### para_write ###
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.
+output plug-in and optional WAV/raw players for ALSA (Linux) and OSS.
+para_write can also be used as a stand-alone WAV or raw audio player.
### para_play ###
The image, lyrics, moods and playlists tables are all blob tables.
Blob tables consist of three columns each: The identifier which is
-a positive non-negative number that is auto-incremented, the name
-(an arbitrary string) and the content (the blob).
+a positive number that is auto-incremented, the name (an arbitrary
+string) and the content (the blob).
All blob tables support the same set of actions: cat, ls, mv, rm
and add. Of course, _add_ is used for adding new blobs to the table
also limited. For example only one application can open the device
at any time. The OSS writer is activated by default on BSD Systems.
-- *OSX*. Mac OS X has yet another API called CoreAudio. The OSX writer
-for this API is only compiled in on such systems and is of course
-the default there.
-
- *FILE*. The file writer allows to capture the audio stream and
write the PCM data to a file on the file system rather than playing
it through a sound device. It is supported on all platforms and is
Development
===========
+Contributing
+------------
+
+Paraslash is an open source project and contributions are
+welcome. Here's a list of things you can do to help the project:
+
+- Report problems with building, installing or running the software.
+ In particular, test the experimental git branches ("next" and "pu").
+ This helps to identify and fix problems before the code gets merged
+ and thus keeps the master branch as stable as possible.
+- Proofread the documentation (manual, web pages, man pages, source
+ code documentation) and point out unclear or poorly written parts. If
+ you are a native English speaker you will easily find a lot of text
+ that could be improved.
+- Run analysis tools (coverity, afl, sparse, etc.) and report issues
+ found by those tools.
+- Suggest new features you would like to see implemented.
+- Compile and test on your favorite architecture or operating
+ system. The code is tested only on a limited set of systems, so you
+ will probably encounter problems when building on different systems.
+- Post about about paraslash on your blog or on social networks.
+- Build and maintain Debian/RPM packages for your favorite distribution.
+
+Note that there is no mailing list, no bug tracker and no discussion
+forum for paraslash. If you'd like to contribute, or have questions
+about contributing, send email to Andre Noll <maan@tuebingen.mpg.de>.
+
Tools
-----
The preferred coding style for paraslash coincides more or less
with the style of the Linux kernel. So rather than repeating what is
-written [there](http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/CodingStyle),
+written [there](http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst),
here are the most important points.
- Burn the GNU coding standards.