OutOfTreeCompile

Aim

Being able to build a vlc module without needing to build the whole vlc source. It can be used if you develop a new module, if your module can't be distributed at the same time as VLC due to some IP issues or to reduce the number of build-dependancies for a source package

Preparation

If you're taking a module from VLC source code, you may need to modify it slightly.

Internationalization

You can't use the main VLC internationalization (gettext) "domain". So you can either add your own domain declaration:

#define DOMAIN  "vlc-myplugin"
#define _(str)  dgettext(DOMAIN, str)
#define N_(str) (str)

/* ... */

vlc_module_begin()
   set_text_domain (DOMAIN)
   set_description (N_("My plugin"))
   /* ... */
vlc_module_end()

or disable internationalization completely:

#define _(str)  (str)
#define N_(str) (str)

Symbols

For your module to be loaded by VLC, you'll need to define the symbol __PLUGIN__. This should enable exported symbols similar to the following:

EXPORTS
vlc_entry__1_1_0g
vlc_entry_license__1_1_0g

Optionally, you can also define the __LIBVLC__ symbol.

Building

With plain makefile

The following Makefile is an example based on the x264 module of VLC. You will need to adapt to your module.

libdir = $(shell pkg-config --variable=libdir vlc-plugin )
vlclibdir = $(libdir)/vlc

all: libx264_plugin.so
 
libx264_plugin.so: libx264_plugin.o
        gcc -shared -std=gnu99 $< `pkg-config  --libs vlc-plugin x264`  -Wl,-soname -Wl,$@ -o $@
 
libx264_plugin.o: x264.c
        gcc -c -std=gnu99  $< `pkg-config  --cflags vlc-plugin x264` -D__PLUGIN__  -DMODULE_STRING=\"x264\" -o $@  
 
clean:
        rm -f libx264_plugin.o libx264_plugin.so

install: all
        mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(vlclibdir)/
        install -m 0755 libx264_plugin.so $(DESTDIR)$(vlclibdir)/

install-strip: all
        mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(vlclibdir)/
        install -s -m 0755 libx264_plugin.so $(DESTDIR)$(vlclibdir)/

uninstall:
        rm -f -- $(DESTDIR)$(vlclibdir)/libx264_plugin.so

.PHONY: all clean install uninstall

With autotools

If using automake and libtool, you can follow this example Makefile.am instead:

vlclibdir = $(libdir)/vlc

vlclib_libx264_plugin_la_SOURCES = x264.c
vlclib_libx264_plugin_la_CFLAGS = $(VLC_PLUGIN_CFLAGS) $(X264_CFLAGS) \
      -D__PLUGIN__ -DMODULE_STRING=\"x264\"
vlclib_libx264_plugin_la_LIBADD = $(VLC_PLUGIN_LIBS) $(X264_LIBS)
vlclib_libx264_plugin_la_LDFLAGS = \
      -avoid-version -module -export-symbol-regex ^vlc_entry