@c -*-texinfo-*-
+
@node Introduction
@chapter Introduction
-LilyPond is a program to print sheet music. If you have used notation
-programs before, then the way to use this program might be surprising
-at first sight. To print music with lilypond, you have to enter
-musical codes in a file. Then you run LilyPond on the file, and the
-music is produced without any further intervention. For example,
-something like this:
-
-@lilypond[fragment,verbatim, relative 1, intertext="produces this
-
-"]
-\key c \minor r8 c16 b c8 g as c16 b c8 d | g,4
-@end lilypond
-
-@cindex encoding music
-
-Encoding music using letters and digits may appear strange,
-intimidating or even clumsy at first. Nevertheless, when you take the
-effort to learn the codes and the program you will find that it is
-easier than it seems. Entering music can be done quickly, and you
-never have to remember how you made the program do something
-complicated: it is all in the input code, and you only have to read
-the file to see how it works. Moreover, when you use LilyPond, you are
-rewarded with very nicely looking output.
+There are a lot of programs that let you print sheet music with a
+computer. Unfortunately, most of them do not do good job. Most
+computer printouts have a bland, mechanical look, and are unpleasant
+to play from. If you agree with us on that, than you will like
+LilyPond: we have tried to capture the original look of hand-engraved
+music in a program: we have tuned our algorithms, font-designs, and
+program settings to make the output match that of the old editions
+that we love to see and love to play from.
-In this chapter, we will explain the reasoning behind this unusual
-design, and how this approach affects you as a user.
@menu
-* Batch processing::
-* Music engraving::
-* Music representation::
-* About this manual::
+* Music notation and engraving::
+* Notation and engraving in LilyPond::
+* Typography and program architecture::
+* Music representation::
+* Example applications::
+* About this manual::
@end menu
-@node Batch processing
-@section Batch processing
-
-@cindex GUI
-@cindex Batch
-@cindex UNIX
-
-When we started developing LilyPond, we were still studying at the
-university. We were interested in music notation, not as publishers
-or musicians, but as students and scientists. We wanted to figure to
-what extent formatting sheet music could be automated. Back then GUIs
-were not as ubiquitous as they are today, and we were immersed in the
-UNIX operating system, where it is very common to use compilers to
-achieve computing tasks, so our computerized music engraving
-experiment took on the form of a compiler.
-
-
-@ignore
-@cindex free software
-@cindex sharing software
-
-You can freely use, modify and redistribute LilyPond. This choice was
-also motivated by our academic background. In the scientific community
-it has always been a tradition to share knowledge, also if that
-knowledge was packaged as software. One of the most visible groups
-that stimulated this philosophy, was the Free Software Foundation,
-whose popular GNU project aimed to replace closed and proprietary
-computing solutions with free (as in ``Libre'') variants. We jumped on
-that bandwagon, and released LilyPond as free software. That is the
-reason that you can get LilyPond at no cost and without any strings
-attached.
-@end ignore
-
-
-@node Music engraving
-@section Music engraving
+@node Music notation and engraving
+@section Music notation and engraving
@cindex engraving
@cindex typography
-Making sheet music may seem trivial at first (``you print 5 lines, and
-then put in the notes at different heights''), @emph{music engraving},
-i.e. professional music typography, is in another ballpark. The term
-`music engraving' derives from the traditional process of music
+Making sheet music may seem trivial, ``you print 5 lines, and then put
+in the notes at different heights'', but as you learn more of it, the
+opposite turns out to be true. One has to master two difficult
+tasks. First, one has to master music notation: the science of knowing
+which symbols to use when what. Second, one has to master music
+engraving: the art of placing symbols such that the result looks
+pleasing.
+
+Common music notation has its roots in the medieval time. In this
+time, monks started to write down hints that indicated how their
+sacred music was sung. These hints, neumes, gradually became simpler,
+and at some point became the note heads. Lines were added to the
+neumes, to indicate a reference pitch, which later became the staff.
