The GStreamer project has released GStreamer 1.0, a significantly revised version of its cross-platform multimedia framework. The new version offers more flexible memory management, attaching non-media metadata to buffers and more efficient buffer allocation. These improvements should make the framework more suitable for use in embedded devices. Other changes also extend support for video acceleration features on more recent graphics chips. A detailed overview of the changes can be found in a video of the recent keynote on GStreamer 1.0 at the GStreamer Conference 2012. Further background information on version 1.0 can be found in the following two LWN.net articles: 1, 2.

The GStreamer 1.0 ABI (application binary interface) and API (application programming interface) are not compatible with the corresponding interfaces in the seven-year old 0.10 series, which is used by GNOME, KDE multimedia framework Phonon and Maemo smartphones from Nokia. A Porting Guide explains how to port applications to the new version of GStreamer.

The new release will be used by core components and applications in GNOME 3.6, which is due to be released later this week. GNOME 3.6 will be included with the autumn releases of Linux distributions such as Fedora 18 and Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal". Since GStreamer versions from the 0.10 and 1.0 branches can be installed in parallel, these distributions will also include an older GStreamer version for applications which have not yet been ported to the new version.

(crve)