1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @settitle FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
5 @node Top, , Windows32, (dir)
8 * FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs:: FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
13 @node FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs, Miscellaneous, , Top
15 * Miscellaneous:: Miscellaneous
16 * Installing:: Installing
17 * Documentation:: Documentation
18 * Language- mudela:: Language- mudela
19 * Do you support -:: Do you support -
20 * How do I -:: How do I -
21 * Development:: Development
23 * Copyright:: Copyright
24 * Windows32:: Windows32
26 @chapter FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
29 @node Miscellaneous, Installing, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
30 @section Miscellaneous
32 @subsubsection HELP! I'm stuck!
34 Please read this document carefully. If you are still at loss, send
35 your questions to the @strong{mailing list}, and not to authors
38 Note: relative paths are meant to be relative to the source directory
40 @node Installing, Documentation, Miscellaneous, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
44 @subsubsection If I install the .exe file on my DOS/windows 3.11 machine, it doesn't work
46 The NT port is done with the Cygnus GNU/Windows32 port of the GNU utils.
47 It does @emph{not} work with windows 3.x; you need Windows-NT (95/98?).
49 @subsubsection Where is guile-config
51 Old RedHat RPMS don't include guile-config. You need guile-config as it
52 was produced during the RPM build run. Build the RPM from source
53 (@file{.src.rpm}), and use the guile-config that is in
54 @file{/usr/src/redhat/BUILD/guile-1.3/guile-config/}.
56 @subsubsection I get all kinds of errors while compiling @file{parser.cc}
58 LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that
59 you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is @strong{GNU} bison
60 @strong{1.25}. Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't
61 forget to remove the stale @file{bison.simple} as well.
63 If the problem persists, then please send a bug report to the mailing list.
65 @subsubsection I upgraded by applying a patch, and now my configure/build breaks.
67 Patches don't include automatically generated files, i.e.
68 @file{configure} and files generated by @file{configure}. Regenerate them
78 @subsubsection Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:
80 [This only applies if you don't do @code{make install}, and develop out
81 of the source directory]
83 I have a directory which contains all our development projects
90 which looks like @file{/usr/}
106 ~/usr/src/bin is in the PATH, and contains symbolic links to the
107 compiled executables.
109 @subsubsection Is there an emacs mode?
111 Yes. It is included with the source archive as mudela-mode.el. If
112 you have an rpm it is in /usr/doc/lilypond-X/. You have to install it
115 @subsubsection How do I create the @file{.tfm} files?
117 You don't. The @file{.tfm} files should be generated automatically by
118 Metafont when you run TeX. Check your TeX installation, or ask
119 your local TeX guru. The supplied @file{.afm} files are intended to
120 be used by LilyPond, not by any other programs.
122 @node Documentation, Language- mudela, Installing, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
123 @section Documentation
125 @subsubsection Why is the documentation/website/etc. so lousy?
127 LilyPond development is moving quite fast, documentation will often
128 lag a bit behind. We must always make a choice between writing more
129 doco, writing more code and answering email.
131 If you think you can make a correction, or devised a solution that
132 should be documented, please do so and send in a patch.
134 @node Language- mudela, Do you support -, Documentation, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
135 @section Language: mudela
137 @subsubsection Why do I have to type the accidentals to the note if I
138 specified them in the keysignature?
147 Independently of how it was written and what the current key was, you
148 would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes, so you
149 have to enter C-sharp twice.
151 @subsubsection What is @code{cis} anyway
153 @code{cis} is the dutch naming for C-sharp. The notes are named
154 a, b,.., g. The suffix -is means sharp, and -es flat. This system is
155 common in a number of languages (such as swedish, dutch, german.)
156 Certain other languages (such as English, French and Italian) just add
157 the word for "sharp" to the notename.
159 We chose the Dutch system, because we're dutch. You are free to chose
160 whatever names you like; they are user definable.
162 @subsubsection Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween?
164 [] designate beams, a note can only be in one beam at the same
165 time. () is a slur, which connects notes. You need to be able to
173 @subsubsection I want to insert some TeX commands.
175 You shouldn't: it's against LilyPond philosophy to have typesetting
176 commands in the mudela source. Moreover, this would be difficult.
177 LilyPond uses TeX like a glorified output engine: the output consists
178 of (x,y) positions and symbols. You can only sensibly do TeX stuff in
179 the symbol string. You can access the symbol string easily for some
180 symbols (notably lyrics and @code{^"text"} commands).
182 @node Do you support -, How do I -, Language- mudela, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
183 @section Do you support ...
185 @subsubsection Do you support pop songs (chords, single staff, lyrics)?
