Homebrew-core: Please incorporate --with-fdk-aac into ffmpeg

[montagne27]

Hello,

Your questionnable move to remove all options from Homebrew has left me without access to the "libfdk_aac" encoder for ffmpeg, which is the highest-quality AAC encoder, as ffmpeg's own documentation says here:

Fraunhofer FDK AAC (libfdk_aac)
This is currently the highest-quality AAC encoder available with ffmpeg.

and here:

For AAC-LC: libfdk_aac > Native FFmpeg AAC encoder (aac).
For HE-AAC you have one choice: libfdk_aac.

Furthermore, if I look at the Homebrew analytics for the ffmpeg formula, "--with-fdk-aac" was easily one of the most commonly used options. Please incorporate "--with-fdk-aac" into ffmpeg.

[SMillerDev]

Please make a pull request as we don't accept issues requesting features.

[montagne27]

Unfortunately, solutions like "making a pull request" are beyond my expertise. I don't even know what they mean. If I am not a developer, how do I propose the "--with-fdk-aac" option as default?

[montagne27]

Browsing the current pull requests, I found #36327, in which @MikeMcQuaid says:

We cannot legally distribute bottles with FDK AAC so we will not do so.

I guess this means that "--with-fdk-aac" will never be default, whatever arguments I make or other users make, such as @zmwangx in the same pull request:

Please add back fdk-aac. AAC is one of the (two) most widely audio codecs and fdk-aac was the de facto standard of AAC encoding with FFmpeg for years

[retokromer]

@montagne27 There is a version of the old formula which allows you to pass options.

[montagne27]

@retokromer Brilliant! Thank you very much, it worked flowlessly. Now, I just have to hope that "ffmpeg-with-options" will remain compatible with future versions of Homebrew.

[MikeMcQuaid]

I guess this means that "--with-fdk-aac" will never be default, whatever arguments I make or other users make

Yes. Please do this research before opening issues in future and you'll avoid asking the Homebrew project to break the law to meet your needs, thanks.

[montagne27]

@MikeMcQuaid I did do research about existing "Issues" with the ffmpeg formula, prior to opening my own one. Only later did I find out the discussion was in "Pull requests" instead of in "Issues". Please keep in mind that I am a visitor and that it's normal if I am not familiar with where everything is. Just like you're unfamiliar the first time you're visiting a hospital or a public library. Also, I am not asking you to break the law by providing me the compiled binary: I am asking for the option to compile this binary from source. After all, isn't that Homebrew's purpose? Anyway, opening this "Issue" allowed me to find out about "ffmpeg-with-options", so I guess it wasn't meaningless for me. Who knows? Some other visitor might also find it meaningful.

[MikeMcQuaid]

After all, isn't that Homebrew's purpose?

No, it's not a from-source package manager.

Some other visitor might also find it meaningful.

Yes, I hope so too.

Thanks!

[sidneys]

After all, isn't that Homebrew's purpose?

No, it's not a from-source package manager.

Some other visitor might also find it meaningful.

Yes, I hope so too.

Thanks!

Dear @MikeMcQuaid,

with regards to your last comment: Is the removal of Homebrews' --HEAD installation feature currently planned / on the roadmap?

Cheers,
S

[SMillerDev]

@sidneys that option serves a very different purpose from all options that have now been removed so afaik it isn't on the roadmap to be removed.