FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs
***********************

Miscellaneous
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HELP! I'm stuck!
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Please read this document carefully.  If you are still at loss, send your questions to the mailing list, and not to authors directly.

Note: relative paths are meant to be relative to the source directory

Installing
==========

If I install the .exe file on my DOS/windows 3.11 machine, it doesn't work
..........................................................................

The NT port is done with the Cygnus GNU/Windows32 port of the GNU utils. It does not work with windows 3.x; you need Windows-NT (95/98?).

Where is guile-config
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Old RedHat RPMS don't include guile-config.  You need guile-config as it was produced during the RPM build run.  Build the RPM from source (.src.rpm), and use the guile-config that is in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/guile-1.3/guile-config/.

I get all kinds of errors while compiling parser.cc
...................................................

LilyPond uses features of bison version 1.25. Please confirm that you are using a version 1.25 or better, that is GNU bison 1.25. Don't forget to do "make clean" after installing it. Don't forget to remove the stale bison.simple as well.

If the problem persists, then please send a bug report to the mailing list.

I upgraded by applying a patch, and now my configure/build breaks.
..................................................................

Patches don't include automatically generated files, i.e. configure and files generated by configure.  Regenerate them yourself:

         autoconf
         configure

Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:
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[This only applies if you don't do make install, and run out of the source directory]

I have a directory which contains all our development projects

         ~/usr/

which looks like /usr/

         bin/
         share
         lib/
         share/
         src/

         etc....

~/usr/bin/ is in the variable PATH, and contains symbolic links to the compiled executables. Unpacked sources, releases and patches are in subdirectories under ~/usr/src/.

Is there an emacs mode?
.......................

Yes.  It is included with the source archive as mudela-mode.el.  If you have an rpm it is in /usr/doc/lilypond-X/.  You have to install it yourself.

How do I create the .tfm files?
...............................

You don't.  The .tfm files should be generated automatically by Metafont when you run TeX.  Check your TeX installation, or ask your local TeX guru.  The supplied .afm files are intended to be used by LilyPond, not by any other programs.

Documentation
=============

Why is the documentation/website/etc. so lousy?
...............................................

LilyPond development is moving quite fast, documentation will often lag a bit behind.  We must always make a choice between writing more documentation, writing HTML, writing more code and answering email.

If you think you can make a correction, or devised a solution that should be documented, please write it up, and us a diff.

Language: mudela
================

Why do I have to type the accidentals to the note if I
......................................................

specified them in the keysignature?

Take this example

         cis cis

Independently of how it was written and what the current key was, you would say that you are playing and reading "two C-sharp" notes, so you have to enter C-sharp twice.

What is cis anyway
..................

cis 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.

Why are [] around the notes, and () inbetween?
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[] 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

I want to insert some TeX commands.
...................................

You shouldn't: it's against LilyPond philosophy to have typesetting commands in the mudela source. Moreover, this would be difficult. LilyPond uses TeX like a glorified output engine: the output consists of (x,y) positions and symbols.  You can only sensibly do TeX stuff in the symbol string.  You can access the symbol string easily for some symbols (notably lyrics and ^"text" commands).

Do you support ...
==================

Do you support pop songs (chords, single staff, lyrics)?
........................................................

Yes, see the twinkle-pop example.

Do you support guitar chord diagrams?
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No. Go ahead and send a patch.

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.

Do you support TAB notation?
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No. The same as for the previous subsubsection goes.

Do you support multiple staff-sizes?
....................................

Yes.  At this time you can choose between 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23 and 20 pt staff-size.  Use the staffLineLeading property for setting the size of the staff, and fontSize for setting the size of the glyphs.

Do you support Gregorian chant notation?
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No.

Do you support grace notes?
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Yes. See input/test/grace.ly

How do I ....
=============

How do I change the TeX layout?
...............................

See lilyponddefs.tex, it has some comments.  Or use ly2dvi.

How do I place lyrics under each of the staves in a score, as choral music. I can work out how to put lyrics for each line all under the top line, or at the bottom but not between!
....................................................................................................................................................................................

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

     4	\score {
     		< \melodic \type Staff = "treble" \trebleMelody
     		  \lyric \type Lyrics = "tlyrics" \trebtext
     		  \type Staff = "bass" \melodic \bassMelody
     		  \lyric \type Lyrics = "blyrics" \basstext
     		>
     		\paper {  }
     	}

How do I put more than one marking on a note.
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You can stack them

     	c4^"a"^"b"

or use spacing-notes to put markings at different horizontal positions

     	< c1
     	  { s4\ff s4^"text" s4-\marcato s4 }
     	>

This also works for crescendi, eg,

     	< c1
     	  { s4\< s2 \! s4 }
     	>

How do I combine multiple pieces into one document
..................................................

There are several solutions:

  * ly2dvi foo.ly bar.ly

     produces one combined foo.dvi

  * make a toplevel .ly file that contains al pieces:

          	% booklet.ly
          	\input "piece-1.ly"
          	\input "piece-2.ly"
          	\input "piece-3.ly"

  * make a hybrid TeX/LilyPond .doc document (see the Documentation/tex directory).

