Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
b7f1cc84 | 1 | 0. INTRODUCTION |
2 | ============ | |
3 | ||
4 | Q. Who created abcde? Who develops it nowadays? | |
5 | A. It was originally created by Robert Woodcook. He decided to give up | |
2c2dffe6 E |
6 | maintaining it at some point in 2002 and Jesus Climent took over. In 2012, |
7 | Colin Tuckley and Steve McIntyre joined in to help. Contact | |
8 | jesus.climent@hispalinux.es, colint@debian.org or 93sam@debian.org if you | |
9 | have a problem or a suggestion. | |
b7f1cc84 | 10 | |
c9c2ca27 | 11 | |
79e3928b | 12 | 1. INSTALLATION |
13 | ============ | |
14 | ||
15 | Q. How can I install abcde on my system? | |
16 | A. To get abcde you can use a pre-packaged version, available for Debian, | |
17 | FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and others. | |
18 | In case you want to install your own release, you need to download the | |
c1bbe6c3 | 19 | source and install the complementary programs (abcde is just a frontend |
79e3928b | 20 | and its functionality is provided by other programs). |
79e3928b | 21 | |
22 | abcde needs cd-discid. Grab it from: | |
23 | http://www.hispalinux.es/~data/files/cd-discid/ | |
b7f1cc84 | 24 | |
25 | Read the README files for a complete list of requirements. | |
d5200e72 | 26 | |
fd34b28b | 27 | Q. I have a problem, and I reported some time ago. Have you solved it already? |
28 | A. Maybe. Try downloading the trunk of the development from | |
026ae20b | 29 | http://abcde.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ |
79e3928b | 30 | |
fd34b28b | 31 | Q. When are you going to release a new version? |
32 | A. When it is ready. I keep on having new ideas and adding them to the trunk | |
33 | (stored in the URL above), so I dont release until all the ideas are | |
34 | finished. | |
35 | ||
79e3928b | 36 | |
37 | 2. EXECUTION | |
38 | ========= | |
39 | ||
1b94d6b7 | 40 | Q. I want to force abcde 2.x to behave more like 1.x. How do I do it? |
41 | A. Put these options in your abcde.conf: | |
42 | ||
43 | INTERACTIVE=n | |
44 | OUTPUTTYPE=mp3 | |
45 | ID3TAGV=1 | |
46 | ||
b7f1cc84 | 47 | Q. Low on disk space? |
48 | A. abcde has different algorithms to schedule ripping and encoding - to | |
49 | optimize for disk conservation, use -l. You can also define | |
50 | WAVOUTPUTDIR=/some/other/path to your /etc/abcde.conf or ~/.abcde.conf to | |
51 | store the WAV files on another NFS shared fisk, for example. | |
fd34b28b | 52 | Also, UNIX pipes have also been implemented, using "-P", so abcde reads and |
53 | encodes the tracks from the CD at once. However, it has the drawback that | |
54 | only one format can be encoded at a time. | |
b7f1cc84 | 55 | |
56 | Q. How can i make abcde encode faster? My CD reader is way faster than the pace | |
57 | it can encode my tracks. | |
58 | A. abcde can take advantage of SMP systems, just like make. Try 'abcde -j 2' - | |
59 | it'll run two encoder jobs while it rips the next track. | |
60 | You can also make use of systems which are networked, with the help of | |
61 | distmp3. For example, MachineA has a better CPU power and MachineB has a CD | |
62 | drive. Run distmp3host (included in distmp3) on Machine A, and then run | |
63 | abcde -r MachineA from MachineB (where "MachineA" is a dns name or IP | |
64 | address). Use this in combination with '-j 0' to shift all encoding off the | |
65 | local machine. | |
66 | ||
81bc6204 | 67 | Q. I am having problems with *my CD reading program* reading the drive as a |
68 | user. | |
69 | A. You might have to add yourself (or the users who want to use abcde) to the | |
70 | cdrom group and change the permissions of the cdrom device to 660. If you | |
71 | have a SCSI cdrom drive, check the permissions of /dev/sg* as well. | |
c9c2ca27 | 72 | |
73 | Q. I would like to give the trackname and the artist_name directly to the | |
74 | encoder (in my case oggenc), but found no documentation. | |
