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: I get all kinds of errors while compiling F<parser.cc>
14 A: LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that
15 you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is B<GNU> bison
16 B<1.25>. Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't
17 forget to remove the stale F<bison.simple> as well.
19 If the problem persists, then please mail me.
21 Q: Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:
23 A: [This only applies if you don't do C<make install>, and develop out
24 of the source directory]
25 I have a directory which contains all music related stuff,
31 lilypond/ # the directory as unpacked from the tarball
32 releases/ # directory for .tar.gz releases
33 patches/ # directory for patches between different releases
34 test/ # create tarballs and do diffs from this directory
36 ~/something/lilypond/bin is in the PATH, and contains symlinks to the
37 compiled executables. For some of the scripts to work, you have to set
39 LILYPOND_SOURCEDIR=/home/myself/something/lilypond
43 If you don't use patches, you'd probably want to symlink
45 lilypond -> lilypond-x.y.z
47 =head2 Language: mudela
49 Q: Why can't you type C<#c> in stead of C<cis> ?
51 A: We think that C<#c> looks as if you are entering the symbols to
52 print (which you are not; remember, you're entering the musical
55 We're not sure on leaving out this feature. If you think this is a
56 good idea, please let us know.
58 Be warned we will I<not> allow you to leave out the C<#> if the note
59 already has an accidental, or if the key has a C-sharp. We won't allow
68 Why, you might ask? Because independently of how it was written, you
69 would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes.
72 Q: What is C<cis> anyway
74 A: C<cis> is the dutch naming for C-sharp. The notes are named
75 a, b,.., g. The suffix -is means sharp, and -es flat. This system is
76 common in a number of languages (such as swedish, dutch, german.)
77 Certain other languages (such as English, French and Italian) just add
78 the word for "sharp" to the notename.
80 We chose the Dutch system, because we're dutch. You are free to chose
81 whatever names you like; they are user definable.
87 to make a few chords, but why do I have to type
90 < { a~ e } { c ~ g } >
96 to generate ties between the chords?
102 this is shorthand for
104 < { a } { c } > < { e } { g } >
106 Ties have to be confined to `voices', and the a and the e are in
107 different {} blocks, so they are in different voices. You should view
108 the desired construct as a "generalised chord" (two voices stacked
109 vertically). It might help you visualise this by using the following
116 Q: and where do the beams come into this picture?
118 A: Beams are voicegroup-wide, and may be entered in any part of the
121 < { [a ~ e] } { c ~ g } >
122 < { [a ~ e } { c ~ g] } >
123 < { [a ~ e] } { [c ~ g] } >
125 These all give the same result.
127 Q: Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween?
129 A: [] designate beams, a note can only be in one beam at the same
130 time. () is a slur, which connects notes. You need to be able to
136 Q: I want to insert some TeX commands
138 A: You shouldn't: it's against LilyPond philosophy to have typesetting
139 commands in the mudela source. Moreover, this would be difficult. The
140 manner in which Request (the basic building blocks of mudela) are
141 translated into printable items is complex: it is not always possible
142 to associate one Request with one Item or Spanner.
144 As a further notice, we want to move away from TeX (and perhaps
145 output PostScript or render to an X window too), so using TeX will
146 make sources non-portable at some time.
148 =head2 Do you support ...
150 Q: Do you support pop songs (chords, single staff, lyrics)?
152 A: Yes, see the F<twinkle-pop> example.
154 Q: Do you support guitar chord diagrams?
156 A: No, not yet. We ourselves don't play guitar, and don't know the
157 fine points of this notation. We would welcome anyone who could give
160 Q: Do you support TAB notation?
162 A: No. The same as for the previous question goes, but TAB is a lot
163 more work than diagrams (TAB needs modification of Parser, Lexer,
164 Staff, Notehead, Stem code and all the code that creates these graphic
167 Q: Do you support multiple staff-sizes?
169 A: Yes and no. At this time you can choose between 16 or 20 pt
170 staff-size (you can have other sizes, but you need to tinker with the
171 fonts to get those). The sizes can't be changed per staff (yet).
172 Look at F<standchen.ly> for an example.
177 Q: How do I change the TeX layout?
179 A: See F<lilyponddefs.tex>, it has some comments.
181 Q: How do I place lyrics under I<each> of the staves in a score, as in
182 choral music. I can work out how to put lyrics for each line all under
183 the top line, or at the bottom but not between!
185 A: You change the order lyrics and staves. You have to name all
186 staves (lyric and melodic), otherwise they will end up in the same
191 < \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody
192 \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext
193 \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody
194 \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext
200 Q: How do I put more than one marking on a note.
202 A: You can stack them
206 or use spacing-notes to put markings at different horizontal positions
209 { s4\ff s4^"text" s4-\marcato s4 }
216 Q: Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend
217 the syntax to allow YYYY!