For the first two solutions, you will need to move \header info in each individual piece from toplevel into the \paper block.

There are several examples in the mutopia directory.

How do I get bar numbers?
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See input/test/bar-scripts.ly.

How do I change the tagline 'Lily was here'
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In the \header field, add a tagline entry, eg

     tagline="Typeset by GNU LilyPond"

to get a bit less frivolous tagging.

Development
===========

Could you implement feature XXXX? It is really easy, just extend the syntax to allow YYYY!
..........................................................................................

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.

Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?
........................................................

Yes, we do frequent releases, you are welcome to send in a patch or do suggestions.  Join the list gnu-music-discuss@gnu.org to participate.

Is there a GUI frontend? Should I start building one?
.....................................................

LilyPond currently has no graphical interface.  We (LilyPond authors) don't feel the need to write a GUI, but several others do:

Matthew Hiller has extended Midiscore and Koobase to handle mudela. Check out http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/~meh25/.  He is now working on `Denemo', a GTK based notation program (which is still being developed).

Federico Mena-Quintero and Elliot Lee of RedHat Advanced Development labs have plans to write a GNOME based Music notation program. However, there is no code, only plans.

Chris Cannam is working a rewrite of Rosegarden.  The new design should be more modular, and could conceivably be used to output mudela. However, the not much seems to have happened the past year. See http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/rosegarden/development.html.

I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?
...............................................

Your best bet of getting us to include code, is to present it as a "fait accompli", i.e., to send a patch to the mailing list.

Please use the diff command to generate a patch, and don't send complete files, even if the diff is larger than the whole file.

Don't forget to put your name and e-mail address in the file Documentation/topdocs/AUTHORS.texi, or you won't get credits :-)

Your make system does not adhere to GNU coding standards, could you please fix it?
..................................................................................

No.  We have evaluated the standard GNU combination for compiling programs (autoconf, automake, libtool) and found to be inadequate for our needs.

gdb crashes when I debug!
.........................

Upgrade/downgrade to 4.17.

Running
=======

I use dvilj4, and there are lots of warning messages for the printing
.....................................................................

You should use dvips and ghostscript to print the dvi output: the slurs and beams are PS \special commands.

subsubsection My symbols are all messed up after I upgraded, I get the wrong symbols and dvi-checksum errors!

We obviously mucked with the fonts in the upgrade.  Remove all previous fonts, including the .pk and .tfm fonts in /var/lib/texmf.  A script automating this has been included, see buildscripts/clean-fonts.sh.

all the pk and tfm fonts are created in the directory where the mudela file is, not in "/var/spool/texmf" where I think they should be.
.......................................................................................................................................

Mats Bengtsson <mats.bengtsson@s3.kth.se> writes:

The simple solution used by Anthony Fok in the Debian distribution of Lilypond is to link the mf/ directory to /usr/lib/texmf/fonts/source/public/lilypond Depending on what distribution of teTeX and Linux you have installed, there might also be other places like /usr/local/lib/texmf/fonts/source/public/lilypond or /var/spool/texmf//fonts/source/public/lilypond

Wherever you put it, don't forget to run mktexlsr (or texhash for older installations) afterwards, so that TeX will find the files. Also, don't forget to remove all old .tfm and .*pk files when the font is updated (as it will be in version 1.1.40, for example).

Are there scalable versions of the font?
........................................

Yes, they are type-3 fonts.  In the mf/ subdirectory, issue:

     	make pfa

in the mf/ subdirectory.  This will also  make mfplain for metapost. The pfas will be in the subdirectory out/.

How does PS output work?
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  * Generate the PostScript Type-3 fonts.

  * Run lilypond with option -f ps:

              lilypond -fps foo.ly

  * To view the .ps output with GhostView, set GS_FONTPATH to the directory containing the pfas.  In the source tree, this is mf/out/.

     i.e. do something like:

             export GS_FONTPATH=$HOME/usr/src/lilypond/mf/out
             gv foo.ps &

Direct PS output is still experimental.  For creating nice looking ps output, use TeX and dvips.

The beams and slurs are gone if use the XDvi magnifying glass!?
...............................................................

The beams and slurs are done in PostScript.  XDvi doesn't show PostScript in the magnifying glass.  Complain to the XDvi maintainers.

A lot of musical stuff doesn't make it to the MIDI file, eg. dynamics, articulation, etc.
.........................................................................................

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.  Patches appreciated.

Copyright
=========

What is Urtext? Critical Edition?
.................................

Werner Lemberg:

It may be translated best as `that what the composer intended to tell the reader'

Peter Chubb <peterc@aurema.com> writes:

An Urtext is a reconstruction of the earliest form of a text, including mistakes the original author wrote.  Where there is no available facsimile of the original, creating this can involve some inspired detective work (in comparing various later editions and trying to deduce what the original form was).  As far as copyright goes, my guess is that, for works that are otherwise out of copyright, an Urtext is copyright to the person who reconstructed it, as a derived work from the editions s/he consulted.  If the edition is created directly from a facsimile, as would be the case for most Urtext editions of music, then the amount of new (copyright) material is minimal.

