Installation

Installing the Python Application

You can install this software into your user home by using the following commands:

mkdir -p ~/.local/venvs/hypershot && /usr/bin/pyvenv $_ ; . $_/bin/activate
pip install -U pip
pip install -r "https://gitlab.com/kybernetics/hypershot/raw/master/requirements.txt"
pip install hypershot

mkdir -p ~/bin && ln -nfs ../.local/venvs/hypershot/bin/hypershot $_

Doing it this way ensures that the software is installed in isolation not interfering with other apps, and vice versa. It also makes uninstalling very easy, because all files are contained in a single directory tree.

For a global install, do the above as root and replace ~/.local by /usr/local, and also replace the last command by this:

ln -nfs ../venvs/hypershot/bin/hypershot /usr/local/bin

You might need to install pyvenv first, on Debian and Ubuntu this is done using sudo apt-get install python3-venv. If your platform does not come with a suitable Python3 package, consider using pyenv to get Python 3.4+.

Installing Tools

For uploading images, the above installation is all you need. Doing screen shots though requires some additional tools to be available on the system you want to use hypershot on. You need to provide mediainfo and at least one of the supported video players. The following describes installation on Debian and derived distros, for others call the native package manager instead of APT.

mediainfo and mplayer come pre-packaged starting with Debian Wheezy and Ubuntu Trusty, so just install them like this:

apt-get install mediainfo mplayer2

TODO Is mpv the better option?

The shell script bundled with this software is able to also use ffmpeg or avconv. Depending on the type of video file, these might be able to handle cases mplayer can not, and vice versa, so it’s best to have both.

Especially when it comes to HEVC encoded media (also known as x.265), it’s best to have a current ffmpeg version. You can get one from the project’s FFmpeg Static Builds website, which also avoids the problems resulting from the “switch between ffmpeg and avconv and back” game Linux distros played a while ago.

To install the git build of ffmpeg, do this:

mkdir -p ~/.local/ffmpeg && cd $_
wget "https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/builds/ffmpeg-git-64bit-static.tar.xz"
tar -xJ --no-same-owner --strip-components=1 -f $(basename "$_")
ln -nfs $PWD/{ffmpeg,ffmpeg-10bit,ffprobe} ~/bin

Choose another archive from the website for 32bit or ARM machines (Raspberry Pi).

If you’re able to become root, install into /opt/ffmpeg and create the symlinks in /usr/local/bin instead.

Next you need to provide some Configuration before you can use the software.