How to compile VLC 1.0.1 in Lenny ?

[zkab]

I have Debian Lenny AMD64 and followed the guidelines in http://tuxarena.blogspot.com/2009/08/ho ... t-vlc.html
but received following errors when I issued ./configure --disable-nls --disable-mozilla --disable-live555

configure: WARNING: MTP library not found
configure: WARNING: TagLib library not found
configure: WARNING: LibV4L2 support disabled because libv4l2 development headers were not found
configure: WARNING: new enough libcddb not found. CDDB access disabled
configure: WARNING: only static linking is available, you must provide a gme-tree
configure: error: Could not find libavformat or libavutil. Use --disable-avformat to ignore this error.

What is wrong ?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC is not teribly useful without libavformat-dev

[zkab]

OK - I installed libavformat-dev but still I get errors:

configure: WARNING: MTP library not found
configure: WARNING: TagLib library not found
configure: WARNING: LibV4L2 support disabled because libv4l2 development headers were not found
configure: WARNING: new enough libcddb not found. CDDB access disabled
configure: WARNING: only static linking is available, you must provide a gme-tree
configure: error: Could not find libswscale. Use --disable-swscale to ignore this error. Proper software scaling and some video chroma conversion will be missing.

What more do I have to do ?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Install libpostproc-dev...

[zkab]

libpostproc-dev was installed ... still confused

[Hectorhg]

There are many libraries you may need to install in other to eventually finish a configure process succesfully, these are the typical ones i have to install in order to compile vlc over lenny.


libraw1394
libdc1394
libmad
libpostproc-dev
libquicktime
libtwolame
libfribidi
libggi2
libjack
libfreetype
libhal-dev
libdbus-1-dev

Always install their development package.


i may have forgotten some of them, note that you may need to download the source code of some of them if the version of the library you need has not been released in lenny.


by the way, this was my configure call:

./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-snapshot --enable-debug --enable-qt4
--enable-dbus-control --enable-musicbrainz --enable-shared-libvlc
--enable-lirc --enable-live555 --with-live555-tree=../extras/live
--enable-x264 --with-x264-tree=../extras/x264-trunk --enable-shout --enable-taglib
--enable-v4l --enable-dvb --enable-realrtsp --enable-svg
--enable-dvdread --enable-dv --enable-theora --enable-faad --enable-twolame --enable-real
--enable-flac --enable-tremor --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --with-ffmpeg-faac
--enable-dirac --enable-ncurses --enable-aa --enable-caca --enable-esd --enable-portaudio
--enable-jack --enable-xosd --enable-galaktos --enable-goom --enable-ggi --disable-cddax
--disable-vcdx --disable-nls --disable-glx --disable-mozilla --disable-freetype --disable-skins2


Good luck!!

Regards,
Hector

[Hectorhg]

I forgot one thing.... libswscale-dev must be also installed, most of these libraries can be found in the debian repository

http://www.debian-multimedia.org

Regards

Hector

[zkab]

I have the packages you mentioned installed ... but when I run your config I get following:

configure: WARNING: unrecognized options: --enable-musicbrainz, --enable-shared-libvlc, --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame, --with-ffmpeg-faac, --enable-esd
configure: WARNING: MTP library not found
configure: WARNING: libshout library not found
configure: WARNING: TagLib library not found
configure: error: cannot cd to ../extras/live

Hmm ... don't understand why it should be so hard to compile VLC in Lenny ...

[Hectorhg]

ups!!! sorry!!! i forgot to tell you how i installed live555 and all this stuff!!!

please follow this instructions given by J-b (i followed this ones mainly to compile under lenny): http://wiki.videolan.org/User:J-b

That is a great work from J-b.

Regards,
Hector.

[zkab]

Thanks for the link ... I'll give it a try

[zkab]

cd vlc; ./bootstrap generated following:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: GNU gettext appears to be missing or out-of-date.
Please install or update GNU gettext.
Also check if you have cvs, a dependency of autopoint.
Otherwise, you will not be able to build a source tarball.
Successfully bootstrapped
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have gettext 0.17-4 installed ...
What to do

[Hectorhg]

It says "Successfully bootstrapped" so i suppose that everything should be ready to configure.... Apart from this i guess that you are not willing to generate a source tarball .

Tell me how configure is going and if you finally manage to compile it!

Good luck!

Regards,
Hector.

[zkab]

1) live555 (optional) went OK
2) ffmpeg (mandatory) tells me: vlc-trunk/extras: No such file or directory

Hmmm ... in the vcl directory I have only subdir 'extras' but no 'vlc-trunk/extras'

[Hectorhg]

ok, vlc-trunk means your root directory for VLC so you have to get into your VLC directory ( where you stored the sources ), create a directory named "extras" and continue.

