Install all needed packages
---------------------------
-See README for a list of required software. Don't be afraid of the long
-list of unusual libraries: Most of them are only needed for optional
-programs. Autoconf will detect what is installed on your system and
-will only build those executables that can be built with your setup.
+See README for a list of required software. You don't need everything
+listed there. In particular, mp3, ogg vorbis and aac support is
+optional. Autoconf will detect what is installed on your system
+and will only try to build those executables that can be built with
+your setup.
-------------------------
+Note that no special library (not even the mp3 decodong library libmad)
+is needed for para_server if you only want to stream mp3 files.
+Also, it's fine to use para_server on a box without sound card as
+para_server only sends the audio stream to connected clients.
+
+-------------------------
Install server and client
-------------------------
(./configure && make) > /dev/null
-There should be no errors (but probably many warnings about missing
-software). Then, as root,
+There should be no errors but probably some warnings about missing
+software packages which usually implies that not all audio formats will
+be supported. If headers or libs are installed at unusual locations
+you might need to tell the configure script to find them. Try
+
+ configure --help
+
+to see a list of options. If the paraslash package was compiled
+successfully, execute as root,
make install
mkdir -p ~/.paraslash
echo "user bar $key $perms" >> $target
-This gives bar full privileges.
+This gives "bar" the full privileges.
Change to the bar account on client_host and generate the key-pair
with the commands
Start para_server
-----------------
-For the first try, we'll use the default audio file selector, the
-"random" selector which chooses audio files from the given directory
-by random. You have to tell para_server via the --random_dir command
-line option where this selector should look for audio files.
+For this first try, we'll use a debug level of one to make the
+output of para_server more verbose.
- para_server --random_dir=/my/mp3/directory
+ para_server -l 2
Now you can use para_client to connect to the server and issue
commands. Open a new shell (as "bar" on "client_host" in the above
para_client si
to retrieve the list of available commands and some server info.
+Don't proceed if this doesn't work.
+
+-------------------
+Create the database
+-------------------
+
+ para_client init
+
+This creates some empty tables under ~/.paraslash/afs_database.
+You normally don't need to look at these tables, but it's good
+to know that you can start from scratch with
+
+ rm -rf ~/.paraslash/afs_database
+
+in case something went wrong.
+
+Next, you need to fill the audio file table of that database with
+contents so that para_server knows about your audio files. Choose an
+absolute path to a directory containing some audio files and add them
+to the audio file table:
+
+ para_client add /my/mp3/dir
+
+This might take a while, so it is a good idea to start with a directory
+containing not too many audio. Note that the table only contains data
+about the audio files found, not the files themselves.
+
+Print a list of all audio files found with
+
+ para_client ls
------------------------
Start streaming manually
------------------------
- para_client play
- para_client stat 2
+ para play
+ para stat 2
-This starts streaming and dumps some information on the current song
-to stdout.
+This starts streaming and dumps some information about the current
+audio file to stdout.
-You should now be able to receive and listen to the stream. To check
-this, try the following on client_host (assuming alsa and an mp3
-stream):
+You should now be able to receive the stream and listen to it. If
+you have mpg123 or xmms handy, execute on client_host
- para_recv -r 'http -i server_host' > file.mp3
- # (interrupt after a few seconds)
+ mpg123 http://server_host:8000/
+or
+ xmms http://server_host:8000/
+
+Paraslash comes with its own receiving and playing software, which
+will be described next. Try the following on client_host (assuming
+Linux/ALSA and an mp3 stream):
+
+ para_recv -l 2 -r 'http -i server_host' > file.mp3
+ # (interrupt with CTRL+C after a few seconds)
ls -l file.mp3 # should not be empty
para_filter -f mp3dec -f wav < file.mp3 > file.wav
ls -l file.wav # should be much bigger than file.mp3
para_recv -r 'http -i server_host' \
| para_filter -f mp3dec -f wav \
| para_write -w alsa
- or
- mpg123 http://server_host:8000/
- or
- xmms http://server_host:8000/
-
------------------------------
-Choose an audio file selector
------------------------------
-
-paraslash has three different audio file selectors: random (default),
-playlist and mysql.
