-README
-======
+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.
-----
-Paraslash is an acronym for
+Distribution of paraslash is covered by the GNU GPL, version 2 unless
+otherwise stated. See file COPYING.
-_Play, archive, rate and stream large audio sets happily_
+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>
-It contains the following programs:
-
------------------------
-para_server (obligatory)
------------------------
-
-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 builtin 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 is experimental and requires kernel support for the
- rather new datagram congestion control protocol.
-
- * The ortp sender is recommended for multicast LAN streaming
-
-It is possible to activate more than one sender simultaneously.
-
-para_server needs an audio file selector to work, mainly to determine
-which audio file to stream next. The following three selectors are
-built in:
-
- * The random selector chooses audio files out of a given directory
- by random
-
- * The playlist selector chooses files from a specified playlist
-
- * The (optional) mysql selector is more involved. It connects
- to a mysql server which holds information on your audio files
- and maintains statistics on the available audio files. Audio
- file selection works by sending a user-defined sql-query
- to the mysql server. This allows rather sophisticated
- configurations and is explained in detail in README.mysql.
-
-It is possible to switch between all supported selectors at any time.
-
-Despite of all these features, paraslash is lightweight. The
-stripped binary of para_server with all its features compiled in
-(mysql/random/playlist selector, mp3/ogg/aac support, http/dccp/ortp
-support) is about 120K on i386 under Linux. para_audiod (see below)
-is even smaller.
-
-------------------------
-para_client (obligatory)
-------------------------
-
-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
-key pair for authentication. The (authenticated) connection is encrypted
-with a symmetric rc4 session key.
-
---------------------
-para_recv (optional)
---------------------
-
-A command line http/dccp/rtp stream grabber. The http mode of this tool
-can be used to receive date from any http streaming source.
-
-----------------------
-para_filter (optional)
-----------------------
-
-A filter program that converts from stdin and writes to stdout. It
-is completely independent from the rest of paraslash, so it might be
-useful also for different purposes.
-
-para_filter combines several decoders (mp3, oggvorbis, aac) and a
-volume normalizer 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_write (obligatory)
------------------------
-
-A modular audio stream writer. It supports a simple file writer
-output plug-in and optional wav/raw players for alsa (linux-only,
-Debian package: libasound2-dev) and Mac OS. para_write can also be
-used as a stand-alone wav or raw audio player.
-
----------------------------------------
-para_audiod (optional, but recommended)
----------------------------------------
-
-The local daemon that collects information from para_server.
-
-It runs on the client side and connects to para_server. The audio stream is
-read from the network and sent through any of paraslash's filters (decoder,
-volume normalizer). The resulting stream is written to an output plug-in
-(writer), e.g. the alsa writer on linux systems. It is possible to capture the
-stream at any position in the filter chain.
-
-para_audiod starts an appropriate receiver, filter and player as soon as
-para_server announces the availability (and the type) of an audio stream.
-Moreover, it listens on a local socket and sends status information about
-para_server and para_audiod to local clients on request.
-
---------------------------------------
-para_audioc (optional, but recommended)
---------------------------------------
-
-The client program which talks with 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, para_sdl_gui
-and para_krell, see below.
-
--------------------
-para_gui (optional)
--------------------
-
-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 selector)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-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 selector)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-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 selector)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-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-3.3
- or newer is required.
- - openssl (needed by server, client): usually shipped with
- distro, but you might have to install the "development package"
- (called libssl-dev on debian systems) 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 audio file selector, 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: If you prefer to
-use the libmad package provided by your distributor, make sure to
-install the corresponding development package as well. Otherwise,
-just download libmad from http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/
-
-For ogg vorbis streams you'll need libogg, libvorbis, libvorbisfile,
-The corresponding Debian packages are called libogg-dev libvorbis-dev,
-other distributors chose similar names. All of these are also
-available at http://www.xiph.org/downloads/
-
-For aac files (m4a) you'll need libfaad. Get it at
-http://www.audiocoding.com/modules/wiki/?page=AAC
-
-If you intend to use the optional ortp streamer, you'll need 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:
-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.
-
-----------
-THE AUTHOR
-----------
-
-Andre Noll <maan@systemlinux.org>
Comments and bug reports are welcome.
projects / paraslash.git / blobdiff