75 | A. That is not possible, since abcde gets the information from CDDB database. | |
b7f1cc84 | 76 | You can create a template and fill it with the option "-n". Also, you can |
77 | get the CDDB entry and edit it yourself. abcde has also an option to drop | |
78 | back to a template if you like none of the CDDB entries, selecting 0 from | |
79 | the CDDB options. | |
c9c2ca27 | 80 | |
b7f1cc84 | 81 | Q. (Thanks to Amaya) Where are those options and settings defined? Why dont |
82 | you include a proper abcde.conf as an example? | |
83 | A. I do. It should be installed under /etc/abcde.conf and contains more or | |
84 | less all the defaults abcde uses. You can use $(HOME)/.abcde.conf to | |
85 | override those defaults. More information can be obtained from the man page | |
86 | which can be consulted using "man abcde". | |
87 | ||
88 | Q. I keep on getting files with ".ogg.ogg" extension. What am I doing wrong? | |
89 | A. The code for multiple-output adds automatically the extension of the | |
90 | different outputs you select with the "-o" extension (or with OUTPUTTYPE | |
91 | variable). Erase the ".${OUTPUTTYPE}" part from the OUTPUTFORMAT variable | |
92 | in /etc/abcde.conf or ~/.abcde.conf | |
93 | ||
94 | Q. I have modified some of the options, and now CDDB has stopped working. | |
95 | A. Check that you have modified everything in the right way. For instance, if | |
96 | you modify the HTTPGET program you might want to set some options of your | |
97 | own. If you use the predefined ones (wget, curl and fetch) abcde will try | |
98 | to use some defaults. Keep in mind that the output should go to the output | |
99 | as standard output, to be saved in a file for later use. | |
100 | ||
101 | If abcde seems to be ignoring your configuration options or not running | |
102 | commands such as the encoder, you may have misquoted something. Config | |
103 | options such as the following do not work: | |
104 | ||
105 | LAMEOPTS=-h -k | |
106 | ||
107 | Try this instead: | |
108 | ||
109 | LAMEOPTS='-h -k' | |
110 | ||
111 | Q. How can I separate the different output files I get using multiple-output | |
112 | support? | |
113 | A. Use the OUTPUT variable in PLAYLISTFORMAT and OUTPUTFORMAT. It holds the | |
114 | different output file types you passed to abcde (i.e., ogg, mp3, flac) | |
115 | during playlist creation and file/directory creation. | |
c9c2ca27 | 116 | |
117 | Q. I have a CD with a data track, and abcde complaints it cannot read/encode | |
118 | it. | |
ffd57cfc | 119 | A. From version 2.2 onwards, abcde includes some checkings with cdparanoia, to |
120 | try to get this right. | |
121 | (It is not easy to find a data track on a CD. Right now, I can only think | |
c9c2ca27 | 122 | of getting the track info from CDDB and ask the user for continuing should |
123 | a "data" track name is found. But the solution is far from been optimal. | |
124 | For now, if you find a "data" track and you know the number, restart abcde | |
ffd57cfc | 125 | specifying the tracks to be encoded, leaving out the data one). |
c9c2ca27 | 126 | |
b7f1cc84 | 127 | Q. I am requested to have "eject" when setting the speed although I do not use |
128 | it for anything. | |
129 | A. If you do not use cdparanoia, eject is used for setting the speed of the | |
130 | cdrom drive. You can substitute it for "setcd" with "-x" as the argument, | |
131 | but you have to install it manually (setcd is, at least, available in | |
132 | Debian). | |
133 | Another way to get the same results is using the pre_read function, defined | |
134 | in your /etc/abcde.conf file. | |
c9c2ca27 | 135 | |
b7f1cc84 | 136 | Q. I have a CD set with 1+ discs, and want to have them in the same directory, |
137 | sorted properly. What can abcde do for me? | |
138 | A. Set abcde to rip the first CD and give it the option "-t 101". Use a generic | |
139 | name for the CD, and reuse it with the rest of the CDs, editing the CDDB | |
