This manual describes version 0.8.8 of Gnash.
Copyright © 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You can find a copy of the GFDL at this link or in the file COPYING-DOCS distributed with this manual.
| Revision History | |
|---|---|
| Revision Gnash User Manual version 0.1 | Jan 2010 |
|
Open Media Now! Foundation | |
Table of Contents
List of Tables
Table of Contents
Gnash is a free SWF movie player. It is available as a stand-alone application or as a plugin for several popular web browsers. It supports playing media from a disk or streaming over a network connection. Some popular video sharing sites like YouTube are supported on a wide variety of devices from embedded ones to modern desktops.
Gnash has a better focus on security, allowing the user tight control of all network or disk based I/O. Gnash also supports extending ActionScript by creating your own classes. You can write wrappers for any development library, and import them into the player much like Perl or Python does.
This manual is primarily focused on users interested in how to get Gnash installed from a package, and basic usage as a web browser plugin. For more technical details, please refer to the Gnash Reference manual.
Gnash is known to compile for most any POSIX and ANSI C++ conforming system if you have all the dependent libraries installed. Systems we test on, and which Gnash is known to run on are Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Mandriva, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Win32, and Darwin (OSX) primarily. Occasionally other platforms are built, primarily by those distribution maintainers. This includes BeOS, Haiku, Syllable, OS/2, Solaris, Slackware, and Gentoo.
Gnash is capable of reading up to SWF v9 files and opcodes, but primarily supports SWF v7, with better SWF v8 and v9 support under heavy development. Since the 0.8.2 release, Gnash includes initial parser support for SWF v8 and v9. Not all ActionScript 2 classes are implemented yet, but all of the most heavily used ones are. Many ActionScript 2 classes are partially implemented; there is support for all of the commonly used methods of each class.
Gnash has implemented about 80% of ActionScript v2.0, and has begun implementing ActionScript v3.0. Gnash supports the majority of Flash opcodes up to SWF v9, and a wide sampling of ActionScript classes for SWF v8.
As ActionScript 3 is a more developed version of ActionScript 2, many of the same classes work for both. Support has been added to Gnash's ActionScript library to support the new ActionScript 3 filters, which get applied to every class. Implementing ActionScript classes is often the easiest way for new Gnash developers to make a contribution without a deep internal knowledge of Gnash.
Gnash has included video support since early 2007, but this is an ever changing field of reverse engineering. Many of the popular video sharing sites use SWF v8 or v9, which Gnash supports imperfectly. This is improving all the time, so often builds from a development snapshot will work when using the older release packaged in your distribution doesn't. You can find daily snapshots of the latest CVS tree at: http://www.gnashdev.org/dev_snapshots.
Gnash uses FFmpeg for codecs, so any file supported by Mplayer should work with Gnash. Gnash supports the loading of patent free codecs like Ogg Vorbis or Theora from disk based files, while work is being done to support these codecs when embedded in a SWF file. FFmpeg contains the codecs used by the current SWF defintion, FLV, VP6 (ON2), H.263, H.264, and MP3.
When used as a standalone player, you can play any SWF file from the command line by entering a command of the format:
gnash <option> <flashfile.swf>
The only required argument is the name (and location) of the file to be played.
The available options are listed in the following section, or you may view them in the terminal window by executing the following at the command line:
gnash --help | less
The source code download of Gnash includes several example SWF
files. They are located in the
testsuite/samples/ directory of the Gnash
source directory. If you have installed Gnash correctly, issuing
a command similar to the following plays a short animation of
a car swerving and crashing:
gnash
/home/<username>/gnash/testsuite/car_smash.swf
The above is useful for playing Flash files downloaded to your
local system. It is also possible to play Flash files directly
from the web. To do so, use the -u option along
with the URL of the desired file.
gnash -u http://example.domain.com/flashfile.swf
Note that this will not work with every website; some embedded Flash files are difficult to play.
