Doc rework

[clinton/abcde.git] / FAQ

1. INSTALLATION
   ============
   
Q. How can I install abcde on my system?
A. To get abcde you can use a pre-packaged version, available for Debian, 
   FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and others.
   In case you want to install your own release, you need to download the
   sources and install the complementary programs (abcde is just a frontend
   and its functionality is provided by other programs).
   Read 

   abcde needs cd-discid. Grab it from:
   http://www.hispalinux.es/~data/files/cd-discid/
   

2. EXECUTION
   =========

3. FORMATS
   =======

4. MISC PROBLEMS
   ==== ========

Q. What happened with normalize?
A. Normalize has changed its name under Debian, which is the GNU/Linux 
   distribution for developing abcde (well, is The GNU/Linux Distribution
   i only use, at the moment). Now it is called normalize-audio.
   If you are using some other flavour of OS, you need to change the name
   of the executable in your abcde.conf file.

Q. I am using MacOSX and I am having problems to use abcde.
A. Well, I have a Mac, but I use linux on it. I have not been able to find
   a way to make it work there, since I do not have the development tools
   installed. I have placed a basic support, but some user reports are just
   complaining about abcde not encoding the ripped tracks, as if 
   cdda2wav/cdparanoia/cddafs would never end reading them. If you have such
   a system and experience problems, please, report them, and I will try to
   work them out with your help.

Q. I would like to give the trackname and the artist_name directly to the
   encoder (in my case oggenc), but found no documentation.
A. That is not possible, since abcde gets the information from CDDB database.
   You can create a template and fill it with the option "-n".

Q. What formats can I encode my music to?
A. As for version 2.2, abcde includes support for MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, 
   Ogg/Speex, Flac and MPP/MP+(Musepack). Support for AAC will be added once
   an FLOSS encoder/decoder is working.

Q. I have a CD with a data track, and abcde complaints it cannot read/encode
   it.
A. It is not easy to find a data track on a CD. Right now, I can only think
   of getting the track info from CDDB and ask the user for continuing should
   a "data" track name is found. But the solution is far from been optimal.
   For now, if you find a "data" track and you know the number, restart abcde
   specifying the tracks to be encoded, leaving out the data one.
   Version 2.2 includes some checkings with cdparanoia, to try to get this
   right.

Q. How can I separate the different output files I get using multiple-output
   support?
A. Use the OUTPUT variable in PLAYLISTFORMAT and OUTPUTFORMAT. It holds the 
   different output file types you passed to abcde (i.e., ogg, mp3, flac) 
   during playlist creation and file/directory creation.
   
Q. I keep on getting files with ".ogg.ogg" extension. What am I doing wrong?
A. The code for multiple-output adds automatically the extension of the
   different outputs you select with the "-o" extension (or with OUTPUTTYPE
   variable). Erase the ".${OUTPUTTYPE}" part from the OUTPUTFORMAT variable
   in /etc/abcde.conf or ~/.abcde.conf

Q. I use Debian/RedHat/(put your Unix flavour here) and MP3 encoding is not 
   working. What am I doing wrong?
A. Since MP3 is considered non-free (you get it for free, but hardware players
   and net broadcasters have to pay license fees), some release engineering 
   groups and release management teams have decided not to provide MP3 encoding
   tools.
   These distributions or operative systems have decided to use Ogg/Vorbis as
   the default encoding format, since it contains no (known) patent claims
   and they are (supposed to be) completely Free (released under a BSD-like
   license).
   However, there is no strong (at the moment) hardware support, although 
   some groups and companies are strongly working on getting it, real soon 
   now. For that reason some people prefer to encode to MP3.

   UPDATE *** UPDATE
   There are at least 3 known brands already selling Ogg/Vorbis portable
   players: Rio, iRiver and Neuros.
   Go buy one and you have no more reasons to use MP3.
   
   If you are among those individuals, you might need to add support for MP3
   encoding to your system:
   Debian : check http://marillat.free.fr to install lame in your system.
            others prefer bladeenc. Check www.apt-get.org or google.
   RedHat : search on rpmfind.net
   FreeBSD: By default includes LAME support.
   OpenBSD: Available by specifying you want to install the port with LAME
            support, or by just installing it later from the ports tree.
   NetBSD : Available in pkgsrc.

   Others : Please, help me here.

Q. I have modified some of the options, and now CDDB has stopped working.
A. Check that you have modified everything in the right way. For instance, if
   you modify the HTTPGET program you might want to set some options of your
   own. If you use the predefined ones (wget, curl and fetch) abcde will try
   to use some defaults. Keep in mind that the output should go to the output
   as standard output, to be saved in a file for later use.
   
   If abcde seems to be ignoring your configuration options or not running commands
   such as the encoder, you may have misquoted something. Config options such as
   the following do not work:

   LAMEOPTS=-h -k

   Try this instead:

   LAMEOPTS='-h -k'

Q. My hardware player (put it here) does not recognize the playlists created
   with abcde. What I am doing wrong?
A. Try using "-m" when creating the playlists, or setting DOSPLAYLIST as an
   option in the config file.

Q. I am requested to have eject when setting the speed although I do not use
   for anything.
A. If you do not use cdparanoia, eject is used for setting the speed of the 
   cdrom drive. You can substitute it for "setcd" with "-x" as the argument,
   but you have to install it manually (setcd is, at least, available in 
   Debian).
   Another way to get the same results is using the pre_read function, defined
   in your /etc/abcde.conf file.

Q. Huh! Why is MPPENCODER (with MPP) and .mpc the extension?
A. Dunno. You must ask the guys who created and defined the format. The 
   standard is MPEGplus (MPP/MP+) but the files use .mpc extension.

Q. I want the new *put the newest and coolest codec there* format to be 
   supported by abcde. Abcde is so cool but i want to encode also to this
   new format...
A. Patches are welcome! ;)
   No, seriously, if the format is usable, available for Linux and open
   source/free software, it should be fairly easy to integrate. Support for
   AAC (m4p) should be the next one to be introduced.

Q. (Thanks to Amaya) Where are those options and settings defined? Why dont
   you include a proper abcde.conf as an example?
A. I do. It should be installed under /etc/abcde.conf and contains more or
   less all the defaults abcde uses. You can use $(HOME)/.abcde.conf to 
   override those defaults. More information can be obtained from the man page
   which can be consulted using "man abcde".

Q. I am running out of disc space.
A. You have to options. Use -l or define WAVOUTPUTDIR=/some/other/path to your
   /etc/abcde.conf or ~/.abcde.conf.
   
OBSOLETE
--------
Q. I set KEEPWAVS to "y" but abcde insists on erasing my directory, along
   with the wav tracks. What I am doing wrong?
A. The default action set includes clean, which cleans the temp directory, 
   if nothing goes wrong. Take the "clean" out from the action list and you
   are done.
   UPDATE: KEEPWAVS unselects now the clean action.

--
Jesus Climent <jesus.climent@hispalinux.es>