Linux setup instructions and arm64 support

[geerlingguy]

I noticed there's been activity to improve builds for Linux and maybe also instructions/setup... but the README currently directs me to download release artifacts, which has the latest tag from 2023, with only Windows .exe files.

The pull request builds are long gone, so I don't see any easy way to get at Linux builds, nor instructions for how to build this project on a Linux workstation...

I'd like to use this for testing my Pi GPU setups, also on x86 for comparison, as it seems like exactly what I've been slowly working on (but much more poorly) for a while for the same purpose (and much more limited in scope).

Could you trigger a new alpha build, like 0.7.0, so there are new artifacts? And/or add some detailed instructions for building on Linux in the README? Thanks for this project!

[geerlingguy]

For reference, at least on my system:

# Install rust/cargo
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
# (then log out / log back in)

# Build the benchmark
git clone https://github.com/Proryanator/encoder-benchmark.git
cd encoder-benchmark
cargo build --release

# Manually download source files (I chose `4k-60.y4m`, `1080-60.y4m`, and `720-60.y4m`):
https://utsacloud-my.sharepoint.com/personal/hlz000_utsa_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fhlz000%5Futsa%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FEncoding%20Files&ga=1

# Run the permutor-cli
./target/release/permutor-cli

# Or run the benchmark
./target/release/benchmark

I was not able to get ffmpeg to work so far on Raspberry Pi with Debian 13 Trixie:

thread 'main' (3410) panicked at ffmpeg/src/ffprobe.rs:19:9:
ffprobe was not able to read information on the file; check your file paths for accuracy
note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
Unhandled error encountered, see panic errors above...

[geerlingguy]

Ran it again with backtrace:

thread 'main' (3428) panicked at ffmpeg/src/ffprobe.rs:19:9:
ffprobe was not able to read information on the file; check your file paths for accuracy
stack backtrace:
   0: __rustc::rust_begin_unwind
   1: core::panicking::panic_fmt
   2: ffmpeg::ffprobe::probe_for_video_metadata
   3: permutation::permutation::Permutation::get_metadata
   4: benchmark::benchmark
   5: benchmark::main
note: Some details are omitted, run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=full` for a verbose backtrace.
Unhandled error encountered, see panic errors above...

And here are the files for reference:

jgeerling@cm5:~/Downloads/encoder-benchmark $ ls -lah /home/jgeerling/Videos/
total 15G
drwxr-xr-x  2 jgeerling jgeerling 4.0K Dec 11 11:51 .
drwx------ 17 jgeerling jgeerling 4.0K Dec 11 11:43 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 jgeerling jgeerling 5.3G Dec 11 11:52 1080-60.y4m
-rw-r--r--  1 jgeerling jgeerling 2.4G Dec 11 11:51 720-60.y4m

And the output of ffprobe:

jgeerling@cm5:~/Downloads/encoder-benchmark $ ffprobe /home/jgeerling/Videos/720-60.y4m 
ffprobe version 7.1.2-0+deb13u1+rpt2 Copyright (c) 2007-2025 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 14 (Debian 14.2.0-19)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0+deb13u1+rpt2 --toolchain=hardened --incdir=/usr/include/aarch64-linux-gnu --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --disable-libmfx --disable-mmal --disable-omx --enable-gnutls --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcdio --enable-libcodec2 --enable-libdav1d --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libglslang --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --disable-sndio --disable-libvpl --libdir=/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu --arch=arm64 --enable-neon --enable-v4l2-request --enable-libudev --enable-epoxy --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-vout-drm --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-ladspa --enable-libbluray --enable-libcaca --enable-libdvdnav --enable-libdvdread --enable-libjack --enable-libpulse --enable-librabbitmq --enable-librist --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libx264 --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-sand --enable-sdl2 --enable-libplacebo --enable-librav1e --enable-pocketsphinx --enable-librsvg --enable-libjxl --enable-shared
  libavutil      59. 39.100 / 59. 39.100
  libavcodec     61. 19.101 / 61. 19.101
  libavformat    61.  7.100 / 61.  7.100
  libavdevice    61.  3.100 / 61.  3.100
  libavfilter    10.  4.100 / 10.  4.100
  libswscale      8.  3.100 /  8.  3.100
  libswresample   5.  3.100 /  5.  3.100
  libpostproc    58.  3.100 / 58.  3.100
Input #0, yuv4mpegpipe, from '/home/jgeerling/Videos/720-60.y4m':
  Duration: 00:00:30.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 663554 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (I420 / 0x30323449), yuv420p(tv, progressive), 1280x720, 60 fps, 60 tbr, 60 tbn

[geerlingguy]

I just ran it again on my x86 machine, with Ubuntu 25.10 installed. It seems to be giving me the same ffprobe error:

thread 'main' (6206) panicked at ffmpeg/src/ffprobe.rs:19:9:
ffprobe was not able to read information on the file; check your file paths for accuracy
note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
Unhandled error encountered, see panic errors above...

I have the video files downloaded into my user's 'Videos' directory. Will try with them in the same directory really quick.