No options are required for Gnash's default behavior. However, there are many options that can be used to change that behavior.
gnash<options>filename.swf
Table 2.1. Gnash Command Line Options
| Option | Function |
|---|---|
-h, --help | Print usage information. |
-s, --scale <factor>
| Scale the movie up/down by the specified factor. |
-c
| Produce a core file instead of letting SDL trap it. By default, SDL traps all signals, but sometimes a core file is desired to assist with debugging. |
-d, --delay <num>
| Number of milliseconds to delay in main loop. The main loop polls continuously with a delay to adjust how long Gnash sleeps between iterations of the loop. The smaller the number, the higher the CPU load gets, and of course, the more iterations of the main command loop. |
-v, --verbose
| Be verbose; i.e. print important messages to stdout. |
-vv
| Be very verbose; i.e. also print debug messages to stdout. |
-va
| Be verbose about movie actions (for ActionScript debugging). This usually generates very large amounts of text and will affect Gnash's performance. |
-vp
| Be verbose about parsing the movie. This generates a fairly large amount of text, and is likely to affect Gnash's performance. |
-A <file>
| Write the audio output to a wave format file. |
-D <file>
| Write the video output to a raw video file. This option is only valid with dump-gnash. |
-w, --writelog
| Write the log messages to disk using the file specified in the gnashrc file. The default is gnash-dbg.log. |
-j, --width <num>
| Specify the starting width of the window. This is mostly used only by the plugin. |
-k, --height <num>
| Specify the starting height of the window. This is mostly used only by the plugin. |
-1, --once
| Play once; exit if or when the movie reaches the last frame. |
-r, --render-mode <0|1|2|3>
|
|
-t, --timeout <sec>
| Timeout and exit after the specified number of seconds. This is useful for movies which repeat themselves. |
-g, --debugger
| Start Gnash with a Flash debugger console so one can set break points or watchpoints. |
-x, --xid <ID>
| This specifies the X11 window ID to display in; this is mainly used by plugins. |
-u, --real-url <URL>
| Set the _url member of the root movie. This is useful when you download a movie and play it from a different location. See also the -U switch. |
-U, --base-url <URL>
| Set base URL for this run. URLs are resolved relative to this base. If omitted or empty, it defaults to the _url member of the top-level movie (see the -u switch). |
-P, --param <parameter>
| Parameters are given in the syntax "ParamName=Value" and are mostly useful for the plugin to honour EMBED tags attributes or explicit OBJECT PARAM tags. A common use for -P is to provide FlashVars (ie: -P "FlashVars=home=http://www.gnu.org"). |
-F, --fd <filedescriptor>
| Use the given filedescriptor to send requests to the host application. This is currently only used for GETURL requests. The protocol is not documented yet, and also needs improvement. Primary use for this switch is for the NPAPI plugin to properly support javascript and target windows in geturl requests. |
--max-advances <num>
| Exit after the specified number of frame advances. |
--fullscreen
| Start Gnash in fullscreen mode as long as the GUI and window manager support this. |
While a movie is playing, there are several control keys. These can be used to step through frames, pause the playing, and control other actions.
Table 2.2. Gnash Interactive Control Keys
| Key Combination | Function |
|---|---|
CTRL-Q
| Quit/Exit. |
CTRL-W
| Quit/Exit. |
ESC
| Quit/Exit. |
CTRL-P
| Toggle Pause. |
CTRL-R
| Restart the movie. |
CTRL-L
| Force immediate redraw. |
CTRL-T
| Debug. Test the set_variable() function. |
CTRL-G
| Debug. Test the get_variable() function. |
CTRL-M
| Debug. Test the call_method() function. |
Individual user preferences may be set by editing variables with
the .gnashrc file:
~/.gnashrc
Each line must begin with an action: either set or, in the case of lists, also append.
The values in this configuration file apply only to an individual
user, and become the default settings of the standalone player and
the plugin. Note that any command line options take precedence
over .gnashrc settings.
The variables in the .gnashrc file support
three types of arguments: on/off, numeric values, or in the case
of the whitelist and blacklist, a list of hostnames as ASCII text.
