[patch] maverick ffmpeg "Unknown input format: 'x11grab'"

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄]

Binary package hint: ffmpeg

ffmpeg has an option '-x11grab' which enables it to record the desktop to a video file. This is commonly used by the community making screencasts on Ubuntu as it produces high quality video files with little computational overhead.

ffmpeg is compiled with the --enable-x11grab option enabled, but there appears to be a missing dependency on libxfixes-dev (in main) (see comment 3, below). As a result this feature which is compiled in is broken. It worked fine in Lucid, so this feature has regressed.

Adding the necessary dependency and rebuilding ffmpeg fixes the issue completely.

alan@hactar:~$ ffmpeg -f x11grab -r 25 -s 1392x1040 -i :0.0 -vcodec huffyuv -sameq
FFmpeg version 0.6-4:0.6-2ubuntu2, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jul 12 2010 01:02:19 with gcc 4.4.4
  configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu2 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-shared --disable-static
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  libavutil configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-librtmp --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libavcodec configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-librtmp --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libavformat configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-librtmp --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libavdevice configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu2 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libavfilter configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu2 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libswscale configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-librtmp --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libpostproc configuration: --extra-version=4:0.6-2ubuntu1 --prefix=/usr --enable-avfilter --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-vdpau --enable-bzlib --enable-libdirac --enable-libgsm --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-vaapi --enable-pthreads --enable-zlib --enable-libvpx --disable-stripping --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libfaad --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 --enable-librtmp --enable-libdc1394 --shlibdir=/usr/lib/i686/cmov --cpu=i686 --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-ffmpeg --disable-ffplay
  libavutil 50.15. 1 / 50.15. 1
  libavcodec 52.72. 2 / 52.72. 2
  libavformat 52.64. 2 / 52.64. 2
  libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter 1.19. 0 / 1.19. 0
  libswscale 0.11. 0 / 0.11. 0
  libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
Unknown input format: 'x11grab'

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: ffmpeg 4:0.6-2ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-19.28-generic 2.6.35.3
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-19-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Sep 5 21:16:55 2010
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ffmpeg

[Dominic Evans (oldmanuk)]

This is trivially fixed by adding the missing Build-Depends for libxfixes-dev to ffmpeg's debian/control

[StefanPotyra (sistpoty)]

ACK. (side note: we don't use non maintainer uploads, so you can just make it a ubuntu3 version instead of ubuntu2.1).

[StefanPotyra (sistpoty)]

ok, uploading as well. I've changed the version number and removed "Non-maintainer upload" from changelog, hope that's ok with you :).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ffmpeg - 4:0.6-2ubuntu3

---------------
ffmpeg (4:0.6-2ubuntu3) maverick; urgency=low

  * add libxfixes-dev to build-depends, LP: #631103
 -- Dominic Evans <email address hidden> Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:21:23 +0100

[Merelin (merelin)]

Fix wasn't released for lib*-extra* packages - they haven't been updated yet from 4:0.6-2ubuntu1.

[StefanPotyra (sistpoty)]

Good catch, thanks. I'll upload a fix for ffmpeg-extra in a minute.