License

DekTec's FFmpeg accesses DekTec devices through CDTAPI, DekTec's open-source C API. Enable it with --enable-libcdtapi. CDTAPI does not require --enable-nonfree, so the resulting FFmpeg build remains redistributable under FFmpeg's normal licensing terms. FFmpeg is LGPL by default; enabling GPL components makes the resulting build GPL, as with any FFmpeg build.

Step 1: Install Required Packages

Update package information and install the necessary packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install build-essential cmake ninja-build git nasm pkg-config \
  libsdl2-dev

CDTAPI needs CMake 3.22 or newer and GCC 11 or newer. SDL2 is required by ffplay for its display window; without it, ffmpeg and ffprobe are built but ffplay is not.

Step 2: Build and Install CDTAPI

git clone https://github.com/dektec-com/cdtapi.git
cmake -S cdtapi -B cdtapi/build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build cdtapi/build
cmake --install cdtapi/build --prefix $HOME/cdtapi

Step 3: Build FFmpeg with DekTec Device Support

      git clone https://github.com/dektec-com/ffmpeg-dektec.git
      cd ffmpeg-dektec
      tools/dektec/build.sh --cdtapi $HOME/cdtapi --install

The script configures FFmpeg with --enable-libcdtapi, points pkg-config at CDTAPI, builds, and installs the programs in build/linux/install/bin. tools/dektec/build.sh --help lists its options, such as --prefix and --shared.

To run configure yourself instead:

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/cdtapi/lib/pkgconfig
./configure --enable-libcdtapi --prefix=$HOME/ffmpeg_bin
make
make install

Step 4: Install the Driver and Run

Install the DekTec driver for your card from the Linux SDK, then list the cards'ports:

ffmpeg -sources dektec

The command-line options page describes what DekTec added to 'ffmpeg' and 'ffplay'.

## Alternative: vcpkg

DekTec's vcpkg registry, has a port 'ffmpeg-dektec', which builds CDTAPI and FFmpeg from source in one go. Name the registry in your vcpkg-configuration.json, as its README shows, and ask for the port in vcpkg.json:

{
  "dependencies": [ "ffmpeg-dektec" ]
}