Setting Up FFMPEG and FFMPEG-PHP on CentOS 5 & 6

Setting Up FFMPEG and FFMPEG-PHP on CentOS 5 & 6

This guide provides two straightforward methods to install FFMPEG and its PHP extension, FFMPEG-PHP, on CentOS 5 and 6 servers. FFMPEG is a powerful tool for handling multimedia files, and FFMPEG-PHP allows your PHP applications to interact with FFMPEG.

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METHOD 1: USING THE INSTALLER SCRIPT

This method uses a pre-made script to automate most of the installation process.

DOWNLOAD AND RUN THE SCRIPT

First, download the installer script:

wget http://9xhost.net/scripts/ffmpeg.sh

Then, run the script:

sh ffmpeg.sh

CONFIGURE PHP

After the script finishes, you'll need to enable the FFMPEG-PHP extension in your PHP configuration. The script's output will show you the path where the PHP extension was installed, typically something like /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613/.

Open your php.ini file for editing:

nano /usr/local/lib/php.ini

Add the following line at the end of the file to enable the extension:

extension="ffmpeg.so"

RESTART APACHE

For the changes to take effect, restart your Apache web server:

/scripts/restartsrv_httpd

VERIFY INSTALLATION

You can confirm that FFMPEG-PHP is working by checking your PHP information.

From the command line:

php -i | grep ffmpeg

This should display details about the FFMPEG and FFMPEG-PHP versions.

INSTALLATION PATHS

FFMPEG itself is typically installed at:

/usr/bin/ffmpeg

EXCLUDE FROM YUM UPDATES

To prevent potential conflicts with future system updates, it's recommended to exclude FFMPEG packages from Yum updates.

Open the yum.conf file:

nano /etc/yum.conf

Add ffmpeg* to the exclude line. If an exclude line doesn't exist, create it.

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METHOD 2: MANUAL INSTALLATION VIA YUM AND COMPILATION

This method involves adding a repository, installing FFMPEG via Yum, and then compiling FFMPEG-PHP.

ADD DAG REPOSITORY

Create and open a new repository file:

nano /etc/yum.repos.d/dag.repo

Add the following content to the file:

[dag]
name=DAG RPM Repository
baseurl=http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el$releasever/en/$basearch/dag
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1

Import the GPG key for the repository:

rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt

INSTALL FFMPEG

Update your Yum packages:

yum update

Now, install FFMPEG and its development libraries:

yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel ffmpeg-libpostproc

PREPARING FFMPEG-PHP

Download the FFMPEG-PHP package:

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ffmpeg-php/ffmpeg-php-0.6.0.tbz2

Untar the downloaded package:

tar xjf ffmpeg-php-0.6.0.tbz2

Navigate into the extracted directory:

cd ffmpeg-php-0.6.0

Apply a necessary patch for compatibility:

sed -i 's/PIX_FMT_RGBA32/PIX_FMT_RGB32/g' ffmpeg_frame.c

Prepare for compilation:

phpize

Configure the build:

./configure

Compile the extension:

make

Install the extension:

make install

The output of make install will show you the PHP extensions path, for example:

Installing shared extensions: /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613/

CONFIGURE PHP

Edit your php.ini file:

nano /usr/local/lib/php.ini

Ensure extension_dir is set to the path identified by make install:

extension_dir = "/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613"

Add the following line directly below extension_dir to enable the FFMPEG-PHP extension:

extension="ffmpeg.so"

RESTART APACHE

Restart your Apache web server for changes to take effect:

/scripts/restartsrv_httpd

VERIFY INSTALLATION

Confirm FFMPEG-PHP is working from the command line:

php -i | grep ffmpeg

This should display FFMPEG and FFMPEG-PHP version information.

INSTALLATION PATHS

FFMPEG itself is typically installed at:

/usr/bin/ffmpeg

EXCLUDE FROM YUM UPDATES

To prevent potential conflicts, exclude FFMPEG packages from Yum updates.

Open the yum.conf file:

nano /etc/yum.conf

Add ffmpeg* to the exclude line.

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TROUBLESHOOTING: 'list_entry' UNDECLARED ERROR

If you encounter an error during compilation similar to:

error: 'list_entry' undeclared

This usually indicates a compatibility issue between the FFMPEG-PHP version and your PHP version. The provided sed command (sed -i 's/PIX_FMT_RGBA32/PIX_FMT_RGB32/g' ffmpeg_frame.c) addresses one common issue, but newer PHP versions might require more extensive patches or a newer FFMPEG-PHP version. Consider searching for specific patches for your PHP version (e.g., "ffmpeg-php PHP 5.3 patch") or looking for a more updated FFMPEG-PHP release.