WHAT IT IS
----------

This is a GStreamer plugin you can compile AviSynth filters against to 
use in GStreamer.

WHERE TO START
--------------

You should be familiar with GStreamer:
http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/

You should start by going through its FAQ at
http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/data/doc/gstreamer/head/faq/html/

There is more documentation; go to
http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation

You should also take a look at AviSynth:
http://www.avisynth.org
Just remember that GstAVSynth doesn't support scripting.

And finally you may find some useful things (including bug tracker
and wiki) at GstAVSynth GitHub site:
http://github.com/LRN/gst-avsynth

You could try to ask around on IRC - #gstreamer on irc.freenode.org
                                     #avisynth on irc.freenode.org

GstAVSynth 0.10 series
---------------------

It's not really 0.10.0, but it would have been weird to have gstreamer-0.10.0,
gst-plugins-base-0.10.0 AND gst-avsynth-0.0.1 ... Right?

GstAVSynth is a plugin that isn't really a plugin. Basically it's a shallow
re-implementation of the famous AviSynth frameserver, this time - based on
GStreamer multimedia framework. That is, it's not tied to Windows or AVIFile
anymore. It's shallow - because it doesn't have scripting support and lacks
some of the features that made AviSynth so good. Still, if you want to take
an old AviSynth filter and turn it into a GStreamer element to work in a
GStreamer pipeline, then GstAVSynth is just the thing you need.


PLATFORMS
---------

GstAVSynth itself should work everywhere GStreamer works (which means
Linux, Windows, MacOSX, FreeBSD, Solaris). AviSynth plugins are usually
written as Windows-only, and regardless of what GstAVSynth does to help you,
each plugin will require some effort (ranging from negligible to garganutian)
to port.


INSTALLING FROM PACKAGES
------------------------

There is no GstAVSynth packages at the moment.

COMPILING FROM SOURCE TARBALLS
------------------------------

There is no GstAVSynth source tarballs either.

COMPILING FROM GIT
------------------

When building from git sources, you will need to run autogen.sh to generate 
the build system files.

You will need a set of additional tools typical for building from git,
including:
- autoconf
- automake
- libtool

autogen.sh will check for recent enough versions and complain if you don't have
them.  You can also specify specific versions of automake and autoconf with
--with-automake and --with-autoconf

Check autogen.sh options by running autogen.sh --help

autogen.sh can pass on arguments to configure - you just need to separate them
from autogen.sh with -- between the two.
prefix has been added to autogen.sh but will be passed on to configure because
some build scripts like that.

When you have done this once, you can use autoregen.sh to re-autogen with
the last passed options as a handy shortcut.  Use it.

After the autogen.sh stage, you can follow the directions listed in
"COMPILING FROM SOURCE"

PLUG-IN DEPENDENCIES AND LICENSES
---------------------------------

GStreamer is developed under the terms of the LGPL (see LICENSE file for
details). Some of the GStreamer plug-ins however rely on libraries which are
available under other licenses. This means that if you are distributing an
application which has a non-GPL compatible license (for instance a closed-source
application) with GStreamer, you have to make sure not to distribute GPL-linked
plug-ins.

When using GPL-linked plug-ins, GStreamer is for all practical reasons
under the GPL itself.

AviSynth is strictly GPL, with a clause that allows you to write non-GPL plugins.

GstAVSynth is based on AviSynth sources (partially), and because of that it is
still licensed under the terms of the GPL. An effort is (and will be) made to
both re-implement necessary parts under LGPL or convince AviSynth
developers to relicense necessary parts of AviSynth under LGPL. GstAVSynth
permits non-GPL filters just as AviSynth does.

HISTORY
-------

The idea to write an AviSynth filter wrapper for GStreamer was submitted to
the list of GStreamer Google Summer of Code ideas list on GStreamer wiki
by bilboed and picked up as a base of GstAVSynth project by LRN. It is
expected that GstAVSynth will bring AviSynth 3.0 (which is GStreamer-based)
closer to reality.