1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @setfilename index.info
3 @settitle LilyPond homepage
9 @unnumberedsec LilyPond -- The GNU Project Music Typesetter
13 <img src="Documentation/pictures/out-www/lelie-logo.png">
16 @c something breaks on 3.12 f
18 @unnumberedsec What is LilyPond?
20 LilyPond is a music typesetter. It produces beautiful sheet music using
21 a high level description file as input. It excels at typesetting
22 classical music, but you can also print pop-songs. With LilyPond we
23 hope to make music publication software available to anyone on the
26 @unnumberedsec Why should I use it?
28 The input to LilyPond is plain text. So, you can use your favorite text
29 editor to enter it, you can put it in mail or embed it in an article like
33 @mudela[fragment,verbatim]
34 \relative c'' { \key es; r8 [c16 b] [c8 g] [as c16 b] [c8 d] | g,4 }
38 The output looks very good: the font and the layout algorithms were
39 inspired by engraved music, so you can expect that same clear and
40 elegant look from your LilyPond output. And if you don't like the
41 looks, you can tweak almost everything.
43 The program also has limited MIDI functionality: you can write MIDI
44 files with lilypond, and we have a simple MIDI to lilypond conversion
47 LilyPond is free software. It is licensed under GNU General Public
48 License, so you can use, modify and redistribute the program with
49 almost no restrictions. LilyPond is part of the
50 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/,GNU Project}.
52 The version numbers are in Linux-kernel style: even numbered versions
53 are `stable'. The webpages for the stable version (1.2) reside at GNU,
54 here: @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/lilypond}. Big enhancements go
55 into the latest odd numbered version (1.3), which webpages are on
56 @uref{http://www.cs.uu.nl/~hanwen/lilypond/,Han-Wen's site}.
58 If want more information, you can browse the
59 @uref{Documentation/user/out-www/lilypond.html, manual} or other
60 @uref{Documentation/out-www/index.html, documentation}.
65 For the latest and greatest features, check out the
66 @uref{Documentation/out-www/CHANGES.txt, Change Log}.
68 @unnumberedsec Sheet music
71 If you are interested in sheet music typeset by LilyPond, have a look at
72 the examples included. We have @uref{./input/out-www/index.html,short
73 examples} and @uref{./mutopia/out-www/index.html,longer examples}. The
74 examples include sound bites in MIDI, pictures in PNG, printable scores
75 in PostScript, and LilyPond input.
77 Others use LilyPond too.
78 @uref{http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/1714/harpsichord.html,John
79 Sankey}, harpsichordist to the internet, is typesetting the complete
80 @uref{http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/1714/scarlattidwn.html/,sonatas
81 by Scarlatti}. Jeff Covey, guitar player and overall nice guy, is
82 putting @uref{http://www4.smart.net/~jcovey/scores/,guitar music} on the
83 net. The @uref{http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/Mutopia/,Mutopia project} is a
84 large archive of public domain sheet music under construction.
86 @unnumberedsec Download
88 If you want to compile LilyPond from source, download here:
90 @item Download stable releases at
91 @uref{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/lilypond/}
92 @item Download development releases at
93 @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/development/}
94 @item Canadian mirror @uref{http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/lilypond/} and @uref{ftp://sca.uwaterloo.ca/pub/}
95 @item Another site in Europe
96 @uref{ftp://ftp.lilypond.org/pub/LilyPond/}
99 Installing and compiling requires many additional packages, which are
100 listed in the @uref{Documentation/topdocs/out-www/INSTALL.html, installation instructions}.
102 There are binaries available, but alas they are not updated for every version released.
105 binary RPMs: @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/RedHat/RPMS/}
107 @item Debian binary @uref{ftp://ftp.debian.org/pub/debian/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/tex}
108 @item i386 RPM: @uref{http://linux.umbc.edu/software/lilypond/rpms/}
109 @item Windows NT: @uref{http://home.austin.rr.com/jbr/jeff/lilypond/}
112 @unnumberedsec Mailing list
114 If you have questions, do write to the mailing lists!
115 (But don't forget to read the @uref{Documentation/out-www/faq.html,
116 Frequently Asked Questions} first.)
120 @item info-gnu-music@@gnu.org
121 is a moderated list for information on the GNU Music project, to
122 subscribe: send mail with subject "subscribe" to
123 info-gnu-music-request@@gnu.org.
125 As this list is moderated, normal people should ask to
126 @email{drl@@gnu.org, David R. Linn} or
127 @email{hanwen@@cs.uu.nl, Han-Wen} to forward announces instead of
128 sending it to info-gnu-music@@gnu.org
130 This list is archived at
131 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/info-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
133 @item help-gnu-music@@gnu.org
134 For help with LilyPond music project. To subscribe: send
135 mail with subject "subscribe" to
136 @email{help-gnu-music-request@@gnu.org} The archive is at
137 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/help-gnu-music@@gnu.org}.
139 @item bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org
140 If you have bugreports, you should send them to this list. If you
141 want to know about bugs, subscribe: send mail with subject "subscribe" to
142 @email{bug-gnu-music-request@@gnu.org}. The archive is at
143 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
144 @item gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org,
145 For discussions concerning LilyPond, to subscribe: send
146 mail with subject "subscribe" to
147 @email{gnu-music-discuss-request@@gnu.org}
149 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org}
154 @unnumberedsubsec Webmaster's Disclaimer
156 These pages were entirely created from a @strong{development snapshots}
157 of the LilyPond package. The version of this webpage is printed at the
158 bottom. If you want to volunteer for making more beautiful webpages,