3 This is GStreamer, a framework for streaming media.
9 https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org
11 Our documentation, including tutorials, API reference and FAQ can be found at
13 https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/
15 You can subscribe to our mailing lists:
17 https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/gstreamer-announce
19 https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/gstreamer-devel
21 We track bugs, feature requests and merge requests (patches) in GitLab at
23 https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/
25 You can join us on IRC - #gstreamer on irc.oftc.net
27 This repository contains all official modules supported by the GStreamer
28 community which can be found in the `subprojects/` directory.
32 ### Install git and python 3.5+
34 If you're on Linux, you probably already have these. On macOS, you can use the
35 [official Python installer](https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/).
37 You can find [instructions for Windows below](#windows-prerequisites-setup).
39 ### Install meson and ninja
41 Meson 0.59 or newer is required.
43 On Linux and macOS you can get meson through your package manager or using:
45 $ pip3 install --user meson
47 This will install meson into `~/.local/bin` which may or may not be included
48 automatically in your PATH by default.
50 You should get `ninja` using your package manager or download the [official
51 release](https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases) and put the `ninja`
54 You can find [instructions for Windows below](#windows-prerequisites-setup).
57 On macOS, you might need to execute "Install Certificates.command" from the
58 Python folder in the user Applications folder:
61 $ /Applications/Python\ 3.*/Install\ Certificates.command
64 Otherwise you will get this error when downloading meson wraps:
67 urllib.error.URLError: urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed
70 ### Build GStreamer and its modules
72 You can get all GStreamer built running:
79 This will automatically create the `build` directory and build everything
82 NOTE: On Windows, you *must* run this from [inside the Visual Studio command
83 prompt](#running-meson-on-windows) of the appropriate architecture and version.
85 ### External dependencies
87 All mandatory dependencies of GStreamer are included as [meson subprojects](https://mesonbuild.com/Subprojects.html):
88 libintl, zlib, libffi, glib. Some optional dependencies are also included as
89 subprojects, such as ffmpeg, x264, json-glib, graphene, openh264, orc, etc.
91 Mandatory dependencies will be automatically built if meson cannot find them on
92 your system using pkg-config. The same is true for optional dependencies that
93 are included as subprojects. You can find a full list by looking at the
94 `subprojects` directory.
96 Plugins that need optional dependencies that aren't included can only be built
97 if they are provided by the system. Instructions on how to build some common
98 ones such as Qt5/QML are listed below. If you do not know how to provide an
99 optional dependency needed by a plugin, you should use [Cerbero](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/cerbero/#description)
100 which handles this for you automatically.
102 Plugins will be automatically enabled if possible, but you can ensure that
103 a particular plugin (especially if it has external dependencies) is built by
104 enabling the gstreamer repository that ships it and the plugin inside it. For
105 example, to enable the Qt5 plugin in the gst-plugins-good repository, you need
106 to run meson as follows:
109 meson -Dgood=enabled -Dgst-plugins-good:qt5=enabled builddir
112 This will cause Meson to error out if the plugin could not be enabled. You can
113 also flip the default and disable all plugins except those explicitly enabled
117 meson -Dauto_features=disabled -Dgstreamer:tools=enabled -Dbad=enabled -Dgst-plugins-bad:openh264=enabled
120 This will disable all optional features and then enable the `openh264` plugin
121 and the tools that ship with the core gstreamer repository: `gst-inspect-1.0`,
122 `gst-launch-1.0`, etc. As usual, you can change these values on a builddir that
123 has already been setup with `meson configure -Doption=value`.
125 ### Building the Qt5 QML plugin
127 If `qmake` is not in `PATH` and pkgconfig files are not available, you can
128 point the `QMAKE` env var to the Qt5 installation of your choosing before
129 running `meson` as shown above.
131 The plugin will be automatically enabled if possible, but you can ensure that
132 it is built by passing `-Dgood=enabled -Dgst-plugins-good:qt5=enabled` to `meson`.
134 ### Building the Intel MSDK plugin
136 On Linux, you need to have development files for `libmfx` installed. On
137 Windows, if you have the [Intel Media SDK](https://software.intel.com/en-us/media-sdk),
138 it will set the `INTELMEDIASDKROOT` environment variable, which will be used by
139 the build files to find `libmfx`.
141 The plugin will be automatically enabled if possible, but you can ensure it by
142 passing `-Dbad=enabled -Dgst-plugins-bad:msdk=enabled` to `meson`.
144 ### Building plugins with (A)GPL-licensed dependencies
146 Some plugins have GPL- or AGPL-licensed dependencies and will only be built
147 if you have explicitly opted in to allow (A)GPL-licensed dependencies by
148 passing `-Dgpl=enabled` to Meson.
