command line tool deprecations

Posted Aug 7, 2014 22:37 UTC (Thu) by DonDiego (guest, #24141)
In reply to: command line tool deprecations by ldarby
Parent article: Reconsidering ffmpeg in Debian

> > Why do keep insisting that a simple heads-up message to users was done out of malice to spite a competing project?

> Because that's precisely what it looks like to people outside your community.

Well, appearances can be deceiving.

command line tool deprecations

Posted Aug 8, 2014 17:52 UTC (Fri) by flussence (guest, #85566) [Link] (2 responses)

Let's assume the message in question wasn't written out of passive-aggressive spite, which is how most onlookers appear to have interpreted it. Let's also assume that libav doesn't want to join AOO and Xfree86 in the "how not to do PR" history book.

In this version of reality it would be a no-brainer to just quietly remove the offending message than to continue trying to justify it with increasingly ridiculous excuses. The damage to libav's reputation stops, new users turning to Google for a straight answer don't have to inadvertently discover that one Ubuntu bug or the entire bloody history of the libav project's existence. The project wouldn't even need to issue a public apology for causing confusion over this; people would just forget after a while.

But those are pretty huge and baseless assumptions, I'll admit.

command line tool deprecations

Posted Aug 8, 2014 21:21 UTC (Fri) by DonDiego (guest, #24141) [Link] (1 responses)

The message is long gone along with the compatibility wrapper program. It is only present in a very old release that receives nothing but critical bug fixes every once in a while. The developers only care about Git HEAD.

I'll be glad to hear your alternative wording suggestions. Make it express that the ffmpeg command line program has been deprecated in favor of the avconv command line program due to incompatible command line syntax improvements.

command line tool deprecations

Posted Aug 8, 2014 21:24 UTC (Fri) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784) [Link]

I think "The ffmpeg command line program has been deprecated in favor of the avconv command line program due to incompatible command line syntax improvements.", with no obnoxious shouty caps, expresses that concept very well.