FAQ - GNU LilyPond FAQs

Table of Contents

1: Miscellaneous

1.1: HELP! I'm stuck!

2: Installing

2.1: Wow, the webpages look really neat, but if I install the .exe file on my DOS/windows 3.11 machine, it doesn't work.

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

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

2.4: Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:

3: Language: mudela

3.1: Why can't you type #c in stead of cis ?

3.2: Why do I have to type the accidentals to the note if I specified them?

3.3: What is cis anyway

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

3.5: I want to insert some TeX commands.

4: Do you support ...

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

4.2: Do you support guitar chord diagrams?

4.3: Do you support TAB notation?

4.4: Do you support multiple staff-sizes?

5: How do I ....

5.1: How do I change the TeX layout?

5.2: 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!

5.3: How do I put more than one marking on a note.

5.4: How do I get bar numbers?

6: Development

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

6.2: Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?

6.3: I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?

6.4: I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?

6.5: I made some code, how do I get you to include it?

6.6: How do I learn the C++ code?

6.7: Why GPL?

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

6.9: gdb crashes when I debug!

6.10: Why do I need g++ >= 2.7?

7: Running

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

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

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

7.4: I don't get midi-output, even if I use -M!

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

8: Windows32

8.1: I downloaded the windows32 port, and it doesn't match the website!

8.2: But i want a native DOS/Windows-NT/95 port



()

1: Miscellaneous

1.1: HELP! I'm stuck!

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

2: Installing

2.1: Wow, the webpages look really neat, but if I install the .exe file on my DOS/windows 3.11 machine, it doesn't work.

The DOS 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?). This is not a recommendation, however. We recommend you use Unix, in particular, use GNU/Linux. For further information see README-W32.

2.2: 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 mail me.

2.3: 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

You might need to create some extra "out" directories. Do this with

    make outdirs

2.4: Some of your neat scripts fail, what directories do you use:

[This only applies if you don't do make install, and develop 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....

The directory ~/usr/src/ contains something like


    doos/                        # gnu/windows32 build and binary releases
    harmonia -> harmonia-x.y.z 
    harmonia-x.y.z/
    lilypond -> lilypond-x.y.z   # symlink to development directory
    lilypond-x.y.z/              # current development
    patches/ 		         # patches between different releases
    RedHat/BUILD                 # RedHat build and binary releases
    RedHat/RPMS
    RedHat/SPECS
    releases/                    # .tar.gz releases
    test/                        # tarballs and diffs from current version
    yodl -> yodl-1.30.17
    yodl-1.30.17

with prefix $HOME/usr/src and (for building rpms only) in $HOME/.rpmrc:

    topdir: /home/fred/usr/src/RedHat

)

~/usr/src/bin is in the PATH, and contains symlinks to the compiled executables.

3: Language: mudela

3.1: Why can't you type #c in stead of cis ?

We think that #c looks as if you are entering the symbols to print (which you are not; remember, you're entering the musical content in Mudela)

3.2: Why do I have to type the accidentals to the note if I specified them?

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. We have tried to make the language somewhat context-free. Of course sheet music is not context-free. Unfortunately, sheet music is also 2 dimensional, and ASCII is not.

Technically it would be feasible to have the Interpreting phase do tricky things to add (or leave out) the accidentals, but we think that it is impractical: it hampers the readability and portability of your source, since you need LilyPond to fill in the details and actually make sense of it.

3.3: 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.

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

[] 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

3.5: 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).

4: Do you support ...

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

Yes, see the twinkle-pop example.

4.2: Do you support guitar chord diagrams?

No, not yet. 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.

4.3: Do you support TAB notation?

No. The same as for the previous question goes, but TAB is a lot more work than diagrams (TAB needs modification of Parser, Lexer, Staff, Notehead, Stem code and all the code that creates these graphic elements.)

4.4: Do you support multiple staff-sizes?

Yes and no. At this time you can choose between 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23 and 20 pt staff-size. The sizes can't be changed per staff (yet). Look at standchen.ly for an example.

5: How do I ....

5.1: How do I change the TeX layout?

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

5.2: 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

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

5.3: How do I put more than one marking on a note.

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 }
	>

5.4: How do I get bar numbers?

See init/engraver.ly. You have to uncomment some entries. To do this `portably' you should redefine some engravers in your own source files. Check out init/rhythm.ly.

6: Development

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

If it is reasonable, I'll add XXXX to the TODO list. 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.

6.2: Can I join in on LilyPond development? How do I do this?

LilyPond development is open for anyone who wants to join. We try to use a Bazaar style development model for LilyPond, see http://locke.ccil.org/~esr/writings/cathedral.html. This means: frequent releases, everyone can send in a patch or do suggestions and all development discussions are public.

To be precise, discussions take place on the gnu-music-discuss mailing list, which is open for subscription to everyone.

6.3: I want to implement XXXX! Should I do this?

There might be better ways of doing XXXX, so it's a good thing to ask about this before you start hacking. If you want to keep in touch with current developments, you should subscribe to the mailing list (see the "links" section of the documentation).

6.4: I want to implement XXXX! How should I do this?

Your best bet of getting me to include code, is to present it as a "fait accompli", ie., to send me a patch.

6.5: I made some code, how do I get you to include it?

Send in a patch:


	diff -urN old-file new-file > patch

or

	diff -urN old-directory/ new-directory/ > patch 

Alternatively, you can use issue the command

	make diff

Don't forget to put your name and e-mail address in the AUTHORS.pod file, or you won't get credits :-]

6.6: How do I learn the C++ code?

The entry point is in main(). Good luck. :-)

Seriously, read, reread and reread internals and CodingStyle, and just start anywhere.

Anywhere? Well, most of the comment doco are in the header files, so your best bet would be less lily/include/*.hh. Some of the most important data-structures are to be found in:


	- *request.hh
	- engraver.hh
	- performer.hh
	- translator.hh
	- score-elem.hh
	- music.hh
	- music-list.hh
	- music-iterator.hh
	- item.hh
	- spanner.hh

6.7: Why GPL?

Yes.

6.8: 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 in several respects. More detailed argumentation is included with LilyPond's generic make package StepMake (see stepmake-x.x.x/Documentation/automake.urgh)

LilyPond already compiles into a different directory ((the different directory is called out/, there is one in every source directory). make distclean essentially reduces to rm -f out/* in every directory

6.9: gdb crashes when I debug!

Upgrade to 4.17.

6.10: Why do I need g++ >= 2.7?

By using g++, GNU LilyPond is portable to all platforms which support g++ (there are quite a few). Not having to support other compilers saves us a lot of trouble.

7: Running

7.1: 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.

7.2: 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.

7.3: 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.

7.4: I don't get midi-output, even if I use -M!

Your \score should include a \midi block, eg.


	\score {
		\melodic { c4 c g g }
		\paper {}	
		\midi {
			NOTRANS(&uring;)tput "myfile.mid";
			\tempo 4=70;
		}
	}

The -M option was added to LilyPond because processing the \paper block is so slow.

7.5: 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.

8: Windows32

8.1: I downloaded the windows32 port, and it doesn't match the website!

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.

8.2: But i want a native DOS/Windows-NT/95 port

Reconsider. Try Linux. It's fun!


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