[openal] About update documentation and contents about OpenAL

[Manolo]

 Hello, there


On Sun, 15 Aug 2021 07:46:12 -0700 Chris Robinson <chris.kcat at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi.
>
> As far as I'm aware, Creative still owns the trademarks associated with
> OpenAL, so they're the only ones that can say anything about official
> updates to the specification, and they've unfortunately been silent on
> the OpenAL front for a few years now. Individual implementations, like
> OpenAL Soft and Rapture3D, can still add new features, which is where
> much of the improvements have been.

 Thanks for your answer Chris. Thanks for your work on OpenAL-Soft
because it has let me using 3D audio in different operating systems and
applications during several years; and for your answers on this email
list, I get many interesting lessons on digital audio processing.

 So, we can not do anything for improving or update OpenAL because of
the dominant position of Creative Labs: I've found this on web caché, I
think it is from 2013 and we are still pretty much on the same point...
"what's going on with connect.creativelabs.com"
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:e5R_WNQtK2QJ:openal.996291.n3.nabble.com/what-s-going-on-with-connect-creativelabs-com-td5546.html+&cd=1&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=es>

 But, perhaps, it is possible to update de the contents of OpenAL.org
or, still better, ask the actual maintainers of OpenAL.org (I don't know
who they are) put a link to OpenAL Soft <https://openal-soft.org/>. We
all can find more update contents relate to OpenAL in Chris' website
that in the "official" web.

>>  It's difficult to get updated documentation on OpenAL out of this
>> developers list and I would suggest to talk about the future and the
>> web contents from OpenAL.org. Can somebody put some light on other
>> related questions as:
>>
>>   * It is ALUT a part of the standard?
> No. Like GLUT to OpenGL, it's intended to help use the API
> (specifically with opening a device and loading files), but it's not
> part of the standard itself since most apps of any significant
> size will want its own thing for loading and handling sounds.

 And posibly, its better replacement is ALURE
<https://github.com/kcat/alure>. Thanks again, Chris.

 The Linux version of ALUT is there thanks to frrealut
<https://github.com/vancegroup/freealut> and the maintainers of the
Linux repositories , the mac OS ... is stucked on an anciliary version
of ALUT with deprecated functions.  This morning we have found ALUT
Windows (one of my students need a fast solution to test OpenAL in his
application and do not want to install MinGW and compiles the source
code) binaries in <https://www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/~jpp/cg/openal/>, not in
OpenAL.org.

 But as the binary distribution of OpenAL was for a 32bit version of
Windows, its apis was generate also, this is not usefull for
applications on x64 platforms, and so the use of OpenAL in 2 from the 3
most popular platforms for computer desktop applications is limited.

So, perhaps, it would be better for OpenAL to rewrite the examples using
SDL, libasound, or ALURE, in the shake of getting them operatives?

>>   * Can we get update contents on the official web pages about
>> OpenAL? Can we colaborate on create/upload examples of use?
> Icculus is currently in control of openal.org, so any discussions about
> updating it would have to include him. I would only be able to change
> openal-soft.org, and I'd certainly be up for improving it, though I'm
> hardly a good website/page designer.

 OpenAL Soft is a good place, I still found there the "Effects Extension
Guide"
<https://openal-soft.org/misc-downloads/Effects%20Extension%20Guide.pdf>.
Why it is not in OpenAL site? I know that Chris is not the one who has
to take that decisition.

 Somebody knows who to contact with Icculus?

 

Cheers and health

--

 Manolo