mp4v2 on Ubuntu 19.10?

[tjesp]

I am not sure if the author is using Ubuntu but then I will just ask the general users if there is a way to install mp4v2 on Ubuntu 19.10? (latest version).

I used to have Ubuntu 18.04 where I could just install it, but now it seems to be gone from the standard repositories.

I went to their Google Code page and downloaded the source but I have much trouble compiling it (I am not a developer).

So, does anybody know a third party repository who offers it, a PPA or anything similar?

[lisamelton]

@tjesp I'm sorry you're having this problem. I don't use Ubuntu, but I'll ask the hivemind if they can help. Stay tuned...

[tinusn]

I never succeeded in finding one, I used the source to compile it. But that has been a while I have since switched to Manjaro where the package is there.

Sorry I cannot help you more.

[samhutchins]

Can you download the deb manually from here: https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/mp4v2-utils ? (it's the version from 18.04, but it might still install on newer versions of Ubuntu)

[tjesp]

Ok, I solved it this way. Install libmp4v2:

https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/amd64/libmp4v2-2/download

Install mp4v2-utils:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic/amd64/mp4v2-utils/2.0.0~dfsg0-6

However I do hope that Canonical/Ubuntu intends to add this again. Perhaps I could petition them somehow?

There seems to be an empty entry here for it on 19.10:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/eoan/amd64/mp4v2-utils

Anyway, closing this now since the author of this tool can't do anything about it.

[zchrykng]

Just FYI. It appears that mp4v2-utils was removed from Debian since "... it's dead upstream and better alternatives exist."

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=921127

[lisamelton]

@zchrykng Thanks for the heads up. I wish I knew what Moritz means by "better alternatives."

[zchrykng]

No worries!

You've got me. I only found that because a friend is a maintainer for some Ubuntu stuff.

[jhbeskow]

Has anyone been able to actually get this installed on 20.04? I had it working on Bionic. It looks like mp4v2 has not been maintained in years, and I get the following error on make:

src/rtphint.cpp: In member function ‘void mp4v2::impl::MP4RtpHintTrack::GetPayload(char**, uint8_t*, uint16_t*, char**)’:
src/rtphint.cpp:342:35: error: ISO C++ forbids comparison between pointer and integer [-fpermissive]
342 | if (pSlash != '\0') {
| ^~~~
make: *** [GNUmakefile:1391: src/rtphint.lo] Error 1

[lisamelton]

@jhbeskow Ouch! What if you try to pass that -fpermissive flag to the compiler?

[jhbeskow]

Like so? make CFLAGS='-fpermissive'

I get the same exception.

[jhbeskow]

Actually, it would be CXXFLAGS. Trying that now.

[jhbeskow]

That got it. Thanks!

To make this work:

git clone https://github.com/mp4v2/mp4v2.git ~/mp4v2
cd ~/mp4v2
autoreconf -i
./configure
make CXXFLAGS='-fpermissive'
make install

[lisamelton]

@jhbeskow Sweet! I don't suppose there's any point in submitting a pull request to the project with that in GNUmakefile.am?

[jhbeskow]

Possibly. I noticed there haven't been any changes in years, based on the dates on the repo, so who knows if someone will review it. At least it is documented here so folks searching the web can find out how to make it work.

[jhbeskow]

This may or may not be related. I tested out an mkv I found here: http://www.jell.yfish.us/

Command: transcode-video --m4v --quick Downloads/jellyfish-110-mbps-hd-hevc.mkv

End of output:

Encode done!
HandBrake has exited.

/usr/local/bin/transcode-video: mp4track failed during execution

The output video plays just fine, log file does not even have that exception in it. Is this normal? Is there a good way to figure out what happened?

[lisamelton]

@jhbeskow No, that's not normal. And I have no idea why that would have happened.

[jhbeskow]

The files seem to play OK. What is mp4track used for?

[jhbeskow]

I'll just drop this here as part of this discussion. I created a Docker image to package all of this up. It does not have the mp4track exception I spoke of above: https://hub.docker.com/r/jhbeskow/transcode-video

[lisamelton]

@jhbeskow Sorry, I somehow missed your last two comments.

I use mp4track to scan .mp4 files for various information.

And thanks for creating that Docker image!

[jhbeskow]

No problem!

[yermak]

Just tested on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/m/mp4v2/libmp4v2-2_2.0.0~dfsg0-6_amd64.deb
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/m/mp4v2/mp4v2-utils_2.0.0~dfsg0-6_amd64.deb
dpkg -i libmp4v2-2_2.0.0~dfsg0-6_amd64.deb
dpkg -i mp4v2-utils_2.0.0~dfsg0-6_amd64.deb

I addition with regard to building from source.
I used quite succeffully fork of original mp4v2 : https://github.com/TechSmith/mp4v2
Was able to compile it for windows, not yet tried Mac and Linux