+Over many centuries, improvements and extensions were added, while
+other concepts disappeared. For example, the neume notation did not
+have an explicit notion of rhythm, but it did have @emph{custodes},
+symbols at the end of the line to indicate the starting pitch of the
+next line. Mensural notation, a notation where each note head takes a
+fixed amount of time, came into being together with the rise of
+counterpoint in the early renaissance. The graphic language of
+notation is still under development; the innovations of contemporary
+music require still newer and more complex notations.
+
+The term music engraving derives from the traditional process of music
printing. Only a few decades ago, sheet music was made by cutting and
stamping the music into zinc or pewter plates, mirrored. The plate
would be inked, and the depressions caused by the cutting and stamping
-would hold ink. A positive image was formed by pressing paper to the
-plate. Stamping and cutting was completely done by hand. Making
+would hold ink. An image was formed by pressing paper to the
+plate. The stamping and cutting was completely done by hand. Making
corrections was cumbersome, so engraving had to be done correctly in
-one go. As you can imagine this was a highly specialized skill, much
-more so than the traditional process of printing books.
+one go. Of course, this was a highly specialized skill, much more so
+than the traditional process of printing books.
@cindex craftsmanship
@cindex master
-In the traditional German craftsmanship six years of full-time
+In the traditional German system of craftsmanship six years of full-time
training, more than any other craft, were required before a student
could call himself a master of the art. After that many more years of
practical experience were needed to become an established music
engraver. Even today, with the use of high-speed computers and
advanced software, music requires lots of manual fine tuning before it
-acceptable to be published.
+is acceptable for publication.
+
+Sheet music is performance material: everything is done to aid the
+musician in letting him perform better. Music often is far away from
+its reader---it might be on a music stand. To make it clearly
+readable, traditionally printed sheet music always uses bold symbols,
+on heavy staff lines, and is printed on large sheets of paper. This
+``strong'' look is also present in the horizontal spacing. To
+minimize the number of page breaks, (hand-engraved) sheet music is
+spaced very tightly. Yet, by a careful distribution of white space,
+the feeling of balance is retained, and a clutter of symbols is
+avoided.
+
+
+@node Notation and engraving in LilyPond
+@section Notation and engraving in LilyPond
+
+Common music notation encompasses such a wide scope of music, and
+therefore inherently is complex: there are many rules, and for every
+rule there are exceptional situations where they do not apply. The
+result is that LilyPond cannot support each and every form of notation
+in existence. Rather, we focus on a specific style and idiom: we take
+inspiration from late-romantic music printed at the beginning of the
+20th century. Most of the contemporary music after that, and most of
+the music going back to 17th century can be written in this
+idiom. That is not a fundamental limit, though. There is support for
+some modern notation like clusters, and older notation, such as white
+mensural and gregorian notation, is being worked on.
+
+We have used these observations in designing LilyPond. The images
+below shows the flat symbol. On the left, a scan from a Henle edition,
+which was made by a computer, and in the center is the flat from a
+B@"{a}renreiter edition of the same music. The left scan illustrates
+typical flaws of computer print: the symbol is much lighter, the staff
+lines are thinner, and the glyph has a straight layout with sharp
+corners. By contrast, the B@"{a}renreiter has a bold and almost
+voluptuous rounded look. Our flat symbol is designed after, among
+others, this one. It is tuned it to harmonize with the thickness of
+our staff lines, which are also much thicker than Henle's lines.
+
+@multitable @columnfractions .1 .3 .3 .3
+@item @tab
+@iftex
+@image{henle-flat-bw,4cm}
+@end iftex
+@html
+<img src=henle-flat-bw.png>
+@end html
+
+@tab
+@iftex
+@image{baer-flat-bw,4cm}
+@end iftex
+@html
+<img src=baer-flat-bw.png>
+@end html
+
+@tab
+@iftex
+@image{lily-flat-bw,4cm}
+@end iftex
+@html
+<img src=lily-flat-bw.png>
+@end html
-When we wanted to write a computer program to do create music
-typography, we encountered the first problem: there were no sets of
-musical symbols available: either they were not available freely, or
-they did not look well to our taste. Not let down, we decided to try
-font design ourselves. We created a font of musical symbols, relying
-on nice printouts of hand-engraved music. The experience helped
-develop a typographical taste, and it made us appreciate subtle design
-details. Without that experience, we would not have realized how ugly
-the fonts were that we admired at first.
