3 FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
7 Some questions that have been answered before. (note: relative paths
8 are meant to be relative to the source directory)
12 Q: Wow, the webpages look really neat, but if I install the .exe file
13 on my windows 3.11 machine, it doesn't work.
15 A: The dos port is done with the cygnus W32 port of the GNU utils. It
16 does I<not> work with windows 3.x; you need NT or w95 (this is not a
17 recommendation, btw. We recommend you use Unix, in particular, use
20 Q: I get all kinds of errors while compiling F<parser.cc>
22 A: LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that
23 you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is B<GNU> bison
24 B<1.25>. Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't
25 forget to remove the stale F<bison.simple> as well.
27 If the problem persists, then please mail me.
29 Q: Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:
31 A: [This only applies if you don't do C<make install>, and develop out
32 of the source directory]
33 I have a directory which contains all music related stuff,
39 lilypond/ # the directory as unpacked from the tarball
40 releases/ # directory for .tar.gz releases
41 patches/ # directory for patches between different releases
42 test/ # create tarballs and do diffs from this directory
44 ~/something/lilypond/bin is in the PATH, and contains symlinks to the
45 compiled executables. For some of the scripts to work, you have to set
47 LILYPOND_SOURCEDIR=/home/myself/something/lilypond
51 If you don't use patches, you'd probably want to symlink
53 lilypond -> lilypond-x.y.z
55 =head2 Language: mudela
57 Q: Why can't you type C<#c> in stead of C<cis> ?
59 A: We think that C<#c> looks as if you are entering the symbols to
60 print (which you are not; remember, you're entering the musical
63 We're not sure on leaving out this feature. If you think this is a
64 good idea, please let us know.
67 Q: Why do I have to type the accidentals to the note if I specified them?
73 Independently of how it was written and what the current key was, you
74 would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes. We
75 have tried to make the language somewhat context-free. Of course
76 sheet music is not context-free. Unfortunately, sheet music is also 2
77 dimensional, and ASCII is not.
79 Technically it would be feasible to have the Interpreting phase do
80 tricky things to add (or leave out) the accidentals, but we think that
81 it is impractical: it hampers the readability and portability of your
82 source, since you need LilyPond to fill in the details and actually
86 Q: What is C<cis> anyway
88 A: C<cis> is the dutch naming for C-sharp. The notes are named
89 a, b,.., g. The suffix -is means sharp, and -es flat. This system is
90 common in a number of languages (such as swedish, dutch, german.)
91 Certain other languages (such as English, French and Italian) just add
92 the word for "sharp" to the notename.
94 We chose the Dutch system, because we're dutch. You are free to chose
95 whatever names you like; they are user definable.
101 to make a few chords, but why do I have to type
104 < { a~ e } { c ~ g } >
110 to generate ties between the chords?
116 this is shorthand for
118 < { a } { c } > < { e } { g } >
120 Ties have to be confined to `voices', and the a and the e are in
121 different {} blocks, so they are in different voices. You should view
122 the desired construct as a "generalised chord" (two voices stacked
123 vertically). It might help you visualise this by using the following
130 Q: and where do the beams come into this picture?
132 A: Beams are voicegroup-wide, and may be entered in any part of the
135 < { [a ~ e] } { c ~ g } >
136 < { [a ~ e } { c ~ g] } >
137 < { [a ~ e] } { [c ~ g] } >
139 These all give the same result.
141 Q: Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween?
143 A: [] designate beams, a note can only be in one beam at the same
144 time. () is a slur, which connects notes. You need to be able to
150 Q: I want to insert some TeX commands
152 A: You shouldn't: it's against LilyPond philosophy to have typesetting
153 commands in the mudela source. Moreover, this would be difficult. The
154 manner in which Request (the basic building blocks of mudela) are
155 translated into printable items is complex: it is not always possible
156 to associate one Request with one Item or Spanner.
158 As a further notice, we want to move away from TeX (and perhaps
159 output PostScript or render to an X window too), so using TeX will
160 make sources non-portable at some time.
162 =head2 Do you support ...
164 Q: Do you support pop songs (chords, single staff, lyrics)?
166 A: Yes, see the F<twinkle-pop> example.
168 Q: Do you support guitar chord diagrams?
170 A: No, not yet. We ourselves don't play guitar, and don't know the
171 fine points of this notation. We would welcome anyone who could give
174 Q: Do you support TAB notation?
176 A: No. The same as for the previous question goes, but TAB is a lot
177 more work than diagrams (TAB needs modification of Parser, Lexer,
178 Staff, Notehead, Stem code and all the code that creates these graphic
181 Q: Do you support multiple staff-sizes?
183 A: Yes and no. At this time you can choose between 11, 13, 16, 19,
184 20, 23 and 20 pt staff-size. The sizes can't be changed per staff
185 (yet). Look at F<standchen.ly> for an example.
190 Q: How do I change the TeX layout?
192 A: See F<lilyponddefs.tex>, it has some comments.
194 Q: How do I place lyrics under I<each> of the staves in a score, as in
195 choral music. I can work out how to put lyrics for each line all under
196 the top line, or at the bottom but not between!