-
- - The random selector chooses files randomly from the given
- directory.
- - The playlist selector allows to send a playlist to para_server
- via the lpl (load playlist) command. para_server will choose
- files from the loaded playlist in sequential order.
- - The mysql selector stores information about your audio
- files in a mysql database. It is much more involved than
- the other two selectors and lets you chose files in many
- interesting ways. If you like to use the mysql selector,
- read README.mysql and follow the instructions given there.
- Return to this document when ready.
-
-The current audio file selector can be changed at runtime via
-
- para_client chs new_selector
---------------------
Configure para_audiod
In order to automatically start the right decoder at the right time
and to offer to the clients some information on the current audio
stream and on paraslash's internal state, you should run the local
-audio daemon, para_audiod, on every machine that is supposed to play
-the audio stream. Try
+audio daemon, para_audiod, on every machine in your network which is
+supposed to play the audio stream. Try
para_audiod -h
-for help. Usually you have to specify at least server_host as the
-receiver specifier for each supported audio format, like this:
+for help. Usually you have to specify only server_host as the receiver
+specifier for each supported audio format, like this:
- -r 'mp3:http -i server_host'
+ para_audiod -l 2 -r 'mp3:http -i server_host'
The preferred way to use para_audiod is to run it once at system start
as an unprivileged user. para_audiod needs to create a "well-known"
so the /var/paraslash directory should be owned by the user who
runs para_audiod.
-If you want to change location of the default socket, use the -s
-option for para_audiod or the config file ~/.paraslash/audiod.conf
-to change the default. Note that in this case you'll also have to
-specify the same value for para_audioc's -s option.
+If you want to change the location of the socket, use the -s option
+for para_audiod or the config file ~/.paraslash/audiod.conf to change
+the default. Note that in this case you'll also have to specify the
+same value for para_audioc's -s option.
If para_server is playing, you should be able to listen to the audio
stream as soon as para_audiod is started. Once it is running, try
- para: Like display, but start "para_client <specified
command>" instead of "<specified command>".
+---------
+AFS usage
+---------
+
+Paraslash comes with a sophisticated audio file selector called afs.
+In the example above, we only used the "dummy" mode of afs which
+gets activated automatically if nothing else was specified. In this
+section the various features of afs are described.
+
+----------
+Attributes
+~~~~~~~~~~
+
+An attribute is simply a bit which can be set for each audio
+file individually. Up to 64 different attributes may be
+defined. For example, "pop", "rock", "blues", "jazz", "instrumental",
+"german_lyrics", "speech" whatever. It's up to you how many attributes
+you define and how you call them.
+
+A new attribute "test" is created by
+
+ para_client addatt test
+
+and
+ para_client lsatt
+
+lists all available attributes. You can set the "test" attribute for
+an audio file by executing
+
+ para_client setatt test+ /path/to/the/audio/file
+
+Similarly, the "test" bit can be removed from a audio file with
+
+ para_client setatt test- /path/to/the/audio/file
+
+Instead of a path you can also use a pattern, and the attribute is
+applied to all audio files matching that pattern:
+
+ para_client setatt test+ '/test/directory/*'
+
+The command
+
+ para_client -- ls -lv
+
+gives you a verbose listing of your audio files which contains also
+which attributes are set.
+
+In case you wonder why the double-dash in the above command is needed:
+It tells para_client to not interpret the options after the dashes. If
+you find this annoying, just say
+
+ alias para='para_client --'
+
+and be happy. In the remainder part this alias is being used.
+
+Drop the test attribute entirely from the database with
+
+ para rmatt test
+
+Read the output of
+
+ para help ls
+ para help setatt
+
+for more information and a complete list of command line options to
+these commands.
+
+
+----------------------
+Abstract mood nonsense
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+[skip this part if you don't like formal definitions]
+
+A mood consists of a unique name and its *mood definition*, which is a set of
+*mood lines* containing expressions in terms of attributes and other data
+contained in the database.
+
+A mood defines a subset of audio files called the *admissible audio files*
+for that mood. A mood can be *active* which means that para_server
+is going to select only files from that subset of admissible files.
