by making the spawned threads wait a bit longer.
  * ./src/misc/variables.c: added a usage count to the variables; trying to
    create a variable with the same name only increments its refcount.

  * ./include/main.h: removed p_vlc->i_status because it was not sufficient
    to represent all the possible states of p_vlc; each part should be tested
    separately upon destruction.
  * ./src/misc/objects.c: fixed a signed/unsigned bug that prevented creation
    of VLC_OBJECT_GENERIC objects.

  * ./src/misc/variables.c: added the VLC_VAR_COMMAND type which is simply a
    variable that stores a function pointer, and calls it when var_Get is
    called for it. The function argument is taken in val.psz_string.
  * ./src/misc/objects.c: vlc_dumpstructure and vlc_liststructure are no longer
    exported to the rest of the program; instead, they're VLC_VAR_COMMAND vars
    ("tree" and "list").
  * ./modules/control/rc/rc.c: moved a few commands to VLC_VAR_COMMAND vars.

    compiled yet because it uses the "command" variables I'm about to check
    in. They need to be typed in the rc interface for instance (-I rc). This
    module has two available commands: "signal <int>" which sends the given
    signal to the vlc process, and "stress [<int>]" which performs a series of
    object creation/lookup/destruction, variable creation/setting/destruction
    and thread spawning/joining tests. The optional argument for stress is an
    integer between 1 and 200 (the bigger, the heavier the tests; it may hang
    your machine at around 150, be careful).

It is kludgy, but it works ;)

 modules/gui/kde/*: only set variable the user actually have changed when
apply is pressed in the preferences window.

identical ! So I removed hacking.xml...

* configure.ac.in: fix for the mingw32 build. The gtk plugin may also need mingwex.
* modules/demux/mpeg/ts.c: added an #include <stdint.h> to make mingw32 happy when
   compiled with libdvbpsi.
* Makefile.am: fixed dependency problem with share/vlc_win32_rc.rc.

* configure.ac.in: fix for the mingw32 build. We check if we need to explicitly
   link with the mingwex library (needed for dirent support with new mingw32
   runtimes).

Sound is yet choppy (I don't know why).

  * ./include/vlc/vlc.h: changed the naming conventions for libvlc. Now
    exported functions start with VLC_ instead of vlc_ to avoid conflicts.
  * ./include/vlc/vlc.h: removed the vlc_object_t, vlc_list_t, vlc_error_t
    and vlc_t types; they are now internal types only.
  * ./include/vlc/vlc.h: merged the reentrant and non-reentrant libvlc
    calls. In non-reentrant mode, we just use 0 as the first argument. In
    reentrant mode, we use an object's ID. (see below)

Internal changes:
  * ./src/libvlc.c, ./src/misc/objects.c: instead of manipulating vlc_object_t
    pointers, we manipulate their i_object_id. When needed, an object is
    retrieved using vlc_object_get (I hope the lookup isn't too expensive,
    that's why I designed the pp_objects layout to allow log2(n) seeks).
  * ./src/misc/objects.c: activated the per-object variable storage. Unused
    yet, unless you want to try "getfoo" and "setfoo blablah" in vlc -I rc.
  * ./include/vlc_objects.h: moved the vlc_object_t and vlc_list_t definitions
    here.

Misc:
  * ./src/vlc.c, ./mozilla/vlcshell.cpp: removed inclusion of config.h in
    code portions not part of libvlc; it was just required for the
    COPYRIGHT_MESSAGE string which is now available from VLC_Version().

    linear deinterlace mode, thanks to Marian Durkovic <md@bts.sk>.

* INSTALL.win32: removed note about running in administrator mode to play
   a DVD. Updated doc about using cygwin for compiling.

    in-object variable storage. Unused yet (not even compiled).

* src/misc/modules.c: fixed a memory leak with the "plugin-path" config option.
* modules/audio_output/directx.c, modules/audio_output/waveout.c: ported the directx
   and waveout audio plugins to the new changes in the audio output layer.
* configure.ac.in: fixes for cygwin compilation, and the gtk plugin under mingw32.

lame...).

decrease cpu-usage considerably.
 preferences.cpp: allow config strings to be 40 characters long instead of
10. Is that enough?

    set variable values (ash doesn't have typeset).

* Finally fixed the audio problem on most platforms.

otherwise we can't quit the application any longer...

    only two levels of -v are now possible: -v for warnings, -vv for debug
    messages (-q for no output at all).

    is set to the empty string (happens when doing "Apply" in a GUI).

* http.c : fixed a problem with seeking with large files

* configure.ac.in: vlc can now be built under cygwin with or without the
   unix emulation layer (without if you use CC="gcc -mno-cygwin").
* INSTALL.win32: doc update for cygwin build.
* modules/video_output/directx/events.c, modules/video_output/directx/directx.c,
   modules/audio_output/directx.c: compilation fixes for cygwin.

  ./src/libvlc.h: Default to en0 instead of eth0 under Darwin

* ALL: Splitted the directx plugin into an audio and video module.

  ./modules/gui/macosx/open.[mh]: Open Target code

  * ./src/misc/objects.c: structure_lock is now local.
  * ./src/misc/threads.c: implemented named mutexes which provide a handy
    way to protect data across plugins which might be sharing the same
    resources. Thread-unsafe libraries come to mind, but we can imagine
    using a named mutex for configuration files, or special devices.
  * ./include/main.h: removed global_lock because of vlc_mutex_need, removed
    p_global_data because it was never used, removed structure_lock because
    it did not belong here.

    the video output is initialized, we wait for a while before giving up;
    also changed the code so that it probes all interface objects rather than
    the first one it finds.

  * ./modules/misc/testsuite/*: moved the null module into three test modules
    that are only built when --enable-testsuite is activated. This directory
    can be a good place for compilation tests or performance benchmarks.

* src/misc/threads.c, src/misc/win32_specific.c, include/interface.h: fixed typos.
* configure.ac.in, modules/gui/gtk/gtk.c: Added a NEED_GTK_MAIN macro to the compiler
   flags for the gtk module. When this macro isn't defined, then the gtk module
   doesn't make use of the gtk_main module. I had to do this change because the
   gtk_main trick can't work on win32 and render the whole gtk interface unusable.