1 i\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @setfilename index.info
3 @settitle LilyPond homepage
10 <img src="Documentation/pictures/out-www/lelie-logo.png" alt="[logo]">
14 @unnumberedsec What is LilyPond?
16 @c also use keywords: music notation software
17 LilyPond is a music typesetter. It produces beautiful sheet music
18 using a high level description file as input. It excels at typesetting
19 classical music, but you can also print pop-songs. With LilyPond we
20 hope to make music publication software available to anyone on the
23 @unnumberedsec Why should I use it?
25 The input to LilyPond is plain text. So, you can use your favorite text
26 editor to enter it, you can put it in mail or embed it in an article like
30 @lilypond[fragment,verbatim]
31 \relative c'' { \key c \minor r8 c16 b c8 g as c16 b c8 d | g,4 }
34 The output looks very good: the font and the layout algorithms were
35 inspired by engraved music, so you can expect that same clear and
36 elegant look from your LilyPond output. And if you don't like the
37 looks, you can tweak almost everything.
39 The program also has limited MIDI functionality: you can write MIDI
40 files with lilypond. You can also import files in PMX, MUP, MIDI, ABC,
41 Finale and Musedata format.
43 LilyPond is free software. It is licensed under GNU General Public
44 License, so you can use, modify and redistribute the program with
45 almost no restrictions. LilyPond is part of the
46 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/,GNU Project}.
48 The version numbers are in Linux-kernel style: even numbered versions
49 are `stable'. The webpages for the stable version (1.2) reside
50 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/lilypond, on the GNU servers}. Big
51 enhancements go into the latest odd numbered version (1.3), whose
52 webpages are on @uref{http://www.lilypond.org/,the lilypond site}.
53 Information on the latest and greatest features can be found in the
54 @uref{Documentation/out-www/CHANGES.html, Change Log}.
56 If want more information, you can browse the
57 @uref{Documentation/user/out-www/lilypond.html, manual} or other
58 @uref{Documentation/out-www/index.html, documentation}.
63 @unnumberedsec Sheet music
66 If you are interested in sheet music typeset by LilyPond, have a look at
67 the examples included. We have @uref{short-examples.html,short
68 examples} and @uref{long-examples.html,longer examples}. The
69 examples include sound bites in MIDI, pictures in PNG, printable scores
70 in PostScript, and LilyPond input. Others use LilyPond too, and have put
71 scores on the web. Head over to @uref{http://appel.lilypond.org/wiki?DownloadLilyPondScores}
75 <a name="mailing-lists">
77 @unnumberedsec Mailing lists
79 If you have questions, do write to the mailing lists. But don't forget
80 to read the @uref{Documentation/topdocs/out-www/FAQ.html,Very Frequently
81 Asked Questions} and @uref{http://appel.dyndns.org/wiki?LilyPondFaqs,
82 Frequently Asked Questions} first.
86 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu-music,info-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
87 is a low-volume list for information on the GNU Music project.
88 This list is moderated; ask
89 @email{drl@@gnu.org, David R. Linn} or
90 @email{hanwen@@cs.uu.nl, Han-Wen} to send announcements for this list.
91 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-music,help-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
92 For help with using LilyPond.
93 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-gnu-music,bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org}
94 If you have bugreports, you should send them to this list.
98 Please include in your bugreport the version of LilyPond that
99 you experience the problem with, a description of your system and sample
100 input to reproduce the problem. Do not send output files over the list,
101 they tend to be very big and don't help with describing the problem.
104 @item @uref{http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-music-discuss,gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org}
105 For discussions concerning LilyPond.
108 These pages were entirely created from a @strong{development snapshot}
109 of the LilyPond package. The version of this webpage is printed at the