=head1 DESCRIPTION
-Random ranting about the GNU Music project
+Random ranting about the GNU Music project.
-=head GOAL
+=head1 GOAL
-Provide the users with free software for:
+Provide musicians with free software for
- - composing
- - setting
- - playing
- - sequencing
- - interchanging music
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+composing
-and possibly for
+=item *
- - arranging
- - performing
+engraving
-Music publishers make lots of money out of selling which sheet music
-essentially free (composed by people long dead). Publishers have two
-arguments for doing this: high prices are there to guarantee diversity
-(keeping lots of stock is expensive), and to encourage new work being
-composed.
+=item *
-LilyPond addresses the first issue: storing mudelas takes up almost no
-space at all. Other systems should address the other issue:
-encouraging laymen to take up composing, in the same way that GNU
-tools have created a whole new generation of programmers.
+playing
+=item *
-The public deserves free non-copyrighted music.
+sequencing
-The public deserves free tools for composing and printing
+=item *
+
+interchanging music
+
+=item *
+
+arranging
+
+=item *
+
+performing
+
+=back
+
+These systems should encourage laymen to take up composing, in the
+same way that GNU tools have created a whole new generation of
+programmers.
+
+The public deserves free tools for composing and printing.
=head1 REQUIREMENTS
+Emacs and TeX serve as useful examples of what programs by the GMP
+should be.
+
=over 4
-=item * high-quality
+=item high-quality
-(cf Emacs), from engraving point of view
+(cf TeX), from engraving point of view
-=item * high-quality
+=item high-quality
-from software point of view: like all GNU software, it
+(cf Emacs) from software point of view: like all GNU software, it
should have no limits, be fast, etc.
-
-=item * tweakable
+=item tweakable
Printed music has a lot of styles, and special symbols. It may be
unfeasible to provide and maintain lots of code that is hardwired
into the system. The tools should be extensible/programmable like
Emacs and TeX
-=item * easy to use.
+=item easy to use.
-That is, for technical users (that can read a
-manual). The learning curve should be as easy as possible but not at
-the expense of comfort of use.
+That is, for technical users (that can read a manual). The learning
+curve should be as flat as possible but not at the expense of comfort
+of use and power.
=back
-=head1 TASKS (LONGTERM)
+=head1 COMPONENTS
=over 4
-=item A typesetting engine.
+=item A set of music fonts
+
+Preferably in Metafont, suited to both screen display and use on
+paper.
+
+=item A typesetting engine
A system with rules on how to set properties of items to be printed
-(up/down directions, breaking, etc) LilyPond provides one, but it is
-not yet suited to interactive typesetting
+(up/down directions, breaking, dimensions, etc) LilyPond provides one,
+but it is not (yet) suited to interactive typesetting
=item A display engine
which can display clear notewriting in (say) an X-window
-Gsharp is there, but far from finished. Ideally the system should
-cooperate with the typesetting engine
+Ideally the system should cooperate with the typesetting engine
=item An ASCII language
-In development, LilyPond has a language. See over there for goals.
+In development, LilyPond has a language. (See over there for goals)
Having an ASCII format which enables urtext, and easy sharing (via
mail and news forums) encourages cooperation and exchange of music.
The natural way to enter composed music is singing or playing it. The
GMP should have module which can take keyboard input or microphone
-input and convert it to computer data. (the second one would be difficult)
+input and convert it to computer data. (microphone input would be
+difficult)
=item sequencing
(difficult) A system to generate accompaniments, figured bass,
automatic accompaniment, etc.
-=item an internet archive of free music
-
-The complete works by Bach, Beethoven, and any other ancient composer
-should be electronically retrievable. This might be a separate
-project: the Free Music Project.
=back
=item *
-A noninteractive typesetter, suited for batch jobs, and
-typesetting existing music. This would couple the ASCII language, the
-printing engine and the typesetting engine
+A noninteractive typesetter, suited for batch jobs, and typesetting
+existing music. This would couple the ASCII language, the printing
+engine and the typesetting engine
+
+LilyPond is currently representing this section.
=item *
-A GUI for composing. This would combine the display engine, the
-input system, the typesetting engine
+A GUI for composing. This would combine the display engine, the input
+system and the typesetting engine.
-=back
+=item *
+
+Libraries for reading and writing various audio/music/notation
+formats.
-The typesetting system has a complexity comparable to TeX's, the GUI
-would be comparable to LyX (?) with additional complexity in
-recognizing input.
+=back
=head1 TASKS (SHORT TERM)
=over 4
-=item *
+=item *
-gather moderate number of test users and hackers
+Think about interfaces for components.
=item *
-a website on GMP
+Find sponsors. This project will take a long time, and in its infant
+stages, having a hard and small core which does a lot of work, is more
+efficient than lots of people doing small subprojects. Finanicial
+support would be desirable.
-=item *
+=back
-Libs for r/w MIDI
-=item *
-Think about interfaces for components.
+=head1 HISTORY
-=item *
-Find sponsors. This project will take a long time, and in its infant
-stages, having a hard and small core which does a lot of work, is more
-efficient than lots of people doing small subprojects. Finanicial
-support would be desirable.
+Please note that this all happened when I wasn't around yet. If you
+think that I am a biased, unfair, predisposed hypocrite, then don't
+bother flaming me; I already know that.
+
+The GNU Music project is a project which aims to create free software
+for music printing and composing. It was started in november '92 by a
+core team of four members (Bryan Ford <baford@cs.utah.edu>, David Linn
+<drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu>, Francois Pinard <pinard@iro.umontreal.ca>,
+Neil Jerram <nj104@cus.cam.ac.uk>) and in January '93 Robert Strandh
+<Robert.Strandh@labri.u-bordeaux.fr> joined.
+
+After serious disputes with Robert Strandh and the FSF staff in '94,
+the project core team got divided. The development efforts of GMP
+stopped.
+
+Independently, I (HWN) started LilyPond. When I showed it to
+RMS, he was very enthousiastic about having LilyPond in the GNU
+project. I subsequently learned about the GNU Music project, and
+contacted them.
+
+What was left of the GMP (Robert Strandh) and us, LilyPond people,
+agreed that cooperation would be desirable. Although merging of both
+efforts was and is technically infeasible, we did decide that LilyPond
+should also be part of the GNU Music project.
+
+Only later did I discover the previous quarrels about the GMP-"take
+1". To show that I am aware of the history, and to make sure nobody
+gets me wrong or is angry at me because I stole a project or a
+project's name, I wrote this note.
+
+In summary, LilyPond is now the only substantial embodiment of the GNU
+Music Project, and it is part of the GNU project.
+
+For completeness' sake, I will mention the other efforts here:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item G Sharp, http://dept-info.labri.u-bordeaux.fr/~strandh/Gsharp
+
+An alpha version notation editor for X in Scheme. Source available on
+request from Robert Strandh.
+
+=item GNU music,
+
+An alpha version of a music editing system with Musictex
+output. Pretest versions of GNU Music (v0.3) can still be obtained from
+Francois Pinard.
=back
+This history note is probably biased in some way, because I wrote it.
+The rest of this document is also entirely mine, and is not meant to
+reflect anyone else's opinion.
+
projects / lilypond.git / blobdiff