Table of Contents
*****************

1 GNU Solfege 2.0.7
  1.1 Requirements
    1.1.1 MS Windows
    1.1.2 GNU/Linux and the rest of us
      1.1.2.1 Runtime
      1.1.2.2 Build dependencies
  1.2 Versioning
  1.3 Internationalisation
  1.4 Sound issues
    1.4.1 `--no-sound' command line option
    1.4.2 Missing `/dev/music'
  1.5 If it just won't work
    1.5.1 It still won't work!
  1.6 History
  1.7 Copyright notice


1 GNU Solfege 2.0.7
*******************

Solfege is a free eartraining program written in python using gtk+ and
GNOME libs. Using GNOME is optional, but the user interface is nicer
using GNOME. Solfege is expected to work on any OS where python, gtk+
and pygtk are ported, but some adjustments might be necessary.

Check out the latest news and precompiled binaries at
`http://www.solfege.org'. Get the source code for the stable releases
at `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/solfege' and bleeding edge at
`ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/solfege'.

   Eartraining is a big subject with many connections to music theory
and performance of music, so I won't even try to make "a complete
computerbased eartraining course". To use this software, you need some
basic knowledge about music theory.

   As of 18 June 2000, Solfege is an official part of the GNU project.
Visit `http://www.gnu.org' for more info.

1.1 Requirements
================

Most of this software are usually included with your linux distro, but
when writing this document (December 2002, Solfege 1.9.3), only RedHat
8.0 and Debian sid (unstable) are known to have _all_ the software
required.  Mandrake 9.0 for example, has too old PyGTK and gnome-python.

   Please report to solfege-devel@lists.sf.net on what is required to
build and run Solfege on your operating system.

1.1.1 MS Windows
----------------

MS Windows users can download the installer program
(solfege-win32-2.0.7.exe) that contains everything they need.

1.1.2 GNU/Linux and the rest of us
----------------------------------

The rest of us should check that the following is installed:

1.1.2.1 Runtime
...............

   * Python >= 2.3

   * Gtk+ >= 2.0.0

   * PyGTK >= 1.99.15 should be ok. As old as 1.99.11 might work for
     most of the exercises. (Redhat 8.0: pygtk2, Debian: python-gtk)

   * gnome-python >= 1.99.15 should be ok. As old as 1.99.11 might work
     for most of the exercises. 1.99.14 will crash with some
     combinations of GNOME libs.  This is optional, but required if you
     want to use the gtkhtml2 widget for displaying documentation. You
     _really_ want this.

   * libgtkhtml2 >= 1.99.6 (optional, but _very_ recommended.)

   * Midi working on /dev/music or /dev/sequencer (for example using
     OSS or ALSA with OSS emulation). Or at least possible to play midi
     files on some external program. It seems that your soundcard must
     support FM-synthesis or wavetable synthesis to use /dev/music or
     /dev/sequencer. If it does not, you need to do that in software,
     for example using timidity.

1.1.2.2 Build dependencies
..........................

If you build this software from source, you also need this:

   * GNU Make

   * Gettext

   * Python header files. (The RedHat package is called python-devel.)

   * C compiler (only GCC is tested, nothing else is expected to work.)

   * GNU m4 macro processor (for documentation preprocessing)

   * GNU texinfo (ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo)

   * xsltproc (http://xmlsoft.org/XSLT/ or debian package xsltproc.
     The RedHat 8.0, Suse 7.0 and Mandrake 9.0 package is called
     libxslt)

   * docbook xsl stylesheet.
     (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/docbook/, debian package
     docbook-xsl, RedHat 8.0 and Mandrake 9.0 package docbook-style-xsl)

   * swig 1.1 or 1.3 (Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator) found
     at `http://www.swig.org'.

   If you edit `configure.ac', you need GNU Autoconf.

