Mpv: [Documentation] Very difficult to find list of all mpv.conf options, via Google web search
It was impossible for me to find a list of all mpv.conf options.
The first 4 Google results (my Google search history is disabled) when searching mpv.conf documentation are:
- https://mpv.io/manual/stable/
- wrong title, it says "pseudo gui mode" but is a complete manual with CLI flags
- but CLI flags are buried quite a way down
- I tried ctrl+f mpv.conf, and got to https://mpv.io/manual/stable/#location-and-syntax (which has a similar blurb as this file, but doesn't explain how to find all options at all, and lacks the paragraph at line 15, which I block-quoted below).
- Had I thought to ctrl+f
sub-font, I would've found a reference to--sub-font-sizeand the heading of--sub-font. - But I didn't think to do that, instead I searched
sub-fonton Github source code search, and somehow got zero relevant hits :( - Searching mpv's Github, I found https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/DOCS/man/mpv.rst#location-and-syntax which is like https://mpv.io/manual/stable/#location-and-syntax , but missing a list of CLI flags.
https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/etc/mpv.conf (this file, provides no link to all MPV options)
Actually, line 15 in this file contains a long paragraph:
Configuration file settings and the command line options use the same underlying mechanisms. Most options can be put into the configuration file by dropping the preceding '--'. See the man page for a complete list of options.
But my PR will put this information concisely, at the front and center of this file. (Also
mpv --helpor--list-options?)
https://github.com/Argon-/mpv-config/blob/master/mpv.conf (some random user's personal config file)
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/mpv (provides no link to all MPV options). The first search result to even mention a list of all options is http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man1/mpv.1.html (a link to mpv's entire manpage).
The first 3 Google results for mpv.conf all options all appear in the above list. https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/etc/mpv.conf is the first result, which I am editing in this PR.
Only after posting in a Discord server was I told that mpv.conf options are identical to CLI options, and I could find all mpv.conf keys by running mpv --help or looking at the manpage, then noticing the --list-options flag.
I will be submitting 1 or 2 documentation pull requests soon.
nyanpasu64
All 15 comments
Wow fuck, it’s like you gotta read the manual in order to understand the manual!
Jesus, what is happening to people’s attention span.
mia-0
on 15 Mar 2019
wow, rude @lachs0r
Did you even read my entire post? Look at the issues I pointed out? Notice that the manual on the mpv website has the wrong title, and that I already read the part of the manual describing mpv.conf, but it doesn't tell you how to list all options? Look at my pull request https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/pull/6562 ?
Admittedly I spent 4 minutes during my initial fruitless search, and had I thought of some other things (like searching the manual for sub-font rather than mpv.conf), I could've found the options. But all the problems I found during my subsequent research are very real omissions that needlessly make it difficult to find options.
nyanpasu64
on 15 Mar 2019
The title is a Google bug, not our problem. Plus Google results are gonna be different for each person, depending on tracking, location, browser, language, etc. The rest is self-explanatory if you just have the patience to read a few paragraphs, or even just the damn headings. There’s one right at the start of the CONFIGURATION FILES section that says “Putting Command Line Options into the Configuration File”.
mia-0
on 15 Mar 2019
If I get it correctly, the whole confusion revolves around the fact that all CLI options are also mpv.conf options and this relationship is not obvious to a new user?
The manual explicitly mentions this:
You can put all of the options in configuration files which will be read every time mpv is run.
You explicitly linked to this part of the manual yourself, so I don't really get why there was still confusion afterwards.
Not sure about your problem with the pseudo GUI chapter.
Argon-
on 15 Mar 2019
The title is a Google bug, not our problem.
https://mpv.io/manual/stable/ contains <title>mpv.io</title>. Maybe you should add some meaningful information to the title, like "Manual - mpv.io", so Google doesn't have to incorrectly guess at meaningful page titles? Why is mpv one of those unhelpful websites which use the same title for every page in the site?
Google results are gonna be different for each person, depending on tracking, location, browser, language, etc.
One person on Discord got the same result and same wrong title at a slightly different search position.
There’s one right at the start of the CONFIGURATION FILES section
which is a full page down on my 1080p 1.3x DPI laptop display.