187 Yes, see the @file{twinkle-pop} example.
189 @subsubsection Do you support guitar chord diagrams?
191 No. Go ahead and send a patch.
193 We ourselves don't play guitar, and don't know the fine points of this
194 notation. We would welcome anyone who could give this a try.
196 @subsubsection Do you support TAB notation?
198 No. The same as for the previous subsubsection goes, but TAB is a lot
199 more work than diagrams (TAB needs modification of Parser, Lexer,
200 Staff, Notehead, Stem code and all the code that creates these graphic
203 @subsubsection Do you support multiple staff-sizes?
205 Yes. At this time you can choose between 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23 and
206 20 pt staff-size. Use the staffLineLeading property for setting the
207 size of the staff, and fontSize for setting the size of the glyphs.
209 @subsubsection Do you support Gregorian chant notation?
213 @subsubsection Do you support grace notes?
215 Yes. See @file{input/test/grace.ly}
217 @node How do I -, Development, Do you support -, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
218 @section How do I ....
220 @subsubsection How do I change the TeX layout?
222 See @file{lilyponddefs.tex}, it has some comments. Or use @file{ly2dvi}.
224 @subsubsection How do I place lyrics under @emph{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!
226 You change the order lyrics and staves. You have to name all
227 staves (lyric and melodic), otherwise they will end up in the same
232 < \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody
233 \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext
234 \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody
235 \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext
242 @subsubsection How do I put more than one marking on a note.
251 or use spacing-notes to put markings at different horizontal positions
255 @{ s4\ff s4^"text" s4-\marcato s4 @}
260 This also works for crescendi, eg,
269 @subsubsection How do I combine multiple pieces into one document
271 There are several solutions:
281 produces one combined @file{foo.dvi}
282 @item make a toplevel @file{.ly} file that contains al pieces:
292 @item make a hybrid TeX/LilyPond @file{.doc} document (see the
293 @file{Documentation/tex} directory).
296 For the first two solutions, you will need to move @code{\header} info
297 in each individual piece from toplevel into the @code{\paper} block.
299 There are several examples in the @file{mutopia} directory.
301 @subsubsection How do I get bar numbers?
303 See @file{input/test/bar-scripts.ly}.
305 @subsubsection How do I change the tagline 'Lily was here'
307 In the @code{\header} field, add a @code{tagline} entry, eg
310 tagline="Typeset by GNU LilyPond"
314 to get a bit less frivolous tagging.
316 @node Development, Running, How do I -, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
319 @subsubsection Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend the syntax to allow YYYY!
321 If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. In general
322 finding a cute syntax (such as YYYY) isn't very hard. The complicated
323 issue how to adapt the internals to do XXXX. The parser is really a
324 simple front end to the complicated internals.
326 @subsubsection Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?
328 LilyPond development is open for anyone who wants to join. We do
329 frequent releases, you are welcome to send in a patch or do suggestions.
330 Join the gnu-music-discuss mailing list to participate.
333 @subsubsection I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?
337 But since there might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to
338 ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch
339 with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list
341 @subsubsection Is there a GUI frontend? Should I start building one?
343 LilyPond currently has no graphical interface. The authors seriously
344 doubt if a simple-minded approach (dragging and dropping notes) is any
345 easier or quicker to use than mudela. But for composing a graphical
346 environment probably is indispensable.
348 Matthew Hiller has extended Midiscore and Koobase to handle mudela.
349 Check out @uref{http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/~meh25/}.
351 If you want to work on this, please send e-mail to the mailing list
352 @email{gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org}.
355 @subsubsection I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?
357 Your best bet of getting us to include code, is to present it as a
358 "fait accompli", i.e., to send a patch to the mailing list.
360 Please use the diff command to generate a patch, and don't send complete
361 files, even if the diff is larger than the whole file.
363 Don't forget to put your name and e-mail address
364 in the @file{AUTHORS.pod} file, or you won't get credits :-]
367 @subsubsection Your make system does not adhere to GNU coding standards, could you please fix it?
369 No. We have evaluated the standard GNU combination for compiling
370 programs (autoconf, automake, libtool) and found to be inadequate in
371 several respects. More detailed argumentation is included with
372 LilyPond's generic make package @code{StepMake}
373 (see @file{stepmake-x.x.x/Documentation/automake.urgh})
375 LilyPond already compiles into a different directory ((the different
376 directory is called out/, there is one in every source directory).
377 make distclean essentially reduces to @file{rm -f out/*} in every directory
379 @subsubsection gdb crashes when I debug!
383 @subsubsection Why do I need g++ >= 2.8 / EGCS-1.1 ?
