FFmpeg's Leader Resigns, Hopes To Make Libav Developers Come Back

[phoronix]

Phoronix: FFmpeg's Leader Resigns, Hopes To Make Libav Developers Come Back

Michael Niedermayer, the leader of the FFmpeg project for the past eleven years, has made a surprise announcement today: he's resigning as its leader...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=FFmpeg-Leader-Resigns

[Isedonde]

Oh noes.

Now that Debian switched to ffmpeg, it seemed like the libav/ffmpeg issue would solve itself eventually (by libav ceasing to exist).

Oh well. I hope they can find a new leader. Or maybe things go downhill for ffmpeg from now on (Michael contributed a large amount of commits) and soon all the distros want to switch to libav?

[wargames]

Rest in pieces

[xeekei]

Oh noes.

Now that Debian switched to ffmpeg, it seemed like the libav/ffmpeg issue would solve itself eventually (by libav ceasing to exist).

Oh well. I hope they can find a new leader. Or maybe things go downhill for ffmpeg from now on (Michael contributed a large amount of commits) and soon all the distros want to switch to libav…

Resigning as leader won't stop him from contributing commits, will it?

[schmidtbag]

Did he consult with the libav people first before making such an assumption? If it works, great - these kinds of forks are unwelcome in the open source world since it just slows down development. I'd like to see more projects become united.

[zanny]

Did he consult with the libav people first before making such an assumption?

Hes not assuming anything. Hes a voluntary free software developer, he gets to do whatever he wants. He just mentions he hopes that since his leadership alienated the libav devs, that him leaving could bring both camps back together and end the toxic hostility that burnt him out in the first place.

[Isedonde]

Resigning as leader won't stop him from contributing commits, will it?

Sure, but if I understand his mail correctly, he plans to stop working on ffmpeg completely. (And considers returning to development work only when libav is dead or when he can ignore it.)

will i ever return ? ... i might ..., if theres a nice and friendly environment, no hostile forks or at least none i have to interact with. But i will certainly not return as leader

[sdack]

Oh my, oh my. It is once again all about him and his project and what he wants. He still has not realised that it has always been his actions, which started the drama and he just cannot stop himself from pouring more oil into the flames. He cannot leave it alone even when he says he wants to, maybe because he does not know how.

The project split a long time ago and libav made sure to stay clear of ffmpeg as much as possible. The libav project avoids many of ffmpeg's patches for this very reason. It shows how little they want to be associated with the ffmpeg project. And not only does the libav project want to be a different group of people, but they have set themselves apart on the technical side, too.

So now that both projects have developed a life of their own does Michael Niedermayer still want to take an influence on both of them. Frankly, I think it hardly cannot get more ignorant and it is disrespectful. I wonder if he ever asked himself, what if the libav developers do not want to come back and what his answer to it was. So what about his own people, who despite the split stayed with him and helped him to make ffmpeg grow further? Do they get no say in this?

And, just assuming the libav developers were to decide to return, who would guarantee them that Michael Niedermayer will not reassume his position as the leader once more in the future? And what if a libav developer would now take leadership over ffmpeg? Would the remaining ffmpeg developers simply roll over?

Most people will realize how merging both projects back into one will cause problems on many levels, not only on the technical level. Anyhow, Michael Niedermayer wants to leave, which I think is the one good decision one can take out of this.

[wagaf]

Oh my, oh my. It is once again all about him and his project and what he wants. He still has not realised that it has always been his actions, which started the drama and he just cannot stop himself from pouring more oil into the flames. He cannot leave it alone even when he says he wants to, maybe because he does not know how.

The project split a long time ago and libav made sure to stay clear of ffmpeg as much as possible. The libav project avoids many of ffmpeg's patches for this very reason. It shows how little they want to be associated with the ffmpeg project. And not only does the libav project want to be a different group of people, but they have set themselves apart on the technical side, too.

So now that both projects have developed a life of their own does Michael Niedermayer still want to take an influence on both of them. Frankly, I think it hardly cannot get more ignorant and it is disrespectful. I wonder if he ever asked himself, what if the libav developers do not want to come back and what his answer to it was. So what about his own people, who despite the split stayed with him and helped him to make ffmpeg grow further? Do they get no say in this?

And, just assuming the libav developers were to decide to return, who would guarantee them that Michael Niedermayer will not reassume his position as the leader once more in the future? And what if a libav developer would now take leadership over ffmpeg? Would the remaining ffmpeg developers simply roll over?

Most people will realize how merging both projects back into one will cause problems on many levels, not only on the technical level. Anyhow, Michael Niedermayer wants to leave, which I think is the one good decision one can take out of this.

I really hope LibAV developers don't think this way. If they do , the problem is clearly LibAV developers.

Stepping back from leadership is a courageous decision no matter how you put it, and if his personality was an actual issue for LibAV guys, that issue is now gone. I don't know about this specific project, but generally speaking someone that is not the leader can't "reassume his position as the leader" that easily.

Our project makes use of LibAV / FFmpeg. We can build against both of them, however we found FFmpeg to be superior on many aspects. FFmpeg merges many LibAV commits while the opposite is not true. FFmpeg is a much more active project. Security issues are solved much faster on FFmpeg, sometimes even never solved on LibAV.

Still, LibAV is a great project with talented developers. Both libraries are still almost the same. The fork seems to be a ridiculous waste of time and energy that causes much more trouble than any sort of personal issues.

On the long term, I think the only choice LibAV has is to merge back into FFmpeg, of they will disappear because they won't be able to keep up with FFmpeg development.

[carewolf]

Resigning as leader won't stop him from contributing commits, will it?

No, but without knowing the guy, but just knowing open source developers, I could imagine he is extra active because it is currently "his baby". If it runs a different direction than what he would have wanted or uncomfortable tension between him and the new leadership arises... It is not unlikely he will be less active in the future.