xine-lib-1_rc5-r2 ebuild (and possibly all xine-lib-1_rc* versions) shouldn't depend on divx4linux (with USE="avi"), because xine doesn't (and cannot) use DivX at all. xine uses built-in libavcodec from FFmpeg for MPEG-4 decoding. And AFAIK, it doesn't and cannot use XviD either (again, it uses FFmpeg MPEG-4), so the XviD depedency should be removed, too. For example, see this post at freshrpms.net where the xine-lib RPM package author admitted that the XviD dependency was obsolete & useless and said he'd remove it: http://lists.freshrpms.net/pipermail/freshrpms-list/2004-June/009932.html Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3.
The USE flags and dependencies don't make much sense at all - they don't match xine's native configure script options well and this gratuitous dependency on closed, proprietary software that xine doesn't even use is inexplicable.
No, it is not inexplicable - in this particular case, it is actually very explicable. Because DivX is the greatest myth in computer history and 99% of people don't know what DivX is. That DivX is not a format, that it's a commercial closed-source MPEG-4 codec made by DivXNetworks, one of many MPEG-4 codecs, therefore it uses MPEG-4 compression, MPEG-4 video (not DivX video - that's a stupid pseudoterm). That the open-source applications don't need it, they use open-source MPEG-4 codecs, often FFmpeg MPEG-4 (which xine uses, too, not XviD, it can't use XviD either, so the XviD dependency is totally nonsensical, too). That they don't use DiVX by default and that xine doesn't use it at all, that there's no option to use it in xine, that's why ***the DivX dependency should be finally removed, because it makes no sense at all***. Please... What's actually extremely sad is that people refuse to understand it even after you repeatedly explain it and submit a bug report. The DivX myth is unfortunately way too powerful. It only hurts the open-source community. Useless DivX dependencies can be seen everywhere, because of this lack of knowledge and an unbelievable level of ignorance. And superior open-source products (FFmpeg libavcodec, built-in in xine, that xine actually uses for MPEG-4 playback) are totally unknown because people think it's DivX.
What J.M. says is true and easily verified and I agree that this is a very serious matter from the point of view of the F/OSS community and for Gentoo's reputation and it is worrying that it has not been fixed for so long in such a high profile package and that there has been no response at all. http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC19 The spurious xvid 'dependency' is just a waste of time/space but the divx4linux one makes the xine ebuild unusable for people who take supporting F/OSS software seriously.
With about 160 open bugs for the video herd (not counting 90+ enhancement requests), a useless dependency is not exactly an eye-catcher. Please be patient and, if your time and knowledge allows, help us to get out of this swamp (by providing corrected ebuilds, adding useful comments to other bug reports, becoming a developer and working on video stuff, however). If a bug is not fixed, it is usually not because of stubbornness but because of lack of time/different priorities. Sorry!
Created attachment 40784 [details, diff] cd /usr/portage/media-libs/xine-lib; patch -p0 < xine-lib-1_rc6.ebuild.patch I normally do provide patches (if I can make one) but this one is just a very small change to the ebuild which I've made already for myself. Here it is anyway - and thanks for the quick response.
Asked the maintainer if it's ok - fixed in portage.