Table 2.3. User Configuration Variables
| Variable | Value | Function |
|---|---|---|
| localdomain | on/off | This value can be set to either on or off, and controls the loading of external Flash movies over a network. This option tells Gnash to only load Flash movies from the existing domain. |
| localhost | on/off | This value can be set to either on or off, and controls the loading of external Flash movies over a network. This is a stricter version of the localdomain setting as this allows the loading of Flash movies to the same host that is running Gnash. |
| whitelist | hostnames | This is a list of hostnames separated by spaces, or off to disable the whitelist. The hostname must be given without a protocol (http://, https://). If this list is populated, Gnash will only load external Flash movies from the specified hosts. The whitelist takes precedence over the blacklist. Because several files can be parsed in succession, each file can override or add to lists in other files. Use set to override all other lists or append to add your blacklisted hosts to lists in previously parsed files. |
| blacklist | hostnames | This is a list of hostnames separated by spaces, or off to disable the blacklist. The hostname must be given without a protocol (http://, https://). External flash movies from these domains are never allowed to load. If whitelist is present and not empty, blacklist is not used. Because several files can be parsed in succession, each file can override or add to lists in other files. Use set to override all other lists or append to add your blacklisted hosts to lists in previously parsed files. |
| localSandboxPath | dirs | This is a list of directories separated by spaces. Only resources from these directories and from the directory portion of movie filename (if loaded from filesystem) are allowed to load. Because several files can be parsed in succession, each file can override or add to lists in other files. Use set to override all other lists or append to add new sandboxes. Note that there's currently no way to drop the directory of base dir from the list of allowed local sandboxes. |
| delay | Number | Gnash uses a timer-based event mechanism to advance frames at a steady rate. This option overrides the default setting in Gnash to play a movie slower or faster. |
| verbosity | Number | This is a numeric value which defines the default level of verbosity from the player. |
| MalformedSWFVerbosity | on/off | This value can be set to either on or
off, and controls whether malformed SWF
errors should be printed. If set to true, verbosity level is
automatically incremented. Set verbosity to
0 afterwards to hush. |
| ASCodingErrorsVerbosity | on/off | This value can be set to either on or
off, and controls whether ActionScript
coding errors should be printed. If set to true, verbosity
level is automatically incremented. Set
verbosity to 0 afterwards to hush. |
| debuglog | Absolute path | This is the full path and name of debug logfile as produced by Gnash. On systems with a UNIX-type shell, a tilde prefix (~) will be expanded as by Posix shell requirements (see http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_06_01). |
| writelog | on/off | This value can be set to either on or off, and controls whether a debug log is always written by Gnash, or not at all. |
| sound | on/off | This value can be set to either on or off, and controls the sound of the standalone player. By default Gnash enables playing the sound in any Flash movie. |
| pluginsound | on/off | This value can be set to either on or off, and controls the sound of the player when running as a browser plugin. By default, sound is enabled when using Gnash as a browser plugin. |
| EnableExtensions | on/off | Set to on to enable extensions. This option is off by default |
| StartStopped | on/off | Set to on to have the GUI start in "stop" mode. This is useful in particular for the plugin, so you have to explicitly start any movie on a webpage. This option is off by default. |
| webcamDevice | integer | The integer value (index into vector of video devices) that represents the default webcam. To easily get this entry run utilities/findwebcams (only works with Gstreamer right now) |
| microphoneDevice | integer | The integer value (index into vector of microphone devices) that represents the default microphone. To easily get this entry run utilities/findmicrophones (only works with Gstreamer right now) |
| flashVersionString | string | Set the string returned by $version and System.capabilities.version. Useful to get around some flash version detection movies. Note that the version advertised by the plugin is NOT affected by this setting, instead you need to set the GNASH_FLASH_VERSION environment variable for the latter (which doesn't affect $version and System.capabilities.version). |
| flashSystemOS | string | The string that Gnash should return for System.capabilities.OS |
| flashSystemManufacturer | string | The string that Gnash should return for System.capabilities.manufacturer |
| StreamsTimeout | double | Set the number of seconds after which streams download time out. Timeouts only occur after the given number of seconds have passed without anything being received. |
| insecureSSL | on/off | If set to on, no verification of SSL connections is performed. This means that, although the connection is encrypted, the server certificate could be invalid, may not belong to the host, or both. Equivalent to curl --insecure. By default, this option is off and connections will fail when a host cannot be verified. |
| SOLsafedir | Absolute path | The full path to a directory where Gnash should store Shared Object files ("flash cookies") if they are enabled. |
| solLocalDomain | on/off | If set to on, allow the loading of Shared Objects only on the localhost. |
| SOLreadonly | on/off | If set to on, Gnash will not write Shared Object files. |
| ignoreFSCommand | on/off | If set to on (default), Gnash will ignore fscommands in standalone mode. Fscommands are requests from the playing movie to the operating system or user interface: the most common are quit, fullscreen, showmenu and exec. Gnash always ignores fscommands when running as a plugin. |
| URLOpenerFormat | string |
Set the format of an url opener command. The %u label
would be substituted by the actual url to be opened.
