XBMC Accepted into Debian
Linux users rejoice! Thanks primarily to the hard work of Andres Mejia, XBMC has been accepted into the official Debian distribution! In the past we have been unable to make it into Debian as the sheer size and complexity of XBMC made the review process so difficult, so Andres, an XBMC developer who was working to become a Debian Developer already, volunteered to maintain it himself. Yesterday, his Eden packages were accepted. For those unclear about what this means, Debian unstable users will now be able to install XBMC without using any third-party repositories.
We have already been included in several major Linux distributions, but Debian is a big target because of the size of the community around it. As most Linux users are probably aware, other major distros such as Ubuntu and Mint derive (or derive indirectly) from Debian, and sync their packages regularly. Andres succeeded in requesting a sync to Ubuntu in time to hit Precise Pangolin, so users of this next LTS release will be able to install XBMC with just a few clicks (or an apt-get). We hope this will lower the barrier to entry for many users who are not familiar with PPAs.
There are a few notable differences between the packaged Debian/Ubuntu versions and the ones from our ppa or XBMCBuntu:
- decss support (encrypted dvd playback) is disabled unless libdvdcss2 has been installed from a third-party repo.
- libav is used rather than ffmpeg, as Debian unstable has gone this direction.
- AFP (Apple File Protocol) support is currently disabled due to packaging issues.
- rar support is disabled due to Debian policy, which we hope to resolve soon by switching to libarchive, which Andres is personally working on as well. The guy is a unstoppable!
Now there’s one less step to get to the XBMC goodness…
Great new for Linux users !!!
Thanks !!
Awesome!!! Great news indeed, thanks man it’s perfect ;)
Does this make any difference for Ubuntu users? I’m not sure whether XBMC is included by default in the Ubuntu repositories. And I was under the impression Debian is used more for servers. Is it really that prevalent among desktop +multimedia users?
I wonder what the impact of libav is compared to ffmpeg? Anyone who can tell me?
@Francois: This means that XBMC will be available in Ubuntu from Precise forward. Probably not much impact today, but it will be much more interesting when Precise goes stable.
@jaccoh: They’re still similar enough for now that users will see similar results, but that will change as time goes on. We’re currently discussing how to handle the situation.
Thanks for the hard work Andres, we need people like you! Much appreciated.
rar support is disabled due to Debian policy, which we hope to resolve soon by switching to libarchive”
how will this effect playback of content in rarfiles?
@explodedk
It doesn’t work now but might sometime in the future…
This is awesome! i have been waiting for this
@explodedk: Disabled rar support obviously means, that you won’t be able to play the content of rar files.
Thanks to all involved developers. The package works great.
WOOHOO!!!!
Been a Kubuntu user for ~5 years and XBMC user for about 2. This makes it that much more convenient.
Like others here, I am a tiny bit concerned about the differences, but for now, WOOHOO!
> how will this effect playback of content in rarfiles?
Um. It’ll be disabled?
Wow, this must have been a lot of work. Thank you for taking it on and managing it.
@Francois Botha
It sounds like a lot of Ubuntu repositories mirror off of Debian (although I admit that I don’t know the workflow for the official repos). I don’t think XBMC is in any of the official Ubuntu repos, but it sounds like it will be included in the Precise Pangolin repo, which will be XBMC’s first appearance in the official Ubuntu repos.
Outstanding
Just downloaded it via software manager on my 12.04 install. So simple. Very awesome guys.
Excellent news! I was going to install DebSid in a new laptop, and compiling XBMC source was one of the headaches!
Since ubuntu is also embracing libav, may we see a similar xbmc version in ubuntu repos in the future?
Now if you guys just released a nightly build with the Hi10p stuff enabled, my life will be complete. Well,,, close enough. ;-)
awesome work guys
thank you for the hard work
lol cause when I think media, I think Debian!
Congratulations! It ’s fantastic news. This will bring many new users and expand the community. Great Day!
@Francois Botha
Debian shares many repositories with Ubuntu. As the article states, XBMC will be included in the Ubuntu repositories. This means it will be available from the Software Centre (or installable with one command in the terminal if you prefer) but it will not be installed by default. It is similar to Apple including a program in the App Store. It’s a big deal as it will noticed by new users browsing the Software Centre and installable with one click, so XBMC should reach an even wider audience.
