On Friday 19 June 2020 10:21:32 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp wrote:
> Anno domini 2020 Thu, 18 Jun 15:19:49 -0700
>
>  William Morder via trinity-users scripsit:
> > This is directed mostly to Nik (since I've heard him mention both Devuan
> > and VLC); but also to anybody else who might have some inkling what is
> > causing this issue.
> >
> > VLC is (or would be) my media player of choice on most of my machines or
> > devices. I use it on my smartphone, and don't need anything else to play
> > music, movies, stream videos or radio. (I've tried other media players,
> > yes, but they are all inadequate by comparison, at least for my own
> > needs.) So many good things to say about VLC ... until about a year or
> > two ago.
> >
> > Ever since Jessie it will start up, but then immediately crashes. I've
> > gone through looking for conflicts, but nothing obvious jumps out at me.
> >
> > Any suggestions about where to look, or what might be causing such an
> > issue?
> >
> > Bill
>
> Sorry, I think I missed that message. If you have not solved it in the
> meantime: delete "~/.config/vlc/" and "~/.local/share/vlc"
>
> Nik
>

Hi Nik! 

No problem, as others jumped their suggestions. However I did miss the entry 
in "~/.local/share/vlc", so that helps me, too. And I did believe that I had 
resolved the issue, until I tried to play another film; when I tried to load 
the next item, however, I got the same problems all over again. 

I am still fiddling with it, looking for old configurations that used to work, 
to see if I can somehow adapt the settings, but it seems that VLC has changed 
something, and whatever has changed now interferes with its operation. 

In particular, I notice that I am asked for explicit permission for network 
access. But I don't stream videos from online sources; I only play local 
files, and have no need of Internet while I am watching; so that seems 
unnecessary. I don't remember being asked for such permissions before, but 
maybe I used my own settings to evade the problem until now? 

Anyway, at present I must delete VLC folders, etc., then start over for every 
time I want to play a film. At least I made some progress: I can use VLC (a 
little), whereas before yesterday, for a year or more past, I could not use 
it at all. 

Does anybody else remember the promise, that computers would make our lives 
easier, and give us more free time? 

Bill