5 Any knowledge of how to work with mouse and icons is not required.
7 ---------------------------
8 Install all needed packages
9 ---------------------------
11 See README for a list of required software. You don't need everything
12 listed there. In particular, mp3, ogg vorbis and aac support is
13 optional. Autoconf will detect what is installed on your system
14 and will only try to build those executables that can be built with
17 Note that no special library (not even the mp3 decodong library libmad)
18 is needed for para_server if you only want to stream mp3 files.
19 Also, it's fine to use para_server on a box without sound card as
20 para_server only sends the audio stream to connected clients.
22 -------------------------
23 Install server and client
24 -------------------------
26 Install the package on all machines, you'd like this software to run on:
28 (./configure && make) > /dev/null
30 There should be no errors but probably some warnings about missing
31 software packages which usually implies that not all audio formats will
32 be supported. If headers or libs are installed at unusual locations
33 you might need to tell the configure script to find them. Try
37 to see a list of options. If the paraslash package was compiled
38 successfully, execute as root,
42 -----------------------------------
43 Setup user list and create rsa keys
44 -----------------------------------
46 If you already have your rsa keys, skip this step. If you are new
47 to paraslash, you have to generate an rsa key pair for each user you
48 want to allow to connect. You need at least one user.
50 Let's assume that you'd like to run the server on host server_host
51 as user foo, and that you want to connect from client_host as user bar.
53 As foo@server_host, create ~/.paraslash/server.users by typing the
56 target=~/.paraslash/server.users
57 key=~/.paraslash/key.pub.bar
58 perms=AFS_READ,AFS_WRITE,VSS_READ,VSS_WRITE
60 echo "user bar $key $perms" >> $target
62 This gives "bar" the full privileges.
64 Change to the bar account on client_host and generate the key-pair
67 key=~/.paraslash/key.bar
69 (umask 077 && openssl genrsa -out $key)
71 Next, extract its public part:
73 pubkey=~/.paraslash/key.pub.bar
74 openssl rsa -in $key -pubout -out $pubkey
76 and copy the public key just created to server_host (you may
77 skip this step for a single-user setup, i.e. if foo=bar and
78 server_host=client_host):
80 scp $pubkey foo@server_host:.paraslash/
82 Finally, tell para_client to connect to server_host:
84 conf=~/.paraslash/client.conf
85 echo 'hostname server_host' > $conf
91 For this first try, we'll use a debug level of one to make the
92 output of para_server more verbose.
96 Now you can use para_client to connect to the server and issue
97 commands. Open a new shell (as "bar" on "client_host" in the above
103 to retrieve the list of available commands and some server info.
104 Don't proceed if this doesn't work.
112 This creates some empty tables under ~/.paraslash/afs_database.
113 You normally don't need to look at these tables, but it's good
114 to know that you can start from scratch with
116 rm -rf ~/.paraslash/afs_database
118 in case something went wrong.
120 Next, you need to fill the audio file table of that database with
121 contents so that para_server knows about your audio files. Choose an
122 absolute path to a directory containing some audio files and add them
123 to the audio file table:
125 para_client add /my/mp3/dir
127 This might take a while, so it is a good idea to start with a directory
128 containing not too many audio. Note that the table only contains data
129 about the audio files found, not the files themselves.
131 Print a list of all audio files found with
135 ------------------------
136 Start streaming manually
137 ------------------------
142 This starts streaming and dumps some information about the current
143 audio file to stdout.
145 You should now be able to receive the stream and listen to it. If
146 you have mpg123 or xmms handy, execute on client_host
148 mpg123 http://server_host:8000/
150 xmms http://server_host:8000/
152 Paraslash comes with its own receiving and playing software, which
153 will be described next. Try the following on client_host (assuming
154 Linux/ALSA and an mp3 stream):
156 para_recv -l 2 -r 'http -i server_host' > file.mp3
157 # (interrupt with CTRL+C after a few seconds)
158 ls -l file.mp3 # should not be empty
159 para_filter -f mp3dec -f wav < file.mp3 > file.wav
160 ls -l file.wav # should be much bigger than file.mp3
161 para_write -w alsa < file.wav
163 If this works, proceed. Otherwise double check what is logged by
164 para_server and use the --loglevel option of para_recv, para_filter
165 and para_write to increase verbosity.