+@item
+Henle (2000)
+@tab
+B@"{a}renreiter (1950)
+@tab
+LilyPond Feta font (2003)
+@end multitable
-@lilypond[noindent]
-#(define magfact 3.0)
-\score { \notes { as'2 r4 }
- \paper {
- linewidth = -1.
- \translator {
- \ScoreContext
- AccidentalPlacement \override #'right-padding = #3.0
- StaffSymbol \override #'transparent = ##t
- Clef \override #'transparent = ##t
- TimeSignature \override #'transparent = ##t
- Accidental \override #'font-magnification = #magfact
- Rest \override #'font-magnification = #magfact
- NoteHead \override #'font-magnification = #magfact
- Stem \override #'transparent = ##t
- } } }
-@end lilypond
@cindex musical symbols
@cindex font
@cindex blackness
@cindex balance
-The figure above shows a few notable glyphs. For example, the
-half-notehead is not elliptic but slightly diamond shaped. The
-vertical stem of a flat symbol should be slightly brushed,
-i.e. becoming wider at the top. Fine endings, such as the one on the
-bottom of the quarter rest, should not end in sharp points, but rather
-in rounded shapes. Taken together, the blackness of the font must be
-carefully tuned together with the thickness of lines, beams and slurs
-to give a strong yet balanced overall impression.
-
-Producing a strong and balanced look is the real challenge of music
-engraving. It is a recurring theme with many variations. In spacing,
-the balance is in a distribution that reflects the character of the
-music. The spacing should not lead to unnatural clusters of black and
-big gaps with white space. The distances between notes should reflect
-the durations between notes, but adhering with mathematical precision
-to the duration will lead to a poor result. Shown here is an example
-of a motive, printed twice. It is printed using both exact,
-mathematical spacing, and with some corrections. Can you spot which is
-which?
-
+In spacing, the distribution of space should reflect the durations
+between notes. However, adhering with mathematical precision to the
+duration will lead to a poor result. Shown here is an example of a
+motive, printed twice. It is printed using exact mathematical spacing,
+and with some corrections. Can you spot which fragment is which?
@cindex optical spacing
@lilypond[noindent]
= #0.6
c'4 e''4 e'4 b'4 |
\stemDown b'4 e''4 a'4 e''4| \stemBoth
+ \bar "||"
\property Staff.NoteSpacing \override #'stem-spacing-correction
= #0.0
\property Staff.StaffSpacing \override #'stem-spacing-correction
c'4 e''4 e'4 b'4 |
\stemDown b'4 e''4 a'4 e''4|
}
- \paper { linewidth = -1. } }
+ \paper { raggedright = ##t } }
@end lilypond
@cindex regular rhythms
@cindex regular spacing
-The fragment that was printed uses only quarter notes: notes that are
-played in a constant rhythm. The spacing should reflect
-that. Unfortunately, the eye deceives us a little: the eye not only
-notices the distance between note heads, but also between consecutive
-stems. The notes of a up-stem/down-stem combination should be put
-farther apart, and the notes of a down-up combination should be put
-closer together, all depending on the combined vertical positions of
-the notes. The first two measures are printed with this correction,
-the last two measures without. The notes in the last two measures form
-downstem/upstems clumps of notes.
+The fragment only uses quarter notes: notes that are played in a
+constant rhythm. The spacing should reflect that. Unfortunately, the
+eye deceives us a little: not only does it notice the distance between
+note heads, it also takes into account the distance between
+consecutive stems. As a result, the notes of an up-stem/down-stem
+combination should be put farther apart, and the notes of a down-up
+combination should be put closer together, all depending on the
+combined vertical positions of the notes. The first two measures are
+printed with this correction, the last two measures without. The notes
+in the last two measures form down-stem/up-stems clumps of notes.