219 A: If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. In general
220 finding a cute syntax (such as YYYY) isn't very hard. The complicated
221 issue how to adapt the internals to do XXXX. The parser is really a
222 simple front end to the complicated internals.
224 Q: Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?
226 A: LilyPond development is open for anyone who wants to join. We try
227 to use a Bazaar style development model for LilyPond, see
228 http://locke.ccil.org/~esr/writing/cathedral.html. This means:
229 frequent releases, everyone can send in a patch or do suggestions and
230 all development discussions are public.
232 To be precise, discussions take place on the gnu-music-discuss mailing
233 list, which is open for subscription to everyone.
236 Q: I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?
238 A: There might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to
239 ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch
240 with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list
241 (see the "links" section of the documentation).
244 Q: I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?
246 A: Your best bet of getting me to include code, is to present it as a
247 "fait accompli", ie., to send me a patch.
250 Q: I made some code, how do I get you to include it?
254 diff -urN old-file new-file > patch
258 diff -urN old-directory/ new-directory/ > patch
260 Alternatively, you can use bin/make-patch.py
262 Q: How do I learn the C++ code?
264 A: The entry point is in C<main()>. Good luck. :-)
266 Seriously, read, reread and reread lilygut and CodingStyle, and
269 Anywhere? Well, most of the comment doco are in the header files, so
270 your best bet would be C<less lily/include/*.hh>. Some of the most
271 important data-structures are to be found in:
291 Q: Why do I need g++ >= 2.7?
293 A: By using g++, GNU LilyPond is portable to all platforms which support
294 g++ (there are quite a few). Not having to support other compilers
295 saves us a I<lot> of trouble.
299 Q: There are lots of warning messages for the printing, all
302 dvilj4l: warning: Invalid keyword or value in \special -
304 A: You should use dvips and ghostscript to print it: the slurs and
305 beams are PS C<\special> commands
308 Q: My symbols are all messed up after I upgraded, and I get
311 A: We mucked with the fonts in the upgrade. Remove I<all> previous
312 fonts, including the .pk and .tfm fonts in F</var/lib/texmf>. A
313 script automating this has been included, see F<bin/clean-fonts.sh>
315 Q: I don't get midi-output, even if I use B<-M>!
317 A: Your \score should include a \midi block, eg.
320 \melodic { c4 c g g }
323 \output "myfile.mid";
327 The B<-M> option was added to LilyPond because processing the \paper
330 Q: A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file (dynamics,
333 A: The MIDI output was originally put in as a proof that MIDI could be
334 done, and as a method of proof"reading" the input. The MIDI support
335 is by no means finished.
339 can't load library 'libflower.so'
341 A: You are using the dynamically compiled Flower library. Please set
342 LD_LIBRARY_PATH to a directory containing F<libflower.so>
346 Q: I want a DOS/NT/W95 port.
348 A.0: Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun!
350 A.1: Currently (0.0.27), GNU LilyPond (and flowerLib) compiles,
351 links and runs on Windows-nt, using Cygnus' gnu port (release b17.1).
352 I (JCN) only had to make a minor workaround for missing library calls.
353 Have a look at http://www.cygnus.com/gnu-win32. To make GNU LilyPond
354 type C<make>. (I am not promising to maintain this platform, it is just
355 that when forced into doze, i'm sometimes too lazy to reboot.)
357 A.2: I haven't had time to find a Linux GCC crosscompiler (I<with> g++
358 and libg++, mind you) to DOS/Windows (in rpm, please :-)
360 A.3: If you are knowledgeable enough to make w32 compiles from time to
361 time, please do so! We want to keep away from w32 as far as possible.
363 Q: I just love to blindly run the (sometimes bit stale) .exe's you distribute.
364 Why do i need cygwin.dll?
366 A: It's all in this cut-n-paste:
368 Minimalist GNU-Win32 Readme
371 Colin Peters <colin@bird.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp>
375 0.3 Fixes and Improvements
378 In the "coming soon" category I have a version of the GNU Standard C++
379 library ported to Mingw32. This means you can use iostreams, complex
380 numbers and all those neat STL (Standard Template Library) things
381 without needing the Cygwin DLL. I hope to put this port up for
382 downloading soon (along with the source of course).
388 To add C++ Support to the above the following extra files are required:
390 In C:\cygnus\H-i386-cygwin32\lib\gcc-lib\i386-cygwin32\cygnus-2.7.2-
394 Note that this does not include support for the standard C++ libraries
395 (only the C run time libraries) or for iostreams. That support is still
396 only available with the Cygwin32 API.