3 Paraslash is an acronym for
5 Play, archive, rate and stream large audio sets happily
7 It contains the following programs:
9 - para_server (obligatory):
11 This server supports audio streaming of mp3, ogg vorbis and
12 aac files. It listens on a tcp port and accepts commands
13 such as play, stop, pause, next from authenticated clients.
15 The audio stream may be sent over the network by three
18 The http sender is recommended for public streams that can
19 be played by any player like mpg123, xmms, winamp...
21 The dccp sender is experimental and requires kernel support
22 for the rather new datagram congestion control protocol.
24 The ortp sender is recommended for LAN streaming and for
25 private streams that require authentication.
27 It is possible to activate more than one sender simultaneously.
29 para_server needs an "audio file selector" to work, mainly
30 to determine which song to stream next. There are three
31 selectors available: random, playlist and mysql. The former
32 chooses audio files randomly and playlist can handle, well,
33 playlists. Both are always supported.
35 The optional mysql selector connects to a mysql server which
36 holds information on your audio files. It has several unusual
37 features, see README.mysql for details.
39 - para_client (obligatory):
41 The client program to connect to para_server.
43 - para_recv (optional)
45 A command line http/dccp/rtp stream grabber.
47 - para_filter (optional)
49 A filter program that converts from stdin and writes to
50 stdout. This one is independent from the rest of paraslash,
51 so it might be useful also for different purposes.
53 para_filter combines several decoders (mp3, oggvorbis, aac)
54 and a volume normalzer. New filters can be added easily due
55 to the modular design. If more than one filter is specified,
56 the given filters are 'piped' together in-memory, i.e. without
57 calling any of the read(2)/write(2)/select(2) etc. functions.
59 - para_write (obligatory)
61 A modular audio stream writer. It supports a simple file
62 writer output plugin and an optional wav/raw player for alsa.
63 Debian package: libasound2-dev
65 - para_audiod (optional, but recommended):
67 The local daemon that collects information from para_server. It
68 starts an appropriate receiver, filter and player as soon
69 as para_server announces the availability (and the type) of
70 an audio stream. para_audiod listens on a local socket and
71 sends status information about para_server and para_audiod
72 to local clients on request.
74 - para_audioc (optional, but recommended)
76 The client program which talks with para_audiod. Used to
77 control para_audiod, to receive status info, or to grab the
78 stream at any point in the filter chain.
80 para_audioc (hence para_audiod) is needed by para_gui,
81 para_sdl_gui and para_krell, see below.
83 - para_gui (optional):
85 Themable ncurses-based gui. It calls para_audioc and presents
86 the obtained information in an ncurses window. para_gui
87 provides key-bindings for the most common commands and new
88 key-bindings can be added easily.
90 - para_sdl_gui (optional):
92 SDL-based gui. Similar to para_gui but presents its output
93 in an X window (fullscreen mode is also available) and can
94 display jpg images on a per song basis. para_sdl_gui provides
95 an input prompt to enter arbitrary commands. However, it
96 can also be used non-interactively (e.g. as a screen saver)
99 - para_krell (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql selector):
101 A plugin for gkrellm which shows small pictures of the
102 current song. It allows you to launch 27 different commands
103 by clicking in different areas of its picture (9 small squares
106 - para_fade (optional):
108 A (Linux-only) alarm clock and volume-fader.
110 - para_dbadm (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql selector):
112 Very simple curses-based frontend which uses libmenu. Useful
113 for quickly changing the attributes of the current song
114 (e.g. from para_gui as an external command).
116 - para_slider (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql selector):
118 A small X application which shows a scrollbar for each
119 attribute defined in the mysql database. It creates a stream
120 definition from the values of the scrollbars. This allows
121 to smoothly change the mood of the given stream without any
124 - bash_completion (optional):
126 A small bash script for inclusion in ~/.bashrc. It gives you
127 command line completion for some paraslash commands.
133 - gcc, the gnu compiler collection (shipped with distro): gcc-3.3
134 or newer is required.
136 - openssl (needed by server, client): usually shipped with
137 distro, but you might have to install the "development"
140 http://www.openssl.org/
142 - software mixing, e.g. ALSA and the direct mixing plugin (dmix)
144 If you want to use the mysql-based audio file selector, you also need
150 These are usually shipped with the distro but probably not installed
153 The mp3 decoder of para_filter is based on libmad:
155 http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/
157 If you prefer to use the libmad package provided by your distributor,
158 make sure to install the corresponding development package as well.
160 If you want to stream ogg vorbis files you'll need:
162 - libogg, libvorbis, libvorbisfile, and a command line ogg vorbis
163 decoder, e.g. para_filter or ogg123.
165 http://www.xiph.org/downloads/
167 Debian packages: libogg-dev libvorbis-dev
169 For aac files (m4a) you'll need libfaad. Get it at
171 http://www.audiocoding.com/modules/wiki/?page=AAC
173 Note that para_audiod still works even if no audio file support was
174 compiled in. You'll have to use the --no_default_filters option in this
175 case (and e.g. "mpg123 -" as the stream write command for mp3 streams).
177 If you intend to use the optional ortp streamer:
181 http://www.linphone.org/ortp/
184 For the optional SDL-based gui, the following packages must be installed:
186 - X (usually shipped with distro)
190 - libSDL (usually shipped with distro)
192 http://www.libsdl.org/index.php
196 http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
198 For para_slider, the zero memory widget library is neccessary. Get it at
200 http://www710.univ-lyon1.fr/~exco/ZMW/
202 Finally, para_krell needs
210 http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html
214 Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL. See file COPYING.
218 Author: Andre Noll <maan@systemlinux.org>
219 Comments and bug reports are welcome.