Fails to open due to: PNG read error in /usr/share/mplayer/skins/default/main

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Ubuntu build is svn34540
It looks like from here
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/mplayer_users/ISHQ7tmCjyY/SpvKlligzboJ

that this problem is Fixed in svn r34603

building from svn works
mplayer_1.0~svn36461-1_amd64.deb

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2149564

Still occurs in 14.04 /w gmplayer 1.1 /w mplayer 1.1 and 2.0
-----------------
$ gmplayer
MPlayer 1.1-4.8 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
Error in skin config file on line 6: PNG read error in /usr/share/mplayer/skins/default/main
Config file processing error with skin 'default'

Exiting... (Fatal error)
-----------------

mplayer-gui version: 2:1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu3
mplayer2 version: 2.0-701-gd4c5b7f-2ubuntu2
also tried with mplayer version: 2:1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu3

Indeed, Trusty was release with this bug, making mplayer-gui unusable without manual fiddling... :-/

Margarita Manterola (marga-9): And how does it work, to fix it manualy?

Here is a little workaround for the time being.
Put this is ~/.local/share/applications/ and set exec bit (chmod +x).
Restart nautilus (kill and start again), and Media Player (CLI) should be added to the list of available applications. This is only a workaround and does not fix the problem at all. It does not even use the gmplayer frontend, just standard mplayer, so there is no GUI except the main window.

Another manual workaround is to convert as root using ImageMagick all the PNG causing error in the folder /usr/share/mplayer/skins.
Items have to be converted in the format PNG24 and renamed PNG after cancel the existing PNG.
You have to do only with items causing error, not all.
It's a bit annoying but it works for me and you have the mplayer-gui working.
I'm on xubuntu 14.04.

mplayer version 2:1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu3
mplayer-gui version 2:1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu3

As #8 Gianni Delchi wrote:

cd /usr/share/mplayer/skins/default; for FILE in *.png ; do sudo convert $FILE -define png:format=png24 $FILE ; done

I also recommend you change to the blue skins with:

cd /usr/share/mplayer/skins ; sudo rm default ; sudo ln -s Blue default

These also need the first command run on them.

Paul Andreassen's workaround works for me. Thank you.

This bug should be marked "Won't Fix" , I'd do so myself but lack permission

Why would this be marked as "won't fix"?

On 08/15/2014 12:54 PM, <email address hidden> wrote:
> Why would this be marked as "won't fix"?
>
Because Debian/Ubuntu have recently dropped mplayer. So no source, no fix.
(- it is possible once Debian releases the alternate FFmpeg source
packages that mplayer could come back but that's not the current scenario

Fatal error mplayer!

Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS \n \l
Ubuntu 3.13.0-34.60-generic 3.13.11.4
mplayer 2:1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu3
mplayer-gui 2:1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu3

~$ gmplayer -v -v
MPlayer 1.1-4.8 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
CPU vendor name: GenuineIntel max cpuid level: 13
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3330 CPU @ 3.00GHz (Family: 6, Model: 58, Stepping: 9)
extended cpuid-level: 8
extended cache-info: 16801856
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
Testing OS support for SSE... yes.
Tests of OS support for SSE passed.
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNowExt: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 SSSE3: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
get_path('codecs.conf') -> '/home/csola48/.mplayer/codecs.conf'
Reading optional codecs config file /home/csola48/.mplayer/codecs.conf: No such file or directory
Reading optional codecs config file /etc/mplayer/codecs.conf: No such file or directory
Using built-in default codecs.conf.
init_freetype
Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
get_path('fonts') -> '/home/csola48/.mplayer/fonts'
X11 opening display: :0
vo: X11 color mask: FFFFFF (R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF)
vo: X11 running at 1280x1024 with depth 24 and 32 bpp (":0" => local display)
[x11] Detected wm supports NetWM.
[x11] Detected wm supports FULLSCREEN state.
[x11] Detected wm supports ABOVE state.
[x11] Detected wm supports BELOW state.
[x11] Current fstype setting honours FULLSCREEN ABOVE BELOW X atoms
Configuration: --prefix=/usr --confdir=/etc/mplayer --enable-xvmc --enable-menu --enable-radio --enable-radio-capture --disable-arts --language=all --disable-dvdread-internal --disable-libdvdcss-internal --disable-libmpeg2-internal --disable-ffmpeg_a --target=i586-linux --enable-runtime-cpudetection --enable-debug --enable-joystick --enable-gui
CommandLine: '-v' '-v'
Using nanosleep() timing
get_path('input.conf') -> '/home/csola48/.mplayer/input.conf'
Reading optional input config file /home/csola48/.mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Parsing input config file /etc/mplayer/input.conf
Input config file /etc/mplayer/input.conf parsed: 92 binds
Setting up LIRC support...
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
GUI init.
GTK init.
[ws] display name: :0 => local display.
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x21, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x24, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x25, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x26, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x27, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x28, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x29, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x2a, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x2b, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x2c, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x2d, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x2e, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x2f, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x30, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x31, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x32, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00 B:FF
vo: X11 truecolor visual 0x33, depth 24, R:FF0000 G:FF00...

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I fired an Ubuntu-bug report on this. I hope it came through. I can't see it here. But I sent it here. How can you tell?

I also hope very much that the bug gets fixed. mplayer is still the greatest media player. I miss it very much.