[zkab]

OK - what I did was following but got errors with the ./configure:

git clone git://git.videolan.org/vlc.git
cd vlc; ./bootstrap
cd extras;
wget http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public ... est.tar.gz
tar xvzf live555-latest.tar.gz
cd live
sh genMakefiles linux;
make
cd ..
svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd ffmpeg
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-gpl --enable-pthreads --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac
libfaac is nonfree and --enable-nonfree is not specified.

If you think configure made a mistake, make sure you are using the latest
version from SVN. If the latest version fails, report the problem to the
ffmpeg-user@mplayerhq.hu mailing list or IRC #ffmpeg on irc.freenode.net.
Include the log file "config.err" produced by configure as this will help
solving the problem.

[Hectorhg]

try to use this configure call(this worked for me), but if still this does not work include --enable-nonfree ( note that you need to install libfaac, libmp3lame and so on... take a look to my post above).

./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-snapshot --enable-debug --enable-qt4
--enable-dbus-control --enable-musicbrainz --enable-shared-libvlc
--enable-lirc --enable-live555 --with-live555-tree=../extras/live
--enable-x264 --with-x264-tree=../extras/x264-trunk --enable-shout --enable-taglib
--enable-v4l --enable-dvb --enable-realrtsp --enable-svg
--enable-dvdread --enable-dv --enable-theora --enable-faad --enable-twolame --enable-real
--enable-flac --enable-tremor --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --with-ffmpeg-faac
--enable-dirac --enable-ncurses --enable-aa --enable-caca --enable-esd --enable-portaudio
--enable-jack --enable-xosd --enable-galaktos --enable-goom --enable-ggi --disable-cddax
--disable-vcdx --disable-nls --disable-glx --disable-mozilla --disable-freetype --disable-skins2


Regards,
Hector.

[zkab]

I can't get it working ... I have all output (with some errors & warnings) from:
-------------------------------
git clone git://git.videolan.org/vlc.git
cd vlc; ./bootstrap
cd extras;
wget http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public ... est.tar.gz
tar xvzf live555-latest.tar.gz
cd live
sh genMakefiles linux;
make
cd ..
svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd ffmpeg
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-gpl --enable-pthreads --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree
make
mkdir build && cd build && ../configure --prefix=/usr --enable-snapshot --enable-debug --enable-qt4 \
> --enable-dbus-control --enable-musicbrainz --enable-shared-libvlc \
> --enable-lirc --enable-live555 --with-live555-tree=../extras/live \
> --enable-x264 --with-x264-tree=../extras/x264-trunk --enable-shout --enable-taglib \
> --enable-v4l --enable-dvb --enable-realrtsp --enable-svg \
> --enable-dvdread --enable-dv --enable-theora --enable-faad --enable-twolame --enable-real \
> --enable-flac --enable-tremor --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --with-ffmpeg-faac \
> --enable-dirac --enable-ncurses --enable-aa --enable-caca --enable-esd --enable-portaudio \
> --enable-jack --enable-xosd --enable-galaktos --enable-goom --enable-ggi --disable-cddax \
> --disable-vcdx --disable-nls --disable-glx --disable-mozilla --disable-freetype --disable-skins2
make
sudo checkinstall make install
-------------------------------
but don't know how to include attachments in this forum ... will therefore only include

./configure output ...
make
sudo checkinstall make install

raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/build$ ../configure --prefix=/usr --enable-snapshot --enable-debug --enable-qt4 \
> --enable-dbus-control --enable-musicbrainz --enable-shared-libvlc \
> --enable-lirc --enable-live555 --with-live555-tree=../extras/live \
> --enable-x264 --with-x264-tree=../extras/x264-trunk --enable-shout --enable-taglib \
> --enable-v4l --enable-dvb --enable-realrtsp --enable-svg \
> --enable-dvdread --enable-dv --enable-theora --enable-faad --enable-twolame --enable-real \
> --enable-flac --enable-tremor --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --with-ffmpeg-faac \
> --enable-dirac --enable-ncurses --enable-aa --enable-caca --enable-esd --enable-portaudio \
> --enable-jack --enable-xosd --enable-galaktos --enable-goom --enable-ggi --disable-cddax \
> --disable-vcdx --disable-nls --disable-glx --disable-mozilla --disable-freetype --disable-skins2
Out of tree builds are impossible with config.h in source dir.