Thanks! Linux, Debian and Xbmc rock!
Awesome news, can’t wait.
Thanks a lot also from an Ubuntu user!
Great news. XBMC in the LTS release is a big help. Thanks for all your hard work, XBMC team. :) 11.0 is beautiful.
Are you guys gonna release a XBMCbuntu based in Precise Pangolin in april or after that?
One more reason to use Ubuntu (and other debian based OS) as Xbmc is accepted in Debian. Good work guys. One more thing, what should users do to use nightlies? Go the PPA route or they will be in software center of ubuntu or of any other debian based OS?
Wonderful News!
That’s awesome!
Congrats and thanks alot Andres!!
While is great for debian to provide XBMC, I would like to make the following comments:
1) It was already available and working well using debian-multimedia repository.
2) You wont be able to read a dvd with it,
3) It use an external libav instread of ffmpeg,
4) VDPAU is broken (see debian XBMC bug reports)
Welcome Debian-community ;-)
Amejia did an amazing job to get this done. I also saw him helping with much-wanted ARM improvements….
Thanx Amejia!
@Francois Botha
We can install it without adding any ppa through Software Center ;)
I have a Panasonic TX-32LX70F LCD with maximum resolutions of 1360/768 and I never use more than 1024/768.
I never had luck with Linux (or any other distribution).
My graphic card is a Nvidia EN8400GS with driver version 295.
Someone can tell what to do? Thank you.
@Francois Botha
Debian can be used for just about anything, from servers to desktops, workstations, and laptops. I have used it for years on all of my Linux boxes. I preferred Debian Testing for my desktops and laptops, but once I started dabbling with Unity, I switched to Ubuntu 11.10. If Unity were available on Debian, I would go back in a heartbeat due the to rock-solid reliability of the system. I ran the same install of Debian Testing on my laptop for 6 years, updating the packages as they were released, of course.
As far as XBMC goes, this is a great step, as Ubuntu always pulls its packages from Debian Unstable for its packages. By getting XBMC where it is in time for the LTS means that the Ubuntu Software Center will contain XBMC, making it that much more accessible to new users who might stumble upon it.
I downloaded it to Ubuntu 12.04 today (Apr 11) using the Software Center. No problem — looks good. Except that in one circumstance, it crashes, and that is when I try to play a video in a directory, using right click on the directory name, where the directory is an ordinary ext3/4 Linux directory, but corresponds to the file structure of a DVD, with subdirectories AUDIOTS and VIDEOTS. (I can play such a directory using a terminal command line with vlc.)
Let me make this clear now.
1) debian-multimedia.org (aka dmo) != debian.
2) You can read/play DVDs, but just like every other media player in Debian/Ubuntu, you need to install libdvdcss2 yourself.
3) Yes, this was implied from the original post.
4) VDPAU was broken for the dmo packages, not the Debian packages.
Thanks all for the compliments :)
Will this debian compatible version or branch become the main line version going forward or will there continue to be 2 different versions (one based on ffmpeg and one on libav)? Have these issues been sorted out yet? Were all the Windows specific code ripped out for the Debian version? Overall I think this is a great milesone, but I am just wondering how the source code will be managed going forward? It could get messy or one version could fall by the wayside easily in the future. Would love to hear what the plan is going forward with the source code and how this is all kept in synch. Good job amejia!
Andres thanks for all the hard work you put into the project. I also am with jjmaster on the direction this is going to take
and am also curious about the ffmpeg vs the libav?
does this mean if you have a raspberry pi runing the debian squeeze ver from there site you can install xbmc easy?
@amejia
No. This is the contrary. it was broken for debian not debian-dmo if I read the bug comments.
@amejia
The libdvdcss2 must be installed from debian-multimedia. This is even documented ;-)
The bug is indeed in the Debian package not dmo ones see:
Sorry for duplicate by I cannot remove the bogus previous comment!
The libdvdcss2 must be installed from debian-multimedia. This is even documented ;-)
The bug is indeed in the Debian package not dmo ones. Make your opinion your self by reading bug 668308
@Francois Botha
Ubuntu is build on Debian. and no it is not apart of Ubuntu repositories as of yet one has to add it.