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cannot find VLC, even if it's already running

Open hazelshantz opened this issue 10 months ago • 15 comments

no matter how many times I try, it keeps showing this

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and vlc is already running, same for my discord client.

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I tried setting the path to VLC, but same results.

running Arch Linux with KDE Plasma

PD: I installed the latest nodejs from arch repos expecting it to fix the issue, same results.

hazelshantz avatar Feb 09 '25 01:02 hazelshantz

What's your config file look like?

sdasda7777 avatar Feb 09 '25 06:02 sdasda7777

I'm using the defaults on the config file. though here's how it looks

config.txt

hazelshantz avatar Feb 09 '25 07:02 hazelshantz

Hmm, I see. Did you try to run the executable (/usr/bin/vlc) in terminal to see whether it outputs anything that might indicate an error?

ETA: In actuality it runs the VLC with the following arguments. I'm not sure whether the error above can happen when the port specified is already occupied, or whether that is handled in some way.

const child = spawn(command, ['--extraintf', 'http', '--http-host', config.vlc.address, '--http-password', config.vlc.password, '--http-port', config.vlc.port]);

ETA2: Which means the real command is (I think) this:

/usr/bin/vlc --extraintf http --http-host "localhost" --http-password "passwordgoeshere" --http-port 8080

sdasda7777 avatar Feb 09 '25 15:02 sdasda7777

running vlc from terminal just opens it as expected. no errors. on arch you only type vlc to run it so there should be something else that doesn't detect VLC when it's already running. as I said last time, on Arch, VLC executable is on /usr/bin/vlc but shouldn't it autodetect it? I mean, when no path is specified.

hazelshantz avatar Feb 11 '25 03:02 hazelshantz

Just to clarify, did you try running the long command here? The result is not really relevant otherwise.

/usr/bin/vlc --extraintf http --http-host "localhost" --http-password "passwordgoeshere" --http-port 8080

sdasda7777 avatar Feb 11 '25 08:02 sdasda7777

Just to clarify, did you try running the long command here? The result is not really relevant otherwise.

/usr/bin/vlc --extraintf http --http-host "localhost" --http-password "passwordgoeshere" --http-port 8080

I'll try asap. I wonder what do you mean by "password goes here"

Do that need to place a password? What kind of password?

hazelshantz avatar Feb 11 '25 16:02 hazelshantz

The VLC HTTP interface is password protected, the --http-password argument specifies that only users that provide that password may use the interface (I'm not sure if it is mandatory, but I think so). "passwordgoeshere" is the value in your config, as it is a default value provided by vlc-rpc, albeit not a very good one. You don't need to modify the command in any way.

sdasda7777 avatar Feb 11 '25 16:02 sdasda7777

Copy and pasted your config into my linux machine and it worked great, I'm not sure why it wont work for you though.

greendoescode avatar Feb 11 '25 21:02 greendoescode

The VLC HTTP interface is password protected, the --http-password argument specifies that only users that provide that password may use the interface (I'm not sure if it is mandatory, but I think so). "passwordgoeshere" is the value in your config, as it is a default value provided by vlc-rpc, albeit not a very good one. You don't need to modify the command in any way.

it opens vlc straight away. still not sure what kind of password you want me to provide. is it my arch user password?

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hazelshantz avatar Feb 12 '25 00:02 hazelshantz

Copy and pasted your config into my linux machine and it worked great, I'm not sure why it wont work for you though.

well, tried to run it again, and this is the output when it can't find the requirements, tho both my discord and VLC are running. I have the latest NPM installed already.

error.log

the only values I changed on the settings are manually setting where's VLC, and presencestate : true,

hazelshantz avatar Feb 12 '25 00:02 hazelshantz

Copy and pasted your config into my linux machine and it worked great, I'm not sure why it wont work for you though.

well, tried to run it again, and this is the output when it can't find the requirements, tho both my discord and VLC are running. I have the latest NPM installed already.

error.log

the only values I changed on the settings are manually setting where's VLC, and presencestate : true,

having a look at the log, it seems like it does start VLC but then detects it as closed at the same time. I'll have to have another look

greendoescode avatar Feb 12 '25 08:02 greendoescode

Copy and pasted your config into my linux machine and it worked great, I'm not sure why it wont work for you though.

well, tried to run it again, and this is the output when it can't find the requirements, tho both my discord and VLC are running. I have the latest NPM installed already. error.log the only values I changed on the settings are manually setting where's VLC, and presencestate : true,

having a look at the log, it seems like it does start VLC but then detects it as closed at the same time. I'll have to have another look

thanks. regarding setting VLC path, I pointed it to /usr/bin/vlc

I remember a similar issue happening with the original project, but the dev fixed it back then. so probably a regression.

hazelshantz avatar Feb 13 '25 03:02 hazelshantz

Do you remember where you saw the original issue/when it was fixed? I'm tryna have a look through the old repo

greendoescode avatar Feb 13 '25 09:02 greendoescode

Do you remember where you saw the original issue/when it was fixed? I'm tryna have a look through the old repo

it was long time ago, so I can't recall exactly how they fixed it, but it was fixed iirc.

hazelshantz avatar Feb 13 '25 21:02 hazelshantz

So sorry it's taken a while - getting back to it now. When we were telling you to run /usr/bin/vlc --extraintf http --http-host "localhost" --http-password "passwordgoeshere" --http-port 8080, did you also set up detached mode? Attached mode seems to have some troubles I need to try and smooth out. You can find the instructions here, and it should work better then attached mode.

I have to assume it's environmental on your system as I haven't been able to reproduce, but I do need to get to the bottom of it, again sorry for the wait.

greendoescode avatar Aug 20 '25 09:08 greendoescode