+Toplevel README
+***************
- This is the toplevel README to LilyPond
+1 Toplevel README
+*****************
-LilyPond is the GNU Project music typesetter. This program
-can print beautiful sheet music from a music definition
-file. It can also play mechanical performances to a MIDI
-file. Features include multiple staffs, meters, clefs,
-keys, lyrics, versatile input language, cadenzas, beams,
-slurs, triplets, named chords, transposing, formatting
-scores, part extraction. It includes a nice font of musical
-symbols.
+LilyPond is a music typesetter. It produces beautiful sheet music
+using a description file as input. LilyPond is part of the GNU Project.
-1: VERSIONING
+1.1 Versioning
+==============
-LilyPond uses a versioning scheme similar to the Linux ker-
-nel. In a version "x.y.z", an even second number 'y'
-denotes a stable version. For development versions 'y' is
-odd. For using straightforward score production, please use
-the latest stable version. Development versions may not
-produce good or nice scores.
+LilyPond uses a versioning scheme that easily identifies stable and
+development releases. In a version "x.y.z", an even second number 'y'
+denotes a stable version. For development versions 'y' is odd.
-If you have downloaded a
+1.2 Downloading
+===============
-*.pre*
+The primary download site for sourcecode is
+`http://lilypond.org/downloads/'.
-version, then this is version is *not* meant for producing
-nice output (but to keep your patchsets up to date). It
-might not even compile. The same goes for a version with a
-4th version number, eg
+1.3 Compilation
+===============
-1.2.3.mypatch2
+For compiling and running LilyPond see the installation instructions.
+These instructions can be found when you unpack lilypond, as
+`lilypond-x.y.z/INSTALL.txt'. They are also available on the web at
+`http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/topdocs/INSTALL.html'.
-It will be safer if you download 1.2.3 or wait for 1.2.4.
+1.4 Documentation
+=================
-2: REQUIREMENTS
+The documentation is available online at `http://lilypond.org/doc/'.
-For the compilation and running of LilyPond you need some
-additional packages. Please refer to the installation
-instructions.
+ You can also build it locally: follow the instructions under
+`Building documentation' in the installation instructions.
-NOTE: If you downloaded a binary (.rpm or a W95/NT .zip
-file), then you don't have to compile LilyPond.
+1.5 Comments
+============
-3: INSTALLATION
+Send your criticism, comments, bugreports, patches, etc. to the mailing
+list, not to us personally.
-For your convenience, a formatted copy of the INSTALL
-instructions are in the toplevel directory, as INSTALL.txt
+ We have the following mailing lists:
-The process is fairly straightforward, but chances are that
-you have to specify directories for to configure: this is
-done with the options --enable-tex-dir and --enable-mf-dir
+ * info-lilypond@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-lilypond) is a
+ low-volume list for information on LilyPond project. This
+ list is moderated; ask David R. Linn <drl@gnu.org> or
+ Han-Wen <hanwen@xs4all.nl> to send announcements for this list.
-4: DOCUMENTATION
+ * lilypond-devel@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel) for
+ discussions about developing LilyPond, in particular the unstable
+ series.
-The real documentation is the directory Documentation/
+ * lilypond-user@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user) for
+ discussions about using LilyPond, in particular the stable series.
-To generate the pretty-printed docs, you have to run config-
-ure first, and then do this:
+ * bug-lilypond@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-lilypond) for sending
+ bugreports.
-make doc
+ * lilypond-auto@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-auto) for
+ notifications from the issue tracking systems of LilyPond.
-You can also simply read the .yo sources. They are ASCII
-text. The complete documentation is accessible in formatted
-form at the website http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/hanwen/lily-
-pond/index.html
+ You can search the lists from our searching facilities
+(http://lilypond.org/search).
-5: COMMENTS
+1.6 Bugs
+========
-LilyPond is a long way from finished and polished. We do
-appreciate criticism, comments, bugreports, patches, etc.
+Send bug reports to <bug-lilypond@gnu.org>. For help and questions use
+<lilypond-user@gnu.org>.
-Please send your e-mail to one of the MAILING LISTS
-
-and not to us personally. See Documentation/links.yo for
-more info.
-
-6: WINDOWS 32
-
-If you have received this file as part of a DOS/Window32
-distribution (lilypond-*.zip), then it is advisable to also
-download the source package, since it might contain more
-documentation ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/GNU/LilyPond/
-
-If you decide to build LilyPond from source, please read the
-INSTALL.txt document first, especially the Windows NT/95
-section.
-
-7: CAVEATS
-
-* Please read the file BUGS for some ugly bugs. This espe-
-cially applies Linux-Intel unix users.
-
-* If you have installed a previous version, be sure to
-remove old font files, eg
-
- rm `find /var/lib/texmf/fonts -name 'feta*'`
-
-a script to do this for you is in buildscripts/clean-
-fonts.sh
-
-8: CDROM DISTRIBUTIONS
-
-If you have received LilyPond on a cdrom, chances are that
-development has moved a some patchlevels up. If possible,
-please check the latest version of LilyPond before reporting
-bugs.