Package: mplayer Version: 1.0~rc1-12etch One of the debconf questions mplayer asks on install is:
On older kernels MPlayer can use the RTC (Real Time Clock) to provide better timing in reproduction, with less CPU cost; to this end, though, the device /dev/rtc must be accessible to group audio, and the default max-user-freq must be raised to 1024. Any needed change must be done by root. If you wish, MPlayer will automatically do this at boot, so that any user can enjoy this feature. Note that there may be security issues with this (although none are known now). This is confusing; specifically, the reference to 'older kernels' is too vague. Does it mean that if you have a newer kernel: * making the change is a bad idea * making the change is harmless but pointless, and mplayer will have as good a performance as it would have done on older kernels with RTC access * making the change is harmless but pointless, and mplayer will have the same poorer no-RTC-access performance Finally and most obviously, it should say what it means by 'older' -- 2.4? 2.2? 2.6.5 ? Without this information it's impossible to answer the question sensibly. Looking at upstream's website the answer would appear to be 'with newer kernels making the change is somewhere between pointless and a bad idea' -- but I couldn't find any indication of which kernel version counts as 'new' or indeed why the change. -- PMM -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
