HOWTO_Install_Lsongs

Introduction

Lsongs is a media player created by Linspire which behaves and functions very similarily to Apple's iTunes, and former iTunes users may really like it. This HOWTO will show you how to install it on Gentoo Linux.

Dependencies

Some of the things Lsongs needs to work are not (yet) in Portage, so you'll need to install them into a Portage overlay. If you don't know how to do this, see HOWTO Installing 3rd Party Ebuilds. This HOWTO assumes you have an overlay setup at /usr/local/portage.

media-sound/linspire-daapd

Lsongs uses a special version of media-sound/daapd that can read an XML Property List file for the files it needs to scan instead of scanning a directory. It just so happens that Lsongs also stores its library in XML Property List format (the same as iTunes, incidentally), so this is a lot more efficient. **NOTE:** Because linspire-daapd uses the same binary names as daapd, you can NOT install linspire-daapd while daapd is installed. Please do not try it! However, they both use the same configuration files, so it's safe to unmerge daapd and emerge linspire-daapd.

$ su
Password: (type your root password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/media-sound/linspire-daapd
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=64318" -O /usr/local/portage/media-sound/linspire-daapd/linspire-daapd-0.2.3d.ebuild
(wget will download this file)
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=64319" -O /usr/local/portage/media-sound/linspire-daapd/files.tbz2
(wget will download this file)
# cd /usr/local/portage/media-sound/linspire-daapd
# tar xjvf files.tbz2
(tar will extract the contents of this tarball)
# ebuild linspire-daapd-0.2.3d.ebuild fetch
(Portage will download linspire-daapd's source)
# ebuild linspire-daapd-0.2.3d.ebuild digest
(Portage will compute the file verification digests)
# echo "media-sound/linspire-daapd ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
(the previous command unmasks this package)
# emerge -pv linspire-daapd
(if you're happy with what's going to be installed and the flags, continue)
# emerge linspire-daapd

linspire-daapd should then emerge, and you can be on your merry way. Remember, you must unmerge daapd first!

media-sound/trmxml

This package returns Musicbrainz searches using XML Property Lists, and is required for Lsongs to function. It, too, is easy to install.

$ su
Password: (type your password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/media-sound/trmxml
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=64399" -O /usr/local/portage/media-sound/trmxml/trmxml-0.1.4-r1.ebuild
# cd /usr/local/portage/media-sound/trmxml
# ebuild trmxml-0.1.4-r1.ebuild fetch
# ebuild trmxml-0.1.4-r1.ebuild digest
# echo "media-sound/trmxml ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
# emerge -pv trmxml
(verify that you're not installing anything that may make your system unhappy...)
# emerge trmxml

Again, this package should merge and you'll end up with this library on your system.

net-misc/howl-xml

This package provides Lsongs with the ability to do Howl queries using XML.

$ su
Password: (type your password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/net-misc/howl-xml
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=64387" -O /usr/local/portage/net-misc/howl-xml/howl-xml-0.1.0.ebuild
# cd /usr/local/portage/net-misc/howl-xml
# ebuild howl-xml-0.1.0.ebuild fetch
# ebuild howl-xml-0.1.0.ebuild digest
# echo "net-misc/howl-xml ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
# emerge -pv howl-xml
(you know the drill by now, I hope)
# emerge howl-xml

dev-python/pynjb

This package provides Python wrappers for libnjb, a library for accessing Creative Nomad Jukeboxes and their clones.

$ su
Password: (type your password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pynjb
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=63938" -O /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pynjb/pynjb-0.1.0-r5.ebuild
# cd /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pynjb
# ebuild pynjb-0.1.0-r5.ebuild fetch
# ebuild pynjb-0.1.0-r5.ebuild digest
# echo "dev-python/pynjb ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
# echo "=media-libs/libnjb-2.1.2 ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
(pynjb is designed for libnjb 2.x, and I have not tested it with 2.2)
# emerge -pv pynjb
# emerge pynjb

If pynjb compilation fails, then add a file to /usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages with the name "pynjb.py" with the contents:

class pynjb: pass

This should get Lsongs running anyway by faking out the Dell DJ support.

dev-python/pyxine

This package provides media playback for Lsongs, based on Xine.

$ su
Password: (type your password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pyxine
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=57845" -O /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pyxine/pyxine-0.1_alpha2.ebuild
# cd /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pyxine
# ebuild pyxine-0.1_alpha2.ebuild fetch
# ebuild pyxine-0.1_alpha2.ebuild digest
# echo "=dev-python/pyxine-0.1_alpha2 ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
# emerge -pv pyxine
# emerge pyxine

Installing Lsongs

Now you have all of the dependencies installed. You can install Lsongs now. If you have KDE 3.0 to KDE 3.3, please continue with these instructions. If you are on KDE 3.4, see the specialized KDE 3.4 instructions.

Anyway, here you go:

$ su
Password: (type your password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/media-sound/lsongs
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=64549" -O /usr/local/portage/media-sound/lsongs/lsongs-0.2.34.ebuild
# cd /usr/local/portage/media-sound/lsongs
# ebuild lsongs-0.2.34.ebuild fetch
# ebuild lsongs-0.2.34.ebuild digest
# echo "media-sound/lsongs ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
# emerge -pv lsongs
# emerge lsongs

Installing Lsongs on KDE 3.4

Lsongs requires PyKDE. The latest release of PyKDE does not support KDE 3.4. However, the latest development snapshot DOES. Which is good news, because I've made an ebuild for it :). Here's how to install it:

$ su
Password: (type your password)
# mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pykde
# wget "http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=64398" -O /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pykde/pykde-3.20050628.ebuild
# cd /usr/local/portage/dev-python/pykde
# ebuild pykde-3.20050628.ebuild fetch
# ebuild pykde-3.20050628.ebuild digest
(NOTE: Do not add anything to /etc/portage/package.keywords involving this package! This is VERY important! Portage will not offer an upgrade to this package ever again if you do!)
# ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge -pv pykde
# ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge pykde

Then, perform the installation steps for Lsongs normally (see above).

Known Issues

• The visualization does not work (this is an upstream bug)
• CD ripping does not work (I need to write an ebuild for pylame)
• Need to create a directory ~/My Documents/My Music/Lsongs, so that upon exit the settings file LsongsSettings.xml can be created otherwise lsongs wont exit from the system tray
  • I didn't have to, so it could be a permission problem (or a KDE problem possibly). It created it on startup for me. Could be a permission problem? (Ziggythehamster)

HowTo Updates

• 28-Jul-2005 A Lsongs update was released, updated the documentation accordingly
• 28-Jul-2005 Made some cosmetic changes to trmxml, made it depend on id3lib properly.