Yikes! for nerds: how to get the code

Paul Betts — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:27:31 +0000

I ran out of time yesterday, but as promised, here’s how to build and run Yikes!

Quick Start

git clone git://github.com/xpaulbettsx/yikes.git

cd yikes

rake && rake ffmpeg

ruby lib/main.rb -l /path/to/videos -t /path/to/ipod/output -r 1800 -b

Getting the code

By far, the best way to get the code is via Git; this lets you view the entire commit history, as well as send me changes. If you don’t have Git, you can download precompiled source code trees for Linux or Mac OS X 10.5. The Git clone URL via Github is git://github.com/xpaulbettsx/yikes.git

Building (“Huh? Building? On Ruby?”)

(If you downloaded the precompiled version, skip this part!) Even though the application is in Ruby, we need to build ffmpeg and its associated libraries from source, so you need to have the XCode tools installed, and you probably need MacPorts as well. While building this takes forever, it’s fairly easy:

rake && rake ffmpeg

Running the app

Right now, you have to run Yikes! from the command line, but the syntax is pretty easy. Here’s a sample:

cd yikes_public
# The long version

ruby lib/main.rb –library /path/to/videos –target /path/to/ipod/output –rate 1800 –background
# or if you want the short version

ruby lib/main.rb -l /path/to/videos -t /path/to/ipod/output -r 1800 -b
# If you want to run it on the sample files for development, there’s an easier way

rake run

Yikes! It’s your videos on your iPod!

Paul Betts — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:14:30 +0000

For awhile, I’ve been working on a project that is pretty cool, and I’m finally getting near the “first 90% done” software development mark; now I’ve got the 2nd 90% to get it to production-quality, and the 3rd 90% will make it actually good. Here’s the screenshot:

Yes, the UI is rough-draft, I’ve got to go to town on it in CSSEdit

What’s it do?

In its simple mode, Yikes! will take a directory and convert all the movies to iPod/iPhone format (H.264 MPEG-4′s, so compatible with most players), and it will skip files it’s already converted. This isn’t too far off from what you could do with Handbrake and some clever bash scripts.

However, you can also run the program in background mode, and this is where it gets really useful. You give the program a folder of videos, and a place to put the iPod videos, and it will start a web site that you can go to on another computer, where you can see the converted videos, download them, or (and here’s the clever part), add it to iTunes as a video podcast, which will copy all the videos to your iPod automagically.

Where’s the code?

Github! http://github.com/xpaulbettsx/yikes
Update: Changed URL from earlier, merged webif-ramaze into master

Later today once I’m back at home I’ll put up a “how to get/build the code”, as it’s a little tricky. I’m working on official releases for Mac and Linux, and a Windows port is in the future; while I haven’t been coding towards it, I also have made sure to not choose anything that’s completely impossible for Win32.

Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Want to help?

Since I’m always busy with work, it’s taken me quite a while to get to this point, and I’m definitely open to accepting contributions and making this a real open-source project; so far, I’ve set up Github and a bug tracker (but no mailing list, forums, documentation, etc). If you’re not handy with coding, websites, or art/design, I would even just appreciate suggestions or ideas for cool features. My Email address is paul at paulbetts dot org, let me know!

Thursday Night » Yikes!