[Flac-dev] Can a libFLAC encoder be initialize and called from inside a libFLAC decoder callback?

[Brian Willoughby]

On May 24, 2011, at 12:11, David Troendle wrote:
> Thanks for the tip, Brian.  I did have a version that does  
> everything in
> memory, but only had enough memory to get six threads going.   
> (Although my
> system has 16GB, I have not taken the time to create 64-bit  
> libraries for
> wxWidgets, TagLib, libFLAC, etc.)

What's wrong with only 6 threads?  Is that just 3 FLAC recodes (3  
decode, 3 encode)?  With a queuing layer driving the threads, you  
could schedule hundreds of file recodes and each one would start as  
soon as a thread opens up.


> Based on the direction you are pointing me in, I assume that  
> encoding from
> within the decoder is not permitted.

I have no idea.  My assumption before your email would have been that  
the individual encoder/decoder handles would allow reentrancy, but  
perhaps there are pieces of libFLAC that are not reentrant even when  
working on separate encoder/decoder objects.  The only way to know  
for sure is if Josh Coalson pipes up, or someone takes the time to  
look at the source for a thorough code review.  There's a possibility  
that your code has a bug, and what you want to do may actually be  
possible.  But, again, I have no idea.


> I really like your idea of the FIFO, and will probably go in that  
> direction.
> What do you think of implementing the FIFO via a pipe?  That might  
> simplify
> the implementation.

You don't strictly need a FIFO.  A pipe might be a good choice - at  
the very least it would allow you to link two processes instead of  
being limited to two threads within a process.  The pipe could also  
allow you to decode on one machine and encode on another over a  
network connection - assuming that's of any use to you.

Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting