flvtool2 1.0.6 Bugs

Crash Variant #1

Sometimes flvtool2 1.0.6 crashes on FLVs created by ffmpeg or mencoder. The FLV video itself is playable without the metadata and looks fine, still flvtool2 crashes like this:


$ flvtool2 -kUP -metadatacreator:'some label' video.flv
ERROR: EOFError
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/amf_string_buffer.rb:37:in `read'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/amf_string_buffer.rb:243:in `read__STRING'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/audio_tag.rb:56:in `read_header'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/audio_tag.rb:47:in `after_initialize'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/tag.rb:56:in `initialize'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/stream.rb:447:in `new'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/stream.rb:447:in `read_tags'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flv/stream.rb:58:in `initialize'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:272:in `new'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:272:in `open_stream'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:238:in `process_files'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:225:in `each'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:225:in `process_files'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:44:in `execute!'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2.rb:168:in `execute!'
ERROR: /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2.rb:228
ERROR: /usr/bin/flvtool2:2:in `require'
ERROR: /usr/bin/flvtool2:2
$


In the Wowza Media Server support forum is a hint on how to patch flvtool2 to solve the issue:

--- /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/audio_tag.rb	2009-11-12 10:46:13.000000000 +0100
+++ lib/flv/audio_tag.rb	2010-03-17 11:25:35.000000000 +0100
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@
     
     def after_initialize(new_object)
       @tag_type = AUDIO
-      read_header
+      if data_size > 0
+      	read_header
+      end
     end
 
     def name

Crash Variant #2

Here is another crashing variant:


$ flvtool2 -kUP -metadatacreator:'some label' video.flv
ERROR: EOFError
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/amf_string_buffer.rb:37:in `read'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/amf_string_buffer.rb:75:in `read__AMF_string'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/amf_string_buffer.rb:90:in `read__AMF_mixed_array'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/amf_string_buffer.rb:134:in `read__AMF_data'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/meta_tag.rb:40:in `after_initialize'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/tag.rb:56:in `initialize'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/stream.rb:451:in `new'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/stream.rb:451:in `read_tags'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flv/stream.rb:58:in `initialize'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:272:in `new'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:272:in `open_stream'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:238:in `process_files'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:225:in `each'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:225:in `process_files'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2/base.rb:44:in `execute!'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2.rb:168:in `execute!'
ERROR: /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/flvtool2.rb:228
ERROR: /usr/local/bin/flvtool2:2:in `require'
ERROR: /usr/local/bin/flvtool2:2
$


I have not yet found a solution...

Update: I have found crash variant #2 to often happen with larger files. Using flvtool++ instead of flvtool2 always solved the problem. Using flvtool++ is also a good idea as it is much faster than flvtool2. Still both tools have their problems. More about this in the Comparison of FLV and MP4 metadata tagging tools.