Bug#1031775: yt-dlp prompts for the user to download PhantomJS

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

Package: yt-dlp
Version: 2023.01.06-1
Severity: minor

using yt-dlp to fetch a local copy of a youtube URL like so:

$ yt-dlp https://youtu.be/XXXXXXXXXXX

i see this warning:

-----
[youtube] XXXXXXXXXXX: Downloading player 11e3a4ec
WARNING: [youtube] XXXXXXXXXXX: nsig extraction failed: You may experience throttling for some formats
Install PhantomJS to workaround the issue. Please download it from https://phantomjs.org/download.html
-----

If PhantomJS is DFSG-free (i haven't checked), then it should be put in
debian, and yt-dlp should Recommend: it at least. Then this warning
should be patched to say "apt install phantomjs" instead.

If it is not DFSG-free, it seems inappropriate for a debian package to
directly encourage the user to download non-free software in the course
of basic operations.

Thanks for maintaining yt-dlp in debian! It is a very useful tool for
those of us who don't want to be connected to the Internet at all times.

--dkg

[Unit 193]

Howdy,

On Wed, 22 Feb 2023, Daniel Kahn Gillmor wrote:

> Package: yt-dlp
> Version: 2023.01.06-1
> Severity: minor
>
> using yt-dlp to fetch a local copy of a youtube URL like so:
>
> $ yt-dlp https://youtu.be/XXXXXXXXXXX
>
> i see this warning:
>
> -----
> [youtube] XXXXXXXXXXX: Downloading player 11e3a4ec
> WARNING: [youtube] XXXXXXXXXXX: nsig extraction failed: You may experience throttling for some formats
> Install PhantomJS to workaround the issue. Please download it from https://phantomjs.org/download.html
> -----

This is just noting that it works, but some formats may get throttled with
the hardcoded python js scraper and that use of an actual parser (which
yt-dlp supports) could make matters a little better there.

> If PhantomJS is DFSG-free (i haven't checked), then it should be put in
> debian, and yt-dlp should Recommend: it at least. Then this warning
> should be patched to say "apt install phantomjs" instead.

It is, or I presume so since it was in Debian. It was removed in #962061
with the deprecation of python2. Since it seems rather inactive upstream
(no commits since 2020) and the python2 issue still stands[0], I wouldn't
imagine someone would want to re-introduce it. But there's nothing
preventing anyone from doing so either.


[0]: https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/issues/15414

> If it is not DFSG-free, it seems inappropriate for a debian package to
> directly encourage the user to download non-free software in the course
> of basic operations.

Well it could still be useful as a hint for those that run into
throttling, or the inability to fetch the video, that yt-dlp works with
that too.

However since I most often use yt-dlp with sites other than YouTube, or
use mpv's support for yt-dlp, I don't see the message as much and don't
find it as much of a nuisance as others might.

> Thanks for maintaining yt-dlp in debian! It is a very useful tool for
> those of us who don't want to be connected to the Internet at all times.

Glad you find a use for it.

~Unit 193
Unit193 @ Libera
Unit193 @ OFTC