Re: [gfvs] cdda backend

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

On Sun, 2007-12-16 at 18:22 -0500, David Zeuthen wrote:
> Hey Alex,
> 
> (Sorry to continue bombarding you with super long mails and patches)
> 
> Here's a cdda:// backend for gvfs. Before going into details (and some
> minor, probably easily fixable, architectural issues I've identified)
> it's probably useful to answer the question "Why a cdda backend?" since
> that question was asked here
> 
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-vfs-list/2005-August/msg00001.html
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-vfs-list/2005-August/msg00022.html
> 
> It seems the main objections to that new cdda module for gnome-vfs were
> 
>  - would pull gstreamer into the client apps 

Which client app would want to deal with audio CD data without pulling
in some sort of multimedia framework?

>  - seeking didn't work
> 
>  - file manager not a good UI for ripping songs; better to launch
>    the cd player

That's still current.

> However, that ignores several fundamental problems
> 
>  - libcdio / libparanoia isn't the API application programmers
>    should use (however, gio is)

GStreamer is, to deal with sound data.

>  - nasty locking issues when doing things decentralized (if it's
>    up to the software to do the raw device access it might do
>    uninformed things like using O_EXCL)
> 
>  - duplication in every app (extraction, meta data retrieval)

How will you export the (very as-hoc) errors from the underlying
libraries? How do you export the MusicBrainz Disc ID, or FreeDB one?

> So I wrote the attached cdda module because with gio/gvfs I think it
> actually makes sense have a cdda:// backend (also, and sorry for
> sounding like a cargo cult follower, to have feature parity with Mac OS
> X and Windows). And I also wanted to get a feel / help review the plugin
> API before we freeze. 

I think that's a bad idea. And it eats the cdda:/ MRL space for
GStreamer.