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 listens on a tcp port and accepts commands such as
12 play, stop, pause, next from authenticated clients.
14 For audio streaming, at least one of the three supported senders
15 of para_server must be activated:
17 The http sender is recommended for public streams that can
18 be played by any player like mpg123, xmms, winamp...
20 The dccp sender is experimental and requires kernel support
21 for the rather new datagram congestion control protocol.
23 The ortp sender is recommended for LAN streaming and for
24 private streams that require authentication.
26 It is possible to activate more than one sender simultaneously.
27 All senders have the same set of commands that allow to
28 control the access permissions of the stream.
30 para_server needs an "audio file selector" to work, mainly
31 to determine which song to stream next. There are three
32 selectors available: random, playlist and mysql. The former
33 chooses audio files randomly and playlist can handle, well,
34 playlists. Both are always supported.
36 The optional mysql selector connects to a mysql server which
37 holds information on your audio files. It has several unusual
38 features, see README.mysql for details.
40 - para_client (obligatory):
42 The client program to connect to para_server.
44 - para_recv (optional)
46 A command line http/dccp/rtp stream grabber.
48 - para_filter (optional)
50 A filter program that converts from stdin and writes to
51 stdout. This one is independent from the rest of paraslash,
52 so it might be useful also for different purposes.
54 para_filter combines an mp3 decoder an oggvorbis decoder
55 and a volume normalzer. New filters can be added easily due
56 to the modular design. If more than one filter is specified,
57 the given filters are 'piped' together in-memory, i.e. without
58 calling any of the read(2)/write(2)/select(2) etc. functions.
60 - para_play (optional)
62 A small 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
134 or newer is prefered, but gcc-2.95 is still supported. Note
135 that gcc-2.95 may spit out many warnings like unused function
136 parameters and missing initializers. These are all harmless
139 - openssl (needed by server, client): usually shipped with
140 distro, but you might have to install the "development"
143 http://www.openssl.org/
145 - software mixing, e.g. ALSA and the direct mixing plugin (dmix)
147 If you want to use the mysql-based audio file selector, you also need
153 These are usually shipped with the distro but probably not installed
156 The mp3 decoder of para_filter is based on libmad:
158 http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/
160 If you prefer to use the libmad package provided by your distributor,
161 make sure to install the corresponding development package as well.
163 If you want to stream ogg vorbis files you'll need:
165 - libogg, libvorbis, libvorbisfile, and a command line ogg vorbis
166 player, e.g. para_filter or ogg123.
168 http://www.xiph.org/downloads/
170 Debian packages: libogg-dev libvorbis-dev
172 Note that para_audiod still works even if neither mp3 nor ogg support
173 was compiled in. You'll have to use the --no_default_filters option
174 in this case (and e.g. "mpg123 -" as the stream write command).
176 If you intend to use the optional ortp streamer:
180 http://www.linphone.org/ortp/
183 For the optional SDL-based gui, the following packages must be installed:
185 - X (usually shipped with distro)
189 - libSDL (usually shipped with distro)
191 http://www.libsdl.org/index.php
195 http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
197 For para_slider, the zero memory widget library is neccessary. Get it at
199 http://www710.univ-lyon1.fr/~exco/ZMW/
201 Finally, para_krell needs
209 http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html
213 Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL. See file COPYING.
217 The mysql selector assumes that the basenames of your audio files are
218 unique. If this is not the case, don't use this selector, rename your
219 files, or create your own one.
223 Author: Andre Noll <maan@systemlinux.org>
224 Comments and bug reports are welcome.