It seems VLC and Xfce don't get along.

For the last few versions (beta & release candidates) the following happens: Open VLC, click on "Media," click on
"openfile," and a blank box pops up and VLC freezes and you have to "kill" it. In the recent past, once that happened the first time, then all was well the second time it was tried.
Now, however, with the stable version, 1.1.0, it happens every time.
I just fired up VLC and clicked on "Help" to check the version number and the same thing happened.
However, if you click on "media" and then "recent media" and pick a file it will play.
VLC works fine in KDE 4.4.4.
Any suggestions on how to fix this problem in Xfce?
Many Thanks.

I use VLC quite often and have compiled it for version 1.1.0 but I don't see that problem. For me "open file" does open the file browser. This is from XFCE. I haven't tried KDE yet.

EDIT: BTW, I'm using 32-bit 13.1 and I'm using my own vlc slackbuild.

Same problem here. Looking for running processes i noticed that vlc "openfile" starts kdeinit4:

This processes stay alive when vlc is killed after freezing and the next time vlc is started "openfile" can use them. The file browser opening then looks like dolphin or konqueror. Is it possible to make vlc using thunar or whatever xfce-apps are using?

BTW:I´m running aliens 64 bit package of vlc 1.1.0

Same as syvy. Launch vlc so it can load some KDE libs, close it, then relaunch to use. Xfce has an option to start these KDE background tasks at start up. If you plan on using a few KDE apps in Xfce, it might be a solution.

If you just need a media player, Parole is a promising up and coming player for Xfce. Does rely on gstreamer for codecs.

I have the same problem on Slackware 13.1 32bit using the stock XFCE 4.6.1 that comes with Slackware 13.1.
I am using Alien Bob's vlc 1.1.0 package: http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/s.../vlc/pkg/13.1/
Interestingly, if I hit ctrl + O to open a file, instead of using the mouse, vlc does not hang. It will just play the file straight away.

I'm using Eric's SlackBuild, compiled here, on Slack64-13.1, with Fluxbox, & had the same problem. I'm now starting VLC with "kdeinit4 vlc". It seems to take a little longer to start, the first time, but I no longer have to start it, try to open a file, kill it, then start it again & use it normally.
Regards,
Bill

try to un-install and re-install the program in xfce.

Just to see what happens i compiled vlc myself but the behavior didn´t change.

Ok, well that explains it then. So it is not really hanging then, it is just trying to load QT and the related KDE files.
I guess I should have figured that, since VLC depends on QT.

Tried that, but it didn't make a bit of difference.

I would think you really shouldn't have to do that, but I did just try it in Xfce and the problem remains, exactly as originally described.

I have found that if I first open a KDE app, like K3B, then, even if I close K3B and open VLC a while later, then VLC dos not hang. So starting the necessary KDE processes does prevent VLC from hanging on XFCE.

In Xfce you could also go to "Settings, Session & Startup, Advanced" and put a check mark in the box next to, "Launch KDE Services on Startup."
Regardless, whether starting K3b or the above, VLC 1.1.0 (Alien Bob's build) does not work as per my original post. It may work for you, but it doesn't work for me.

Yes, I do know about that. I don't always run KDE apps on my Slackware XFCE desktop, so I have not chosen to start KDE Services on bootup.
Hmmm, even if you first start KDE services, Alien_Bob's VLC still hangs (and you have to kill it) in XFCE?
What happens if you open VLC and use the keyboard (ctrl + O) to open a media file? I found that (for some reason) using ctrl + O to open a file does not result in VLC hanging. This is true even on my laptop. I did not install KDE on my laptop. I do have qt-4.6.2 on my laptop though.

Yes.


Ctrl + O results in the same hang.
In the recent past I was able to play files in the "recent media" list, but now it only plays the audio from those files, but not the video.
The same files play just fine in VLC when running in KDE.

Can you see any relevant messages in the console around the time vlc stalls, if you start vlc on the commandline like this: ?

Eric