+
+@node Typography and program architecture
+@section Typography and program architecture
+
+Producing good engraving requires skill and knowledge. It was our
+challenge to see if we could put such typographical knowledge into a
+computer program. Capturing that knowledge has two aspects: first, it
+has to be acquired. Then, it has to be encoded in data-structures and
+algorithms. As the previous examples show, there is a lot of subtlety
+involved in music engraving, and unfortunately, only a small fraction
+of these details are documented.
+
+One reason for the time that it takes to become a master engraver, is
+that all these details must be learned either from experience or from
+other engravers: as an engraver gets older and wiser, he will be able
+to produce better and more complex pieces. A similar situation is
+present when putting typography into computer programs. It is not
+possible to come up with a final solution for a problem at the first
+try. Instead, we start out with simple solution that might cover 75%
+of the cases, and gradually refine that solution over the course of
+months or years, so that 90 or 95 % of the cases are handled.
+
+This has an important implication for the design of the
+program. During development, almost every piece of formatting code
+must be considered as temporary. When the need arises, is to be
+replaced a solution that will cover even more cases. A clean way to
+accomplish this, is a ``plug-in'' architecture: an architecture where
+new pieces of code can be inserted in the program dynamically. In
+such a program, a new solution can be developed along-side the
+existing code. It can be perfected separately until it is better than
+the existing solution, at which point, the new solution is switched on
+by default, and the old one is removed.
+
+Until that time, users must have a way to deal with imperfections:
+these 25%, 10% or 5% of the cases that are not handled
+automatically. In these cases, a user must be able to override
+formatting decisions. A way to accomplish this, is to store decisions
+in generic variables, and let the user manipulate these variables.
+For example, consider the following fragment of notation.
+
+@lilypond
+\score { \notes {
+ g'4-\f g4
+ }
+\paper { raggedright = ##t }
+ }
+@end lilypond
+
+@noindent
+The position of the forte symbol is slightly awkward, because it is
+next to the low note, whereas dynamics should be below notes in
+general. This may be remedied by inserting extra space between the
+high note and the `f', as shown in this example
+
+@lilypond
+\score { \notes {
+ \once\property Voice. DynamicLineSpanner \override #'padding = #4.0
+ g'4-\f g4
+ }
+\paper { raggedright = ##t }
+ }
+@end lilypond
+
+This was achieved with the input statement
+@example
+ \property Voice. DynamicLineSpanner \override #'padding = #4.0
+@end example
+which increases the amount of space (@code{padding}) between the note
+and the dynamic symbol to 4.0 (which is measured in staff space, so
+4.0 equals the height of a staff).
+
+Both design aspects, a plug-in architecture, and formatting variables,
+are built on top of GUILE, an interpreter for the programming language
+Scheme, which is a member of the LISP family. Variables are stored as
+Scheme objects, and attached to graphical objects such as note heads
+and stems. The variables are a means to adjust formatting details in
+individual cases, but they are used in a more general manner.
+
+Consider the case of a publisher that is not satisfied with the in the
+default layout, and wants heavier stems. Normally, they are @code{1.3}
+times the thickness of staff lines, but suppose that their editions
+require them to be twice the thickness of the staff lines. The same
+mechanism can be used to adjust a setting globally. By issuing
+@example
+ \property Score.Stem \override #'thickness = #2.0
+@end example
+the entire piece is formatted with thick stems:
+@lilypond
+\score { \notes {
+ \property Score.Stem \override #'thickness = #2.0
+ \once\property Voice. DynamicLineSpanner \override #'padding = #4.0
+ g'4-\f g4
+ }
+\paper { raggedright = ##t }
+ }
+@end lilypond
-We hope that these examples show that music typography is a subtle
-business, and that it requires skill and knowledge to produce good
-engraving. It was our challenge to see if we could put such knowledge
-into a computer program.
+@noindent
+In effect, by setting these variables, users can define their own
+layout styles.
+
+``Plug-ins'' are also implemented using Scheme. A formatting
+``plug-in'' takes the form of a function written in Scheme (or a C++
+function made available as a Scheme function), and it is also stored
+in a variable. For example, the placement of the forte symbol in the
+example above is calculated by the function
+@code{Side_position_interface::aligned_side}. If we want to replace
+this function by a more advanced one, we could issue
+@example
+ \property Voice.DynamicLineSpanner \override #'Y-offset-callbacks
+ = #`(,gee-whiz-gadget)
+@end example
+
+@noindent
+Now, the formatting process will trigger a call to our new
+@code{gee-whiz-gadget} function when the position of the f symbol has
+to be determined.
