When something goes wrong

Where the log is

pundit writes what it is doing to standard error. Started from the applications menu on an X11 session (Linux Mint's default), that lands in ~/.xsession-errors; started from a terminal as pundit, you see it directly. When you report a problem, the last few dozen lines are the most useful thing you can send.

Playback is slow or jerky

Every time a video loads, pundit logs one line saying how it is being decoded:

grep "bus: loaded" ~/.xsession-errors | tail -1

On a machine decoding in hardware it names a vah264dec or vah265dec decoder, memory:DMABuf and egl. Anything else — avdec_…, SystemMemory or glx — means the slow path: check a VA-API driver is installed (intel-media-va-driver or va-driver-all).

If playback slows only while the monitor is off or asleep, start the app as vblank_mode=0 pundit.

Exports are slow

Without a VA-API driver, export falls back to the x264enc software encoder, which is much slower. The whole match exports in about a minute when it can be copied rather than encoded.

Recording will not start

The message says what was missing. If it is the camera, check it is chosen in Devices…, or record with a photo instead.

A project will not open

• "This project was made by a newer version of pundit" — install that version again.
• A missing video shows as Missing under Sources; Relink… points the project at where it is now.
• Going back to an older version — the first save after an upgrade keeps the old file beside the new one, as project.json.v<old version>. Rename it back to project.json to use it with the older build, losing what changed since.

Settings gone strange

The app's own files are listed under Installing. Moving one aside resets just that: your projects are never stored there.