140 | entries. Use "-t 201" for the second CD and so on. Use "-w <comment>" to | |
141 | add a comment about the CD you are ripping (-w "disc #"). Alternatively you | |
142 | can use only the "-t ###" option and then move all the files to the same | |
fd34b28b | 143 | directory, but the tag/comment information on the files will differ. If you |
144 | want the tagged track number to be set to the modified number you should use | |
145 | "-T ###". | |
146 | Even better! If you use "-W <cd_number>", abcde will put a comment to every | |
147 | CD set ("CD <number>") and modify the number of the tracks both in the file | |
148 | name and the tag/comment information. | |
b7f1cc84 | 149 | |
150 | Q. I have a live concert. I want to encode it in a single file. How do i do it? | |
581a2153 | 151 | A. Use "-1" and it will be encoded in a single file. Use "cue" as an action to |
152 | make a CUE sheet file where the information about the tracks is stored. | |
b7f1cc84 | 153 | |
ffd57cfc | 154 | Q. Can I use abcde to take a backup of my CD collection? |
581a2153 | 155 | A. Yes. Use "abcde -1 -o flac -a default,cue" and it will create a single-track |
156 | FLAC file with an embedded cuesheet. Later on, you can use the command | |
ffd57cfc | 157 | "abcde -o vorbis -d flac-file.flac" to extract the individual tracks in |
158 | Ogg/Vorbis format. Of course you can select whatever format you want. | |
159 | ||
160 | ||
2c2dffe6 E |
161 | 3. CDDB and Musicbrainz |
162 | ==================== | |
b7f1cc84 | 163 | |
164 | Q. I need to go through an HTTP proxy for CDDB access. | |
165 | A. No problem, just export your http_proxy variable first so wget/fetch/curl | |
166 | can see it. | |
167 | ||
168 | Q. I already store CDDB entries in my hard disc. Can I make use of them? | |
169 | A. Piece of cake. Just edit CDDBLOCALDIR to point to the repository and give | |
170 | abcde the "-L" flag to make use of it. | |
171 | ||
172 | Q. Fine, now it uses local CDDB, but I have no network connection. How can I | |
173 | disable CDDB checks? | |
174 | A. Use the "-L -n" combination. It will try to use local CDDB entries, and if | |
175 | nothing can be found, it will use a template. You will be also given the | |
176 | choice to edit such template. | |
177 | ||
178 | Q. How can I use some other CDDB information provider? | |
179 | A. abcde now uses FreeDB by default. To use a different FreeDB mirror or | |
180 | another CDDB service, change the CDDBURL option in your abcde.conf. | |
181 | ||
c1bbe6c3 | 182 | Q. After requesting CDDB data, I received several answers which seem to be |
183 | quite alike. Can I find out the difference between some of them? | |
184 | A. Yes. When asked which one you want to select, use "X,Y" where X and Y are | |
185 | the numbers of the selections you want to find the difference between. | |
186 | ||
2c2dffe6 E |
187 | Q. I don't like CDDB/FreeDB. How can I use Musicbrainz instead? |
188 | A. Set CDDBMETHOD=musicbrainz and try it! | |
b7f1cc84 | 189 | |
190 | 3. FORMATS | |
191 | ======= | |
192 | ||
193 | Q. What formats can I encode my music to? | |
194 | A. As for version 2.2, abcde includes support for MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, | |
195 | Ogg/Speex, Flac and MPP/MP+(Musepack). Support for AAC will be added once | |
196 | an FLOSS encoder/decoder is working. | |
197 | ||
198 | Q. I want the new *put the newest and coolest codec there* format to be | |
199 | supported by abcde. Abcde is so cool but i want to encode also to this | |
200 | new format... | |
201 | A. Patches are welcome! ;) | |
202 | No, seriously, if the format is usable, available for Linux and open | |
203 | source/free software, it should be fairly easy to integrate. Support for | |
204 | AAC (m4p) should be the next one to be introduced. | |
c9c2ca27 | 205 | |
206 | Q. I use Debian/RedHat/(put your Unix flavour here) and MP3 encoding is not | |
