GSteamer 1.0 should be initialized only when required

[Boris Bobrov]

GStreamer 1.0 is sometimes initialized even when video or audio are not enabled. This leads to exceptions if it is not installed.

[Boris Bobrov]

Fixed in ​https://gitorious.org/mediagoblin/bretons-mediagoblin/commit/33055472f9fd0df5944fff232f0458dad9977e08 (master branch)

[berkerpeksag]

It would be good to add a user friendly message if gstreamer is not installed:

Something like

try:
    import gi
    # another imports
except ImportError:
    _log.error("gstreamer is not installed. Please run 'some package manager info here' first.")
else:
    gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
    Gst.init(None)

[Boris Bobrov]

Replying to berkerpeksag:

It would be good to add a user friendly message if gstreamer is not installed:

Something like

try:
    import gi
    # another imports
except ImportError:
    _log.error("gstreamer is not installed. Please run 'some package manager info here' first.")
else:
    gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
    Gst.init(None)

It's not easy. Not installed gi is just one of reasons it can fail. In fact, every line there can fail due to various reasons.

I agree that user-friendly message should be added, but it should be done in a separate patchset. There is also a doc telling how to enable audio and video that require GStreamer 1.0.

[Christopher Allan Webber]

I added a new ticket, #5055... please put suggestions on how to improve such warnings there!

[Boris Bobrov]

cwebber, there is a fix in comment 2. I suggest to close the bug, because it is now fixed for those people who don't use video or audio.

[Jessica Tallon]

I am getting an awful lot of unit test errors when gstreamer is not installed due to the "mediagoblin/media_types/video/transcoders.py" file.

[berkerpeksag]

Boris' patch LGTM. I will apply it shortly if no one beats me to it.

[berkerpeksag]

Looks like it's already committed, so closing this as "fixed".