150 List of plugins with (A)GPL-licensed dependencies (non-exhaustive) in gst-plugins-bad:
151 - dts (DTS audio decoder plugin)
152 - faad (Free AAC audio decoder plugin)
153 - iqa (Image quality assessment plugin based on dssim-c)
154 - mpeg2enc (MPEG-2 video encoder plugin)
155 - mplex (audio/video multiplexer plugin)
156 - ofa (Open Fingerprint Architecture library plugin)
157 - resindvd (Resin DVD playback plugin)
158 - x265 (HEVC/H.265 video encoder plugin)
160 List of plugins with (A)GPL-licensed dependencies (non-exhaustive) in gst-plugins-ugly:
161 - a52dec (Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio decoder plugin)
162 - cdio (CD audio source plugin based on libcdio)
163 - dvdread (DVD video source plugin based on libdvdread)
164 - mpeg2dec (MPEG-2 video decoder plugin based on libmpeg2)
165 - sidplay (Commodore 64 audio decoder plugin based on libsidplay)
166 - x264 (H.264 video encoder plugin based on libx264)
170 Since *1.18.0* when doing a static build using `--default-library=static`, a
171 shared library `gstreamer-full-1.0` will be produced and includes all enabled
172 GStreamer plugins and libraries. A list of libraries that needs to be exposed in
173 `gstreamer-full-1.0` ABI can be set using `gst-full-libraries` option. glib-2.0,
174 gobject-2.0 and gstreamer-1.0 are always included.
177 meson --default-library=static -Dgst-full-libraries=app,video builddir
180 GStreamer *1.18* requires applications using gstreamer-full-1.0 to initialize
181 static plugins by calling `gst_init_static_plugins()` after `gst_init()`. That
182 function is defined in `gst/gstinitstaticplugins.h` header file.
184 Since *1.20.0* `gst_init_static_plugins()` is called automatically by
185 `gst_init()` and applications must not call it manually any more. The header
186 file has been removed from public API.
188 One can use the `gst-full-version-script` option to pass a
189 [version script](https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/LD-Version-Scripts.html)
190 to the linker. This can be used to control the exact symbols that are exported by
191 the gstreamer-full library, allowing the linker to garbage collect unused code
192 and so reduce the total library size. A default script `gstreamer-full-default.map`
193 declares only glib/gstreamer symbols as public.
195 One can use the `gst-full-plugins` option to pass a list of plugins to be registered
196 in the gstreamer-full library. The default value is '*' which means that all the plugins selected
197 during the build process will be registered statically. An empty value will prevent any plugins to
200 One can select a specific set of features with `gst-full-elements`, `gst-full-typefind-functions`, `gst-full-device-providers` or `gst-full-dynamic-types` to select specific feature from a plugin.
201 When a feature has been listed in one of those options, the other features from its plugin will no longer be automatically included, even if the plugin is listed in `gst-full-plugins`.
203 The user must insure that all selected plugins and features (element, typefind, etc.) have been
204 enabled during the build configuration.
206 To register features, the syntax is the following:
207 plugins are separated by ';' and features from a plugin starts after ':' and are ',' separated.
210 * `-Dgst-full-plugins=coreelements;playback;typefindfunctions;alsa;pbtypes`: enable only `coreelements`, `playback`, `typefindfunctions`, `alsa`, `pbtypes` plugins.
211 * `-Dgst-full-elements=coreelements:filesrc,fakesink,identity;alsa:alsasrc`: enable only `filesrc`, `identity` and `fakesink` elements from `coreelements` and `alsasrc` element from `alsa` plugin.
212 * `-Dgst-full-typefind-functions=typefindfunctions:wav,flv`: enable only typefind func `wav` and `flv` from `typefindfunctions`
213 * `-Dgst-full-device-providers=alsa:alsadeviceprovider`: enable `alsadeviceprovider` from `alsa`.
214 * `-Dgst-full-dynamic-types=pbtypes:video_multiview_flagset`: enable `video_multiview_flagset` from `pbtypes
216 All features from the `playback` plugin will be enabled and the other plugins will be restricted to the specific features requested.
218 All the selected features will be registered into a dedicated `NULL` plugin name.
220 This will cause the features/plugins that are not registered to not be included in the final gstreamer-full library.
222 This is an experimental feature, backward incompatible changes could still be
225 # Development environment
227 ## Development environment target
229 GStreamer also contains a special `devenv` target that lets you enter an
230 development environment where you will be able to work on GStreamer
231 easily. You can get into that environment running:
234 ninja -C builddir devenv
237 If your operating system handles symlinks, built modules source code will be
238 available at the root for example GStreamer core will be in
239 `gstreamer/`. Otherwise they will be present in `subprojects/`. You can simply
240 hack in there and to rebuild you just need to rerun `ninja -C builddir`.
242 NOTE: In the development environment, a fully usable prefix is also configured
243 in `gstreamer/prefix` where you can install any extra dependency/project.
245 An external script can be run in development environment with:
248 ./gst-env.py external_script.sh
251 For more extensive documentation about the development environment go to [the
252 documentation](https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/installing/building-from-source-using-meson.html).
254 ## Custom subprojects
256 We also added a meson option, `custom_subprojects`, that allows the user
257 to provide a comma-separated list of subprojects that should be built
258 alongside the default ones.
