README

   1 Paraslash README
   2 ================
   3 Paraslash is an acronym for
   4
   5         Play, archive, rate and stream large audio sets happily
   6
   7 It contains the following programs:
   8
   9 - para_server (obligatory):
  10
  11         This server listens on a tcp port and accepts commands such as
  12         play, stop, pause, next. However, there are many more commands.
  13
  14         For audio streaming, at least one sender must be activated.
  15         At the moment, paraslash contains two internal senders:
  16
  17         The http sender is recommended for public streams that can
  18         be played by any player like mpg123, xmms, winamp...
  19
  20         The ortp sender is recommended for LAN streaming and for
  21         private streams that require authentication.
  22
  23         It is possible to activate more than one sender simultaneously.
  24         All senders have the same set of commands that allow to
  25         control the access permissions of the stream.
  26
  27         para_server needs an  "audio file selector" to work, mainly to
  28         determine which song to stream next. There are three selectors
  29         available: random, plm and mysql. The former chooses audio
  30         files randomly and plm, the playlist manager, can handle
  31         playlists. Both are always supported.
  32
  33         The (optional) mysql selector connects to a mysql server
  34         which holds information on your audio files. It has several
  35         unusual features, see README.mysql for details.
  36
  37 - para_client (obligatory):
  38
  39         The client program to connect to para_server.
  40
  41 - para_recv (optional)
  42
  43         A command line http/ortp stream grabber.
  44
  45 - para_filter (optional)
  46
  47         An filter program that converts from stdin and writes to
  48         stdout. This one is independent from the rest of paraslash,
  49         so it might be useful also for different purposes.
  50
  51         para_filter combines an mp3 decoder an oggvorbis decoder
  52         and a volume normalzer. New filters can be added easily due
  53         to the modular design. If more than one filter is specified,
  54         the given filters are 'piped' together in-memory, i.e. without
  55         calling any of the read(2)/write(2)/select(2) etc. functions.
  56
  57 - para_play (optional)
  58
  59         A small wav/raw player for alsa.
  60         Debian package: libasound2-dev
  61
  62 - para_audiod (optional, but recommended):
  63
  64         The local daemon that starts playback and collects information
  65         from para_server to be forwarded to local clients.
  66
  67         para_audiod reads the audio stream from the network if
  68         para_server indicates that there is a stream available. It may
  69         be sent through any of the supported filters (see para_filter
  70         above) before the result is fed to the output software
  71         (default: para_play) which must be capable of reading from
  72         stdin, but is not restricted otherwise.
  73
  74 - para_audioc (optional, but recommended)
  75
  76         A small client that can talk to para_audiod. Used to control
  77         para_audiod and to receive status info. It can also be used to
  78         grab the stream at any point in the filter chain. para_audioc
  79         is needed by para_gui, para_sdl_gui and para_krell, see below.
  80
  81 - para_gui (optional, but recommended):
  82
  83         Themable ncurses-based gui. It calls para_audioc and presents
  84         the obtained information in an ncurses window. para_gui
  85         provides key-bindings for the most common commands and new
  86         key-bindings can be added easily.
  87
  88 - para_sdl_gui (optional):
  89
  90         SDL-based gui. Similar to para_gui but presents its output in
  91         an X window (fullscreen mode is also available) and can display
  92         jpg images on a per song basis. para_sdl_gui provides an input
  93         prompt to enter arbitrary commands. However, it can also be used
  94         non-interactively (e.g. as a screen saver) via the -i switch.
  95
  96 - para_krell (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql dbtool):
  97
  98         A plugin for gkrellm which shows small pictures of the
  99         current song. It allows you to launch 27 different commands
 100         by clicking in different areas of its picture (9 small squares
 101         x 3 mouse buttons).
 102
 103 - para_fade (optional):
 104
 105         A (Linux-only) alarm clock and volume-fader.
 106
 107 - para_dbadm (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql dbtool):
 108
 109         Very simple curses-based frontend which uses libmenu. Useful
 110         for quickly changing the attributes of the current song
 111         (e.g. from para_gui as an external command).
 112
 113 - para_slider (optional, only useful in conjunction with the mysql dbtool):
 114
 115         A small X application which shows a scrollbar for each
 116         attribute defined in the mysql database. It creates a stream
 117         definition from the values of the scrollbars. This allows
 118         to smoothly change the mood of the given stream without any
 119         file editing.
 120
 121 - bash_completion (optional):
 122
 123         A small bash script for inclusion in ~/.bashrc. It gives you
 124         command line completion for some paraslash commands.
 125
 126 REQUIREMENTS:
 127 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 128 In any case you need
 129
 130         - gcc, the gnu compiler collection (shipped with distro): gcc-3
 131         or newer is prefered, but gcc-2.95 is still supported. Note
 132         that gcc-2.95 may spit out many warnings like unused function
 133         parameters and missing initializers. These are all harmless
 134         and may be ignored.
 135
 136         - openssl (needed by server, client): usually shipped with
 137         distro, but you might have to install the "development"
 138         package as well
 139
 140                 http://www.openssl.org/
 141
 142         - software mixing, e.g. ALSA and the direct mixing plugin (dmix)
 143
 144 If you want to use the mysql-based dbtool (recommended), you also need
 145
 146         - mysql-server
 147         - mysql-client
 148         - libmysqlclient
 149
 150 These are usually shipped with the distro but probably not installed
 151 by default.
 152
 153 The mp3 decoder of para_filter is based on libmad:
 154
 155                 http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/
 156
 157 If you prefer to use the libmad package provided by your distributor,
 158 make sure to install the corresponding development package as well.
 159
 160 If you want to stream ogg vorbis files you'll need:
 161
 162         - libogg, libvorbis, libvorbisfile, and a command line ogg vorbis
 163                 player, e.g. para_filter or ogg123.
 164
 165                 http://www.xiph.org/downloads/
 166
 167 Debian packages: libogg-dev libvorbis-dev
 168
 169 Note that para_audiod still works even if neither mp3 nor ogg support
 170 was compiled in. You'll have to use the --no_default_filters option
 171 in this case (and e.g. "mpg123 -" as the stream write command).
 172
 173 If you intend to use the optional ortp streamer:
 174
 175         - libortp
 176
 177                 http://www.linphone.org/ortp/
 178
 179
 180 For the optional SDL-based gui, the following packages must be installed:
 181
 182         - X (usually shipped with distro)
 183
 184                 http://www.x.org/
 185
 186         - libSDL (usually shipped with distro)
 187
 188                 http://www.libsdl.org/index.php
 189
 190         - SDL_image
 191
 192                 http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
 193
 194 For para_slider, the zero memory widget library is neccessary. Get it at
 195
 196                 http://www710.univ-lyon1.fr/~exco/ZMW/
 197
 198 Finally, para_krell needs
 199
 200         - gtk2
 201
 202                 http://www.gtk.org/
 203
 204         - gkrellm2
 205
 206                 http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html
 207
 208 LICENSE:
 209 ~~~~~~~~
 210 Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL. See file COPYING.
 211
 212 LIMITATIONS:
 213 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 214 The mysql selector assumes that the basenames of your audio files are
 215 unique. If this is not the case, don't use this selector, rename your
 216 files, or create your own one.
 217
 218 THE AUTHOR:
 219 ~~~~~~~~~~~
 220 Author: Andre Noll <maan@systemlinux.org>
 221 Comments and bug reports are welcome.