Howdy, On Wed, 22 Feb 2023, Daniel Kahn Gillmor wrote:
Package: yt-dlp Version: 2023.01.06-1 Severity: minor using yt-dlp to fetch a local copy of a youtube URL like so: $ yt-dlp https://youtu.be/XXXXXXXXXXX i see this warning: ----- [youtube] XXXXXXXXXXX: Downloading player 11e3a4ec WARNING: [youtube] XXXXXXXXXXX: nsig extraction failed: You may experience throttling for some formats Install PhantomJS to workaround the issue. Please download it from https://phantomjs.org/download.html -----
This is just noting that it works, but some formats may get throttled with the hardcoded python js scraper and that use of an actual parser (which yt-dlp supports) could make matters a little better there.
If PhantomJS is DFSG-free (i haven't checked), then it should be put in debian, and yt-dlp should Recommend: it at least. Then this warning should be patched to say "apt install phantomjs" instead.
It is, or I presume so since it was in Debian. It was removed in #962061 with the deprecation of python2. Since it seems rather inactive upstream (no commits since 2020) and the python2 issue still stands[0], I wouldn't imagine someone would want to re-introduce it. But there's nothing preventing anyone from doing so either.
[0]: https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/issues/15414
If it is not DFSG-free, it seems inappropriate for a debian package to directly encourage the user to download non-free software in the course of basic operations.
Well it could still be useful as a hint for those that run into throttling, or the inability to fetch the video, that yt-dlp works with that too.
However since I most often use yt-dlp with sites other than YouTube, or use mpv's support for yt-dlp, I don't see the message as much and don't find it as much of a nuisance as others might.
Thanks for maintaining yt-dlp in debian! It is a very useful tool for those of us who don't want to be connected to the Internet at all times.
Glad you find a use for it. ~Unit 193 Unit193 @ Libera Unit193 @ OFTC
