3 lilypond - the GNU music typesetter
7 lilypond [options] [inputfiles]
11 GNU LilyPond is a program which converts music definition files into
12 visual or auditive output: it can typeset formatted sheet music to a
13 TeX file and play (mechanical) performances to MIDI files.
19 =item B<-I,--include>=F<FILE>,
21 add F<FILE> to the search path for input files.
29 Turn debugging info on. GNU LilyPond reads the file F<.dstreamrc>,
30 which lists what functions and classes may produce copious debugging
33 =item B<-w,--warranty>,
35 Show the warranty with which GNU LilyPond comes. (It comes with B<NO
38 =item B<-o,--output=>F<FILE>,
40 Set the default output file to F<FILE>.
44 Show a summary of usage.
46 =item B<-i,--init=>F<FILE>
48 set init file to F<FILE> (default: F<symbol.ly>).
50 =item B<--include, -I>=F<DIRECTORY>
52 add F<DIRECTORY> to the search path for input files.
54 =item B<--ignore-version, -V>
56 make incompatible mudela version non-fatal.
62 This is an overview of the features that GNU LilyPond supports. For
63 details on how to use them, you should consult mudela(5).
69 ASCII script input, with identifiers (for music reuse),
70 customizable notenames, customisable fontset.
74 MIDI output lets you check if you have entered the correct notes.
78 MIDI to Mudela conversion through the mi2mu program.
82 Multiple staffs in one score. Each staff can have a different meters.
86 beams, slurs, ties, chords, super/subscripts (accents and text),
87 triplets, general n-plet (triplet, quadruplets, etc.), lyrics,
88 transposition dynamics (both absolute and hairpin style)
92 multiple voices within one staff; beams optionally shared
93 between voices. Up to four voices is handled cleanly.
97 multiple scores within one input file. Each score is output to
102 clef changes, meter changes, cadenza-mode, key changes, repeat bars
106 =head1 DISCLAIMER & COPYING POLICY
108 GNU LilyPond is copyright 1996, 1997 by its authors. GNU LilyPond is
109 distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. GNU LilyPond
110 is provided without any warranty what so ever.
111 GNU LilyPond may be freely distributed. For further information consult
112 the GNU General Public License, from the file F<COPYING>.
116 Please consult the documentation file AUTHORS for more detailed
117 information, and small contributions.
123 Han-Wen Nienhuys <hanwen@stack.nl>, http://www.stack.nl/~hanwen
127 Jan Nieuwenhuizen <jan@digicash.com>, http://www.digicash.com/~jan.
135 There is an extensive list of todoes and bugs. See F<TODO>. In
136 general, try to find out
142 if the bug has been fixed in a newer release.
146 if the bug has been found earlier, consult F<TODO> and F<BUGS>
150 If you have found a bug, then you should send a bugreport.
155 send a copy of the input which causes the error
158 send a description of the platform you use
161 send a description of the LilyPond version you use (with
162 compile/configure options please)
165 send a description of the bug itself.
168 send it to bug-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
172 It does help if you can find out where the bug comes from: if GNU
173 LilyPond bombs out, then please recompile using with debugging info
174 turned on, and send gdb stacktrace of the crash. It also helps if you
175 can print the values of the objects. So if your trace is
179 #0 Interval::operator+= (this=0x11fffec60..)
180 at ../flower/interval.hh:50
181 #1 0x12005195c in Item::width (this=0x14008a680) at src/item.cc:39
182 #2 0x12008fdbc in itemlist_width (its=0x11fffed58 ..
186 Than it would help if you send a dump of the Interval and the Item
187 (use: C<print *this> or use LilyPond C<print()> methods).
196 The initialisation file with symbol tables etc. It
197 includes files from the directory F<init/>.
203 B<LILYINCLUDE> an (one) additional directory for finding lilypond data.
213 On technical details of LilyPond
217 On the input format. This is a LilyPond-enhanced LaTeX document.
221 Goals of the GNU LilyPond project.
225 The GNU LilyPond FAQ list
227 =item http://www.stack.nl/~hanwen/lilypond/index.html
229 GNU LilyPond has her own webpage. This webpage contains the MIDI, GIF
230 and PS files for some standard music files. It also has the complete
231 LilyPond documentation
236 updated very frequently, the latest version is always available at:
237 ftp://pcnov095.win.tue.nl/pub/lilypond and
238 ftp://alpha.gnu.ai.mit.edu/gnu/lilypond/
241 For programs which are part of the GNU music project, the following
242 mailing list have been setup:
247 =item info-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
249 For information on the GNU Music project, to subscribe: send mail with
250 subject "subscribe" to info-gnu-music-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
252 =item help-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
254 For help with programs from the GNU music project. To subscribe: send
255 mail with subject "subscribe" to
256 help-gnu-music-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
258 =item bug-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
260 If you have bugreports, you should send them to this list. If you want
261 to read all bugreports, you should subscribe to this list. To
262 subscribe: send mail with subject "subscribe" to
263 bug-gnu-music-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
265 =item gnu-music-discuss@vuse.vanderbilt.edu,
267 For discussions concerning the GNU Music project, to subscribe: send
268 mail with subject "subscribe" to
269 gnu-music-discuss-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu,
274 Announces of new versions will be sent to info-gnu-music and
279 GNU LilyPond has no connection with the music package Rosegarden, other
280 than the names being similar :-)
284 (for a detailed changelog, see F<NEWS>)
286 GNU LilyPond's roots lie in MPP, a preprocessor to the rather arcane
287 MusiXTeX macro package for TeX. A friend of mine, Jan Nieuwenhuizen
288 wrote the first 44 versions (0.01 to 0.44), then his program caught my
289 attention, and I was slowly sucked in to the interesting problem of
290 easily producing beautifully printed music. I contributed some
291 code. We soon realised that MPP's design was too fundamentally broken
292 to be repaired, so it was decided to rewrite MPP. We debated a lot about
293 the requirements to an inputformat (fall 1995). I sat down and started
294 with a parser-first, bottom-up rewrite called mpp95 (which totally
297 After long and hard thinking, I came up with an algorithm for the
298 horizontal spacing of multiple staffs (april 1996) I coded it (and did
299 not test it). After starting with this fundamental piece, I slowly
300 added the stages which come before spacing, and after. A half year
301 later, I had a first working version, (october 1996). I announced
302 Patchlevel 0.0.7 (or 8) to the mutex list after asking some technical
303 details on spacing; it was downloaded approximately 4 times. Then I
304 got the hang of it, and in the subsequent two months, I coded until it
305 had doubled in size (pl 23).
307 Most the other history is described in the NEWS file. The first large
308 scale release (0.1) was done after approximately 78 patchlevels on