264 git clone my_subproject
266 rm -rf * && meson .. -Dcustom_subprojects=my_subproject
272 You can easily run the test of all the components:
278 To list all available tests:
281 meson test -C builddir --list
284 To run all the tests of a specific component:
287 meson test -C builddir --suite gst-plugins-base
290 Or to run a specific test file:
293 meson test -C builddir --suite gstreamer gst_gstbuffer
296 Run a specific test from a specific test file:
299 GST_CHECKS=test_subbuffer meson test -C builddir --suite gstreamer gst_gstbuffer
302 ## Optional Installation
304 You can also install everything that is built into a predetermined prefix like
308 meson --prefix=/path/to/install/prefix builddir
310 meson install -C builddir
313 Note that the installed files have `RPATH` stripped, so you will need to set
314 `LD_LIBRARY_PATH`, `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH`, or `PATH` as appropriate for your
315 platform for things to work.
318 ## Add information about GStreamer development environment in your prompt line
322 We automatically handle `bash` and set `$PS1` accordingly.
324 If the automatic `$PS1` override is not desired (maybe you have a fancy custom
325 prompt), set the `$GST_BUILD_DISABLE_PS1_OVERRIDE` environment variable to
326 `TRUE` and use `$GST_ENV` when setting the custom prompt, for example with a
327 snippet like the following:
331 if [[ -n "${GST_ENV-}" ]];
333 PS1+="[ ${GST_ENV} ]"
340 In your powerline theme configuration file (by default in
341 `{POWERLINE INSTALLATION DIR}/config_files/themes/shell/default.json`)
342 you should add a new environment segment as follow:
346 "function": "powerline.segments.common.env.environment",
347 "args": { "variable": "GST_ENV" },
352 ## Windows Prerequisites Setup
354 On Windows, some of the components may require special care.
358 Use the [Git for Windows](https://gitforwindows.org/) installer. It will
359 install a `bash` prompt with basic shell utils and up-to-date git binaries.
361 During installation, when prompted about `PATH`, you should select the
364 ![Select "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software"](/data/images/git-installer-PATH.png)
366 ### Python 3.5+ on Windows
368 Use the [official Python installer](https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/).
369 You must ensure that Python is installed into `PATH`:
371 ![Enable Add Python to PATH, then click Customize Installation](/data/images/py-installer-page1.png)
373 You may also want to customize the installation and install it into
374 a system-wide location such as `C:\PythonXY`, but this is not required.
378 The easiest way to install Ninja on Windows is with `pip3`, which will download
379 the compiled binary and place it into the `Scripts` directory inside your
386 You can also download the [official release](https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases)
387 and place it into `PATH`.
391 **IMPORTANT**: Do not use the Meson MSI installer since it is experimental and known to not
392 work with `GStreamer`.
394 You can use `pip3` to install Meson, same as Ninja above:
400 Note that Meson is written entirely in Python, so you can also run it as-is
401 from the [git repository](https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/) if you want to
402 use the latest master branch for some reason.
404 ### Running Meson on Windows
406 At present, to build with Visual Studio, you need to run Meson from inside the
407 VS 2019 command prompt. Press `Start`, and search for `VS 2019`, and click on
408 `x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019`, or a prompt named similar to
411 ![x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019](/data/images/vs-2019-dev-prompt.png)
413 **ARM64 native only**: Since Visual Studio might not install dedicated command
414 prompt for native ARM64 build, you might need to run `vcvarsx86_arm64.bat` on CMD.
415 Please refer to [this document](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/building-on-the-command-line?view=vs-2019#developer_command_file_locations)
417 ### Setup a mingw/wine based development environment on linux
419 #### Install wine and mingw
424 sudo dnf install mingw64-gcc mingw64-gcc-c++ mingw64-pkg-config mingw64-winpthreads wine
427 FIXME: Figure out what needs to be installed on other distros
429 #### Get meson from git
431 This simplifies the process and allows us to use the cross files
432 defined in meson itself.
435 git clone https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson.git
438 #### Build and install
441 BUILDDIR=$PWD/winebuild/
442 export WINEPREFIX=$BUILDDIR/wine-prefix/ && mkdir -p $WINEPREFIX
443 # Setting the prefix is mandatory as it is used to setup symlinks within the development environment
444 meson/meson.py $BUILDDIR --cross-file meson/cross/linux-mingw-w64-64bit.txt -Dgst-plugins-bad:vulkan=disabled -Dorc:gtk_doc=disabled --prefix=$BUILDDIR/wininstall/ -Djson-glib:gtk_doc=disabled
445 meson/meson.py install -C $BUILDDIR/
448 > __NOTE__: You should use `meson install -C $BUILDDIR` each time you make a change
449 > instead of the usual `ninja -C build` as this is not in the development environment.
451 #### The development environment
453 You can get into the development environment the usual way:
456 ninja -C $BUILDDIR/ devenv
459 Alternatively, if you'd rather not start a shell in your workflow, you
460 can mutate the current environment into a suitable state like so:
463 gst-env.py --only-environment
466 This will print output suitable for an sh-compatible `eval` function,
467 just like `ssh-agent -s`.
469 After setting up [binfmt] to use wine for windows binaries,
470 you can run GStreamer tools under wine by running:
473 gst-launch-1.0.exe videotestsrc ! glimagesink
476 [binfmt]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/binfmt.d.5.html