I've been able to compile everything from scratch in the past, but it's been a beast to get it right. I prefer to just download the binaries and use them.
Actually, it would be immensely helpful if you guys (JVLC team or VLC team) could provide the plugins and vlc-control, etc., libraries for both win32 and linux distributions. Right now I get on the nightlies section of the site, download the intrepid build, and use dpkg to get them. We have to ship our application with everything it needs to run intact. IOW, it's not acceptable for us to tell the customer to run "sudo apt-get install <Tons of packages here>" - it all has to come w/ the program. You guys do the windows releases that way - why not provide the same option for the linux side? (I know apt-get is much handier, but how much harder is it to extend what you do for the windows side to the linux side?)
If you're thinking, "just compile it yourself and move the binaries yourself, " then consider this...It's difficult for me to stay up to date using git and compiling it myself b/c the company I work for has the port Git uses firewalled and they won't open it up (I've tried). I would use the http git mirror (and I have), but the problem is that the other projects (e.g. x264) don't use it! And the mirror isn't always as up-to-date as the standard git repository is. So there are times where it won't compile. So to avoid the whole fiasco (I wasted a lot of time trying to do it right), I just download the pre-built binaries. I'm sure git offers lots of geek-intrigue, but subversion was so much easier for me and I think just about everyone else and it got through the firewall just fine...if there's a place to vote for you guys to move back to subversion, count me in. But I know on the website it says to not ask about moving back to subversion because it isn't going to happen...sigh...
But that's beside the point...
Regarding the comment:
If you want active development, best is to be active yourself
I said in my first post:
Unfortunately my employer doesn't allow working on open source projects using sponsor resources. Trust me, I'd much rather use JVLC than something else like MPlayer through stdin/stdout.