207 | working. What am I doing wrong? | |
208 | A. Since MP3 is considered non-free (you get it for free, but hardware players | |
209 | and net broadcasters have to pay license fees), some release engineering | |
210 | groups and release management teams have decided not to provide MP3 encoding | |
211 | tools. | |
212 | These distributions or operative systems have decided to use Ogg/Vorbis as | |
213 | the default encoding format, since it contains no (known) patent claims | |
214 | and they are (supposed to be) completely Free (released under a BSD-like | |
215 | license). | |
216 | However, there is no strong (at the moment) hardware support, although | |
217 | some groups and companies are strongly working on getting it, real soon | |
218 | now. For that reason some people prefer to encode to MP3. | |
219 | ||
220 | UPDATE *** UPDATE | |
fd34b28b | 221 | There are known brands already selling Ogg/Vorbis portable players: Rio, |
222 | iRiver, Neuros, iAudio,... | |
c9c2ca27 | 223 | Go buy one and you have no more reasons to use MP3. |
224 | ||
225 | If you are among those individuals, you might need to add support for MP3 | |
226 | encoding to your system: | |
f97e22a3 | 227 | Debian : check http://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat to install lame in your |
228 | system. Others prefer bladeenc. Check www.apt-get.org or google. | |
c9c2ca27 | 229 | RedHat : search on rpmfind.net |
230 | FreeBSD: By default includes LAME support. | |
231 | OpenBSD: Available by specifying you want to install the port with LAME | |
232 | support, or by just installing it later from the ports tree. | |
233 | NetBSD : Available in pkgsrc. | |
234 | ||
235 | Others : Please, help me here. | |
236 | ||
b7f1cc84 | 237 | Q. Huh! Why is MPPENCODER (with MPP) and .mpc the extension? |
238 | A. Dunno. You must ask the guys who created and defined the format. The | |
239 | standard is MPEGplus (MPP/MP+) but the files use .mpc extension. | |
79e3928b | 240 | |
b7f1cc84 | 241 | |
242 | 4. MISC PROBLEMS | |
243 | ==== ======== | |
79e3928b | 244 | |
b7f1cc84 | 245 | Q. What happened with normalize? |
246 | A. Normalize has changed its name under Debian, which is the GNU/Linux | |
247 | distribution for developing abcde (well, is The GNU/Linux Distribution | |
248 | i only use, at the moment). Now it is called normalize-audio. | |
249 | If you are using some other flavour of OS, you need to change the name | |
250 | of the executable in your abcde.conf file. | |
79e3928b | 251 | |
b7f1cc84 | 252 | Q. I am using MacOSX and I am having problems to use abcde. |
253 | A. Well, I have a Mac, but I use linux on it. I have not been able to find | |
254 | a way to make it work there, since I do not have the development tools | |
255 | installed. I have placed a basic support, but some user reports are just | |
256 | complaining about abcde not encoding the ripped tracks, as if | |
6b005b85 | 257 | icedax/cdda2wav/cdparanoia/cddafs would never end reading them. If you have |
258 | such a system and experience problems, please, report them, and I will | |
259 | try to work them out with your help. | |
c9c2ca27 | 260 | |
261 | Q. My hardware player (put it here) does not recognize the playlists created | |
262 | with abcde. What I am doing wrong? | |
263 | A. Try using "-m" when creating the playlists, or setting DOSPLAYLIST as an | |
264 | option in the config file. | |
265 | ||
c9c2ca27 | 266 | OBSOLETE |
267 | -------- | |
268 | Q. I set KEEPWAVS to "y" but abcde insists on erasing my directory, along | |
269 | with the wav tracks. What I am doing wrong? | |
270 | A. The default action set includes clean, which cleans the temp directory, | |
271 | if nothing goes wrong. Take the "clean" out from the action list and you | |
272 | are done. | |
273 | UPDATE: KEEPWAVS unselects now the clean action. | |
79e3928b | 274 | |
275 | -- | |
276 | Jesus Climent <jesus.climent@hispalinux.es> |