[geerlingguy]

Hmm... just moving the video file into the project directory, I was able to get it to work:

[Permutation:	1/2]
[Encode Benchmark]
[Resolution:	1280x720]
[Encoder:	h264_nvenc]
[FPS:		60]
[Bitrate:	10Mb/s]
[-preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0]
V: ffmpeg args: [-progress tcp://localhost:1234 -stats_period 0.5 -y -i 720-60.y4m -b:v 10M -c:v h264_nvenc -preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0 720-60.mp4]
V: ffmpeg args no network calls (copy this and run locally, minus the quotes): [-y -i 720-60.y4m -b:v 10M -c:v h264_nvenc -preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0 -f null -]
V: Successfully spawned encoding child
⠁ [00:00:00] [---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------] 0/1800 frames (00:00:00)Not able to connect to ffmpeg stat output, will try again...
Connected to ffmpeg's -progress output via TCP...
V: Calculated fps: 0
  [00:00:01] [####################################################################################] 1800/1800 frames (00:00:00)
  Average FPS:	1715
  1%'ile:	1314
  90%'ile:	2146

So, maybe an issue with the code not accepting the separate path somewhere? Haven't taken a look at the source code yet, but I may soon. I would really like to have a 'standardish' tool for this instead of a random shell script :)

[geerlingguy]

Also confirmed on the Raspberry Pi:

jgeerling@cm5:~/Downloads/encoder-benchmark $ RUST_BACKTRACE=1 ./target/release/benchmark
  ___                        _                 ___                     _                           _   
 | __|  _ _    __   ___   __| |  ___   _ _    | _ )  ___   _ _    __  | |_    _ __    __ _   _ _  | |__
 | _|  | ' \  / _| / _ \ / _` | / -_) | '_|   | _ \ / -_) | ' \  / _| | ' \  | '  \  / _` | | '_| | / /
 |___| |_||_| \__| \___/ \__,_| \___| |_|     |___/ \___| |_||_| \__| |_||_| |_|_|_| \__,_| |_|   |_\_\
                                                                                                       


Version: 0.6.1
Source code: https://github.com/Proryanator/encoder-benchmark

[0] - h264_nvenc
[1] - hevc_nvenc
[2] - h264_amf
[3] - hevc_amf
[4] - h264_qsv
[5] - hevc_qsv
[6] - av1_qsv
[7] - h264_videotoolbox
[8] - hevc_videotoolbox
[9] - prores_videotoolbox
Choose encoder [0-9]: 0

Run decode benchmark along with encode benchmark? [y/n]: y

Run full benchmark? [y/n]: n

Are the source files in the current directory? [y/n]: y
[0] - 720-60.y4m
[1] - 720-120.y4m
[2] - 1080-60.y4m
[3] - 1080-120.y4m
[4] - 2k-60.y4m
[5] - 2k-120.y4m
[6] - 4k-60.y4m
[7] - 4k-120.y4m

Choose video file to encode [0-7]: 0

Run with verbose mode? [y/n]: y

[Permutation:	1/2]
[Encode Benchmark]
[Resolution:	1280x720]
[Encoder:	h264_nvenc]
[FPS:		60]
[Bitrate:	10Mb/s]
[-preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0]
V: ffmpeg args: [-progress tcp://localhost:1234 -stats_period 0.5 -y -i 720-60.y4m -b:v 10M -c:v h264_nvenc -preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0 720-60.mp4]
V: ffmpeg args no network calls (copy this and run locally, minus the quotes): [-y -i 720-60.y4m -b:v 10M -c:v h264_nvenc -preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0 -f null -]
V: Successfully spawned encoding child
⠁ [00:00:00] [---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------] 0/1800 frames (00:00:00)Not able to connect to ffmpeg stat output, will try again...
Connected to ffmpeg's -progress output via TCP...
V: Calculated fps: 0
⠤ [00:00:01] [############>------------------------------------------------------------------------] 274/1800 frames (00:00:30)V: Calculated fps: 270
⠈ [00:00:02] [#########################>-----------------------------------------------------------] 536/1800 frames (00:00:17)V: Calculated fps: 266
⠉ [00:00:03] [######################################>----------------------------------------------] 819/1800 frames (00:00:10)V: Calculated fps: 292
⠒ [00:00:04] [###################################################>--------------------------------] 1096/1800 frames (00:00:06)V: Calculated fps: 264
⠁ [00:00:05] [###############################################################>--------------------] 1353/1800 frames (00:00:03)V: Calculated fps: 248
⠤ [00:00:06] [##########################################################################>---------] 1601/1800 frames (00:00:01)V: Calculated fps: 266
  [00:00:07] [####################################################################################] 1800/1800 frames (00:00:00)
  Average FPS:	261
  1%'ile:	36
  90%'ile:	290

[Permutation:	2/2]
[Decode Benchmark]
[Resolution:	1280x720]
[Encoder:	h264_nvenc]
[FPS:		60]
[Bitrate:	10Mb/s]
[-preset p1 -tune ll -profile:v high -rc cbr -cbr true -gpu 0]
V: ffmpeg args: [-progress tcp://localhost:1234 -stats_period 0.5 -y -hwaccel cuda -i 720-60.mp4 -f null -]
V: ffmpeg args no network calls (copy this and run locally, minus the quotes): [-y -hwaccel cuda -i 720-60.mp4 -f null -]
V: Successfully spawned encoding child
⠁ [00:00:00] [---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------] 0/1800 frames (00:00:00)Not able to connect to ffmpeg stat output, will try again...
Connected to ffmpeg's -progress output via TCP...
V: Calculated fps: 0
⠓ [00:00:01] [##############################>------------------------------------------------------] 649/1800 frames (00:00:03)V: Calculated fps: 440
⠁ [00:00:02] [##################################################>---------------------------------] 1088/1800 frames (00:00:01)V: Calculated fps: 440
⠋ [00:00:03] [#######################################################################>------------] 1527/1800 frames (00:00:00)V: Calculated fps: 440
  [00:00:04] [####################################################################################] 1800/1800 frames (00:00:00)
  Average FPS:	437
  1%'ile:	418
  90%'ile:	440

Giving ffmpeg a change to let go of the decode file, hang tight...
Benchmark runtime: 17s
Press any key to close the program...

So it looks like at least for now I have to have the source files in the project directory... or maybe I'm doing something wrong here?