Examples:
set urlOpenerFormat firefox -remote 'openurl(%u)' set urlOpenerFormat xdg-open %u set urlOpenerFormat open %u set urlOpenerFormat kfmclient exec %u |
| HWAccel | string | Specify the type of Hardware Video Decoder. Currently only vaapi, omap, xv or none are supported. None disables any acceleration support (the default). |
| Renderer | string | Specify the type of Renderer to use. Currently only agg, opengl, or cairo are supported. The default is AGG, as it doesn't require any special hardware support. |
| quality | [-1|0|1|2|3] | Set rendering quality. If set to -1, Gnash will use whatever quality set by the movie being run. If set to any value from 0 to 3 Gnash will lock quality to the specified value (0=low, 1=medium, 2=high, 3=best). Defaults to -1. |
The following example .gnashrc file allows a
user to only play Flash files saved locally to the machine on
which Gnash is running. It also specifically forbids content from
doubleclick.com and mochibot.com. Gnash's error output is set to
be fairly verbose, with the debug log placed in a location
convenient for the user. Finally, sound is turned on for both the
standalone player and the plugin.
#
# Gnash client options
#
# Only access remote content from our local domain
set localdomain on
# Only access content from our local host
set localhost on
# These sites are OK
# uncommenting the following line will allow load of external
# movies *only* from the specified hosts.
#set whitelist www.doonesbury.com www.cnn.com www.9news.com
# Disable whitelists set in any other gnashrc files, because
# these could override our blacklist.
set whitelist off
# Don't access content from these sites
set blacklist www.doubleclick.com mochibot.com
# The delay between timer interrupts
set delay 50
# The default verbosity level
set verbosity 1
# Be verbose about malformed SWF
set MalformedSWFVerbosity true
# Be verbose about AS coding errors
set ASCodingErrorsVerbosity true
# The full path to the debug log
set debuglog ~/gnash-dbg.log
# Write a debug log to disk
set writelog on
# Enable or Disable sound for the standalone player
set sound on
# Enable or Disable sound for the standalone player
set pluginsound on
# Make sure SSL connections are always verified
set insecureSSL off
# Use firefox to open urls
set urlOpenerFormat firefox -remote 'openurl(%u)'
Table of Contents
There are two ways of installing Gnash: using a package manager, or installing from source.
Before downloading and installing Gnash, check that your hardware and software meet the following requirements.
One of the goals of Gnash is to make it portable enough to install on small devices. As a result, the hardware requirements are minimal. Gnash has even run on an ARM9 at 200 MHz with 32 MB of RAM! (It ran without video support in this case.) While firm minimums have not been established, Gnash has been shown to run successfully with the following:
336 MHz processor
128 MB RAM
Gnash will run on anything from a raw frame buffer up to an OpenGL-supporting graphics card.
The following table provides a list of the Operating System/CPU combinations on which Gnash has been shown to run.
Table 3.1. Build Matrix
| Operating System | Processor |
|---|---|
| OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD | Alpha AXP, AMD64, i386, Itanium, PC-98, PowerPC, SPARC64 |
| Debian | Alpha AXP, AMD64, ARM, hppa, i386, Itanium, MIPS, PowerPC, IBM zSeries (s390), SPARC |
| Fedora | x86-32, x86-64, Geode GX, Geode LX |
| Gentoo | AMD64, PowerPC, SPARC, x86 |
| Maemo 2.1 | i385, ARMv5t |
| Scratchbox | i386, ARMv5t |
| Access Linux Platform | i386, ARMv5t |
| Mandriva | i386, x86-64, MIPS |
| Open Embedded, OpenMoko | ARM |
| YellowDog Linux 6 | PowerPC, PS3 |
| OpenSuSE 10 | i586, x86-64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS | x86-32, x86-64 |
| Ubuntu | x86-64, x86-32, PowerPC, UltraSPARC |
| Haiku | i386 |
| Syllable | i386 |
| Irix 6.5 | MIPS R10K |
| Darwin (MacOS X) | PowerPC and x86-32 |
| Windows XP, Windows Vista | x86-32 |
The 0.8.8 release of Gnash has been designed to run on UNIX/Linux variants, and has been run on most of the free ones. However, Gnash has successfully run on Windows, Darwin (Mac OS X), Irix, Solaris, BeOs, OS/2, and Haiku. Gnash has also run on the following 64-bit systems: PowerPC, Itanium, UltraSparc, and AMD64. For now, it is important to be sure that the following code, testing, and documentation dependencies are met before installing Gnash. If you will be downloading Gnash with a package manager, these dependencies may be solved by the package manager. Otherwise, you must first verify that each of these dependencies are installed on the target system.