Even then, it says:
Almost all command line options can be put into the configuration file. Here is a small guide:
and does not point to any command to list all command line options.
I think I missed reading
# The commented example options usually do _not_ set the default values. Call
# mpv with --list-options to see the default values for most options. There is
# no builtin or example mpv.conf with all the defaults.
in the default mpv.conf. Interesting how nobody pointed it out.
Again, the rudeness is absolutely unprofessional and uncalled for.
nyanpasu64
on 15 Mar 2019
Again, the rudeness is absolutely unprofessional and uncalled for.
Welcome to FOSS multimedia development, buddy. Nobody here is under any obligation to fake niceness, hence you'll get yelled at a lot.
CounterPillow
on 15 Mar 2019
The manual itself is a list of all options, along with explanations of what they do (which, let’s be honest, you’re definitely gonna need). I don’t see what the problem is.
mia-0
on 15 Mar 2019
Nobody here is under any obligation to fake niceness, hence you'll get yelled at a lot.
and i have no obligation to think mpv's developers are not hostile,
Jesus, what is happening to people’s attention span.
prone to attacking users' personality (instead of technical arguments),
self-explanatory
and arrogant (or assuming all users have the same perspective as developers).
Actually I've pointed out a mistake I made, which renders my pull request partly unnecessary (mpv.conf mentions --list-options, the mpv.conf manual does not)... but the developers didn't notice. Along the way I've noticed other issues (like missing per-page title on the website) which the developers have yet to respond constructively to.
nyanpasu64
on 15 Mar 2019
It’s not that we didn’t notice, it’s that we didn’t even waste any time reviewing your change yet, because basically what you’re asking is that we restructure and reorder documentation so that the sentences you happen to be looking for right now appear in the order you expect so you don’t have to read more than a dozen words at a time. This is going nowhere. You need to stop working so hard to avoid spending time to read and understand, or you will end up wasting everybody else’s.
mia-0
on 15 Mar 2019
restructure and reorder documentation
i added 2 sentences, one of which turned out to be unnecessary.
nyanpasu64
on 15 Mar 2019
THE MANUAL LISTS THE OPTIONS TOO WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR ISSUE THERE IS A SIDEBAR OF HEADINGS ON THE LEFT WITH OPTIONS AS A HEADING HOLY MACARONI AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YOU JUST TOOK TEN YEARS OFF MY LIFE EXPECTANCY WITH YOUR ENTITLED BULLSHIT
CounterPillow
on 15 Mar 2019
THE MANUAL LISTS THE OPTIONS TOO WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR ISSUE THERE IS A SIDEBAR OF HEADINGS ON THE LEFT WITH OPTIONS AS A HEADING HOLY MACARONI AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YOU JUST TOOK TEN YEARS OFF MY LIFE EXPECTANCY WITH YOUR ENTITLED BULLSHIT
do you actually think slightly misinformed documentation bug requests will kill you?
Also, the lack of hits when I was searching the source code led me to (erroneously) believe mpv.conf operated off an untyped key-value system like git config where the developers have said on record that they cannot implement a "list all recognized keys" CLI option.
nyanpasu64
on 15 Mar 2019
I... don't get it. Could you maybe rephrase your issue a bit? Maybe I'll have a chance at understanding then.
You said that it was "impossible" to find a list of all options, but you actually managed to find them in the end? I don't get it. You have found the online manual page, you have found --list-options, what do you want? Already finished with reading, and now looking for even more documentation stuff to read?
Hrxn
on 15 Mar 2019
I couldn't find that on my own, and had to ask in a Discord chat room where someone told me the right option to use. Afterwards I spent quite some time looking for reasons I couldn't find it, and ways I could've found it on my own (apparently my research wasn't as thorough as I thought).
I should've just created a pull request in the first place, and expressed less frustration.
Anyway how do I link to sections in the readme? I tried a PR in https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/pull/6562/files, but https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/e43b82072aa2416519e258ae5f86f125d98eac67/DOCS/man/mpv.rst#location-and-syntax doesn't look right.
Someone on Discord mentioned that you can add a sitemap to the README, to change the title displayed on Google, without changing the
Most helpful comment
Wow fuck, it’s like you gotta read the manual in order to understand the manual!
Jesus, what is happening to people’s attention span.