3 FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
7 Some questions that have been answered before.
11 Q: I get all kinds of errors while compiling F<parser.cc>
13 A: LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that
14 you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is B<GNU> bison
15 B<1.25>. Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't
16 forget to remove the stale F<bison.simple> as well.
18 If the problem persists, then please mail me.
20 Q: Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:
22 A: [This only applies if you don't do C<make install>, and develop out
23 of the source directory]
29 lilypond/ # the directory as unpacked from the tarball
30 releases/ # directory for .tar.gz releases
31 patches/ # directory for patches between different releases
34 ~/something/lilypond/bin is in the PATH, and contains symlinks to the
37 If you don't use patches, you'd probably want to symlink
39 lilypond -> lilypond-x.y.z
41 =head2 Language: mudela
43 Q: Why can't you type C<#c> in stead of C<cis> ?
45 A: We think that C<#c> looks as if you are entering the symbols to
46 print (which you are not; remember, you're entering the musical
49 We're not sure on leaving out this feature. If you think this is a
50 good idea, please let us know.
52 Be warned we will I<not> allow you to leave out the C<#> if the note
53 already has an accidental. We won't allow
62 Why, you might ask? Because independently of how it was written, you
63 would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes.
66 Q: What is C<cis> anyway
68 A: C<cis> is the dutch naming for C-sharp. The notes are named
69 a, b,.., g. The suffix -is means sharp, and -es flat. This system is
70 common in a number of languages (such as swedish, dutch, german.)
71 Certain other languages (such as English, French and Italian) just add
72 the word for "sharp" to the notename.
74 We chose the Dutch system, because we're dutch. You are free to chose
75 whatever names you like; they are user definable.
81 to make a few chords, but why do I have to type
84 < { a~ e } { c ~ g } >
90 to generate ties between the chords?
98 < { a } { c } > < { e } { g } >
100 Ties have to be confined to `voices', and the a and the e are in
101 different {} blocks, so they are in different voices. You should view
102 the desired construct as a "generalised chord" (two voices stacked
103 vertically). It might help you visualise this by using the following
110 Q: and where do the beams come into this picture?
112 A: Beams are voicegroup-wide, and may be entered in any part of the
115 < { [a ~ e] } { c ~ g } >
116 < { [a ~ e } { c ~ g] } >
117 < { [a ~ e] } { [c ~ g] } >
119 These all give the same result.
121 Q: Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween?
123 A: [] designate beams, a note can only be in one beam at the same
124 time. () is a slur, which connects notes. You need to be able to
129 Q: How do I place lyrics under I<each> of the staves in a score, as in
130 choral music. I can work out how to put lyrics for each line all under
131 the top line, or at the bottom but not between!
133 A: You change the order lyrics and staves. You have to name all
134 staves (lyric and melodic), otherwise they will end up in the same
139 < \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody
140 \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext
141 \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody
142 \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext
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.
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: How do I change the TeX layout?
183 A: See F<lilyponddefs.tex>, it has some comments.
189 Q: Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend
190 the syntax to allow YYYY!
192 A: If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. In general
193 finding a cute syntax (such as YYYY) isn't very hard. The complicated
194 issue how to adapt the internals to do XXXX. The parser is really a
195 simple front end to the complicated internals.
197 Q: Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?
199 A: LilyPond development is open for anyone who wants to join. We try
200 to use a Bazaar style development model for LilyPond, see
201 http://locke.ccil.org/~esr/writing/cathedral.html. This means:
202 frequent releases, everyone can send in a patch or do suggestions and
203 all development discussions are public.
205 To be precise, discussions take place on the gnu-music-discuss mailing
206 list, which is open for subscription to everyone.
209 Q: I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?
211 A: There might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to
212 ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch
213 with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list
214 (see the "links" section of the documentation).
217 Q: I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?
219 A: Your best bet of getting me to include code, is to present it as a
220 "fait accompli", ie., to send me a patch.
224 Q: How do I learn the C++ code?
226 A: The entry point is in C<main()>. Good luck. :-)
228 Seriously, read, reread and reread lilygut and CodingStyle, and
231 Anywhere? Well, most of the comment doco are in the header files, so
232 your best bet would be C<less lily/include/*.hh>. Some of the most
233 important data-structures are to be found in:
253 Q: Why do I need g++ >= 2.7?
255 A: By using g++, GNU LilyPond is portable to all platforms which support
256 g++ (there are quite a few). Not having to support other compilers
257 saves us a I<lot> of trouble.
261 Q: I don't get midi-output, even if I use B<-M>
263 A: Your \score should include a \midi block, eg.
266 \melodic { c4 c g g }
269 \output "myfile.mid";
273 The B<-M> option was added to LilyPond because processing the \paper
276 Q: A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file (dynamics,
279 A: The MIDI output was originally put in as a proof that MIDI could be
280 done, and as a method of proof"reading" the input. The MIDI support
281 is by no means finished.
285 can't load library 'libflower.so'
287 A: You are using the dynamically compiled Flower library. Please set
288 LD_LIBRARY_PATH to a directory containing F<libflower.so>
292 Q: I want a DOS/NT/W95 port.
294 A.0: Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun!
296 A.1: Currently (0.0.27), GNU LilyPond (and flowerLib) compiles,
297 links and runs on Windows-nt, using Cygnus' gnu port (release b17.1).
298 I (JCN) only had to make a minor workaround for missing library calls.
299 Have a look at http://www.cygnus.com/gnu-win32. To make GNU LilyPond
300 type C<make>. (I am not promising to maintain this platform, it is just
301 that when forced into doze, i'm sometimes too lazy to reboot.)
303 A.2: I haven't had time to find a Linux GCC crosscompiler (I<with> g++
304 and libg++, mind you) to DOS/Windows (in rpm, please :-)
306 A.3: If you are knowledgeable enough to make w32 compiles from time to
307 time, please do so! We want to keep away from w32 as far as possible.
309 Q: I just love to blindly run the (sometimes bit stale) .exe's you distribute.
310 Why do i need cygwin.dll?
312 A: It's all in this cut-n-paste:
314 Minimalist GNU-Win32 Readme
317 Colin Peters <colin@bird.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp>
321 0.3 Fixes and Improvements
324 In the "coming soon" category I have a version of the GNU Standard C++
325 library ported to Mingw32. This means you can use iostreams, complex
326 numbers and all those neat STL (Standard Template Library) things
327 without needing the Cygwin DLL. I hope to put this port up for
328 downloading soon (along with the source of course).
334 To add C++ Support to the above the following extra files are required:
336 In C:\cygnus\H-i386-cygwin32\lib\gcc-lib\i386-cygwin32\cygnus-2.7.2-
340 Note that this does not include support for the standard C++ libraries
341 (only the C run time libraries) or for iostreams. That support is still
342 only available with the Cygwin32 API.