1 article(FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs)()()()
3 DEFINEMACRO(question)(1)(subsect(ARG1))
7 question(HELP! I'm stuck!)
9 Please read this document carefully. If you are still at loss,
10 send your questions to the bf(mailing list), and not to authors
13 Note: relative paths are meant to be relative to the source directory
17 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
18 question(If I install the .exe file on my DOS/windows 3.11 machine, it doesn't work)
20 The DOS port is done with the cygnus gnu/windows32 port of the GNU utils.
21 It does em(not) work with windows 3.x; you need Windows-NT (95/98?). This
22 is not a recommendation, however. We recommend you use Unix, in
23 particular, use GNU/Linux. For further information see file(README-W32).
25 question(Where is guile-config)
27 RedHat RPMS don't include guile-config. You need guile-config as it
28 was produced during the RPM build run. Build the RPM from source
29 (file(.src.rpm)), and use the guile-config that is in
30 file(/usr/src/redhat/BUILD/guile-1.3/guile-config/).
33 question(I get all kinds of errors while compiling file(parser.cc))
35 LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that
36 you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is bf(GNU) bison
37 bf(1.25). Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't
38 forget to remove the stale file(bison.simple) as well.
40 If the problem persists, then please send a bug report to the mailing list.
42 question(I upgraded by applying a patch, and now my configure/build breaks.)
44 Patches don't include automatically generated files, i.e.
45 file(configure) and files generated by file(configure). Regenerate them
51 You might need to create some extra "out" directories. Do this with
55 question(Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:)
57 [This only applies if you don't do code(make install), and develop out
58 of the source directory]
60 I have a directory which contains all our development projects
65 which looks like file(/usr/)
76 The directory file(~/usr/src/) contains something like
77 includefile(../stepmake/Documentation/layout.yo)
80 ~/usr/src/bin is in the PATH, and contains symbolic links to the
83 question(Is there an emacs mode?)
85 Yes. It is included with the source archive as mudela-mode.el. If
86 you have an rpm it is in /usr/doc/lilypond-X/. You have to install it
89 question(How do i create the file(.tfm) files?)
91 You don't. The file(.tfm) files should be generated automatically by
92 Metafont when you run TeX(). Check your TeX() installation, or ask
93 your local TeX() guru. The supplied file(.afm) files are intended to
94 be used by LilyPond, not by any other programs.
99 question(Why is the documentation/website/etc. so lousy?)
101 LilyPond development is moving quite fast, documentation will often
102 lag a bit behind. We must always make a choice between writing more
103 doco, writing more code and answering email.
105 If you think you can make a correction, or devised a solution that
106 should be documented, please do so and send in a patch.
108 sect(Language: mudela)
110 question(Why can't you type code(#c) in stead of code(cis) ?)
112 We think that code(#c) looks as if you are entering the symbols to
113 print (which you are not; remember, you're entering the musical
117 question(Why do I have to type the accidentals to the note if I specified them?)
123 Independently of how it was written and what the current key was, you
124 would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes. We
125 have tried to make the language somewhat context-free. Of course
126 sheet music is not context-free. Unfortunately, sheet music is also 2
127 dimensional, and ASCII is not.
129 Technically it would be feasible to have the Interpreting phase do
130 tricky things to add (or leave out) the accidentals, but we think that
131 it is impractical: it hampers the readability and portability of your
132 source, since you need LilyPond to fill in the details and actually
136 question(What is code(cis) anyway)
138 code(cis) is the dutch naming for C-sharp. The notes are named
139 a, b,.., g. The suffix -is means sharp, and -es flat. This system is
140 common in a number of languages (such as swedish, dutch, german.)
141 Certain other languages (such as English, French and Italian) just add
142 the word for "sharp" to the notename.
144 We chose the Dutch system, because we're dutch. You are free to chose
145 whatever names you like; they are user definable.
148 question(Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween?)
150 [] designate beams, a note can only be in one beam at the same
151 time. () is a slur, which connects notes. You need to be able to
157 question(I want to insert some TeX commands.)
159 You shouldn't: it's against LilyPond philosophy to have typesetting
160 commands in the mudela source. Moreover, this would be difficult.
161 LilyPond uses TeX like a glorified output engine: the output consists
162 of (x,y) positions and symbols. You can only sensibly do TeX stuff in
163 the symbol string. You can access the symbol string easily for some
164 symbols (notably lyrics and code(^"text") commands).
167 sect(Do you support ...)
169 question(Do you support pop songs (chords, single staff, lyrics)?)
171 Yes, see the file(twinkle-pop) example.
174 question(Do you support guitar chord diagrams?)
