1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @setfilename index.info
3 @settitle LilyPond homepage
10 <img src="Documentation/pictures/out-www/lelie-logo.png" alt="[logo]">
13 @c @unnumberedsec LilyPond -- The GNU Project Music Typesetter
15 @c something breaks on 3.12 f
17 @unnumberedsec What is LilyPond?
19 @c also use keywords: music notation software
20 LilyPond is a music typesetter. It produces beautiful sheet music
21 using 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 @lilypond[fragment,verbatim]
34 \relative c'' { \key c \minor; 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 files with
44 lilypond, and we have a simple MIDI to lilypond conversion tool,
45 @file{midi2ly}. Conversion tools for PMX, MUP, ABC, Finale and Musedata are
48 LilyPond is free software. It is licensed under GNU General Public
49 License, so you can use, modify and redistribute the program with
50 almost no restrictions. LilyPond is part of the
51 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/,GNU Project}.
53 The version numbers are in Linux-kernel style: even numbered versions
54 are `stable'. The webpages for the stable version (1.2) reside
55 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/lilypond, on the GNU servers}. Big
56 enhancements go into the latest odd numbered version (1.3), whose
57 webpages are on @uref{http://www.cs.uu.nl/~hanwen/lilypond/,Han-Wen's
58 site}. Information on the latest and greatest features can be found in
59 the @uref{Documentation/out-www/CHANGES.html, Change Log}.
61 If want more information, you can browse the
62 @uref{Documentation/user/out-www/lilypond.html, manual} or other
63 @uref{Documentation/out-www/index.html, documentation}.
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{short-examples.html,short
73 examples} and @uref{long-examples.html,longer examples}. The
74 examples include sound bites in MIDI, pictures in PNG, printable scores
75 in PostScript, and LilyPond input. Others use LilyPond too, and have put
76 scores on the web. Head over to @uref{http://appel.lilypond.org/wiki?DownloadLilyPondScores}
79 <a name="download-source">
81 @unnumberedsec Download
83 If you want to compile LilyPond from source, download here:
85 @item Download stable releases at
86 @uref{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/lilypond/,GNU}
87 @item Download development releases from
88 @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/development/,the source}
89 @item @uref{http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/lilypond/, by http (Canadian
91 @uref{ftp://sca.uwaterloo.ca/pub/, ftp (Canadian mirror)}
93 @uref{ftp://ftp.lilypond.org/pub/LilyPond/, mirror (Europe)}
96 Installing and compiling requires many additional packages, which are
97 listed in the @uref{Documentation/topdocs/out-www/INSTALL.html,
98 installation instructions}.
101 <a name="download-binary">
103 Binaries are available, but are not updated for every version released.
105 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/RedHat/RPMS/, RedHat i386}
106 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/RedHat/RPMS/ppc, LinuxPPC}
108 @uref{ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/lilypond,
109 Debian GNU/Linux Stable}
111 @uref{ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/lilypond1.3,
112 Debian GNU/Linux Unstable}
113 @item @uref{http://home.austin.rr.com/jbr/jeff/lilypond/, Windows Stable}
114 @item @uref{http://appel.lilypond.org/lilypond/gnu-windows, Windows
120 <a name="mailing-lists">
122 @unnumberedsec Mailing lists
124 If you have questions, do write to the mailing lists. But don't forget
125 to read the @uref{Documentation/topdocs/out-www/FAQ.html,Very Frequently
126 Asked Questions} and @uref{http://appel.dyndns.org/wiki?LilyPondFaqs,
127 Frequently Asked Questions} first.
131 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu-music,info-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
132 is a low-volume list for information on the GNU Music project.
133 This list is moderated; ask
134 @email{drl@@gnu.org, David R. Linn} or
135 @email{hanwen@@cs.uu.nl, Han-Wen} to send announcements for this list.
136 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-music,help-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
137 For help with using LilyPond.
138 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-gnu-music,bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
139 If you have bugreports, you should send them to this list.
143 Please include in your bugreport the version of LilyPond that
144 you experience the problem with, a description of your system and sample
145 input to reproduce the problem. Do not send output files over the list,
146 they tend to be very big and don't help with describing the problem.
149 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-music-discuss,gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org}
150 For discussions concerning LilyPond.
153 These pages were entirely created from a @strong{development snapshot}
154 of the LilyPond package. The version of this webpage is printed at the