1.2 Versioning
==============

Solfege uses a versioning scheme similar to the Linux kernel.  In a
version "x.y.z", an even (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) second number 'y' denotes a
stable version. So releases called 1.0, 1.2.2, 2.0.0 and similar should
work as documented, while a release versioned 1.1.3 or 1.9.2 is a test
release that is expected to cause some troubles (that should be
reported to solfege-devel@lists.sourceforge.net).

1.3 Internationalisation
========================

You get translated messages the same ways as with most GNU programs, by
setting environment variables. For example, one of these will give you
norwegian translations:

       export LC_MESSAGES=no_NO
       export LANG=norwegian

   Please read `translating-solfege.html' if you want to help the
translation. The file is available from within Solfege: on the Help
menu, select "All help files" and then click "Translating Solfege".

1.4 Sound issues
================

You configure how Solfege should play sounds from the preferences
window available from the File menu.

   Be aware that it seems like your soundcard must support FM-synthesis
or wavetable synthesis to work out of the box. One card I know that
does this is SoundBlaster Live. If it does not, you need to emulate
this in software, for example by using timidity as an external
midiplayer.  This can be a little tricky on MS Windows, but I'll try to
provide descriptions on how to do this later.

1.4.1 `--no-sound' command line option
--------------------------------------

If you plan to play sounds using an external midiplayer, or if you get
other error messages that you think might be caused by your sound setup
or Solfeges sound code, then you should start the program with the
`--no-sound' command line option the first time you run the program,
and then configure sound from the preferences window.

1.4.2 Missing `/dev/music'
--------------------------

If you have a recent linux kernel (at least late 2.2.x and newer,
someone please confirm when /dev/music was added...) but `/dev/music'
is missing, you can probably create the device file yourself with
MAKEDEV or `mknod /dev/music u 14 8' as root.

1.5 If it just won't work
=========================

One useful tips if you get strange errors is to delete the file all old
rc files. Solfege will try to import the settings from several old
releases, so you must delete them all: `$HOME/.solfegerc1.9'
`$HOME/.solfegerc1.5' `$HOME/.solfegerc1.4' `$HOME/.solfegerc1.3'
`$HOME/.solfegerc1.2' `$HOME/.solfegerc1.1' `$HOME/.solfegerc1.0' and
`$HOME/.solfegerc'

   You can also try to delete `$HOME/.solfege1.4', `$HOME/.solfege1.9'
and `$HOME/.solfege2.0'.  These directories contain the statistics.
(You might want to backup the files in case they are not what is
causing the your problems, and you want to keep your statistics!)

   If you find a way to reproduce an error that is fixed by deleting the
files and directories above, you should email
<solfege-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>.

   And please don't get depressed by the chaos caused by all those
versioned file :-) The future releases of Solfege will only use one
unversioned file `$HOME/.solfegerc' and one unversioned directory
`$HOME/.solfege'.

1.5.1 It still won't work!
--------------------------

See the INSTALL file if you have problems building and installing
Solfege, and check the man page or run the program with the '--help'
command line option for a list of command line options.

   The users guide is located in the online-docs/ directory from the
unpacked source, and also available from inside the program from the
'Help' menu.

   Report your problems to <solfege-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>.

1.6 History
===========

The first versions of Solfege was written in the first quarter of 1999
when I studied my 4th and last year at Malmö Academy of Music.  I was
writing a "special subject" (what is the english term??) about
eartraining and used GNU Lilypond and LaTeX to typeset the paper.

   I accidentally browsed the "help needed" page at the GNU web site
when I saw they needed someone to write an eartraining program for music
students.

   In the beginning I was experimenting with wxWindows, a cross
platform C++ GUI toolkit, but luckily, at some point I found the python
bindings for gtk+ and have never looked back.

1.7 Copyright notice
====================

Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003  Tom Cato Amundsen

   This if free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2.

   This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
with your Debian GNU/Linux system, in /usr/doc/copyright/GPL, with the
solfege source package as the file COPYING and available in the online
help system..  If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

   Tom Cato Amundsen <tca@gnu.org>