198 A: You change the order lyrics and staves. You have to name all
199 staves (lyric and melodic), otherwise they will end up in the same
204 < \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody
205 \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext
206 \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody
207 \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext
213 Q: How do I put more than one marking on a note.
215 A: You can stack them
219 or use spacing-notes to put markings at different horizontal positions
222 { s4\ff s4^"text" s4-\marcato s4 }
226 Q: How do I get bar numbers?
228 A: See F<init/engraver.ly>. You have to uncomment some entries. To
229 do this `portably' you should redefine some engravers in your own
230 source files. Check out F<init/rhythm.ly>.
234 Q: Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend
235 the syntax to allow YYYY!
237 A: If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. In general
238 finding a cute syntax (such as YYYY) isn't very hard. The complicated
239 issue how to adapt the internals to do XXXX. The parser is really a
240 simple front end to the complicated internals.
242 Q: Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?
244 A: LilyPond development is open for anyone who wants to join. We try
245 to use a Bazaar style development model for LilyPond, see
246 http://locke.ccil.org/~esr/writings/cathedral.html. This means:
247 frequent releases, everyone can send in a patch or do suggestions and
248 all development discussions are public.
250 To be precise, discussions take place on the gnu-music-discuss mailing
251 list, which is open for subscription to everyone.
254 Q: I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?
256 A: There might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to
257 ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch
258 with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list
259 (see the "links" section of the documentation).
262 Q: I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?
264 A: Your best bet of getting me to include code, is to present it as a
265 "fait accompli", ie., to send me a patch.
268 Q: I made some code, how do I get you to include it?
272 diff -urN old-file new-file > patch
276 diff -urN old-directory/ new-directory/ > patch
278 Alternatively, you can use F<bin/make-patch.py>. Don't forget to put
279 in your name and e-mail address.
281 Q: How do I learn the C++ code?
283 A: The entry point is in C<main()>. Good luck. :-)
285 Seriously, read, reread and reread internals and CodingStyle, and
288 Anywhere? Well, most of the comment doco are in the header files, so
289 your best bet would be C<less lily/include/*.hh>. Some of the most
290 important data-structures are to be found in:
309 Q: Why do I need g++ >= 2.7?
311 A: By using g++, GNU LilyPond is portable to all platforms which support
312 g++ (there are quite a few). Not having to support other compilers
313 saves us a I<lot> of trouble.
317 Q: There are lots of warning messages for the printing, all
320 dvilj4l: warning: Invalid keyword or value in \special -
322 A: You should use dvips and ghostscript to print it: the slurs and
323 beams are PS C<\special> commands
326 Q: My symbols are all messed up after I upgraded, and I get
329 A: We mucked with the fonts in the upgrade. Remove I<all> previous
330 fonts, including the .pk and .tfm fonts in F</var/lib/texmf>. A
331 script automating this has been included, see F<bin/clean-fonts.sh>
333 Q: I don't get midi-output, even if I use B<-M>!
335 A: Your \score should include a \midi block, eg.
338 \melodic { c4 c g g }
341 \output "myfile.mid";
346 The B<-M> option was added to LilyPond because processing the \paper
349 Q: A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file (dynamics,
352 A: The MIDI output was originally put in as a proof that MIDI could be
353 done, and as a method of proof"reading" the input. The MIDI support
354 is by no means finished.
358 can't load library 'libflower.so'
360 A: You are using the dynamically compiled Flower library. Please set
361 LD_LIBRARY_PATH to a directory containing F<libflower.so>
365 Q: I downloaded the W95 port, and it doesn't match the website!
367 A: The website is usually made from the latest snapshots. The W95
368 binaries are only made every once in a while. They can lag several
369 versions behind the latest version.
371 Q: I want a DOS/NT/W95 port.
373 A.0: Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun!
375 A.1: Currently (0.0.27), GNU LilyPond (and flowerLib) compiles,
376 links and runs on Windows-nt, using Cygnus' gnu port (release b17.1).
377 I (JCN) only had to make a minor workaround for missing library calls.
378 Have a look at http://www.cygnus.com/gnu-win32. To make GNU LilyPond
379 type C<make>. (I am not promising to maintain this platform, it is just
380 that when forced into doze, i'm sometimes too lazy to reboot.)
382 A.2: I haven't had time to find a Linux GCC crosscompiler (I<with> g++
383 and libg++, mind you) to DOS/Windows (in rpm, please :-)
385 A.3: If you are knowledgeable enough to make w32 compiles from time to
386 time, please do so! We want to keep away from w32 as far as possible.
388 Q: I just love to blindly run the (sometimes bit stale) .exe's you distribute.
389 Why do i need cygwin.dll?
391 A: It's all in this cut-n-paste:
393 Minimalist GNU-Win32 Readme
396 Colin Peters <colin@bird.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp>
400 0.3 Fixes and Improvements
403 In the "coming soon" category I have a version of the GNU Standard C++
404 library ported to Mingw32. This means you can use iostreams, complex
405 numbers and all those neat STL (Standard Template Library) things
406 without needing the Cygwin DLL. I hope to put this port up for
407 downloading soon (along with the source of course).
413 To add C++ Support to the above the following extra files are required:
415 In C:\cygnus\H-i386-cygwin32\lib\gcc-lib\i386-cygwin32\cygnus-2.7.2-
419 Note that this does not include support for the standard C++ libraries
420 (only the C run time libraries) or for iostreams. That support is still
421 only available with the Cygwin32 API.