Dependencies

oxine depends on a number of external libraries to support it in some of the more complicated tasks it has to perform. Please make sure to install the following libraries before you start compiling oxine.

Libraries marked as mandatory must be installed. It is suggested that you also install libraries marked as optional to improve oxine's overall experience.

Depending on the distribution you are using it may be necessary to not only install the library, but to also install the associated development packages. For Ubuntu this would mean that you would need to install liblircclient0 and liblircclient-dev.

./configure --disable-gdkpixbuf <other options>

./configure --without-jsw <other options>

Apart from the libraries oxine also depends on a number of command line programs.

Installation

Usage

There exist a number of command line options oxine accepts. These can be used to change the standard behaviour of oxine (e.g. what configuration file or what log file to use).

It is also possible to deactivate certain features that were enabled at build time but are not needed by the user.

The following command line options are known to oxine:

Usage: oxine [OPTIONS] [MRL]

OPTIONS are:
  -c, --config <filename>      Use non-standard configuration file.
  -v, --version                Display version.
      --verbose=<level>        Set verbosity level. Default is 0.
  -l, --logfile <filename>     Set the log filename.
  -V, --video-driver <drv>     Select video driver by ID.
                               Available drivers:
                               auto xv xshm sdl
  -A, --audio-driver <drv>     Select audio driver by ID.
                               Available drivers:
                               alsa esd file none
  -X, --xineramascreen=<num>   Sets the screen on which the fullscreen window                               
                               will be shown.
  -F, --no-fullscreen          Do no start in fullscreen mode.
  -L, --no-lirc                Do not use remote control (LIRC).
  -J, --no-joystick            Do not use joystick support.
  -W, --no-weather             Do not automaticaly retrieve weather information.
  -H, --no-hal-dbus            Do not use HAL/ DBUS to monitor removable drives.

Depending on how you configured oxine at build time some of the above options may not be available. If you for example configured oxine without weather support the command line option --no-weather will not be available.

Configuration

There are two location where oxine keeps it's configuration files. One is in $PREFIX/share/oxine/ ($PREFIX is the installation prefix where you installed oxine. This will usually be /usr/ or /usr/local/) and the other is $HOME/.oxine/ ($HOME is your home directory).

Especially the file $HOME/.oxine/config is important. This is where all configuration values are saved by oxine. This file will be created the first time you run oxine.

oxine's configuration can be changed by editing the configuration file directly or by selecting "Edit Settings" from the oxine main menu.

The following sections describe various issues that need to be addressed before oxine is fully functional.

Please read the ChangeLog when updating oxine. As the program is still alpha configuration and feature may change between releases.

Skins

oxine comes with one standard skin. This skin (oxinetic) is in english and for 4:3 monitors only.

Skins in your favorite language and skins for 16:9 monitors can be downloaded from the oxine subversion repository by running

svn co https://oxine.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/oxine/trunk/oxine-skins

The skins in that directory can be installed by running

./install.sh <skinname>

Removable Media

If you wish to use a CDROM or DVD drive please make sure the correct devices are set in the configuration file. The following configuration keys are relevant:

# device used for DVD playback
# string, default: /dev/dvd
#media.dvd.device:/dev/dvd

# device used for CD audio
# string, default: /dev/cdrom
#media.audio_cd.device:/dev/cdrom

# CD-ROM drive used for VCD when none given
# string, default:
#media.vcd.device:/dev/cdrom

Remote Control

Main Menu

Starting with version 0.6 it is possible to configure oxine's main menu.

The default menu file is located in $PREFIX/share/oxine/mainmenu.xml. This file should not be changed as it will be overwritten whenever oxine is reinstalled. Instead you should copy this file to $HOME/.oxine/mainmenu.xml and modify it there. The file must follow the syntax as described in $PREFIX/share/oxine/DTD/menu.dtd

The default menu file contains a complete set of permitted parameters and some examples.

Mediamarks

When selecting "Listen to Music", "Watch Films" or "View Images" the user enters the file selection dialogs. The main difference between the three is what files are displayed. When selecting "Listen to Music" only audio files are displayed while selecting "Watch Films" will only display video files and "View Images" will only display image files.