+
+The full scope of this functionality certainly is intimidating, but
+there is no need to fear: normally, it is not necessary to define
+style-sheets or rewrite formatting functions. In fact, LilyPond gets a
+lot of formatting right automatically, so adjusting individual layout
+situations is not needed very often at all.
@node Music representation
@section Music representation
-One of the big questions when making programs, is what kind of input
-the program should expect. Many music notation programs offer a
+One of the big questions when writing batch programs, is what kind of
+input the program should expect. Many music notation programs offer a
graphical interface that shows notation, and allow you to enter the
music by placing notes on a staff. From our point of view, this design
is a form of cheating. After all, the core message of a piece of music
There are also more practical concerns. Our users have to key in the
music into the file directly, so the input format should have a
-friendly syntax. As programmers and scientists, we want a
-clean formal definition. After all, producing music notation is a
-difficult problem, and in the scientific world, problems can only be
-solved if they are well-specified. Moreover, formally defined formats
-are easier to write programs for.
+friendly syntax: a quarter note C is entered as @code{c4}, the code
+@code{r8.} signifies a dotted eighth rest.
+
+As programmers and scientists, we want a clean formal
+definition. After all, producing music notation is a difficult
+problem, and problems can only be solved if they are
+well-specified. Moreover, formally defined formats are easier to write
+programs for. We have chosen for a format that is based on music
+expressions: complex musical constructs are built from simple entities
+like notes and rests in much the same way that complex formulas are
+built from simple expressions such as numbers and mathematical
+operators. The language is described by a context-free
+grammar. Reading such languages robustly is a well studied problem,
+and we use a standard solution to do it.
+
+LilyPond is a batch program, so the syntax of the program is its
+user-interface. It is the part that they see most, so it is easy to
+think that music representation is a very important or interesting
+problem. In reality, less than 10% of the source code of the program
+handles reading and representing the input, and they form the easy
+bits of the program. Converting the music to notation, and calculating
+a pretty layout is much more difficult.
+@node Example applications
+@section Example applications
-These ideas shaped our music representation: it is a compact format
-that can easily be typed by hand. It complex musical constructs from
-simple entities like notes and rests, in much the same way that one
-builds complex formulas from simple expressions such as numbers and
-mathematical operators.
+We have written LilyPond as an experiment of how to condense the art
+of music engraving into a computer program. Thanks to all that hard
+work, the program can now be used to perform useful tasks. The
+simplest application is printing notes.
-@node Program design
-@section Program design
+@lilypond[relative=1]
+ \time 2/4 c4 c g'4 g a4 a g2
+@end lilypond
-The strict separation between musical information and typesetting also
-gives a blueprint of the program: first it reads the music
-representation, then it interprets the music---reading it
-`left-to-right', and translating the musical information to a layout
-specification. When the layout is computed, the resulting symbols are
-written to an output file.
+By adding chord names and lyrics we obtain a lead sheet:
+@lilypond[raggedright]
+\score { <
+ \context ChordNames \chords { c2 c f2 c }
+ \notes \relative c' { \time 2/4 c4 c g'4 g a4 a g2 }
+ \context Lyrics \lyrics { twin4 kle twin kle lit tle star2 } > }
+@end lilypond
-TODO: more about design?
+Polyphonic notation and piano music can also be printed. The following
+example combines some more exotic constructs.
-@node Example applications
-@section Example applications
+@lilypondfile{screech-boink.ly}
+
+The fragments shown above have all been written by hand, but that is not
+a requirement. Since the formatting engine is mostly automatic, it can
+serve as an output means for other programs that manipulate music. It
+can also be used to convert databases of musical fragments to images for
+use on websites on multimedia presentations.
-TODO: show what sort of things lily can be used for.