There are two ways to download Gnash: using a package manager or by downloading the source code and building it on your system. If possible, it is advisable to use a package manager to download Gnash, as it will resolve dependencies for you. However, if you want the very latest features, or a Gnash package is not available for your operating system, it is better to download the source code and build Gnash locally.
Gnash is available as a release tarball, a development checkout, or a development snapshot.
The source can be acquired from a GNU FTP Mirror. The release version is intended to be stable, and is probably your best choice if the release took place recently. If you need features or fixes which were introduced after the release, consider a CVS checkout or the daily snapshot.
To download, select a mirror near you, then choose the
gnash directory.
The daily development snapshot can be downloaded from http://www.gnashdev.org/dev_snapshots/. This is the best option if you need changes which were introduced after the last release of Gnash, but are unable to download directly from the repository.
The latest development sources are available via anonymous CVS. This is recommended if you need features or bug fixes which were introduced after the last release. Look at the daily snapshot if you experience difficulty accessing the repository.
To download via anonymous CVS, first set the environment variable CVS_RSH to ssh, then check out the source code. The example below uses the GNU Bourne-Again shell (bash):
export CVS_RSH="ssh" cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sv.gnu.org:/sources/gnash co gnash
It is also possible to browse the repository http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/gnash/?root=gnash on the web.
Gnash requires codec support to handle audio and video correctly. Some platforms like Ubuntu or Fedora under the GNOME desktop will automatically notify the user that the proper codecs aren't installed, and pop up a dialog box to let the user download the codecs Gnash needs to make site like YouTube work correctly. If you have installed Gnash on any other platform, and video doesn't work, it's highly likely you need to install the proper codecs. For most platforms, this is the Gstreamer-ffmpeg plugin, available from your distributions repository.
Table of Contents
The Gnash project relies on the community of Gnash users to test the player. Feedback is critical to any successful project. Not only does it let us know that people use Gnash, but it helps us understand the community's needs. Gnash uses a bug tracker on http://savannah.gnu.org to manage these reports.
When filing a report, please follow the guidelines below. The better your bug report is, the easier it will be for the developers to address the issue. Bug reports without enough information will be asked to provide this information anyway. Adding critical details, like the Operating System you are on, its version, and any relevant error messages from Gnash that you get.
For starters, it's a good idea to obtain a copy of the latest snapshot. Although Gnash is primarily released as source, the Gnash build infrastructure allows the automated building of binary packages. Often the version of Gnash as packaged by a GNU/Linux or BSD distribution is based on the last official release, which could be months out of date. It helps us, if this is the case, for you to try a newer packaged build of Gnash.
You can get a fresh binary package of Gnash, as well as recent source packages from http://www.getgnash.org/packages .
Search the Gnash bug tracker to see if the bug has already been identified.
If the issue has already been reported, you should not file a bug report. However, you may add some additional information to the ticket if you feel that it will be beneficial to the developers. For instance, if someone reported a memory issue on Ubuntu GNU/Linux, and you noticed the same problem on OpenBSD, your stacktrace would be useful. Conversely, adding a "me too" note to a feature request is not helpful.
A good bug report should be precise, explicit, and discrete. This means that there should be just one bug per ticket, and that a ticket should contain the following information:
An overview of the problem;
Instructions on how to replicate the bug;
A description of what happened when you performed the steps to replicate the bug, and what you expected to happen;
Your system information: operating system name and version, as well as the versions of major development dependencies;
The release number or checkout timestamp for the version of Gnash where you observe the problem;
The file
config.log, which should be attached as a file;A descriptive title.
