. added the Null Module, the module that does nothing but that is going
    to be of great help for debugging my module code.

Makefile.in

@@ -314,6 +314,8 @@ PLUGIN_SDL =	plugins/sdl/sdl.o \
 #		plugins/sdl/video_yuv.o \
 #		plugins/sdl/video_yuvall.o
 
+PLUGIN_NULL =	plugins/null/null.o
+
 PLUGIN_GLIDE =	plugins/glide/glide.o \
 		plugins/glide/intf_glide.o \
 		plugins/glide/vout_glide.o
@@ -363,7 +365,8 @@ STD_PLUGIN_OBJ =$(PLUGIN_BEOS) \
 		$(PLUGIN_YUV) \
 		$(PLUGIN_YUVMMX) \
 		$(PLUGIN_SDL) \
-		$(PLUGIN_ALSA)
+		$(PLUGIN_ALSA) \
+		$(PLUGIN_NULL)
 
 #
 # Other lists of files
@@ -502,6 +505,9 @@ lib/dsp.so: $(PLUGIN_DSP)
 lib/alsa.so: $(PLUGIN_ALSA)
 	$(CC) -shared -o $@ $^
 
+lib/null.so: $(PLUGIN_NULL)
+	$(CC) -shared -o $@ $^
+
 lib/dummy.so: $(PLUGIN_DUMMY)
 	$(CC) -shared -o $@ $^
 

configure.in

@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(sdl,
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(glide,
   [  --enable-glide          Glide (3dfx) support (default disabled)],
   [if test x$enable_glide = xyes; then PLUGINS=${PLUGINS}"glide "; fi])
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(null,
+  [  --enable-null           Null plugin (default disabled)],
+  [if test x$enable_null = xyes; then PLUGINS=${PLUGINS}"null "; fi])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(gnome,
   [  --enable-gnome          Gnome support (default disabled)],
   [if test x$enable_gnome = xyes; then PLUGINS=${PLUGINS}"gnome "; ALIASES=${ALIASES}"gvlc "; fi])

plugins/null/null.c

+/*****************************************************************************
+ * null.c : NULL module for vlc
+ *****************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (C) 2000 VideoLAN
+ *
+ * Authors: Samuel Hocevar <sam@zoy.org>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ * 
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111, USA.
+ *****************************************************************************/
+
+#define MODULE_NAME null
+
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * Preamble
+ *****************************************************************************/
+#include "defs.h"
+
+#include <stdlib.h>                                      /* malloc(), free() */
+#include <string.h>                                              /* strdup() */
+
+#include "config.h"
+#include "common.h"                                     /* boolean_t, byte_t */
+#include "threads.h"
+#include "mtime.h"
+#include "tests.h"
+#include "modules.h"
+#include "modules_inner.h"
+#include "modules_config.h"
+
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * Build configuration tree.
+ *****************************************************************************/
+MODULE_CONFIG_START( "Configuration for null module" )
+    ADD_PANE( "First" )
+        ADD_FRAME( "First test" )
+            ADD_COMMENT( "You can put whatever you want here." )
+            ADD_STRING( "Random text: ", MODULE_VAR(text), NULL )
+        ADD_FRAME( "Second test" )
+            ADD_COMMENT( "The file below is not used." )
+            ADD_FILE( "Select file: ", MODULE_VAR(file), NULL )
+        ADD_FRAME( "Third test" )
+            ADD_COMMENT( "This space intentionally left blank." )
+    ADD_PANE( "Second" )
+        ADD_FRAME( "NULL Frame" )
+            ADD_COMMENT( "There is nothing in this frame." )
+MODULE_CONFIG_END
+
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * InitModule: get the module structure and configuration.
+ *****************************************************************************
+ * We have to fill psz_name, psz_longname and psz_version. These variables
+ * will be strdup()ed later by the main application because the module can
+ * be unloaded later to save memory, and we want to be able to access this
+ * data even after the module has been unloaded.
+ *****************************************************************************/
+int InitModule( module_t * p_module )
+{
+    p_module->psz_name = MODULE_STRING;
+    p_module->psz_longname = "the Null Module that does nothing";
+    p_module->psz_version = VERSION;
+
+    p_module->i_capabilities = MODULE_CAPABILITY_NULL;
+
+    return( 0 );
+}
+
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * ActivateModule: set the module to an usable state.
+ *****************************************************************************
+ * This function fills the capability functions and the configuration
+ * structure. Once ActivateModule() has been called, the i_usage can
+ * be set to 0 and calls to NeedModule() be made to increment it. To unload
+ * the module, one has to wait until i_usage == 0 and call DeactivateModule().
+ *****************************************************************************/
+int ActivateModule( module_t * p_module )
+{
+    p_module->p_config = p_config;
+    return( 0 );
+}
+
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * DeactivateModule: make sure the module can be unloaded.
+ *****************************************************************************
+ * This function must only be called when i_usage == 0. If it successfully
+ * returns, i_usage can be set to -1 and the module unloaded. Be careful to
+ * lock usage_lock during the whole process.
+ *****************************************************************************/
+int DeactivateModule( module_t * p_module )
+{
+    return( 0 );
+}
+