=head1 NAME FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs =head1 DESCRIPTION Some questions that have been answered before. =head2 Installing Q: I get all kinds of errors while compiling F A: LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is B bison B<1.25>. Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't forget to remove the stale F as well. If the problem persists, then please mail me. Q: Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use: A: [This only applies if you don't do C, and develop out of the source directory] ~/something/ which contains: lilypond/ # the directory as unpacked from the tarball releases/ # directory for .tar.gz releases patches/ # directory for patches between different releases test/ ~/something/lilypond/bin is in the PATH, and contains symlinks to the compiled executables. If you don't use patches, you'd probably want to symlink lilypond -> lilypond-x.y.z =head2 Language: mudela Q: Why can't you type C<#c> in stead of C ? A: We think that C<#c> looks as if you are entering the symbols to print (which you are not; remember, you're entering the musical content in Mudela) We're not sure on leaving out this feature. If you think this is a good idea, please let us know. Be warned we will I allow you to leave out the C<#> if the note already has an accidental. We won't allow c# c % no way! in stead of: cis cis #c #c Why, you might ask? Because independently of how it was written, you would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes. Q: What is C anyway A: C is the dutch naming for C-sharp. The notes are named a, b,.., g. The suffix -is means sharp, and -es flat. This system is common in a number of languages (such as swedish, dutch, german.) Certain other languages (such as English, French and Italian) just add the word for "sharp" to the notename. We chose the Dutch system, because we're dutch. You are free to chose whatever names you like; they are user definable. Q: I can type to make a few chords, but why do I have to type < { a~ e } { c ~ g } > instead of to generate ties between the chords? A: When you type this is shorthand for < { a } { c } > < { e } { g } > Ties have to be confined to `voices', and the a and the e are in different {} blocks, so they are in different voices. You should view the desired construct as a "generalised chord" (two voices stacked vertically). It might help you visualise this by using the following formatting: < { a ~ e } { c ~ g } > Q: and where do the beams come into this picture? A: Beams are voicegroup-wide, and may be entered in any part of the voicegroup: < { [a ~ e] } { c ~ g } > < { [a ~ e } { c ~ g] } > < { [a ~ e] } { [c ~ g] } > These all give the same result. Q: Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween? A: [] designate beams, a note can only be in one beam at the same time. () is a slur, which connects notes. You need to be able to specify a()a()a Q: how do I place lyrics under _each_ of the staves in a score, as in choral mus$ I can work out how to put lyrics for each line all under the top line, or at the bottom but not between! A: You change the order lyrics and staves. You have to name all staves (lyric and melodic), otherwise they will end up in the same staff/lyricline \score { < \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext > \paper { } } Q: I want to insert some TeX commands A: You shouldn't: it's against LilyPond philosophy to have typesetting commands in the mudela source. Moreover, this would be difficult. The manner in which Request (the basic building blocks of mudela) are translated into printable items is complex: it is not always possible to associate one Request with one Item or Spanner. As a further notice, we want to move away from TeX (and perhaps output PostScript or render to an X window too), so using TeX will make sources non-portable at some time. =head2 Miscellaneous Q: Do you support pop songs (chords, single staff, lyrics)? A: Yes, see the F example Q: Do you support guitar chord diagrams? A: No, not yet. We ourselves don't play guitar, and don't know the fine points of this notation. We would welcome anyone who could give this a try. Q: Do you support TAB notation A: No. The same as for the previous question goes, but TAB is a lot more work than diagrams (TAB needs modification of Parser, Lexer, Staff, Notehead, Stem code and all the code that creates these graphic elements.) Q: How do I change the TeX layout? A: See F, it has some comments. Q: How do I learn the C++ code? A: The entry point is in C. Good luck. :-) Seriously, read, reread and reread lilygut and CodingStyle, and just start anywhere. Anywhere? Well, most of the comment doco are in the header files, so your best bet would be C. Some of the most important data-structures are to be found in: - p-col.hh - *request.hh - engraver.hh - performer.hh - translator.hh - score-elem.hh - music.hh - music-list.hh - music-iterator.hh - item.hh - spanner.hh Q: Why GPL? A: Yes. Q: Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend the syntax to allow YYYY! A: If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. In general finding a cute syntax (such as YYYY) isn't very hard. The complicated issue how to adapt the internals to do XXXX. The parser is really a simple front end to the complicated internals. Q: I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this? A: There might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list (see the "links" section of the documentation). Q: I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this? A: Your best bet of getting me to include code, is to present it as a "fait accompli", ie., to send me a patch. Q: Why do I need g++ >= 2.7? A: By using g++, GNU LilyPond is portable to all platforms which support g++ (there are quite a few). Not having to support other compilers saves us a I of trouble. =head2 Running Q: I don't get midi-output, even if I use B<-M> A: Your \score should include a \midi block, eg. \score { \melodic { c4 c g g } \paper {} \midi { \output "myfile.mid"; \tempo 4=70; } The B<-M> option was added to LilyPond because processing the \paper block is so slow. Q: A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file (dynamics, articulation, etc). A: The MIDI output was originally put in as a proof that MIDI could be done, and as a method of proof"reading" the input. The MIDI support is by no means finished. Q: I get can't load library 'libflower.so' A: You are using the dynamically compiled Flower library. Please set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to a directory containing F =head2 DOZE Q: I want a DOS/NT/W95 port. A.0: Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun! A.1: Currently (0.0.27), GNU LilyPond (and flowerLib) compiles, links and runs on Windows-nt, using Cygnus' gnu port (release b17.1). I (JCN) only had to make a minor workaround for missing library calls. Have a look at http://www.cygnus.com/gnu-win32. To make GNU LilyPond type C. (I am not promising to maintain this platform, it is just that when forced into doze, i'm sometimes too lazy to reboot.) A.2: I haven't had time to find a Linux GCC crosscompiler (I g++ and libg++, mind you) to DOS/Windows (in rpm, please :-) A.3: If you are knowledgeable enough to make w32 compiles from time to time, please do so! We want to keep away from w32 as far as possible. Q: I just love to blindly run the (sometimes bit stale) .exe's you distribute. Why do i need cygwin.dll? A: It's all in this cut-n-paste: Minimalist GNU-Win32 Readme version 0.1.3 March 20, 1997 Colin Peters [...] 0.3 Fixes and Improvements [...] In the "coming soon" category I have a version of the GNU Standard C++ library ported to Mingw32. This means you can use iostreams, complex numbers and all those neat STL (Standard Template Library) things without needing the Cygwin DLL. I hope to put this port up for downloading soon (along with the source of course). [...] 3.2 C++ Support To add C++ Support to the above the following extra files are required: In C:\cygnus\H-i386-cygwin32\lib\gcc-lib\i386-cygwin32\cygnus-2.7.2- 961023: cc1plus.exe Note that this does not include support for the standard C++ libraries (only the C run time libraries) or for iostreams. That support is still only available with the Cygwin32 API.