The following components listed have a high frequency of crash reports and are thus disrecommended.
- foo_amip
- Repeated crash reports.
- foo_chronflow
- Repeated crash reports, apparently caused by an incompatibility with some video drivers. Make sure you have up-to-date video drivers.
- foo_uie_albumart
- Repeated crash reports.
- foo_ui_panels
- Repeated crash reports. Consistent crash reports with the configuration dialog when using non-English locale. Development appears to have ceased.
- foo_audioscrobbler (version 2.2, installed by Last.fm software)
- Repeated crash reports. Please use this Audioscrobbler client instead.
- foo_playcount (unofficial; version 1.9.2)
- Repeated crash reports and metadb_handle leaks. Please use the official Playback Statistics component instead.
- foo_uie_wsh_panel
- Repeated crash reports.
- foo_dsp_continuator
- Repeated crash reports.
- foo_infobox
- Modal calls in event handlers.
The following components do not endanger the stability of foobar2000 as such, but exhibit other potentially surprising (and thus undesirable) behaviour.
- foo_uie_lyrics
- Silently updates tags with lyrics downloaded from the internet with the defaults settings.
Banned components (critical bugs + author ignores bug reports)
- foo_input_matroska
- Registers a broken directory lister service, causing Media Library rescans or adding directories to fail randomly. Download an alternative Matroska component here.
Banned components (SDK license violation)
Components listed here are in violation of the foobar2000 SDK license and are thus considered as illegal. Note that with regard to TOS #9, providing means to acquire these components will result in administrative actions begin taken against the member.
- Reason: Inappropriate modification of or interaction with a window owned by another component.
- foo_albumlist_autoupdate
- foo_albumlist_xconfig
- foo_cleartype
- foo_cwb_hacks
- foo_fullscreen
- foo_minimize_on_close
- foo_rating
- foo_snap
- foo_notaskbar
- Reason: Attempts to use undocumented APIs
- foo_dsp_crossfader
If you are an author of one of above and have fixed the issue, please contact a foobar2000 moderator or developer to get this list updated. To increase the chance of a fast reply, please use the report function on this post instead of directly sending a PM.
Frequently asked questions
- What are metadb_handle leaks?
- metadb_handles are resources used in the metadata management in foobar2000. A leak indicates that a component does not release them (in time). The overall effect of such a leak is relatively harmless. Nevertheless, this is a programming error and foobar2000 detects and reports it to the user. Unfortunately, it is not possible for foobar2000 to detect which component caused the leak.
- What are modal calls, and what is bad about using them in event handlers?
- The term "modal call" here refers to calling a function that blocks the foobar2000 user interface while it performs a (potentially) lengthy operation. Using such a function from inside an event handler opens the possibility of another events being triggered due to user or program actions before the current event is fully processed. The latest versions of foobar2000 check for such erroneous behaviour and trigger a break point if it is detected. Unless foobar2000 is run under a debugger, the effect is that the application crashes. Developers should see the SDK readme for ways to defer such calls, so that they occur outside of an event handler.
- What are inappropriate window modifications?
- This refers to the following paragraph of the foobar2000 SDK license: QUOTEIt is illegal to use this SDK as a part of foobar2000 components that operate outside of legally documented programming interfaces (APIs), such as using window procedure hooks to modify user interface behaviors. We believe components doing so to be harmful to our userbase by introducing compatibility issues and dependencies on undocumented behaviors of our code that may change at any time without any notice or an update to the SDK which would reflect the change.
- Why is silently updating tags without user confirmation a bad thing?
- Silently updating tags of files without any confirmation - triggered by playing them or implicitly by another event - is considered a dangerous misfeature by many people, for various reasons (tagging scheme incompatibilities, file checksum changes clashing with filesharing or backup software, etc). A component should not silently update tags with its default settings.