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 LilyPond is a music typesetter. It produces beautiful sheet music using
20 a high level description file as input. It excels at typesetting
21 classical music, but you can also print pop-songs. With LilyPond we
22 hope to make music publication software available to anyone on the
25 @unnumberedsec Why should I use it?
27 The input to LilyPond is plain text. So, you can use your favorite text
28 editor to enter it, you can put it in mail or embed it in an article like
32 @mudela[fragment,verbatim]
33 \relative c'' { \key c \minor; r8 c16 b c8 g as c16 b c8 d | g,4 }
37 The output looks very good: the font and the layout algorithms were
38 inspired by engraved music, so you can expect that same clear and
39 elegant look from your LilyPond output. And if you don't like the
40 looks, you can tweak almost everything.
42 The program also has limited MIDI functionality: you can write MIDI
43 files with lilypond, and we have a simple MIDI to lilypond conversion
46 LilyPond is free software. It is licensed under GNU General Public
47 License, so you can use, modify and redistribute the program with
48 almost no restrictions. LilyPond is part of the
49 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/,GNU Project}.
51 The version numbers are in Linux-kernel style: even numbered versions
52 are `stable'. The webpages for the stable version (1.2) reside
53 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/lilypond, on the GNU servers}. Big
54 enhancements go into the latest odd numbered version (1.3), whose
55 webpages are on @uref{http://www.cs.uu.nl/~hanwen/lilypond/,Han-Wen's
56 site}. Information on the latest and greatest features can be found in
57 the @uref{Documentation/out-www/CHANGES.html, Change Log}.
59 If want more information, you can browse the
60 @uref{Documentation/user/out-www/lilypond.html, manual} or other
61 @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.
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. Dirk
85 Lattermann also put some works
86 @uref{http://www.alqualonde.de/lilypond.html,on the web}.
89 <a name="download-source">
91 @unnumberedsec Download
93 If you want to compile LilyPond from source, download here:
95 @item Download stable releases at
96 @uref{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/lilypond/,GNU}
97 @item Download development releases from
98 @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/development/,the source}
99 @item @uref{http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/lilypond/, by http (Canadian
101 @uref{ftp://sca.uwaterloo.ca/pub/, ftp (Canadian mirror)}
103 @uref{ftp://ftp.lilypond.org/pub/LilyPond/, mirror (Europe)}
106 Installing and compiling requires many additional packages, which are
107 listed in the @uref{Documentation/topdocs/out-www/INSTALL.html,
108 installation instructions}.
111 <a name="download-binary">
113 Binaries are available, but are not updated for every version released.
115 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/RedHat/RPMS/, RedHat i386}
116 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/RedHat/RPMS/ppc, LinuxPPC}
118 @uref{ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/tex,
119 Debian GNU/Linux i386}
121 @uref{ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/binary-powerpc/tex,
122 Debian GNU/Linux PowerPC}
123 @item @uref{http://home.austin.rr.com/jbr/jeff/lilypond/, Windows Stable}
124 @item @uref{http://appel.dyndns.org/lilypond/gnu-windows, Windows
130 <a name="mailing-lists">
132 @unnumberedsec Mailing lists
134 If you have questions, do write to the mailing lists!
135 (But don't forget to read the @uref{Documentation/out-www/faq.html,
136 Frequently Asked Questions} first.)
140 @item @samp{info-gnu-music@@gnu.org} (@uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/info-gnu-music@@gnu.org,archive})
141 is a moderated list for information on the GNU Music project, to
142 subscribe: send mail with subject "subscribe" to
143 info-gnu-music-request@@gnu.org.
144 This list is moderated; ask
145 @email{drl@@gnu.org, David R. Linn} or
146 @email{hanwen@@cs.uu.nl, Han-Wen} to send announcements for this
150 @item @samp{help-gnu-music@@gnu.org} (@uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/help-gnu-music@@gnu.org,archive}).
151 For help with LilyPond music project. To subscribe: send
152 mail with subject "subscribe" to
153 @email{help-gnu-music-request@@gnu.org}
155 @item @samp{bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org} (@uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org,archive})
156 If you have bugreports, you should send them to this list. If you
157 want to know about bugs, subscribe: send mail with subject "subscribe"
158 to @email{bug-gnu-music-request@@gnu.org}.
161 Please include in your bugreport the version of LilyPond that
162 you experience the problem with, a description of your system and sample
163 input to reproduce the problem. Do not send output files over the list,
164 they tend to be very big and don't help with describing the problem.
167 @item @samp{gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org} (@uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org,archive})
168 For discussions concerning LilyPond, to subscribe: send
169 mail with subject "subscribe" to
170 @email{gnu-music-discuss-request@@gnu.org}.
175 If you want to unsubscribe use the same procedure as subscribing, but
176 substitute @code{unsubscribe} where you would put @code{subscribe}.
178 @unnumberedsubsec Webmaster's Disclaimer
180 These pages were entirely created from a @strong{development snapshot}
181 of the LilyPond package. The version of this webpage is printed at the