A critical edition is an edition that is designed for critical study of a text.  It'll usually have lots of footnotes, alternative readings, possible realisations of bass parts and harmonies, etc.  It aims to elucidate the author's original intentions, as opposed to reproduce exactly what was written.  The critical apparatus will be copyright to its author.

A playing edition is one that has been edited for modern usage. It'll have fewer or no alternative readings, it'll be in modern notation, it may have additional editorial marks (phrase marks, slurs, etc.) will often have a fully realised basso continuo part (if oone was present in the original) and may have had key changes, time signature changes, time compression (original in 4/1, playing edition in 4/4, for example, with all semibreves replaced with crotchets) Copyright is in the arranger/editor.

How does copyright for sheet music work? Can I enter and spread my newly bought Bach urtext?
............................................................................................

Silas S. Brown <ssb22@hermes.cam.ac.uk>:

     There are several aspects to sheet music copyright:

     1.  The music itself - copyright for the composer's life plus 70 years (so not applicable to Bach).

     2.  If the music is an arrangement, then the arranger holds copyright on that arrangement.  However, you can produce your own arrangement using that arrangement as a reference point.  Obviously your arrangement must be sufficently different to be called your own arrangement - you need to do more than change one note!

     3.  In some countries, the same applies for editions.  This could be relevant to the Bach example.  If a modern person has edited the music, then they hold the copyright on the edition.  This does not stop you from removing the editorial features - remove all editorial slurs, phrasemarks, ornaments etc and only leave those that you know to be original.  You can then add some of your own if you want to be your own editor.

     4.  If there are lyrics, then the lyricist also holds copyright.  This does not stop you from using the music without the lyrics if it is otherwise out of copyright.

     5.  The copyright of the printed page is held by the publisher for 30 years after printing (25 in some countries).  This stops you from photocopying (unless it's "fair use" eg. you're partially sighted and need to enlarge the music) or otherwise reproducing the typesetting that is used on it.  But the copyright is only held over the typesetting work, not the music itself.  Since Mudela specifies the notes, independently of any typesetting work that went into your reference copy, you are not duplicating any of the publisher's work.

     6.  If you want to violate copyright, there are two main cases where you may do so: fair use, and with permission.  The former is rather fuzzily defined, but it includes such things as including small extracts of a score in a critique, and making a large print or Braille copy for a blind or partially-sighted performer (many people argue that in this case it should always be kept with the original copy and/or destroyed after it is no longer needed).  The latter is obvious: You can always write to the composer, arranger, editor, lyricist or publisher in subsubsection and ask if you can do whatever it is you're trying to do.  Some will respond more readily than others, but anything that they say will override any copying restrictions imposed on you.

     References - best one I know is the UK-based Performing Right Society, http://www.prs.co.uk/ (especially "membership") and their links to other international equivalents.

Werner Lemberg wl@gnu.org writes:

     Typesetting [at least in Austria or Germany, but not in France] [..] isn't copyrighted -- typesetting is a handcraft, not an art.

     What's copyrighted in an Urtext edition is the editor's comment or the revision remarks, cadenzas added by the editor, etc.

     Urtext editions per se are not copyrighted -- if you print exactly what the composer has written, how can there some copyright be added?  Copyrighted are usually only the `Critical notes', the foreword, and the cadenzas some editors have added.

     This means that the `Photocopying forbidden' sign in many scores is not always correct for e.g. J.S. Bach -- you are allowed to copy the pages which don't contain editorial stuff which is probably copyrighted.

     A very unfortunate situation for the publishers.

Glen Prideaux, glenprideaux@MailAndNews.com:

     One has to be careful. In Australia typesetting IS covered by copyright, but only for 25 years (as opposed to 50 years from the death of the author/composer/artist for virtually any other copyright). If the typesetting originates in a country that does not protect typesetting then there may indeed be no copyright protection available to control the use of mudela files.

Juergen Reuter reuterj@ira.uka.de

[More information can be had at: ]

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ (USA copyright law)

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/ (meta site about copyright with many links to other resources)

http://host.mpa.org/crc.html (copyright from the viewpoint of the USA music publishers' association)

http://www.wipo.int (World Intellectual Property Organization (a UNO agency); with information about international copyright)

John Sankey:

See http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/1714/harpsichord.html for a summary of copyright relative to old music, also for the expert forum for such subsubsections.

Windows32
=========

I downloaded the windows32 port, and it doesn't match the website!
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The website is usually made from the latest snapshots.  Binary releases, in particular the windows32 binaries, are only made every once in a while. They may lag several versions behind the latest version.

But i want a native DOS/Windows-NT/95 port
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Reconsider.  Try Linux.  It's fun!