+This manual also shows an application: the input format is plain text,
+and can therefore be easily embedded in other text-based formats, such
+as La@TeX{}, HTML or in the case of this manual, Texinfo. By means of a
+special program, the input fragments can be replaced by music images in
+the resulting PostScript or HTML output files. This makes it easy to
+mix music and text in documents.
@node About this manual
@section About this manual
-[
-
The manual is divided into the following chapters
-@itemize
-@item Tutorial
-gives a gentle introduction into using lilypond
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+@ifhtml The
+@end ifhtml
+@emph{@ref{Tutorial}}
+gives a gentle introduction into typesetting music.
+First time users should start here.
@item
-Reference manual: each aspect of typesetting music is discussed
+@ifhtml
+The
+@end ifhtml
+@emph{@ref{Notation manual}}
+discusses topics grouped by notation construct.
@item
-Advanced topics: how it works from the inside, scripting lilypond.
+@ifhtml
+ The
+ @end ifhtml
+@emph{@ref{Technical manual}}
+@c
+discusses the general design of the program, and how to extend its
+functionality.
@item
-Invoking: running LilyPond and its helper programs.
+@ifhtml
+The chapter
+@end ifhtml
+@emph{@ref{Invoking LilyPond}} explains how to run LilyPond and its helper
+programs.
@end itemize
-This manual is not complete: a part of the functionality is available
-through a generic system of properties: variables that can be set by
-the user to override certain functionality. Accompanying this manual
-is a document that describes all properties available, and all types
-of typographic and musical objects.
-
-TODO: rewrite rest of this section too.
-]
-
-As you will notice in the coming pages the program makes good
-decisions in a lot of cases: what comes out of LilyPond generally
-looks good. The default layout of lilypond even is suitable for
-publication for some specific files. However, some aspects of the
-formatting are not yet very good. For us programmers, this gives
-inspiration for improving the program. However, most users are more
-interested in improving their printouts, and then they have to make
-manual adjustments to the output. Another aspect of our system of
-encoding through ASCII then shows: it can be complicated to fine tune
-the layout of a piece. There is no graphical user interface, where you
-can simply click and drag a symbol. On the other hand, if you have
-written the code for tuning one specific aspect of the layout, then
-you can simply store the file on disk, retrieve it when you need it:
-there is no need to remember how you did it, since it is all in the
-input file.
+Once you are an experienced user, you can use the manual as reference:
+there is an extensive index@footnote{If you are looking for something,
+and you cannot find it by using the index, that is considered a bug.
+In that case, please file a bug report.}, but the document is also
+available in
+@ifnothtml
+a big HTML page,
+@end ifnothtml
+@ifhtml
+@uref{../lilypond.html, a big HTML page}
+@end ifhtml
+which can be searched easily using the search facility of a web
+browser.
+@cindex search in manual
+@cindex using the manual
+
+@c TODO: advise to buy a book on notation?
+
+If you are not familiar with music notation, or music terminology
+(especially if you are a foreigner), then it is advisable to consult
+the glossary as well. The glossary explains musical terms, and
+includes translations to various languages. It is a
+@ifhtml
+@uref{../glossary.html,separate document}
+@end ifhtml
+@ifnothtml
+separate document, available in HTML and PDF and can be printed as
+well.
+@end ifnothtml
+@cindex idiom
+@cindex jargon
+@cindex terminology
+@cindex foreign languages
+@cindex language
+
+
+This manual is not complete without a number of other documents. They
+are not available in print, but should be included with the
+documentation package for your platform
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Generated internal documentation.
+@ifhtml
+available @uref{../lilypond-internals/lilypond-internals.html,here}
+@end ifhtml
+
+The generated internal documentation is a heavily crosslinked HTML
+document, produced directly from the formatting definitions used. It
+documents the nit-gritty details of each and every LilyPond class,
+object and function.
+
+Almost all formatting functionality that is used internally, is
+available directly to the user. For example, all variables that
+control thicknesses, distances, etc, can be changed in input
+files. There are a huge number of formatting options, and all of them
+are described in the generated documentation. Each section of the
+reference manual has a @b{See also} subsection, which refers to the
+the generated documentation. In the HTML document, these subsections
+have clickable links.