+
+So in order to create a mood definition one has to write a set of
+mood lines. Mood lines come in three flavours: Accept lines, deny
+lines and score lines.
+
+The general syntax of the three types of mood lines is
+
+
+ accept [with score <score>] [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
+ deny [with score <score>] [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
+ score <score> [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
+
+
+Here <score> is either an integer or the string "random" which assigns
+a random score to all matching files. The score value changes the
+order in which admissible files are going to be selected, but is of
+minor importance for this introduction.
+
+So we concentrate on the first two forms, that is accept and deny
+lines. As usual, everything in square brackets is optional, i.e.
+accept/deny lines take the following form when ignoring scores:
+
+ accept [if] [not] <mood_method> [options]
+
+and analogously for the deny case. The "if" keyword is purely cosmetic
+and has no function. The "not" keyword just inverts the result, so
+the essence of a mood line is the mood method part and the options
+following thereafter.
+
+A *mood method* is realized as function which takes an audio file
+and computes a number from the data contained in the database.
+If this number is non-negative, we say the file *matches* the mood
+method. The file matches the full mood line if it either
+
+ - matches the mood method and the "not" keyword is not given,
+or
+ - does not match the mood method, but the "not" keyword is given.
+
+The set of admissible files for the whole mood is now defined as those
+files which match at least one accept mood line, but no deny mood line.
+More formally, a file is admissible if and only if
+
+ (F ~ AL1 or F ~ AL2...) and not (F ~ DL1 or F ~ DN2 ...)
+
+where F is the file, AL1, AL2... are the accept lines, DL1, DL2... are
+the deny lines and "~" means "matches".
+
+The cases where no mood lines of accept/deny type are defined need
+special treatment:
+
+ - Neither accept nor deny lines: This treats all files as admissible
+ (in fact, that is the definition of the dummy mood which is activated
+ automatically if no moods are available).
+
+ - Only accept lines: A file is admissible iff it matches at least one
+ accept line:
+
+ F ~ AL1 or F ~ AL2 or ...
+
+ - Only deny lines: A file is admissible iff it matches no deny line:
+
+ not (F ~ DL1 or F ~ DN2 ...)
+
+
+
+--------------------
+List of mood_methods
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+ no_attributes_set()
+
+Takes no arguments and matches an audio file if and only if no
+attributes are set.
+
+ played_rarely()
+
+Takes no arguments and matches all audio files where the number of
+times this audio file was selected is below the average.
+
+ is_set(attribute_name)
+
+Takes the name of an attribute and matches iff that attribute is set.
+
+ name_like(pattern)
+
+Takes a filename pattern and matches iff the path of the audio file
+matches the pattern.
+
+
+----------
+Mood usage
+~~~~~~~~~~
+
+To create a new mood called "my_mood", write its definition into
+some temporary file, say "tmpfile", and add it to the mood table
+by executing
+
+ para addmood my_mood < tmpfile
+
+If the mood definition is really short, you may just pipe it to the
+client instead of using temporary files. Like this:
+
+ echo "$MOOD_DEFINITION" | para addmood my_mood
+
+There is no need to keep the temporary file since you can always use
+the catmood command to get it back:
+
+ para catmood my_mood
+
+A mood can be activated by executing
+
+ para chmood my_mood
+
+Once active, the list of admissible files is shown by the ls command
+if the "-a" switch is given:
+
+ para ls -a
+
+-----------------------
+Example mood definition
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Suppose you have defined attributes "punk" and "rock" and want to define
+a mood containing only Punk-Rock songs. That is, an audio file should be
+admissible if and only if both attributes are set. Since
+
+ punk and rock
+
+is obviously the same as
+
+ not (not punk or not rock)
+
+(de Morgan's rule), a mood definition that selects only Punk-Rock
+songs is
+
+ deny if not is_set punk
+ deny if not is_set rock
-That's all, congratulations. Check out all the other optional gimmicks!
+---------
Troubles?
-~~~~~~~~~
+---------
If something went wrong, look at the output. If that does not give
you a clue, use loglevel one (option -l 1 for most commands) to show
debugging info. Almost all paraslash executables have a brief online
projects / paraslash.git / commitdiff