Openshot cannot find already installed codecs

[Pepe Parra]

Os name & version: 2 different machines:
Debian wheezy kernel 3.0.0-1-powerpc64.
Debian wheezy kernel 3.0.0-1-i386

Installation method: DEB packages
Openshot version: OpenShot 1.3.1

Bug info:

Everytime I launch openshot, a little window shows the message:
"No formats or codecs were found. Please check the OpenShot preferences and configure the 'melt' command name."

Everything related to melt and openshot preferences is already configured, all codecs are installed as well. As a matter of fact, openshot starts correctly and is also possible to edit videos, but exporting them is not possible.
IMHO is all related to a malfunction of melt program which segfaults every now and then. I attach the openshot.debug file, and also a gdb-debugged sesion of melt:

############# BEGIN openshot.debug ################
-----------------------------------------------------------
OpenShot Debug File 0.0.2 - 2011-08-17 12:58:39.781168
-----------------------------------------------------------
This file contains a list of installed packages related to OpenShot,
locations of files, and a list of shared libraries used by python-mlt.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Distribution Version Info
-----------------------------------------------------------
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux testing (wheezy)
Release: testing
Codename: wheezy

-----------------------------------------------------------
List of Installed Packages
-----------------------------------------------------------
Desitjat=desconegUt/Instaŀla/supRimeix/Purga/retín(H)
| Estat=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Estat,Err: majúsc.=dolent)
||/ Nom Versió Descripció
+++-======================================-=================================-==============================================================================
un libmlt1 <none> (no hi ha cap descripció disponible)
un libmlt2 <none> (no hi ha cap descripció disponible)
ii openshot 1.3.1-1 Create and edit videos and movies
un python-mlt2 <none> (no hi ha cap descripció disponible)
No s'ha trobat cap paquet que correspongui amb python-mlt.
No s'ha trobat cap paquet que correspongui amb openshot-mlt.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Python Path (i.e. sys.path)
-----------------------------------------------------------
/home/mombars/programes/openshot
/usr/lib/python2.6
/usr/lib/python2.6/plat-linux2
/usr/lib/python2.6/lib-tk
/usr/lib/python2.6/lib-old
/usr/lib/python2.6/lib-dynload
/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages
/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages
/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/PIL
/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/gtk-2.0
/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/gst-0.10
/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/gtk-2.0
/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6
/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/wx-2.8-gtk2-unicode

-----------------------------------------------------------
Files in /usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/mlt (used by python-mlt)
-----------------------------------------------------------
find: «/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/mlt»: El fitxer o directori no existeix

-----------------------------------------------------------
Attempt to import mlt (using Python)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Successfully imported mlt library!

-----------------------------------------------------------
Find 'openshot' files & folders
-----------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------
Find 'mlt' files & folders
-----------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------
Find libmlt*.so*
-----------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------
Locate '_mlt.so', used by python-mlt
-----------------------------------------------------------
/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/_mlt.so
/usr/lib/pyshared/python2.6/_mlt.so

-----------------------------------------------------------
Shared Libraries for /usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/_mlt.so
-----------------------------------------------------------
 linux-vdso32.so.1 => (0x00100000)
 libmlt++.so.3 => /usr/lib/libmlt++.so.3 (0x6ff29000)
 libmlt.so.4 => /usr/lib/libmlt.so.4 (0x6fee0000)
 libpthread.so.0 => /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x6fea5000)
 libdl.so.2 => /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x6fe81000)
 libutil.so.1 => /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libutil.so.1 (0x6fe5e000)
 libpython2.6.so.1.0 => /usr/lib/libpython2.6.so.1.0 (0x6fba2000)
 libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x6fa68000)
 libm.so.6 => /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x6f99a000)
 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x6f965000)
 libc.so.6 => /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x6f7d4000)
 /lib/ld.so.1 (0x20541000)
 libssl.so.1.0.0 => /usr/lib/libssl.so.1.0.0 (0x6f76b000)
 libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0x6f58d000)
 libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x6f557000)

-----------------------------------------------------------
Debug File 'openshot.debug'
-----------------------------------------------------------
This script has created a file called 'openshot.debug' which
contains all of this output. If you are having trouble installing
OpenShot, you can attach this file to your bug report.

