+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, 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
+==============
-if you have downloaded a
+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.
- *.pre*
+1.2 Downloading
+===============
-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 primary download site for sourcecode is
+`http://lilypond.org/download/'.
-2: REQUIREMENTS
+1.3 Compilation
+===============
-For the compilation and running of LilyPond you need some additional
-packages. Please refer to the installation instructions.
+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'.
-NOTE: If you downloaded a binary (.rpm or a W95/NT .zip file), then
-you don't have to compile LilyPond.
+1.4 Documentation
+=================
-3: INSTALLATION
+The documentation is available online at `http://lilypond.org/doc/'.
-For your convenience, a formatted copy of the INSTALL instructions are
-in the toplevel directory, as INSTALL.txt
+ You can also build it locally: follow the instructions under
+`Building documentation' in the installation instructions.
-The process is fairly straightforward, but chances are that you have
-to specify directories for TeX to configure: this is done with
-the options --enable-tex-dir and --enable-mf-dir
+1.5 Comments
+============
-4: DOCUMENTATION
+Send your criticism, comments, bugreports, patches, etc. to the mailing
+list, not to us personally.
-The real documentation is the directory Documentation/
+ We have the following mailing lists:
-To generate the pretty-printed docs, you have to run configure first,
-and then do this:
+ * 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.
- make doc
+ * lilypond-devel@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel) for
+ discussions about developing LilyPond, in particular the unstable
+ series.
-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/lilypond/index.html
+ * lilypond-user@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user) for
+ discussions about using LilyPond, in particular the stable series.
-5: COMMENTS
+ * bug-lilypond@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-lilypond) for sending
+ bugreports.
-LilyPond is a long way from finished and polished. We do appreciate
-criticism, comments, bugreports, patches, etc.
+ * lilypond-cvs@gnu.org
+ (http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-cvs) for log
+ files from the autobuild.
- Please send your e-mail to one of the MAILING LISTS
+ You can search the lists from our searching facilities
+(http://lilypond.org/search).
-and not to us personally. See Documentation/links.yo for more info.
+1.6 Bugs
+========
-6: DOZE
+Send bug reports to <bug-lilypond@gnu.org>. For help and questions use
+<lilypond-user@gnu.org>.
-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://pcnov095.win.tue.nl/pub/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 especially 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 bin/cleanfonts.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.