3 lilypond - the GNU music typesetter
7 lilypond [options] [inputfiles]
11 Technically GNU LilyPond is a preprocessor which generates TeX
12 (or LaTeX) output which contains information to typeset a musical
13 score. Practically it is a typesetter, which only uses TeX as an
14 output medium. (this is handy because there exist music fonts for TeX)
16 As a bonus, you can also output a MIDI file of what you typed.
18 It translates script files (mudela files or F<*.ly>'s) into TeX input.
19 Typesetting music is a complex task, whereas the message that printed
20 music conveys is usually a simple one. GNU LilyPond is a try at providing
21 a simple interface for setting music.
27 =item B<-I,--include>=F<FILE>,
29 add F<FILE> to the search path for input files.
38 Turn debugging info. GNU LilyPond will read the file F<.dstreamrc>, which
39 tells for what functions and classes may produce copious debugging
42 =item B<-w,--warranty>,
44 Show the warranty with which GNU LilyPond comes. (It comes with B<NO
47 =item B<-o,--output=>F<FILE>,
49 Set the default output file to F<FILE>.
53 Show a summary of usage
55 =item B<-i,--init=>F<FILE>
57 set init file to F<FILE> (default: F<symbol.ini>)
59 =item B<--include, -I>=F<DIRECTORY>
61 add F<DIRECTORY> to the search path for input files.
67 This is an overview of the features that GNU LilyPond supports. For
68 details on how to use them, you should consult mudela(5)
74 ASCII script input, with identifiers (for music reuse),
75 customizable notenames, customizable fontset
79 MIDI output lets you check if you have entered the correct notes.
83 MIDI to Mudela conversion through the mi2mu program.
87 Multiple staffs in one score. Each staff can have a different meters.
91 multiple stafftypes (melodic, rhythmic) [broken from pl28 on]
95 beams, slurs, ties, chords, super/subscripts (accents and text),
96 triplets, general n-plet (triplet, quadruplets, etc.), lyrics,
97 transposition dynamics (both absolute and hairpin style)
101 multiple voices within one staff; beams optionally shared
102 between voices. Up to four voices is handled cleanly.
106 multiple scores within one input file. Each score is output to
111 clef changes, meter changes, cadenza-mode, key changes, repeat bars
115 =head1 DISCLAIMER & COPYING POLICY
117 GNU LilyPond is copyright 1996,97 by its authors. GNU LilyPond is
118 distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
119 License. GNU LilyPond is provided without any warranty what so ever.
120 GNU LilyPond may be freely distributed. For further information consult
121 the GNU General Public License, which is in the file F<COPYING>
125 Please consult the documentation file AUTHORS for more detailed
126 information, and small contributions.
132 Han-Wen Nienhuys <hanwen@stack.nl>, http://www.stack.nl/~hanwen
138 Jan Nieuwenhuizen <jan@digicash.com>, http://www.digicash.com/~jan.
140 Context errors, Lyrics, mi2mu, MIDI stuff, make structure, bits of
141 FlowerLib, general comments, Mudela design.
145 Your name could be here! If you want to help, then take a look at the
146 SMALLISH PROJECTS section of in the file F<TODO>. Some do not involve
155 There is an extensive list of todoes and bugs. See F<TODO>. In
156 general, try to find out
162 if the bug has been fixed in a newer release.
166 if the bug has been found earlier, consult F<TODO>
170 where the bug comes from: if GNU LilyPond bombs out, then please
171 recompile using with debugging info turned on, and send a copy of the
172 input which causes the error and a gdb stacktrace of the crash. It
173 also helps if you can print the values of the objects. So if your
177 #0 Interval::operator+= (this=0x11fffec60..)
178 at ../flower/interval.hh:50
179 #1 0x12005195c in Item::width (this=0x14008a680) at src/item.cc:39
180 #2 0x12008fdbc in itemlist_width (its=0x11fffed58 ..
184 Than it would help if you send a dump of the Interval and the Item
185 (use: C<print *this> or use LilyPond C<print()> methods).
189 Bug reports should be directed to:
190 bug-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu. In any case, they should contain a
191 description of the problem, a small input file which reproduces it (if
192 applicable), the lilypond version and a description of the platform.
201 The initialisation file with symbol tables etc. It
202 includes files from the directory F<init/>.
208 B<LILYINCLUDE> an (one) additional directory for finding lilypond data.
218 On technical details of LilyPond
226 Goals of the GNU LilyPond project.
230 The GNU LilyPond FAQ list
234 The GNU Music project. GNU LilyPond is part of the GNU Music
235 project. For more information on the GNU Music project,
237 =item http://www.stack.nl/~hanwen/lilypond/index.html
239 GNU LilyPond has her own webpage. This webpage contains the MIDI, GIF
240 and PS files for some standard music files. It also has the complete
241 LilyPond documentation
247 updated very frequently, the latest version is always available at:
248 ftp://pcnov095.win.tue.nl/pub/lilypond.
250 For programs which part of the GNU music project, the following mailing list
256 =item info-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
258 For information on the GNU Music project, to subscribe: send mail with
259 subject "subscribe" to info-gnu-music-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
261 =item help-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
263 For help with programs from the GNU music project. To subscribe: send
264 mail with subject "subscribe" to
265 help-gnu-music-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
267 =item bug-gnu-music@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
269 If you have bugreports, you should send them to this list. If you want
270 to read all bugreports, you should subscribe to this list. To
271 subscribe: send mail with subject "subscribe" to
272 bug-gnu-music-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
274 =item gnu-music-discuss@vuse.vanderbilt.edu,
276 For discussions concerning the GNU Music project, to subscribe: send
277 mail with subject "subscribe" to
278 gnu-music-discuss-request@vuse.vanderbilt.edu,
283 Announces of new versions will be sent to info-gnu-music and
288 GNU LilyPond has no connection with the music package Rosegarden, other
289 than the names being similar :-)
293 (for a detailed changelog, see F<NEWS>)
295 GNU LilyPond's roots lie in MPP, a preprocessor to the rather arcane
296 MusiXTeX macro package for TeX. A friend of mine, Jan Nieuwenhuizen
297 wrote the first 44 versions (0.01 to 0.44), then his program caught my
298 attention, and I was slowly sucked in to the interesting problem of
299 easily producing beautifully printed music. I contributed some
300 code. We soon realised that MPP's design was too fundamentally broken
301 to be repaired. It was decided to rewrite MPP. We debated a lot about
302 the requirements to an inputformat (fall 1995). I sat down and started
303 with a parser-first, bottom-up rewrite called mpp95 (which totally
306 After long and hard thinking, I came up with an algorithm for the
307 horizontal spacing of multiple staffs (april 1996) I coded it (and did
308 not test it). After starting with this fundamental piece, I slowly
309 added the stages which come before spacing, and after. A half year
310 later, I had a first working version, (october 1996). I announced
311 Patchlevel 0.0.7 (or 8) to the mutex list after asking some technical
312 details on spacing; it was downloaded approximately 4 times. Then I
313 got the hang of it, and in the subsequent two months, I coded until it
314 had doubled in size (pl 23).