[PLUG] Unable to play .WMV files.

[Ameya Rahane]

>Subject: [PLUG] Unable to play .WMV files.
>From: vaibhav <vaibhav.khante at gmail.com>

>Dear All,
>                I'm using Fedora 10 on my P4 machine. I have 2 queries.
>a) I use 'startx' when logged in as root, and then i'm unable to open vlc
>player. It works well when logged in by any other user. Can't it be opened
>using 'root' ? My vlc version is "VLC version 0.9.9 Grishenko"
>b) I'm trying to play .wmv files but unable to do so. I've tried using VLC
>and RealPalyer11. but it gives following error:
>"The file contains an unsupported video format. The needed codec is not
>installed on your system.(This clip contains Windows Media Video Screen,
>which is currently unsupported.)"
> I tried searching google and found 'mplayer' can play it, but was unable to
>get .rpm package for the same.
>(As i'm new to linux, i know only rpm cmd to install new utilites)
>Thanking all in advance.
>--Vaibhav


Vaibhav,
1. Why do you need to log in as root for all your work anyway?
This happens more because you are used to Windows "Adminstrator"
privileges, being an unprivileged user seems different. But thats when
"su" comes to the rescue!

2. There is a reason why VLC is not meant to be run as root.
To run VLC as root, pass the --enable-run-as-root flag to ./configure
and vlc should be able to run as root. Yes you will have to download
source and compile it yourself. Downloading an rpm wont work here.

3. There are several security holes / bugs in VLC that are known. Code
could get executed with malformed codecs, etc. which is probably the
reason, why they prevented it to be run as root.It's really a bad
idea.

Cheers
Ameya