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View Full Version : Tool dependencies need to be better documented


czerro
19th June 2014, 11:49
I can't survive without you guys, and as much as I try and learn, I can't wrap my head around some of the transforms and masks. But, they work! Amazing.

I primarily do PC LP footage. Autoadjust, Seesaw, mvtools(2), nnedi implementation, anything tritical has ever made, etc, and it's mostly a trial-and-error experience but it's fantastic to even have the options.

As much as I love these things, the documentation is often bad. The coder doesn't do enough due diligence to document dependencies or dependencies on updated libraries or update them thereafter. "if you get this, it will work." Rather than acknowledging that everything else in the chain is going to change as well, but the user has no idea what those dependencies are and likely has conflicting dependencies in a complex chain. So you can get some goofy errors for no reason, simply because you aren't 'in the know' and understand the crosstalk you are picking up on is only relevant to MT, special x64, or special x86 build, dependencies for other features that are now considered 'main', experimental libraries, or some such without mention.

I know you guys are brilliant, and a lot of people have hopped onto avisynth+, and it has good compatablility, but there are alot of people that are scared to do so, and the plugin/script documentation/threads does nothing to alleviate these fears, with all the problems of updating ones workflow I highlighted above.

BTW: I hopped on Avisynth+ today because I accidently overwrote my AutoAdjust 1.90 with 2.20...to discover it didnt work with avisynth 2.5.8 and had to bite the bullet on Avisynth+ because the creator no longer has the binaries :/. I can return to AVS2.5.8 easily and none of my plugins are broken. Aweseome. It's BUILT into the Avisynth+ installer, but I would guess that most people wouldn't investigate it that far. And as far as I can tell everything works, notably mvtools(2). Performance seems to be slightly better. But it takes me back to the original problem of adoption. I understand that avisynth+ will be better, and you can't expect people to come on board while at the same time trying to support implementation of the old guard. What you can do this time around is demand better documentation into a wiki that is controlled and updated concurrently with dependencies so that people know what they are working with without having to bother a maintainer with a question.

Reel.Deel
19th June 2014, 14:47
What kinda of dependencies are you talking about? You mention dependencies a lot but is not clear (at least to me). Are you talking about dynamically built plugins that require the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package?

I accidently overwrote my AutoAdjust 1.90 with 2.20...to discover it didnt work with avisynth 2.5.8

The documentation contains a changelog:


v2.00:
dropped Avs v2.5.x support


To me that's another problem, people are still using 2.5.8 (and older) (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=168478). IMO AviSynth 2.6.0 Alpha5 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=168764) should be the recommended version as it's considered to be more stable than 2.5.8 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1629125#post1629125). All 2.5 plugins work with 2.6 while none of the 2.6 plugins are backward compatible with 2.5. I personally use SEt's 2.6 MT (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=148782), if MT is not enabled it works and it's just as stable as the vanilla 2.6 Alpha5. Also if you're using 2.6, switching between it and Avisynth+ is as easy as replacing (overwriting) the avisynth.dll. When I was testing out Avisynth+ I did this quite frequently and never ran into a problem.

I understand that Avisynth related documentation is not always the best but it's also not as bad as you make it seem. Trust me I know, a little over 2 years ago I didn't know anything about Avisynth. In hindsight, I made it more difficult than it needed to be. :)

foxyshadis
20th June 2014, 01:37
Avisynth.nl (http://avisynth.nl) usually has equal or better documentation to what's included in the filter, including requirements, and usually more current links. It's the best place to start to keep your filter collection current, since what's on the board and the rest of the net is all over the map.

And 2.5.8 is definitely considered obsolete and buggy, even if 2.6 is still "Alpha".