070629 - Amarok

[easuter]

The latest Amarok release has been built and packaged by The Headacher. It is in the testing repo:

Source: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/source/testing/kde/amarok/
Package: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/testing/kde/amarok-1.4.6-i586-1vl58.tlz

Code:

amarok: amaroK (the audio player for KDE)
amarok:
amarok: amaroK provides a simple drag and drop interface,
amarok: that really makes playlist handling easy.
amarok:
amarok: Website: http://amarok.kde.org
amarok: License:   GNU GPL
amarok:
amarok:
amarok:
amarok:

Post feedback here.

[wcs]

I'm using 5.8 Standard.

For some reason, amarok 1.4.6 doesn't seem to get cd-text (or cddb) title and artist information when playing audio cd's.
Note that I had not installed kdebase or arts, even though they are listed as dependencies. Even after installing these, it still doesn't get the title info, and now downgrading to amarok 1.4.5 also shows the same issue. Could it be that not having installed the kde stuff beforehand is causing it? Anyone notices any diffferences with 1.4.5 and 1.4.6 in playing audio cd's?

In addition, amarok 1.4.6 seems to be using its own sqlite3 database, instead of the system one. According to the amarok webpage, this actually gives faster booting times. But sqlite3 shows up as a dependency in gslapt. (1.4.5 doesn't lauch without an additional sqlite3 package so I'm guessing 1.4.5 was compiled using --without-included-sqlite, while 1.4.6 wasn't... that's actually good, but sqlite shouldn't be listed as a dependency).

Thanks a lot to the Headacher for packaging it.

[JohnB316]

As the person who built amarok-1.4.5, I chose to use the system sqlite rather than the included one, simply because I didn't think it necessary to add extra bloat by using the included sqlite. It's also entirely possible that an older, more vulnerable version of sqlite is included with amarok.

FWIW,
John

[wcs]

As the person who built amarok-1.4.5, I chose to use the system sqlite rather than the included one, simply because I didn't think it necessary to add extra bloat by using the included sqlite. It's also entirely possible that an older, more vulnerable version of sqlite is included with amarok.

All valid reasons. Just going by amarok's website, they suggest that the included sqlite3 will speed up amarok, because it is statically linked to the amarok binary. In addition, one of the changes in 1.4.6 was the update of the included sqlite. On the other hand, I suppose if several of a user's programs use sqlite, one wouldn't want to duplicate it. And if a new version of sqlite is released it would be preferable to upgrade it, without having to wait for a new amarok release. (They also suggest that for large music collections, one would be better off compiling it with support for mysql).

Of course, a packager cannot try and squeeze in all the options that will fit everybody's taste... If someone wants to try different compiling options, they can always get the source. As for me, I think you guys are doing a great job with the repos, and I'm happy getting it from gslapt.

[The Headacher]

Thanks a lot for the feedback wcs.

I forgot all about the shared (system) sqlite vs. the included (Amarok) sqlite thing. I could still rebuild it to use the system sqlite. I'm not quite sure what to do about the cddb problem, I didn't notice it myself because I hardly play cd's on it (I either rip audio cd's or play them in a "normal" cd player). I can try rebuilding Amarok later this week.

The dependency info (including sqlite) was added by 'requiredbuilder', I didn't add them myself.

[JohnB316]

Headacher,

If I recall correctly, some of the cddb functionality comes from libraries like taglib, libmusicbrainz and libtunepimp.

HTH,
John

[The Headacher]

Hmm... that's a crying shame. Xine-ui doesn't need any of these, and finds cddb info just fine. The same is true for Kaffeine. Both use the xine engine, just like Amarok. Also, I'm sort of wondering why there's an option for cddb in the configuration if I didn't have cddb support compiled...

Oh well, I'll look into it later, I'm not on the right computer now.
Thanks for the support JohnB316!

[wcs]

Also, I'm sort of wondering why there's an option for cddb in the configuration if I didn't have cddb support compiled...

I'm thinking it's also likely that this only affects me. Because of all the experimentation I've been doing with vl, I probably just broke something up. So, if you could pop an audio cd into yours, we'll see if it's something in the package...

So far as I understand it, taglib is a mandatory dependency and the compilation default is having musicbrainz support (through libtunepimp, while k3b seems to be the one using libmusicbrainz). So it's likely that the package is just fine and is compiled for using these.

[The Headacher]

It's not a problem with just your setup wcs, I can't get the Amarok package to look up cddb info either (I tried that when I wrote my previous post). I think it might be iconv.h related, but I can't be sure until I rebuild Amarok.