If you think configure made a mistake, make sure you are using the latest
version from SVN. If the latest version fails, report the problem to the
ffmpeg-user@mplayerhq.hu mailing list or IRC #ffmpeg on irc.freenode.net.
Include the log file "config.err" produced by configure as this will help
solving the problem.

raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/build$ cd ..

raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg$ make > /home/raivo/download/make.txt

raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg$ cat /home/raivo/download/make.txt

gcc -DHAVE_AV_CONFIG_H -I. -I"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg" -D_ISOC99_SOURCE -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200112 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -std=c99 -fomit-frame-pointer -pthread -g -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wall -Wno-switch -Wdisabled-optimization -Wpointer-arith -Wredundant-decls -Wno-pointer-sign -Wcast-qual -Wwrite-strings -Wtype-limits -Wundef -O3 -fno-math-errno -fno-signed-zeros -fno-tree-vectorize -MMD -MF ffmpeg.d -MT ffmpeg.o -c -o ffmpeg.o ffmpeg.c
gcc -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavformat -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavutil -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,--warn-common -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavformat -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavutil -Wl,-Bsymbolic -o ffmpeg_g ffmpeg.o cmdutils.o -lavdevice -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil -lswscale -lz -pthread -lm -lfaac -lmp3lame -lm -lasound -ljack -ldl -lasound -ljack -lasound
cp -p ffmpeg_g ffmpeg
strip ffmpeg
gcc -DHAVE_AV_CONFIG_H -I. -I"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg" -D_ISOC99_SOURCE -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200112 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -std=c99 -fomit-frame-pointer -pthread -g -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wall -Wno-switch -Wdisabled-optimization -Wpointer-arith -Wredundant-decls -Wno-pointer-sign -Wcast-qual -Wwrite-strings -Wtype-limits -Wundef -O3 -fno-math-errno -fno-signed-zeros -fno-tree-vectorize -MMD -MF ffserver.d -MT ffserver.o -c -o ffserver.o ffserver.c
gcc -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavformat -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavutil -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -L"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,--warn-common -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libpostproc -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libswscale -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavfilter -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavdevice -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavformat -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavcodec -Wl,-rpath-link,"/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavutil -Wl,-Bsymbolic -Wl,-E -o ffserver_g ffserver.o cmdutils.o -lavdevice -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil -lswscale -lz -pthread -lm -lfaac -lmp3lame -lm -lasound -ljack -ldl -lasound -ljack -lasound
cp -p ffserver_g ffserver
strip ffserver
raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg$

raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg$ sudo checkinstall make install

checkinstall 1.6.1, Copyright 2002 Felipe Eduardo Sanchez Diaz Duran
This software is released under the GNU GPL.


The package documentation directory ./doc-pak does not exist.
Should I create a default set of package docs? [y]: n

Please write a description for the package.
End your description with an empty line or EOF.
>> Test vlc 1.0.1 compilation
>>
*****************************************
**** Debian package creation selected ***
*****************************************

This package will be built according to these values:

0 - Maintainer: [ root@zkab ]
1 - Summary: [ Test vlc 1.0.1 compilation ]
2 - Name: [ ffmpeg ]
3 - Version: [ 20090827 ]
4 - Release: [ 1 ]
5 - License: [ GPL ]
6 - Group: [ checkinstall ]
7 - Architecture: [ amd64 ]
8 - Source location: [ ffmpeg ]
9 - Alternate source location: [ ]
10 - Requires: [ ]
11 - Provides: [ ffmpeg ]

Enter a number to change any of them or press ENTER to continue:

Installing with make...Installing with install...