176 No. Go ahead and send a patch.
178 We ourselves don't play guitar, and don't know the fine points of this
179 notation. We would welcome anyone who could give this a try.
181 question(Do you support TAB notation?)
183 No. The same as for the previous question goes, but TAB is a lot
184 more work than diagrams (TAB needs modification of Parser, Lexer,
185 Staff, Notehead, Stem code and all the code that creates these graphic
188 question(Do you support multiple staff-sizes?)
190 Yes. At this time you can choose between 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23 and
191 20 pt staff-size. Use the staffLineLeading property for setting the
192 size of the staff, and fontSize for setting the size of the glyphs.
194 question(Do you support Gregorian chant notation?)
198 question(Do you support grace notes?)
200 Yes. See file(input/test/grace.ly)
205 question(How do I change the TeX layout?)
207 See file(lilyponddefs.tex), it has some comments. Or use file(ly2dvi).
209 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
210 question(How do I place lyrics under em(each) of the staves in a score, as choral music. I can work out how to put lyrics for each line all under the top line, or at the bottom but not between!)
212 You change the order lyrics and staves. You have to name all
213 staves (lyric and melodic), otherwise they will end up in the same
217 < \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody
218 \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext
219 \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody
220 \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext
226 question(How do I put more than one marking on a note.)
232 or use spacing-notes to put markings at different horizontal positions
235 { s4\ff s4^"text" s4-\marcato s4 }
238 This also works for crescendi, eg,
245 question(How do I combine multiple pieces into one document)
247 There are several solutions:
254 produces one combined file(foo.dvi)
255 it() make a toplevel file(.ly) file that contains al pieces:
262 it() make a hybrid TeX()/LilyPond file(.doc) document (see the
263 file(Documentation/tex) directory).
266 For the first two solutions, you will need to move code(\header) info
267 in each individual piece from toplevel into the code(\paper) block.
269 There are several examples in the file(mutopia) directory.
272 question(How do I get bar numbers?)
274 See file(input/test/bar-scripts.ly).
277 question(How do I change the tagline 'Lily was here')
279 In the code(\header) field, add a code(tagline) entry, eg
281 tagline="Typeset by GNU LilyPond"
284 to get a bit less frivolous tagging.
288 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
289 question(Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend the syntax to allow YYYY!)
291 If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. In general
292 finding a cute syntax (such as YYYY) isn't very hard. The complicated
293 issue how to adapt the internals to do XXXX. The parser is really a
294 simple front end to the complicated internals.
296 question(Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?)
298 LilyPond development is open for anyone who wants to join. We try
299 to use a Bazaar style development model for LilyPond, see
300 lurl(http://locke.ccil.org/~esr/writings/cathedral.html.) This means:
301 frequent releases, everyone can send in a patch or do suggestions and
302 all development discussions are public.
304 To be precise, discussions take place on the gnu-music-discuss mailing
305 list, which is open for subscription to everyone.
308 question(I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?)
310 There might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to
311 ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch
312 with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list
313 (see the "links" section of the documentation).
316 question(Is there a GUI frontend? Should I start building one?)
318 LilyPond currently has no graphical interface. The authors seriously
319 doubt if a simple-minded approach (dragging and dropping notes) is any
320 easier or quicker to use than mudela. But for composing a graphical
321 environment probably is indispensable.
323 In any case email(Derek Wyatt)(wyatt@scar.utoronto.edu) is working on
324 GTK based editor, but that effort practically died. (see
325 lurl(http://harmonia.scar.utoronto.ca).
327 Matthew Hiller is working on extending Midiscore and Koobase to handle
328 mudela. Check out lurl(http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/~meh25/).
330 There is also a GUI package RoseGarden that could be extended to
333 If you want to work on this, please send e-mail to the mailing list
334 email(gnu-music-discuss@gnu.org).
338 question(I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?)
340 Your best bet of getting us to include code, is to present it as a
341 "fait accompli", i.e., to send a patch to the mailing list.
344 question(I made some code, how do I get you to include it?)
348 diff -urN old-file new-file > patch
352 diff -urN old-directory/ new-directory/ > patch
354 Alternatively, you can use issue the command
359 Don't forget to put your name and e-mail address
360 in the file(AUTHORS.pod) file, or you won't get credits :-]
363 em(Please) always send a bf(-u) diff, even if it is larger than the
366 question(How do I learn the C++ code?)
368 The entry point is in code(main()). Good luck. :-)
370 Seriously, read, reread and reread internals and CodingStyle, and
373 Anywhere? Well, most of the comment doco are in the header files, so
374 your best bet would be code(less lily/include/*.hh).