385 Supporting more compilers than EGCS/G++ 2.8 is unlikely to make
386 LilyPond run on more platforms. It would give us an enormous headache
387 in detecting and catering for every variant of every compiler: not
388 having to support other compilers saves us a @emph{lot} of trouble.
390 @node Running, Copyright, Development, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
393 @subsubsection I use dvilj4, and there are lots of warning messages for the printing
395 You should use dvips and ghostscript to print the @code{dvi} output: the
396 slurs and beams are PS @code{\special} commands.
399 subsubsection My symbols are all messed up after I upgraded, I get the wrong symbols and dvi-checksum errors!
401 We obviously mucked with the fonts in the upgrade. Remove @emph{all}
402 previous fonts, including the @file{.pk} and @file{.tfm} fonts in
403 @file{/var/lib/texmf}. A script automating this has been included, see
404 @file{buildscripts/clean-fonts.sh}.
406 @subsubsection 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.
408 Mats Bengtsson <mats.bengtsson@@s3.kth.se> writes:
410 The simple solution used by Anthony Fok in the Debian distribution of
411 Lilypond is to link the mf/ directory to
412 /usr/lib/texmf/fonts/source/public/lilypond Depending on what
413 distribution of teTeX and Linux you have installed, there might also
414 be other places like /usr/local/lib/texmf/fonts/source/public/lilypond
415 or /var/spool/texmf//fonts/source/public/lilypond
417 Wherever you put it, don't forget to run mktexlsr (or texhash for
418 older installations) afterwards, so that TeX will find the files.
419 Also, don't forget to remove all old .tfm and .*pk files when the font
420 is updated (as it will be in version 1.1.40, for example).
422 @subsubsection Are there scalable versions of the font?
424 Yes, they are type-3 fonts. In the @file{mf/}
431 in the mf/ subdirectory. This will also make @file{mfplain} for metapost.
432 The @file{pfa}s will be in the subdirectory @file{out/}.
434 @subsubsection How does PS output work?
438 Generate the PostScript Type-3 fonts.
440 Run lilypond with option @code{-f ps}:
447 @item To view the @file{.ps} output with GhostView, set GS_FONTPATH to the
448 directory containing the @file{pfa}s. In the source tree, this is @file{mf/out/}.
450 i.e. do something like:
453 export GS_FONTPATH=$HOME/usr/src/lilypond/mf/out
460 Direct PS output is still experimental. For creating nice looking ps
461 output, use TeX and @code{dvips}.
464 @subsubsection The beams and slurs are gone if use the XDvi magnifying glass!?
466 The beams and slurs are done in PostScript. XDvi doesn't show
467 PostScript in the magnifying glass. Complain to the XDvi maintainers.
469 @subsubsection I don't get midi-output, even if I use @strong{-m}!
471 Your \score should include a \midi block, eg.
475 \melodic @{ c4 c g g @}
478 output = "myfile.midi";
485 The @strong{-m} option was added to LilyPond to suppress paper output,
486 because processing the \paper block is so slow.
488 @subsubsection A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file, eg. dynamics, articulation, etc.
490 The MIDI output was originally put in as a proof that MIDI could be
491 done, and as a method of proof"reading" the input. The MIDI support
492 is by no means finished. Patches appreciated.
494 @node Copyright, Windows32, Running, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
497 @subsubsection What is Urtext? Critical Edition?
501 It may be translated best as `that what the composer intended to tell
504 Peter Chubb <peterc@@aurema.com> writes:
506 An Urtext is a reconstruction of the earliest form of a text,
507 including mistakes the original author wrote. Where there is no
508 available facsimile of the original, creating this can involve some
509 inspired detective work (in comparing various later editions and
510 trying to deduce what the original form was). As far as copyright
511 goes, my guess is that, for works that are otherwise out of copyright,
512 an Urtext is copyright to the person who reconstructed it, as a
513 derived work from the editions s/he consulted. If the edition is
514 created directly from a facsimile, as would be the case for most
515 Urtext editions of music, then the amount of new (copyright) material
518 A critical edition is an edition that is designed for critical
519 study of a text. It'll usually have lots of footnotes, alternative
520 readings, possible realisations of bass parts and harmonies, etc. It
521 aims to elucidate the author's original intentions, as opposed to
522 reproduce exactly what was written. The critical apparatus will be
523 copyright to its author.
525 A playing edition is one that has been edited for modern usage.
526 It'll have fewer or no alternative readings, it'll be in modern
527 notation, it may have additional editorial marks (phrase marks, slurs,
528 etc.) will often have a fully realised basso continuo part (if oone
529 was present in the original) and may have had key changes, time
530 signature changes, time compression (original in 4/1, playing edition
531 in 4/4, for example, with all semibreves replaced with crotchets)
532 Copyright is in the arranger/editor.
534 @subsubsection How does copyright for sheet music work? Can I enter and spread my newly bought Bach urtext?