############ END openshot.debug ###############

############ BEGIN gdb-debugged session of /usr/bin/melt ####

Starting program: /usr/bin/melt -query "video_codecs"
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
---
video_codecs:
  - a64multi
  - a64multi5
  - asv1
  - asv2
  - bmp
  - dnxhd
  - dpx
  - dvvideo
  - ffv1
  - ffvhuff
  - flashsv
  - flashsv2
  - flv
  - gif
  - h261
  - h263
  - h263p
  - huffyuv
  - jpegls
  - ljpeg
  - mjpeg
  - mpeg1video
  - mpeg2video
  - mpeg4
  - msmpeg4v2
  - msmpeg4
  - msvideo1
  - pam
  - pbm
  - pcx
  - pgm
  - pgmyuv
  - png
  - ppm
  - qtrle
  - rawvideo
  - roqvideo
  - rv10
  - rv20
  - sgi
  - snow
  - svq1
  - targa
  - tiff
  - v210
  - wmv1
  - wmv2
  - zlib
  - zmbv
  - libdirac
  - libtheora
  - libvpx
  - libx264
  - libxvid
...

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x0ed5ba10 in QVariantAnimation::registerInterpolator(QVariant (*)(void const*, void const*, double), int) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
(gdb)

############### END of gdb-debugged session of /usr/bin/melt #########

As gdb is pointing out, something is broken in libQtCore.so.4, that seems to be the orign of the bug.

[Andy Finch (fincha)]

If that's the case that something is broken in libQtCore.so.4, then I'm not sure what we can do - Openshot doesn't use QT.

[Pepe Parra (colinap2010)]

Hi Andy

First of all, thanks for that awesome tool Openshot, I really did enjoyed it, it's a pity that now I can't because of this bug. I keep editing my videos as usual, and waiting for this bug to be fixed and eventually be able to export my work.

Although Openshot does not use QT, it indeed uses melt, that at some point, it seems to use QT. I'm not a developer, but I know that QT are graphic libraries, so I was surprised when I saw the output of gdb pointing a libQtCore error that makes melt segfault, as melt is a console tool, not a graphic one. Maybe that libQtCore error comes from some other place, I really don't know, I can only tell you what gdb points out.

The fact is that as melt segfaults, Openshot is not able to use it and so the messsage

"No formats or codecs were found. Please check the OpenShot preferences and configure the 'melt' command name."

is thrown to the user, and no codecs can be used to export the edited file, which makes Openshot useless at that point.

Please don't hesitate to ask me for further information about this bug. Maybe I should contact QT developers and tell them about this, but I don't know how to do it. I found this place clicking the "report a bug" option from Openshot's help menu. I don't know how to reach QT mantainers.

Thanks

Ricard

[Pepe Parra (colinap2010)]

Some more feedback, showing the messages openshot throws when launched from terminal:

$ openshot

------------------------- ERROR 1 ------------------------------
Failed to import 'from openshot import main'
Error Message: cannot import name main
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
   OpenShot (version 1.3.1)
--------------------------------
Process no longer exists: 29266. Creating new pid lock file.
There were some errors calling melt using os.Popen()
There were some errors calling melt using os.Popen()
There were some errors calling melt using os.Popen()
No formats or codecs were found. Please check the OpenShot preferences and configure the 'melt' command name.

Cheers

[Andy Finch (fincha)]

In the current development trunk we have removed the use of melt to get the codecs, we now directly use a MLT api. This may well fix your issue, but it's difficult to tell.

[Pepe Parra (colinap2010)]

I'm glad to hear that, hope new version fixes the issue. I'll keep editing my videos using openshot and I'll wait for the new realease to be able to export them. Maybe QT or melt people fix their bug in the meantime...

Thanks