167 Next, put the pieces together:
169 para_recv -r 'http -i server_host' \
170 | para_filter -f mp3dec -f wav \
173 ---------------------
174 Configure para_audiod
175 ---------------------
177 In order to automatically start the right decoder at the right time
178 and to offer to the clients some information on the current audio
179 stream and on paraslash's internal state, you should run the local
180 audio daemon, para_audiod, on every machine in your network which is
181 supposed to play the audio stream. Try
185 for help. Usually you have to specify only server_host as the receiver
186 specifier for each supported audio format, like this:
188 para_audiod -l 2 -r 'mp3:http -i server_host'
190 The preferred way to use para_audiod is to run it once at system start
191 as an unprivileged user. para_audiod needs to create a "well-known"
192 socket for the clients to connect to. The default path for this
195 /var/paraslash/audiod_socket.$HOSTNAME
197 so the /var/paraslash directory should be owned by the user who
200 If you want to change the location of the socket, use the -s option
201 for para_audiod or the config file ~/.paraslash/audiod.conf to change
202 the default. Note that in this case you'll also have to specify the
203 same value for para_audioc's -s option.
205 If para_server is playing, you should be able to listen to the audio
206 stream as soon as para_audiod is started. Once it is running, try
210 That should dump some information to stdout. Other commands include
222 para_gui reads the output of "para_audioc stat" and displays that
223 information in a curses window. It also allows you to bind keys to
224 arbitrary commands. There are several flavours of key-bindings:
226 - internal: These are the built-in commands that can not be
227 changed (help, quit, loglevel, version...).
228 - external: Shutdown curses before launching the given command.
229 Useful for starting other ncurses programs from within
230 para_gui, e.g. aumix or para_dbadm. Or, use "para_client
231 mbox" to write a mailbox containing one mail for each file
232 in the mysql database and start mutt from within para_gui
233 to browse your collection!
234 - display: Launch the command and display its stdout in
235 para_gui's bottom window.
236 - para: Like display, but start "para_client <specified
237 command>" instead of "<specified command>".
243 Paraslash comes with a sophisticated audio file selector called afs.
244 In the example above, we only used the "dummy" mode of afs which
245 gets activated automatically if nothing else was specified. In this
246 section the various features of afs are described.
252 An attribute is simply a bit which can be set for each audio
253 file individually. Up to 64 different attributes may be
254 defined. For example, "pop", "rock", "blues", "jazz", "instrumental",
255 "german_lyrics", "speech" whatever. It's up to you how many attributes
256 you define and how you call them.
258 A new attribute "test" is created by
260 para_client addatt test
265 lists all available attributes. You can set the "test" attribute for
266 an audio file by executing
268 para_client setatt test+ /path/to/the/audio/file
270 Similarly, the "test" bit can be removed from a audio file with
272 para_client setatt test- /path/to/the/audio/file
274 Instead of a path you can also use a pattern, and the attribute is
275 applied to all audio files matching that pattern:
277 para_client setatt test+ '/test/directory/*'
281 para_client -- ls -lv
283 gives you a verbose listing of your audio files which contains also
284 which attributes are set.
286 In case you wonder why the double-dash in the above command is needed:
287 It tells para_client to not interpret the options after the dashes. If
288 you find this annoying, just say
290 alias para='para_client --'
292 and be happy. In the remainder part this alias is being used.
294 Drop the test attribute entirely from the database with
303 for more information and a complete list of command line options to
307 ----------------------
308 Abstract mood nonsense
309 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
311 [skip this part if you don't like formal definitions]
313 A mood consists of a unique name and its *mood definition*, which is a set of
314 *mood lines* containing expressions in terms of attributes and other data
315 contained in the database.