Include any additional information that you feel might be useful to the developers.
After following the steps described above, you can file a bug report at https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=gnash.
A
- ActionScript
ActionScript, or "AS", is the scripting language for SWF applications. It is compiled to bytecode, which is a subset of the SWF format.
- AGG
AGG is the AntiGrain 2D graphics library, which can be used as a renderer in Gnash. It is faster than OpenGL on systems without hardware graphics acceleration. As of Gnash version 0.8.2 it is the more feature complete renderer.
- AMF
AMF is the object format used by SWF for shared objects and streaming video.
- as_environment
In Gnash terms, the as_environment, or ActionScript execution environment, contains a stack of objects, characters and values which are in the immediate environment of the current fn_call. Please refer to the Gnash ActionScript manual for more information.
C
- Cairo
Cairo is a 2D graphics library with support for multiple output devices. Can be used as a renderer in Gnash. A useful feature of Cairo is that it will automatically use graphic card acceleration when available. Cairo has an experimental OpenGL backend.
D
- DejaGNU
DejaGNU is a framework for testing software.
- DocBook
DocBook is a markup language for presentation-neutral documentation, such as manuals.
- Doxygen
Doxygen is a documentation generator for for multiple languages which uses comments in the source code to create stand-alone documentation.
- Drupal
Drupal is a CMS/blog system used for the main Gnash website.
E
- extensions
A Gnash extension is a plugin (not a browser plugin) which implements additional functionality beyond what is covered by the SWF specification. These are shared libraries which are loaded at runtime.
F
- FFmpeg
FFmpeg is an audio and video decoding library which can be used by Gnash to decode mp3, FLV and other media types.
- Flash
The term Flash is used to describe both the Adobe IDE for creating SWF files, and Adobe's player. Flash is a registered trademark belonging to Adobe.
- FLV
FLV is a proprietary file format used to deliver Flash video. It is used by YouTube, among others.
- FLTK
FLTK, or the 'Fast Light ToolKit', is a portable GUI library which is intended to replace the SDL GUI. Currently in Gnash, FLTK may be used with the Cairo and AGG renderers. FLTK has an experimental Cairo backend.
- FrameBuffer
In Gnash, this is a GUI library that outputs directly to the Linux Frame Buffer and so does not need a window system to run. This makes it particularly suitable for use on small devices.
G
- Gnash
Gnash is the GNU Flash movie player.
- Gstreamer
Gstreamer is a multimedia framework which Gnash can use for decoding audio and video. Gstreamer itself cannot decode anything, so it needs some appropriate decoding-plugins to do the work for it. Remember to install them if you use Gnash with Gstreamer enabled. To get the best out of Gnashs gstreamer-parts, it is recommended to install the gst-plugins-good, gst-plugins-good and gst-ffmpeg plugins packages.
- GTK
GTK is the GIMP Toolkit GUI library. It is one of the GUI options for Gnash. As of Gnash 0.7.2, this is the more performant and feature-rich choice. GTK uses Cairo internally.
- GUI
A GUI is a "graphical user interface". In Gnash, the GUI library provides a wrapper for mouse and keyboard events, menus, windowing (where available) and a drawing area. You must choose a GUI library during the configuration stage of building Gnash.
K
- kde-gnash
kde-gnash is the name given to the stand-alone instance of Gnash which used the KDE GUI. It has been replaced with an implementation using Qt. The Konqueror plugin runs kde-gnash and is called Kparts.
- Kparts
Kparts is a plugin for Konqueror which is enabled with the configuration option --enable-kparts.
M
- Mesa
Mesa is the free software OpenGL implementation. Gnash documentation will sometimes use the glossterms 'OpenGL' and 'Mesa' interchangeably.
- Ming
Ming is a C library for generating SWF format movies, plus a set of wrappers for using the library. It is used by the Gnash project for generating testcases.
N
- Nellymoser
Nellymoser is a proprietary audio codec introduced in the Flash Player in version 6. For more information, please see Wikipedia.