The Paul Andreassen fix worked for me. Hurrah. Shame the bug won't get fixed. Have people given up on Linux now everything's going mobile?

it's a bug in mplayer-gui, since mplayer as such obviously doesn't have this problem with other frontends.
So if you don't want to mess with conversion, try umplayer from GetDeb (file/disc player) and gmusicplayer (jukebox).

Same problem here.

somebody told me to download imagemagick, and
here's output;

taro@taro-HP-Mini-110-3000:~$ cd /usr/share/mplayer/skins/default
taro@taro-HP-Mini-110-3000:/usr/share/mplayer/skins/default$ for FILE in
*.png
> do
> sudo convert $FILE -define png:format=png24 $FILE
> done
[sudo] password for taro:
taro@taro-HP-Mini-110-3000:/usr/share/mplayer/skins/default$

mplayer plays sound but no video.

mplayer is returning to 16.04 with this still broken (as possibly worthless the gui is..

And mplayer-gui is complete garbage in 16.04 -
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mplayer/+bug/1514698

I found this bug on last mint. Here is the solution which works for me: http://askubuntu.com/a/665203/98457

This is a show-stopper. Mplayer won't even start because of this bug. And Importance is set to Medium? REALLY? What kind of show are you guys running here?

Why can't we just fix this real quick and release a new package?

FYI I've downloaded a number of skins from mplayerhq.hu and they appear to be working OK.

This bug is occurring for me - September 2016 - exactly as mentioned by people as far back as 2013.

"Error in skin config file at line...
PNG read error ...."

Tried workaround mentioned above by Paul Andreassen but didn't help. Also changed symlink of default from clearplayer to Blue but still not working.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial

mplayer 2:1.2.1-1ubuntu1 amd64
mplayer-gui 2:1.2.1-1ubuntu1 amd64
mplayer-skins 3.2

Now that mplayer has been returned I'm doubly sick of this bug. To that end use mplayer-skins package from here, should work. For xenial only

https://launchpad.net/~mc3man/+archive/ubuntu/mplay-skins

also in Ubuntu 17.10.

Copied over the xenial package to artful & bionic in the ppa mentioned post #28
One doesn't even need to add ppa, just go to the package details, expand the dropdown & download the all .deb, install with apt

Hi All!

This problem can be solved in a very easy way: just rebuild and reupload the package.

Explanation:

The PNG files were probably stripped by some bogus script between the versions 3 (16 Oct 2009) and 3.1 (28 Aug 2013), that were also present at the times of 3.2 (29 May 2014). See
http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/m/mplayer-skins/mplayer-skins_3_all.deb
http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/m/mplayer-skins/mplayer-skins_3.1_all.deb
http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/m/mplayer-skins/mplayer-skins_3.2_all.deb

dh-strip-nondeterminism (aka strip-nondeterminism) has been introduced since then (18 Sep 2014). The current stripped versions of the files differ only by 2-5 bytes from their originals and seem to work.

PS There is also a typo in the changelog: "tranitional" instead of "tran_s_itional".

This bug was fixed in the package mplayer-skins - 3.2build1

---------------
mplayer-skins (3.2build1) cosmic; urgency=medium

  * No change rebuild LP: #1218510

 -- Reinhard Tartler <email address hidden> Thu, 24 May 2018 17:23:53 -0400

The new package http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/m/mplayer-skins/mplayer-skins_3.2build1_all.deb still doesn't work. The PNG files are stripped differently from the 3.2 version, but also differently from the package that I have built locally in a docker image (ubuntu:bionic) that works properly.

Maybe, there is some problem with the build server configuration?

Checked out the logs https://launchpadlibrarian.net/371726798/buildlog_ubuntu-cosmic-amd64.mplayer-skins_3.2build1_BUILDING.txt.gz and found the problem: pkgstripfiles from the package pkgbinarymangler is stripping the files. To disable this script, "export NO_PNG_PKG_MANGLE=1" should be added to debian/rules. See also:

https://tracker.debian.org/media/packages/c/cups/rules-1.7.5-11%2Bdeb8u1
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hugo/+bug/1754531
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libpng/+bug/710881
http://ubuntu-discuss.cattt.com/2015/08/re-pretty-please-can-we-kill-png_8.html

New issue has resulted. Ubuntu Mate 16.04 for x64.

mmmmna@3GHz-MCP61SM2MA:~/mPlayer kark$ sudo apt install ./mplayer-skins_3.2build1_all.deb
[sudo] password for mmmmna:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'mplayer-skins' instead of './mplayer-skins_3.2build1_all.deb'
The following packages will be upgraded:
  mplayer-skins
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/252 kB of archives.
After this operation, 5,120 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 /home/mmmmna/mPlayer kark/mplayer-skins_3.2build1_all.deb mplayer-skins all 3.2build1 [252 kB]
(Reading database ... 265537 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../mplayer-skins_3.2build1_all.deb ...
Unpacking mplayer-skins (3.2build1) over (3.2) ...
Setting up mplayer-skins (3.2build1) ...
mmmmna@3GHz-MCP61SM2MA:~/mPlayer kark$ mplayer
Option -skin needs a parameter at line 3
mmmmna@3GHz-MCP61SM2MA:~/mPlayer kark$

Mentioned in https://askubuntu.com/a/1159551/368900

Still an issue in focal 20.04. Why is a "fix-released" tag present in the bug header table?

Still an issue in 20.10. :-/