on the other factors. 136 137 - If the plug-ins break, you can't complain - instead, you can fix the 138 problem and send us a patch, or bribe someone into fixing them for you. 139 - New contributors can start here for things to work on. 140 141PLATFORMS 142--------- 143 144- Linux is of course fully supported 145- FreeBSD is reported to work; other BSDs should work too; same for Solaris 146- MacOS works, binary 1.x packages can be built using the cerbero build tool 147- Windows works; binary 1.x packages can be built using the cerbero build tool 148 - MSys/MinGW builds 149 - Microsoft Visual Studio builds are also available and supported 150- Android works, binary 1.x packages can be built using the cerbero build tool 151- iOS works 152 153INSTALLING FROM PACKAGES 154------------------------ 155 156You should always prefer installing from packages first. GStreamer is 157well-maintained for a number of distributions, including Fedora, Debian, 158Ubuntu, Mandrake, Arch Linux, Gentoo, ... 159 160Only in cases where you: 161 162 - want to hack on GStreamer 163 - want to verify that a bug has been fixed 164 - do not have a sane distribution 165 166should you choose to build from source tarballs or git. 167 168Find more information about the various packages at 169 170 https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/ 171 172For in-depth instructions about building GStreamer visit: 173[getting-started](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gstreamer/-/blob/main/README.md#getting-started). 174 175PLUG-IN DEPENDENCIES AND LICENSES 176--------------------------------- 177 178GStreamer is developed under the terms of the LGPL (see COPYING file for 179details). Some of our plug-ins however rely on libraries which are available 180under other licenses. This means that if you are distributing an application 181which has a non-GPL compatible license (for instance a closed-source 182application) with GStreamer, you have to make sure not to distribute GPL-linked 183plug-ins. 184 185When using GPL-linked plug-ins, GStreamer is for all practical reasons 186under the GPL itself. 187 188HISTORY 189------- 190 191The fundamental design comes from the video pipeline at Oregon Graduate 192Institute, as well as some ideas from DirectMedia. It's based on plug-ins that 193will provide the various codec and other functionality. The interface 194hopefully is generic enough for various companies (ahem, Apple) to release 195binary codecs for Linux, until such time as they get a clue and release the 196source. 197