-Paraslash README
-================
-Paraslash is an acronym for
+The paraslash package contains server and client software for network
+audio streaming and stand-alone utilities for decoding and playing
+audio files. See the user manual for details.
- Play, archive, rate and stream large audio sets happily
+Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL, version 2 unless
+otherwise stated. See file COPYING.
-It contains the following programs:
+Web page: http://people.tuebingen.mpg.de/maan/paraslash/
+Gitweb: http://git.tuebingen.mpg.de/paraslash.git/
+Git URL: git://git.tuebingen.mpg.de/paraslash.git
+Email: Andre Noll <maan@tuebingen.mpg.de>
-- para_server (obligatory):
-
- This server listens on a tcp port and accepts commands such as
- play, stop, pause, next. However, there are many more commands.
-
- For audio streaming, at least one sender must be activated.
- At the moment, paraslash contains two internal senders:
-
- The http sender is recommended for public streams that can
- be played by any player like mpg123, xmms, winamp...
-
- The ortp sender is recommended for LAN streaming and for
- private streams that require authentication.
-
- It is possible to activate more than one sender simultaneously.
- All senders have the same set of commands that allow to
- control the access permissions of the stream.
-
- para_server needs a "database tool" to work, mainly to
- determine which song to stream next. There are three such
- tools available: random, plm and mysql. The former chooses
- audio files randomly and plm, the playlist manager, can handle
- playlists. Both are always supported.
-
- The (optional) mysql database tool connects to a mysql server
- which holds information on your audio files. It has several
- unusual features, see README.mysql for details.
-
-- para_client (obligatory):
-
- The client program to connect to para_server.
-
-- para_recv (optional)
-
- A command line http/ortp stream grabber.
-
-- para_filter (optional)
-
- An filter program that converts from stdin and writes to
- stdout. This one is independent from the rest of paraslash,
- so it might be useful also for different purposes.
-
- para_filter combines an mp3 decoder an oggvorbis decoder
- and a volume normalzer. New filters can be added easily due
- to the modular design. If more than one filter is specified,
- the given filters are 'piped' together in-memory, i.e. without
- calling any of the read(2)/write(2)/select(2) etc. functions.
-
-- para_play (optional)
-
- A small wav/raw player for alsa.
- Debian package: libasound2-dev
-
-- para_audiod (optional, but recommended):
-
- The local daemon that starts playback and collects information
- from para_server to be forwarded to local clients.
-
- para_audiod reads the audio stream from the network if
- para_server indicates that there is a stream available. It may
- be sent through any of the supported filters (see para_filter
- above) before the result is fed to the output software
- (default: para_play) which must be capable of reading from
- stdin, but is not restricted otherwise.
-
-- para_audioc (optional, but recommended)
-
- A small client that can talk to para_audiod. Used to control
- para_audiod and to receive status info. It can also be used to
- grab the stream at any point in the filter chain. para_audioc
- is needed by para_gui, para_sdl_gui and para_krell, see below.
-
-- para_gui (optional, but recommended):
-
- 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.
-
-- para_sdl_gui (optional):
-
- SDL-based gui. Similar to para_gui but presents its output in
- an X window (fullscreen mode is also available) and can display
- jpg images on a per song basis. para_sdl_gui provides an input
- prompt to enter arbitrary commands. However, it can also be used
- non-interactively (e.g. as a screen saver) via the -i switch.
-
-- para_krell (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql dbtool):
-
- A plugin for gkrellm which shows small pictures of the
- current song. It allows you to launch 27 different commands
- by clicking in different areas of its picture (9 small squares
- x 3 mouse buttons).
-
-- para_fade (optional):
-
- A (Linux-only) alarm clock and volume-fader.
-
-- para_dbadm (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql dbtool):
-
- Very simple curses-based frontend which uses libmenu. Useful
- for quickly changing the attributes of the current song
- (e.g. from para_gui as an external command).
-
-- para_slider (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql dbtool):
-
- A small X application which shows a scrollbar for each
- attribute defined in the mysql database. It creates a stream
- definition from the values of the scrollbars. This allows
- to smoothly change the mood of the given stream without any
- file editing.
-
-- bash_completion (optional):
-
- A small bash script for inclusion in ~/.bashrc. It gives you
- command line completion for some paraslash commands.
-
-REQUIREMENTS:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-In any case you need
-
- - gcc, the gnu compiler collection (shipped with distro): gcc-3
- or newer is prefered, but gcc-2.95 is still supported. Note
- that gcc-2.95 may spit out many warnings like unused function
- parameters and missing initializers. These are all harmless
- and may be ignored.
-
- - openssl (needed by server, client): usually shipped with
- distro, but you might have to install the "development"
- package as well
-
- http://www.openssl.org/
-
- - software mixing, e.g. ALSA and the direct mixing plugin (dmix)
-
-If you want to use the mysql-based dbtool (recommended), you also need
-
- - mysql-server
- - mysql-client
- - libmysqlclient
-
-These are usually shipped with the distro but probably not installed
-by default.
-
-The mp3 decoder of para_filter is based on libmad:
-
- http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/
-
-If you prefer to use the libmad package provided by your distributor,
-make sure to install the corresponding development package as well.
-
-If you want to stream ogg vorbis files you'll need:
-
- - libogg, libvorbis, libvorbisfile, and a command line ogg vorbis
- player, e.g. para_filter or ogg123.
-
- http://www.xiph.org/downloads/
-
-Debian packages: libogg-dev libvorbis-dev
-
-Note that para_audiod still works even if neither mp3 nor ogg support
-was compiled in. You'll have to use the --no_default_filters option
-in this case (and e.g. "mpg123 -" as the stream write command).
-
-If you intend to use the optional ortp streamer:
-
- - libortp
-
- http://www.linphone.org/ortp/
-
-
-For the optional SDL-based gui, the following packages must be installed:
-
- - X (usually shipped with distro)
-
- http://www.x.org/
-
- - libSDL (usually shipped with distro)
-
- http://www.libsdl.org/index.php
-
- - SDL_image
-
- http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
-
-For para_slider, the zero memory widget library is neccessary. Get it at
-
- http://www710.univ-lyon1.fr/~exco/ZMW/
-
-Finally, para_krell needs
-
- - gtk2
-
- http://www.gtk.org/
-
- - gkrellm2
-
- http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html
-
-LICENSE:
-~~~~~~~~
-Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL. See file COPYING.
-
-LIMITATIONS:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~
-The mysql database tool assumes that the basenames of your audio files
-are unique. If this is not the case, don't use this database tool,
-rename your files, or create your own database tool.
-
-THE AUTHOR:
-~~~~~~~~~~~
-Author: Andre Noll <maan@systemlinux.org>
Comments and bug reports are welcome.