========================= Installation results ===========================
install -d "/usr/lib"
install -m 644 libavdevice/libavdevice.a "/usr/lib"
ranlib "/usr/lib/libavdevice.a"
install -d "/usr/lib"
install -m 644 libavformat/libavformat.a "/usr/lib"
ranlib "/usr/lib/libavformat.a"
install -d "/usr/lib"
install -m 644 libavcodec/libavcodec.a "/usr/lib"
ranlib "/usr/lib/libavcodec.a"
install -d "/usr/lib"
install -m 644 libavutil/libavutil.a "/usr/lib"
ranlib "/usr/lib/libavutil.a"
install -d "/usr/lib"
install -m 644 libswscale/libswscale.a "/usr/lib"
ranlib "/usr/lib/libswscale.a"
install -d "/usr/include/libavdevice"
install -d "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavdevice"/avdevice.h "/usr/include/libavdevice"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavdevice/libavdevice.pc "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -d "/usr/include/libavformat"
install -d "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavformat"/avformat.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavformat"/avio.h "/usr/include/libavformat"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavformat/libavformat.pc "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -d "/usr/include/libavcodec"
install -d "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavcodec"/avcodec.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavcodec"/opt.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavcodec"/vdpau.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavcodec"/xvmc.h "/usr/include/libavcodec"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavcodec/libavcodec.pc "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -d "/usr/include/libavutil"
install -d "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/adler32.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/avstring.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/avutil.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/base64.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/common.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/crc.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/fifo.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/intfloat_readwrite.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/log.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/lzo.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/mathematics.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/md5.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/mem.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/pixfmt.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/rational.h "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libavutil"/sha1.h "/usr/include/libavutil"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libavutil/libavutil.pc "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -d "/usr/include/libswscale"
install -d "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/libswscale"/swscale.h "/usr/include/libswscale"
install -m 644 "/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg"/libswscale/libswscale.pc "/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
install -d "/usr/bin"
install -c -m 755 ffmpeg ffplay ffserver "/usr/bin"
install -d "/usr/share/ffmpeg"
install -m 644 /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-baseline.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-default.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-fastfirstpass.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-hq.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-ipod320.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-ipod640.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-lossless_fast.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-lossless_max.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-lossless_medium.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-lossless_slower.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-lossless_slow.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-lossless_ultrafast.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-main.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-max.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-normal.ffpreset /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffpresets/libx264-slowfirstpass.ffpreset "/usr/share/ffmpeg"

======================== Installation successful ==========================
grep: /var/tmp/tmp.hQbFhyhexJ/newfile: No such file or directory

Copying files to the temporary directory...OK

Stripping ELF binaries and libraries...OK

Compressing man pages...OK

Building file list...OK

Building Debian package...OK

Installing Debian package... FAILED!

*** Failed to install the package

Do you want to see the log file? [y]:

(Reading database ... 139157 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ffmpeg (from .../ffmpeg_20090827-1_amd64.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffmpeg_20090827-1_amd64.deb (--install):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libavcodec.a', which is also in package libavcodec-dev
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffmpeg_20090827-1_amd64.deb
/var/tmp/tmp.hQbFhyhexJ/dpkginstall.log (END)


Erasing temporary files...OK

Writing backup package...
OK

Deleting temp dir...OK


raivo@zkab:~/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg$

[Hectorhg]

firstly why don't you try to use the configure command i posted above? if my configure command does not work for you, include --enable-nonfree on your configure command as the output of your configure command suggests.

[zkab]

But I used your config ... didn't I ?

mkdir build && cd build && ../configure --prefix=/usr --enable-snapshot --enable-debug --enable-qt4 \
> --enable-dbus-control --enable-musicbrainz --enable-shared-libvlc \
> --enable-lirc --enable-live555 --with-live555-tree=../extras/live \
> --enable-x264 --with-x264-tree=../extras/x264-trunk --enable-shout --enable-taglib \
> --enable-v4l --enable-dvb --enable-realrtsp --enable-svg \
> --enable-dvdread --enable-dv --enable-theora --enable-faad --enable-twolame --enable-real \
> --enable-flac --enable-tremor --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --with-ffmpeg-faac \
> --enable-dirac --enable-ncurses --enable-aa --enable-caca --enable-esd --enable-portaudio \
> --enable-jack --enable-xosd --enable-galaktos --enable-goom --enable-ggi --disable-cddax \
> --disable-vcdx --disable-nls --disable-glx --disable-mozilla --disable-freetype --disable-skins2

[xtophe]

But I used your config ... didn't I ?

If you read your log, you'll notice that your problem is in checkinstall and not in vlc.

1/ you don't need to install ffmpeg to use it while you compile
2/ why are you using checkinstall if you don't understand what it does and how to read its messages)

[zkab]

The reason why I use checkinstall is ... CheckInstall keeps track of all files installed by a "make install" or equivalent, creates a Slackware, RPM, or Debian package with those files, and adds it to the installed packages database, allowing for easy package removal or distribution.

Hmm ... there are a lot of things I use that I dont't understand what it does and how to read its messages ... but I am willing to learn more.
You seem to know how things work ... so why don't you tell me exactly how I should proceed ... I don't mind being asked questions but I can't see how your question add any value to resolving my problem ...

[xtophe]

dpkg: error processing /home/raivo/download/vlc/extras/ffmpeg/ffmpeg_20090827-1_amd64.deb (--install):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libavcodec.a', which is also in package libavcodec-dev

That's the specific line. Deinstall your libavcodec-dev before installing with 'make install'

[xtophe]

Hmm . Even better :
Don't mess with prefix !
Only stuff installed with apt-get or dpkg should go to /usr/.
Stuff that you compile by hand should go to /usr/local/