376 You should also have a look using Javadoc like tools. Try
377 DOC++, lurl(http://www.imaginator.com/doc++)
385 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
386 question(Your make system does not adhere to GNU coding standards, could you please fix it?)
388 No. We have evaluated the standard GNU combination for compiling
389 programs (autoconf, automake, libtool) and found to be inadequate in
390 several respects. More detailed argumentation is included with
391 LilyPond's generic make package code(StepMake)
392 (see file(stepmake-x.x.x/Documentation/automake.urgh))
394 LilyPond already compiles into a different directory ((the different
395 directory is called out/, there is one in every source directory).
396 make distclean essentially reduces to file(rm -f out/*) in every directory
398 question(gdb crashes when I debug!)
402 question(Why do I need g++ >= 2.8 / EGCS-1.1 ?)
404 Supporting more compilers than EGCS/G++ 2.8 is unlikely to make
405 LilyPond run on more platforms. It would give us an enormous headache
406 in detecting and catering for every variant of every compiler: not
407 having to support other compilers saves us a em(lot) of trouble.
413 question(I use dvilj4, and there are lots of warning messages for the printing)
415 You should use dvips and ghostscript to print the code(dvi) output:
416 the slurs and beams are PS code(\special) commands.
419 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
420 question(My symbols are all messed up after I upgraded, I get the wrong symbols and dvi-checksum errors!)
422 We obviously mucked with the fonts in the upgrade. Remove em(all)
423 previous fonts, including the file(.pk) and file(.tfm) fonts in
424 file(/var/lib/texmf). A script automating this has been included, see
425 file(buildscripts/clean-fonts.sh).
427 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
428 question(all the pk and tfm fonts are created in the directory where the mudela file is, not in "/var/spool/texmf" where I think they should be.)
430 Mats Bengtsson <mats.bengtsson@s3.kth.se> writes:
432 The simple solution used by Anthony Fok in the Debian distribution of
433 Lilypond is to link the mf/ directory to
434 /usr/lib/texmf/fonts/source/public/lilypond Depending on what
435 distribution of teTeX and Linux you have installed, there might also
436 be other places like /usr/local/lib/texmf/fonts/source/public/lilypond
437 or /var/spool/texmf//fonts/source/public/lilypond
439 Wherever you put it, don't forget to run mktexlsr (or texhash for
440 older installations) afterwards, so that TeX will find the files.
441 Also, don't forget to remove all old .tfm and .*pk files when the font
442 is updated (as it will be in version 1.1.40, for example).
444 question(Are there scalable versions of the font?)
446 Yes, they are type-3 fonts. In the file(mf/)
450 ) in the mf/ subdirectory. This will also make file(mfplain) for metapost.
451 The file(pfa)s will be in the subdirectory file(out/).
453 question(How does PS output work?)
457 Generate the PostScript Type-3 fonts.
459 Run lilypond with option tt(-f ps):
463 it() To view the file(.ps) output with GhostView, set GS_FONTPATH to the
464 directory containing the file(pfa)s. In the source tree, this is file(mf/out/).
467 i.e. do something like:
469 export GS_FONTPATH=$HOME/usr/src/lilypond/mf/out
474 Direct PS output is still experimental. For creating nice looking ps
475 output, use TeX() and code(dvips).
478 question(The beams and slurs are gone if use the XDvi magnifying glass!?)
480 The beams and slurs are done in PostScript. XDvi doesn't show
481 PostScript in the magnifying glass. Complain to the XDvi maintainers.
484 question(I don't get midi-output, even if I use bf(-M)!)
486 Your \score should include a \midi block, eg.
489 \melodic { c4 c g g }
492 output = "myfile.midi";
497 The bf(-M) option was added to LilyPond because processing the \paper
500 COMMENT(look out: can't have line breaks in subsect() macro)
501 question(A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file, eg. dynamics, articulation, etc.)
503 The MIDI output was originally put in as a proof that MIDI could be
504 done, and as a method of proof"reading" the input. The MIDI support
505 is by no means finished. Patches appreciated.
511 question(What is Urtext? Critical Edition?)
513 Peter Chubb <peterc@aurema.com> writes:
515 An Urtext is a reconstruction of the earliest form of a text,
516 including mistakes the original author wrote. Where there is no
517 available facsimile of the original, creating this can involve some
518 inspired detective work (in comparing various later editions and
519 trying to deduce what the original form was). As far as copyright
520 goes, my guess is that, for works that are otherwise out of copyright,
521 an Urtext is copyright to the person who reconstructed it, as a
522 derived work from the editions s/he consulted. If the edition is
523 created directly from a facsimile, as would be the case for most
524 Urtext editions of music, then the amount of new (copyright) material
527 A critical edition is an edition that is designed for critical
528 study of a text. It'll usually have lots of footnotes, alternative
529 readings, possible realisations of bass parts and harmonies, etc. It
530 aims to elucidate the author's original intentions, as opposed to
531 reproduce exactly what was written. The critical apparatus will be
532 copyright to its author.