+
+@item
+ Templates
+@ifhtml
+(available @uref{../../../input/templates/out-www/collated-files.html,here})
+@end ifhtml
+
+After you have gone through the tutorial, in theory you should be able
+to write input files. In practice, writing files from scratch turns
+out to be intimidating. To give a headstart, we have collected a
+number of often-used formats in example files. These files can be
+used as a start, by copying the template, and adding notes in the
+appropriate places.
+
+@item
+ Various input examples
+@ifhtml
+available @uref{../../../input/test/out-www/collated-files.html,here}
+@end ifhtml
@cindex snippets
-@cindex adjusting output
-Lilypond also comes with a huge collection of snippets that show all
-kinds of tricks. This collection is much needed, because of the way
-LilyPond is structured. It is a large program, but almost all of the
-internal functionality is exported: that is, the variables that are
-internally used for formatting the sheet music are available directly
-to the user. These are variables to control thicknesses, distances,
-and other formatting options. There are a huge number of them, and it
-would be impossible to describe them all in a hand-written
-manual. There is no need to despair, there is an `automatic' manual,
-that lists all of the variables that are available. It is directly
-generated from the definitions that LilyPond itself uses, so it is
-always up to date. If you are reading this from a screen: it is
-available from the web, and is included with most binary
-distributions. If you are reading this from paper, then we advise you
-to use the digital version anyway: the hyperlinks make finding topics
-in the lilypond-internals manual much easier.
+These small files show various tips and tricks, and are available as a
+big HTML document, with pictures and explanatory texts included.
+
+@item
+ The regression test
+@ifhtml
+available @uref{../../../input/regression/out-www/collated-files.html,here}
+@end ifhtml
+
+We strive to test each feature in one test file. This collection is
+primarilyt there to help us debug problems, but it can be instructive
+to see how we excercise the program. The format is like the tips and
+tricks document.
+
+@end itemize
+
+
+The location of the documentation files that are mentioned here can
+vary from system to system. On occasion, this manual refers to
+initialization and example files. Throughout this manual, we refer to
+input files relative to the top-directory of the source archive. For
+example, @file{input/test/bla.ly} may refer to the file
+@file{lilypond-1.7.19/input/test/bla.ly}. On binary packages for the
+Unix platform, the documentation and examples can typically be found
+somewhere below @file{/usr/share/doc/lilypond/}. Initialization files,
+for example @file{scm/lily.scm}, or @file{ly/engraver-init.ly}, are
+usually found in the directory @file{/usr/share/lilypond/}.
+
+@cindex adjusting output
@cindex variables
@cindex properties
@cindex lilypond-internals
@cindex internal documentation
-
-For those who really want to get their hands dirty: it is even
-possible to add your own functionality, by extending LilyPond in the
-built-in scripting language, a dialect of the powerful programming
-language Scheme. There is no real distinction between what a user can
-do and what a programmer is allowed to do.
-
@cindex Scheme
@cindex extending lilypond
-
-In summary, this manual does not pretend to be exhaustive, but it is
-merely a guide that tries to explain the most important principles,
-and shows popular input idioms. The rest of the manual is structured
-as follows: it starts with a tutorial that explains how to use
-lilypond. In the tutorial, a number of fragments of increasing
-complexity are shown and explained. Then comes the reference manual,
-which gives more detailed information on all features. If you are new
-to lilypond, then you should start reading the tutorial, and
-experiment for yourself. If you already have some experience, then
-you can simply use the manual as reference: there is an extensive
-index@footnote{If you are looking for something, and you cannot find it
-by using the index, that is considered a bug. In that case, please
-file a bug report}, but the document is also available in One Big Page,
-@c should have hyperlink?
-which is is available for text search using your browser's search
-facility.
-
-@cindex searchin manual
-@cindex using the manual
@cindex bugreport
@cindex index
-@cindex tutorial
-@cindex overview of manual
-@cindex idiom
-
+Finally, this and all other manuals, are available online both as PDF
+files and HTML from the web site, which can be found at
+@uref{http://www.lilypond.org/}.
+@cindex website
+@cindex URL
projects / lilypond.git / blobdiff