317 A mood defines a subset of audio files called the *admissible audio files*
318 for that mood. A mood can be *active* which means that para_server
319 is going to select only files from that subset of admissible files.
321 So in order to create a mood definition one has to write a set of
322 mood lines. Mood lines come in three flavours: Accept lines, deny
323 lines and score lines.
325 The general syntax of the three types of mood lines is
328 accept [with score <score>] [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
329 deny [with score <score>] [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
330 score <score> [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
333 Here <score> is either an integer or the string "random" which assigns
334 a random score to all matching files. The score value changes the
335 order in which admissible files are going to be selected, but is of
336 minor importance for this introduction.
338 So we concentrate on the first two forms, that is accept and deny
339 lines. As usual, everything in square brackets is optional, i.e.
340 accept/deny lines take the following form when ignoring scores:
342 accept [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
344 and analogously for the deny case. The "if" keyword is purely cosmetic
345 and has no function. The "not" keyword just inverts the result, so
346 the essence of a mood line is the mood method part and the options
347 following thereafter.
349 A *mood method* is realized as function which takes an audio file
350 and computes a number from the data contained in the database.
351 If this number is non-negative, we say the file *matches* the mood
352 method. The file matches the full mood line if it either
354 - matches the mood method and the "not" keyword is not given,
356 - does not match the mood method, but the "not" keyword is given.
358 The set of admissible files for the whole mood is now defined as those
359 files which match at least one accept mood line, but no deny mood line.
360 More formally, a file is admissible if and only if
362 (F ~ AL1 or F ~ AL2...) and not (F ~ DL1 or F ~ DN2 ...)
364 where F is the file, AL1, AL2... are the accept lines, DL1, DL2... are
365 the deny lines and "~" means "matches".
367 The cases where no mood lines of accept/deny type are defined need
370 - Neither accept nor deny lines: This treats all files as admissible
371 (in fact, that is the definition of the dummy mood which is activated
372 automatically if no moods are available).
374 - Only accept lines: A file is admissible iff it matches at least one
377 F ~ AL1 or F ~ AL2 or ...
379 - Only deny lines: A file is admissible iff it matches no deny line:
381 not (F ~ DL1 or F ~ DN2 ...)
391 Takes no arguments and matches an audio file if and only if no
396 Takes no arguments and matches all audio files where the number of
397 times this audio file was selected is below the average.
399 is_set(attribute_name)
401 Takes the name of an attribute and matches iff that attribute is set.
405 Takes a filename pattern and matches iff the path of the audio file
413 To create a new mood called "my_mood", write its definition into
414 some temporary file, say "tmpfile", and add it to the mood table
417 para addmood my_mood < tmpfile
419 If the mood definition is really short, you may just pipe it to the
420 client instead of using temporary files. Like this:
422 echo "$MOOD_DEFINITION" | para addmood my_mood
424 There is no need to keep the temporary file since you can always use
425 the catmood command to get it back:
429 A mood can be activated by executing
433 Once active, the list of admissible files is shown by the ls command
434 if the "-a" switch is given:
438 -----------------------
439 Example mood definition
440 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
442 Suppose you have defined attributes "punk" and "rock" and want to define
443 a mood containing only Punk-Rock songs. That is, an audio file should be
444 admissible if and only if both attributes are set. Since
448 is obviously the same as
450 not (not punk or not rock)
452 (de Morgan's rule), a mood definition that selects only Punk-Rock
455 deny if not is_set punk
456 deny if not is_set rock
462 If something went wrong, look at the output. If that does not give
463 you a clue, use loglevel one (option -l 1 for most commands) to show
464 debugging info. Almost all paraslash executables have a brief online
465 help which is displayed by using the -h switch.
467 Still not working? Mail the author Andre Noll <maan@systemlinux.org>
468 (english, german, or spanish language). Please provide enough info
469 such as the version of paraslash you are using and relevant parts of