README
======
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Paraslash is an acronym for
_Play, archive, rate and stream large audio sets happily_
It contains the following programs:
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para_server
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para_server streams binary audio data (mp3/oggvorbis/m4a files)
over local and/or remote networks. It listens on a tcp port and
accepts commands such as play, stop, pause, next from authenticated
clients. However, there are many more commands.
It supports three built-in network streaming methods (senders): http, dccp,
or rtp.
* The http sender is recommended for public streams that can be played
by any player like mpg123, xmms, itunes, winamp...
* The dccp sender requires kernel support for the datagram congestion
control protocol.
* The ortp sender is recommended for multicast LAN streaming.
It is possible to activate more than one sender simultaneously.
The built-in audio file selector of paraslash is used to manage your
audio files. It maintains statistics on the usage of all available audio
files such as last played time, and the number of times each file was
selected.
Its features include
* attributes. Allow fine-grained audio file selection.
* image table. For storing e.g. album cover art.
* lyrics table. For storing lyrics.
* playlist table. Stores arbitrary many playlists for later use.
* mood mode. Audio file selection works by specifying mood
methods involving attributes, pattern matching for file names
and more. This allows rather sophisticated configurations
and is explained in more detail in
<<
README.afs
>>
* rename detection. If files are moved or renamed, afs will
recognize them despite of this change.
Despite of all these features, paraslash is lightweight. The
stripped binary of para_server with all its features compiled in
mp3/ogg/aac support, http/dccp/ortp support) is about 160K on i386
under Linux. para_audiod (see below) is even smaller.
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para_client
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The client program to connect to para_server. paraslash commands
are sent to para_server and the response is dumped to stdout. This
can be used by any scripting language to produce user interfaces with
little programming effort.
All connections between para_server and para_client are encrypted by
default. For each user of paraslash you must create a public/secret
RSA key pair for authentication. The authenticated connection is
encrypted with a symmetric rc4 session key.
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para_recv
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A command line http/dccp/ortp stream grabber. The http mode of this
tool can be used to receive data from any http streaming source.
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para_filter
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A filter program that converts from stdin and writes to stdout.
para_filter combines several decoders (mp3, oggvorbis, aac) and a
volume normalizer. New filters can be added easily. It is possible
to "chain" any number of filters, like UNIX pipes.
para_filter does not depend on other parts of paraslash, so it can
be used as a stand-alone command line tool for audio decoding and
volume normalization.
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para_write
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A modular audio stream writer. It supports a simple file writer
output plug-in and optional wav/raw players for ALSA (Linux) and for
coreaudio (Mac OS). para_write can also be used as a stand-alone wav
or raw audio player.
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para_audiod
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The local daemon that collects information from para_server.
It runs on the client side and connects to para_server. As soon as
para_server announces the availability of an audio stream, para_audiod
starts an appropriate receiver, any number of filters and a paraslash
writer to play the stream. It is possible to capture the stream at
any position in the filter chain.
Moreover, para_audiod listens on a local socket and sends status
information about para_server and para_audiod to local clients on
request. Access via this local socket may be restricted by using Unix
socket credentials, if available.
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para_audioc
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The client program which talks to para_audiod. Used to control
para_audiod, to receive status info, or to grab the stream at any
point in the filter chain.
para_audioc (hence para_audiod) is needed by para_gui see below.
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para_gui
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Themable ncurses-based gui. It calls para_audioc and presents
the obtained information in an ncurses window. para_gui provides
key-bindings for the most common commands and new key-bindings can
be added easily.
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para_fade
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A (Linux-only) alarm clock and volume-fader.
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bash_completion
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A small bash script for inclusion in ~/.bashrc. It gives you command
line completion for some paraslash commands.
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LICENSE
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Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL, version 2. See file
COPYING.
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THE AUTHOR
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Andre Noll
Comments and bug reports are welcome.