534 A playing edition is one that has been edited for modern usage.
535 It'll have fewer or no alternative readings, it'll be in modern
536 notation, it may have additional editorial marks (phrase marks, slurs,
537 etc.) will often have a fully realised basso continuo part (if oone
538 was present in the original) and may have had key changes, time
539 signature changes, time compression (original in 4/1, playing edition
540 in 4/4, for example, with all semibreves replaced with crotchets)
541 Copyright is in the arranger/editor.
543 question(How does copyright for sheet music work? Can I enter and spread my newly bought Bach urtext?)
545 Silas S. Brown <ssb22@hermes.cam.ac.uk>:
547 There are several aspects to sheet music copyright:
549 1. The music itself - copyright for the composer's life plus 70 years (so
550 not applicable to Bach).
552 2. If the music is an arrangement, then the arranger holds copyright on
553 that arrangement. However, you can produce your own arrangement using
554 that arrangement as a reference point. Obviously your arrangement must be
555 sufficently different to be called your own arrangement - you need to do
556 more than change one note!
558 3. In some countries, the same applies for editions. This could be
559 relevant to the Bach example. If a modern person has edited the music,
560 then they hold the copyright on the edition. This does not stop you from
561 removing the editorial features - remove all editorial slurs, phrasemarks,
562 ornaments etc and only leave those that you know to be original. You can
563 then add some of your own if you want to be your own editor.
565 4. If there are lyrics, then the lyricist also holds copyright. This
566 does not stop you from using the music without the lyrics if it is
567 otherwise out of copyright.
569 5. The copyright of the printed page is held by the publisher for 30
570 years after printing (25 in some countries). This stops you from
571 photocopying (unless it's "fair use" eg. you're partially sighted and need
572 to enlarge the music) or otherwise reproducing the typesetting that is
573 used on it. But the copyright is only held over the typesetting work, not
574 the music itself. Since Mudela specifies the notes, independently of any
575 typesetting work that went into your reference copy, you are not
576 duplicating any of the publisher's work.
578 6. If you want to violate copyright, there are two main cases where you
579 may do so: fair use, and with permission. The former is rather fuzzily
580 defined, but it includes such things as including small extracts of a
581 score in a critique, and making a large print or Braille copy for a blind
582 or partially-sighted performer (many people argue that in this case it
583 should always be kept with the original copy and/or destroyed after it is
584 no longer needed). The latter is obvious: You can always write to the
585 composer, arranger, editor, lyricist or publisher in question and ask if
586 you can do whatever it is you're trying to do. Some will respond more
587 readily than others, but anything that they say will override any copying
588 restrictions imposed on you.
591 References - best one I know is the UK-based Performing Right Society,
592 lurl(http://www.prs.co.uk/) (especially "membership") and their links to other
593 international equivalents.
597 Juergen Reuter <reuterj@ira.uka.de>:
599 [More information can be had at: ]
601 lurl(http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/)
604 lurl(http://fairuse.stanford.edu/)
605 (meta site about copyright with many links to other resources)
607 lurl(http://host.mpa.org/crc.html)
608 (copyright from the viewpoint of the USA music publishers' association)
610 lurl(http://www.wipo.int)
611 (World Intellectual Property Organization (a UNO agency); with
612 information about international copyright)
617 See lurl(http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/1714/harpsichord.html)
618 for a summary of copyright relative to old music, also for the
619 expert forum for such questions.
621 Werner Lemberg <sx0005@sx2.HRZ.Uni-Dortmund.DE>:
623 This is not correct. Urtext editions per se are em(not) copyrighted
624 -- if you print exactly what the composer has written, how can there
625 some copyright be added? Copyrighted are usually only the `Critical
626 notes', the foreword, and the cadenzas some editors have added.
628 This means that the `Photocopying forbidden' sign in many scores is
629 not always correct for e.g. J.S. Bach -- you are allowed to copy the
630 pages which don't contain editorial stuff which is probably
633 A very unfortunate situation for the publishers.
640 question(I downloaded the windows32 port, and it doesn't match the website!)
642 The website is usually made from the latest snapshots. Binary releases,
643 in particular the windows32 binaries, are only made every once in a while.
644 They may lag several versions behind the latest version.
646 question(But i want a native DOS/Windows-NT/95 port)
648 Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun!