HOW-TO: Building And Using openVeoh

NOTE!!! Please make sure you have the libssl and sqlite3 development packages installed before attempting to build the openVeoh sources!

Here are the new and improved build and usage instructions for openVeoh

Getting the openVeoh sources

First make sure to grab the current sources from my SVN repository:

svn co https://openveoh.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openveoh openveoh

If you already have the sources from the new repository then you can
update them rather than checking them out again. From within the openveoh
directory run:

svn update

If you are unsure which repository your sources were downloaded from then
I recommend deleting them and grabbing a fresh copy.

Building C++ Sockets

You no longer need to install C++ Sockets in order to build
openVeoh. It will use the library and headers from the source directory.
If you already have it installed then that is okay, it will still use
your installed version. However, you still need to build C++ Sockets before
building openVeoh. This can be accomplished by running:

make sockets

From the openveoh directory.

Building openVeoh

The new openVeoh build system will build all of the
components needed to download videos from Veoh. This includes:

libopenveoh – main library
vget – command line download tool
ffvget – script required for Firefox to call vget
libveohversion – Firefox plugin required for veoh.com

To build openVeoh simply run:

make

in the openveoh directory.

Installing openVeoh

The install covers everything you need to start downloading from
http://www.veoh.com, including the protocol handlers for Firefox.
To install run:

make install

from the openveoh directory.

Please note that vget and ffvget are installed to “$HOME/bin” and “src/dist/bin” for the
simple reason that openVeoh is installed for the local user only. Also note
that libopenveoh is installed to “src/dist/lib”. I don’t see a need for a
system-wide install yet. If people request this, I may add it later.

Other make options

The following make options are available:
usage: make [option]

all – builds libopenveoh, vget and plugin
libopenveoh – builds only libopenveoh
plugin – builds only the Firefox plugin
vget – builds vget and libopenveoh
install – installs everything
install-libopenveoh – installs libopenveoh
install-plugin – installs the Firefox plugin
install-vget – installs vget and ffvget
uninstall – uninstalls everything
clean – cleans the entire build
sockets – builds C++ Sockets
sockets-install – installs C++ Sockets
sockets-uninstall – Uninstalls C++ Sockets
sockets-clean – cleans the C++ Sockets build

Using openVeoh

openVeoh is very easy to use. Currently openVeoh works using vget. I will explain two
methods for using vget to download videos from veoh.com

Firefox method (recommended)

If you installed the entire openVeoh package then you are ready to start downloading videos.
Go to veoh.com and login using your username and password. Find a video you want to download
and simply click the “Download Video” link. You may get a window asking your permission to launch
“ffvget”. If so then click the check box telling Firefox to never warn you about ffvget again. and
you will be presented with an Xterm running vget. If you are logged in to veoh through the browser
then it shouldn’t ask you to login again, but in the event that it does just enter your veoh
username and password in vget and your download will begin.

Command line method

If you do not use Firefox then the command line method is for you. Although the plugin is compatible
with Konqueror, Opera, Seamonkey, and Netscape, I have not worked out the protocol handlers and
automatic login with them yet (Seamonkey support is hopefully coming soon). Using your favorite
browser navigate to veoh.com and find a video you want to download. Copy the url to the video.
Open a console such as ‘konsole’ and type:

~/bin/vget “paste the url here”

Please note that you should always wrap the url in double quotes.
(Example: ~/bin/vget “http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1184655gP8RTDWA”)

Some urls contain characters which will cause problems with your console and could potentially break
things.

Hit enter and you may be greeted with a login prompt. Enter your veoh.com username and password.

After that your download will start. When you first start a download it takes a bit of time to
populate the database with all of the needed information for resuming in the event the download
breaks. It may seem like vget is hanging but just give it time. After a short pause you will see
the video information displayed and the download progress.

Resume support

In the event something happens and you kill a download. Simply click the download link again or run
vget from the command line using the same url again. It will resume the download from where it left off.

Where do my downloads go?

All videos are downloaded to ~/Video/Veoh by default.
Thumbnails are stored in ~/Video/Veoh/Thumbs

Why are there thumbnails?

In the future when I get the media library and the GUI written it will use the thumbnail to help
you identify the videos. For now they aren’t really useful and are only downloaded for testing
purposes.

Conclusion

That’s it folks! That should cover everything you need to know to build and use openVeoh.

Happy Downloading!