536 Silas S. Brown <ssb22@@hermes.cam.ac.uk>:
540 There are several aspects to sheet music copyright:
542 1. The music itself - copyright for the composer's life plus 70 years (so
543 not applicable to Bach).
545 2. If the music is an arrangement, then the arranger holds copyright on
546 that arrangement. However, you can produce your own arrangement using
547 that arrangement as a reference point. Obviously your arrangement must be
548 sufficently different to be called your own arrangement - you need to do
549 more than change one note!
551 3. In some countries, the same applies for editions. This could be
552 relevant to the Bach example. If a modern person has edited the music,
553 then they hold the copyright on the edition. This does not stop you from
554 removing the editorial features - remove all editorial slurs, phrasemarks,
555 ornaments etc and only leave those that you know to be original. You can
556 then add some of your own if you want to be your own editor.
558 4. If there are lyrics, then the lyricist also holds copyright. This
559 does not stop you from using the music without the lyrics if it is
560 otherwise out of copyright.
562 5. The copyright of the printed page is held by the publisher for 30
563 years after printing (25 in some countries). This stops you from
564 photocopying (unless it's "fair use" eg. you're partially sighted and need
565 to enlarge the music) or otherwise reproducing the typesetting that is
566 used on it. But the copyright is only held over the typesetting work, not
567 the music itself. Since Mudela specifies the notes, independently of any
568 typesetting work that went into your reference copy, you are not
569 duplicating any of the publisher's work.
571 6. If you want to violate copyright, there are two main cases where you
572 may do so: fair use, and with permission. The former is rather fuzzily
573 defined, but it includes such things as including small extracts of a
574 score in a critique, and making a large print or Braille copy for a blind
575 or partially-sighted performer (many people argue that in this case it
576 should always be kept with the original copy and/or destroyed after it is
577 no longer needed). The latter is obvious: You can always write to the
578 composer, arranger, editor, lyricist or publisher in subsubsection and ask if
579 you can do whatever it is you're trying to do. Some will respond more
580 readily than others, but anything that they say will override any copying
581 restrictions imposed on you.
583 References - best one I know is the UK-based Performing Right Society,
584 @uref{http://www.prs.co.uk/} (especially "membership") and their links to other
585 international equivalents.
588 Werner Lemberg @email{wl@@gnu.org} writes:
592 Typesetting [at least in Austria or Germany, but not in France] [..]
593 isn't copyrighted -- typesetting is a handcraft, not an
596 What's copyrighted in an Urtext edition is the editor's comment or
597 the revision remarks, cadenzas added by the editor, etc.
599 Urtext editions per se are @emph{not} copyrighted -- if you print
600 exactly what the composer has written, how can there some copyright be
601 added? Copyrighted are usually only the `Critical notes', the foreword,
602 and the cadenzas some editors have added.
604 This means that the `Photocopying forbidden' sign in many scores is not
605 always correct for e.g. J.S. Bach -- you are allowed to copy the pages
606 which don't contain editorial stuff which is probably copyrighted.
608 A very unfortunate situation for the publishers.
613 Glen Prideaux, @email{glenprideaux@@MailAndNews.com}:
616 One has to be careful. In Australia typesetting IS covered by copyright, but
617 only for 25 years (as opposed to 50 years from the death of the
618 author/composer/artist for virtually any other copyright). If the
619 typesetting originates in a country that does not protect typesetting then
620 there may indeed be no copyright protection available to control the use of
624 Juergen Reuter @email{reuterj@@ira.uka.de}
626 [More information can be had at: ]
628 @uref{http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/}
631 @uref{http://fairuse.stanford.edu/}
632 (meta site about copyright with many links to other resources)
634 @uref{http://host.mpa.org/crc.html}
635 (copyright from the viewpoint of the USA music publishers' association)
637 @uref{http://www.wipo.int}
638 (World Intellectual Property Organization (a UNO agency); with
639 information about international copyright)
643 See @uref{http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/1714/harpsichord.html}
644 for a summary of copyright relative to old music, also for the
645 expert forum for such subsubsections.
648 @node Windows32, Top, Copyright, FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
651 @subsubsection I downloaded the windows32 port, and it doesn't match the website!
653 The website is usually made from the latest snapshots. Binary releases,
654 in particular the windows32 binaries, are only made every once in a while.
655 They may lag several versions behind the latest version.
657 @subsubsection But i want a native DOS/Windows-NT/95 port
659 Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun!