Arch Linux User Repository

This package provides youtube-dl command and python imports using yt-dlp. This is needed because many programs still depend on youtube-dl even though it was dropped from the extra repository.

This approach does not work with all programs because yt-dlp and youtube-dl are not fully compatible. This package generates a version string that matches the version of yt-dlp that is available during build.

Alternatives:

• aur/youtube-dl: The last release was a couple years ago with several known bugs.

• aur/youtube-dl-git: Development continues at ytdl-org/youtube-dl.

the call in the script should be exec /usr/bin/yt-dlp to avoid the fork.

Referring to @Freso's comment on 2021-10-22, is it possible to get the python imports working? I have tried for pafy but can't get it to work.

@Sematre I made you a co-maintainer if you want to implement those changes

This would be an awesome package if it were a real drop-in replacement. It would be better if this package provided an script at /usr/bin/youtube-dl that calls yt-dlp but with an additional parameter: --compat-options youtube-dl.

The script could look something like this (just an quick-and-dirty example):

#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/yt-dlp --compat-options youtube-dl "$@"

A simple symlink just isn't a good replacement.

@Hekuran … If you want to have both installed, you could just, say, not use this package?

@Minmo Have you considered also making a symlink for the Python package? I wanted to make a package similar to this, but I also wanted to make sure any Python imports would continue to work. Not sure if there’s a decent way to automate this symlinking though.

well yt-dlp and youtube-dl dont really conflict with each other, if for some reason someone wants to have both, using your pkg, they cant. how about a shell script in stead of a symlink. or maybe not at all. here is sth to think about :D

cat /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl

#!/bin/sh

test -f /usr/bin/youtube-dl && yt='/usr/bin/youtube-dl'
test -f /usr/bin/yt-dlp && yt='/usr/bin/yt-dlp'

exec "$yt" "$@"

/usr/local/bin comes before the /usr/bin in $PATH , so by only commanding youtube-dl (which mpv requires), it will use yt-dlp, but if you want the OG you command /bin/youtube-dl or just change the order in the script.

or

what you have already done, and also symlink the old youtube-dl to youtube-dl-old

@minmo

I see what you mean, and you're absolutely right about the scope and use of this same PKGBUILD. But just the short name "XYZ-drop-in" is not 100% immediately obvious . Maybe you could also improve/edit the "Description" with a few characters more, to make it crystal clear ? It doesnt cost you anything. Ex, add what you just explained ?

• "simply a symlink from youtube-dl to yt-dlp"
• caters to other "programs that have youtube-dl as a dependency"

The thing you might be missing is when a common user types "youtube" and/or "dl" or "dlp" and is presented with a barrage of dozens of options. All with a very sparse "Description" and a confusing and similar "Package-Name".

I think this package falls out of the scope of the mentioned issues as it is simply a symlink from youtube-dl to yt-dlp

By installing this you can install other programs that have youtube-dl as a dependency and only install yt-dlp

It is similar to the neovim-drop-in: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/neovim-drop-in/

EDIT: someone has also suggested:

...to discuss this issue in the aur mailinglist? Let's offload this decision to the arch TUs and implement whatever they think is appropriate. ...

ORIGINAL COMMENT:May I suggest that the maintainer of this PKGBUILD talk and negotiate with the the maintainers of similar PKGBUILD's ?

With such a fast changing thing like youtube-dl and its variants, by having many eyeballs watching the same PKGBUILD's, this would also means less work for you, the maintainer.

There seems to be a lot of interest in using yt-dlp as a replacement for youtube-dl. This has led to a lot of PKGBUILD's being created in AUR, like mushrooms doing apparentely the same thing.

• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/python-yt-dlp-git, First Submitted: 2021-07-17 22:12
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yt-dlp, First Submitted: 2021-09-02 14:08
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yt-dlp-git, First Submitted: 2021-08-08 15:20
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/youtube-dlp, First Submitted: 2021-01-29 13:53
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/youtube-dlp-git, First Submitted: 2021-08-21 10:41
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/youtube-dlp-bin, First Submitted: 2021-03-21 23:42
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yt-dlp-drop-in, First Submitted: 2021-07-26 19:32

This:

• confuses users, which one to install ? Which one will still be here maintained in x months ?
• is a complete waste of man power and reduplicating work,
• disperses user votes, maybe one day, with enough votes, yt-dlp could be an official Arch package,without any need for PKGBUILD.

We basicly only need a yt-dlp "normal one", "-git" one and eventually a "-bin" one.

With such a fast changing thing like youtube-dl, by having many eyeballs watching the same PKGBUILDS, this would also means less work for you, the maintainer.

Some more additionally facts:

• yt-dlp is officially called ... hhh... "yt-dlp". It is not officially called "youtube-dlp"
• ...