O
- OpenGL
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a standard specification defining a cross-language cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 3D and 2D computer graphics. Accelerated graphic cards usually provide OpenGL at the hardware level. Please refer to Wikipedia for availability of free software OpenGL hardware drivers. A free software implementation of the API is available (Mesa). OpenGL can be used as a renderer in Gnash.
- ORM
ORM is a system for ensuring the rights of the creator over a piece of digital content. It is more passive than DRM.
P
- plugin
The glossterm plugin is used in Gnash to refer to both any Gnash browser plugin, as well as the Firefox plugin specifically. The Konqueror plugin is called Kpart. Sometimes, the term is used in an even more generic sense to refer to extensions.
Q
- Qt
Qt is a GUI library which is used by KDE. The plugin version of Gnash using this GUI library is Kpart. The standalone version is enabled with --enable-gui=kde.
R
- renderer
The renderer is the subsystem of Gnash which renders content. Only one renderer may be used; it is selected at configuration time if building from source.
Available renderers are: AGG, OpenGL, and Cairo. In terms of feature completeness, AGG comes first; followed by OpenGL and then Cairo. In most cases, AGG is preferred for performance, except cases where it is beneficial to have hardware accelerated rendering (for example, when you have a very slow CPU but a very fast graphics card). In this case OpenGL should be used.
- RTMP
RTMP is the Real Time Messaging Protocol primarily used with to stream audio and video over the internet to the Flash Player client.
- RTMPT
RTMPT is basically a HTTP wrapper around the RTMP protocol that is sent using POST requests from the client to the server. Because of the non-persistent nature of HTTP connections, RTMPT requires the clients to poll for updates periodically in order to get notified about events that are generated by the server or other clients.
- RTMPTS
RTMPTS is the same as RTMPT, but instead of being a HTTP wrapper, it is a HTTP SSL wrapper (HTTP secure connection).
S
- SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia free software library that creates an abstraction over various platforms' graphics, sound, and input APIs. Gnash can use it as a GUI and/or as a sound handler. Note that the two usages are independent of each other: you can use it for a task and not for the other if you wish. This version of Gnash does not implement menus in the SDL GUI; the SDL sound handler is the most feature rich, supporting video through FFmpeg.
- sound handler
The sound handler is the part of Gnash which handles both event sounds and streaming sound. Audio from external sources is sent through the sound handler when SDL is used. The sound handler must be selected during configuration of Gnash when compiling.
There are currently two sound handlers available in Gnash: FFmpeg and Gstreamer. The ffmpeg sound handler uses SDL for mixing. The Gstreamer-sound handler uses the available plugins to decode the audio, so it might not work if some important plugins are missing. The GST sound handler is recommended (the default).
- sprite
A sprite is an element of an Flash Movie. It's basically a Movie inside another, having its own timeline.
- Stage
The visible area of a Flash movie. The name derives from a theater analogy. Graphical elements are referred to as characters.
- SWF
SWF is the generic name for Flash movies.
T
- Tamarin
The Tamarin project seeks to create an open source implementation of the ECMAScript 4th edition language specification. The code is used by Adobe as part of the ActionScript Virtual Machine within the Adobe Flash Player. Gnash does not use Tamarin; it already has a working virtual server and most ActionScript classes are implemented.
- timeline
In Flash technology, a timeline is a sequence of "frames". A single Flash movie can contain multiple timelines, each independently controlled (STOP or PLAY). At regular intervals (FPS) the player advances all timelines in PLAY mode to the next frame, looping back when last frame is reached.
X
- X.org
X.org is the most commonly used X server; it was forked from XFree86.
Gnash is maintained by Rob Savoye. Other active developers
are: Sandro Santilli, Bastiaan Jacques, Udo Giacomozzi, Chad
Musick, Benjamin Wolsey, Zou Lunkai, and Russ Nelson. Please
send all comments and suggestions to
<gnash-dev@gnu.org>. Past and sometimes current
developers are Tomas Groth and Markus Gothe.
Gnash was initially derived from GameSWF.
GameSWF is maintained by
Thatcher Ulrich <tu@tulrich.com>. The following
people contributed to GameSWF:
Mike Shaver, Thierry Berger-Perrin,
Ignacio Castaño, Willem Kokke, Vitaly Alexeev, Alexander Streit,
and Rob Savoye.
Version 1.1, March 2000
Copyright © 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Table of Contents
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