To customize the entries the user sees when first entering these dialogs mediamarks files may be created in $HOME/.oxine/ called:

mediamarks_music.xml
mediamarks_video.xml
mediamarks_image.xml

Shutdown Dialog

When pressing the "Shutdown" button in the main menu oxine displays a dialog asking the user what he wishes to do. If the user specifies the necessary commands

# shell command (reboot)
# string, default: /sbin/reboot
#shutdown.reboot_command:/sbin/reboot

# shell command (power off)
# string, default: /sbin/poweroff
#shutdown.shutdown_command:/sbin/poweroff

# shell command (standby)
# string, default:
#shutdown.standby_command:

in the configuration file, the user can also choose to shutdown or reboot the computer or to switch the computer to standby mode.

If the configuration key

# ask before leaving oxine
# bool, default: 1
#shutdown.ask:1

is set to 0 this dialog will not be displayed.

Thumbnail Images

There are three ways to make oxine display thumbnail images in the filelist and the playback menu:

1. If you place an image in a directory oxine will show that image whenever that directory is opened in the filelist menu or a file from that directory is being played in the playback menu. The image may have any name. If a file called title.jpg, title.png or title.gif exists oxine will display that.
2. You may also add a thumbnail link to an entry in a mediamarks file:

   <entry>
       <mrl href="dvd:/home/public/lotr.iso" />
       <title>[Lord Of The Rings (ISO)]</title>
       <thumbnail href="/home/public/lotr.png" />
   </entry>
   

3. You may add a '.directory' file to a directory that contains an entry 'Icon':

   [Desktop Entry]
   Version=1.0
   Icon=/home/public/lotr.png
   

Video Disc Recorder

Apple Airport Express

Using the xine-lib audio output plugin for the Apple Airport Express which can be downloaded from the oxine subversion repository by running

svn co https://oxine.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/oxine/trunk/xine-aex

it is possible to output audio on any Apple Airport Express available on the local network.

If you have the AVAHI client library installed (see above) oxine will automatically find any available Apple Airport Express and make them available in the settings menu.

At the moment it is only possible to output audio via one Apple Airport Express or via the normal sound card.

Password protection

Directories on local discs can be password protected by placing a file .password inside that directory.

The .password file must contain exactly one password. The password may be in clear text or (as in /etc/shadow/) encrypted.

Due to some limitations of oxine's widget toolset the directory is not entered at once after providing the password. The user must double click on the directory again to enter.

Please note, that this does not protect the directory in any meaningful way. Anyone with direct access to the filesystem will not care at all about the .password file. This is only good enough to keep kids (depending on the kids) out of some directories.

Audio CD extractor

The audio CD extractor support three different output format:

1. Lossless (FLAC)
2. Lossy (OGG)
3. Lossy (MP3)

By setting the following configuration keys it is possible to pass extra parameters to the programs doing the actual encoding:

# FLAC encoder (flac) parameters
# string, default: 
#extractor.cdda.encoder.flac.parameters:

# MP3 encoder (lame) parameters
# string, default: 
#extractor.cdda.encoder.mp3.parameters:

# OGG encoder (oggenc) parameters
# string, default: 
#extractor.cdda.encoder.ogg.parameters:

Another configuration key does the same thing for the program doing the ripping (cdparanoia):

# CD extractor (cdparanoia) parameters
# string, default: 
#extractor.cdda.parameters:

If for example you want the FLAC encoder (flac) to use the higest level of compression you might want to set:

# FLAC encoder (flac) parameters
# string, default: 
extractor.cdda.encoder.flac.parameters:--compression-level-8

DVD and video CD extractor

By default the command dd is used to copy complete images of DVD's and video CD's to disc. As this may not work for all discs other programs can be specified by changing the following configuration keys:

# DVD extractor command
# string, default: /bin/dd if=%s of=%s
#extractor.dvd.command:/bin/dd if=%s of=%s

# VCD extractor command
# string, default: /bin/dd if=%s of=%s
#extractor.vcd.command:/bin/dd if=%s of=%s

If for example you wish to use mplayer to extract DVD's you might want to set:

# DVD extractor command
# string, default: /bin/dd if=%s of=%s
extractor.dvd.command:mplayer dvd:// -dvd-device %s -dumpstream -dumpfile %s

The first %s of the commands is replaced with the device name (e.g. /dev/dvd). The second %s is replaced with the output filename. Please note, that it is not possible to change the order of device name and filename in the command.

Controls

Menu Navigation

Direct Menu Access

Miscellaneous

Playback Control

Playlist

Images

DVD

Television

Video Disc Recorder

Problems