Compilation Progress Messages - a suggestion

[ian_hulin]

First of all, many thanks to Han-Wen, Jan, Graham and all the development
team on a great free-source 'product'.

This isn't a bug as such, more of a suggestion.

There was a whole discussion recently about the format of the postscript
file, did you need it, and if so should it be ps-2 or ps-3 format.  This
made me think of the messages produced in the log file and/or the command
window for a Lilypond compilation with all the default settings.

I noticed the following nit-picks:


 Each pass phase in the compilation told you it was starting, but not how it
finished
 The message when starting  producing the postscript file was ambiguous -
was it telling you it was starting or had finished.
 

Here's an example, from a score containing three \score blocks in a \book
for a part using page-turn breaking:

(Current log file)

# -*-compilation-*-

Changing working directory to `C:/Documents and Settings/ian.HULIN/My
Documents/Music/VaughanWilliams/FluteFolkSongs'

Processing `C:/Documents and Settings/ian.HULIN/My
Documents/Music/VaughanWilliams/FluteFolkSongs/FSFlute2Part.ly'

Parsing...

Interpreting music... [8][16][24][32][40][48][54]

Preprocessing graphical objects...

Interpreting music... [8][16][24][32][40][48][54]

Preprocessing graphical objects...

Interpreting music... [8][16][24][32][40]

Preprocessing graphical objects...

Calculating page and line breaks (3 possible page breaks)... [1][2][3]

Drawing systems...

Layout output to `FSFlute2Part.ps'...

%^^^^^is this the start or the end of this phase?^^^^^

Converting to `FSFlute2Part.pdf'...

%^^^^^did everything finish OK or not?


(Suggested log file)

# -*-compilation-*-

Changing working directory to `C:/Documents and Settings/ian.HULIN/My
Documents/Music/VaughanWilliams/FluteFolkSongs'

Processing `C:/Documents and Settings/ian.HULIN/My
Documents/Music/VaughanWilliams/FluteFolkSongs/FSFlute2Part.ly'

Parsing...

Parse completed successfully

Interpreting music (score 1)... 

[8][16][24][32][40][48][54]

Preprocessing graphical objects...

Successfully interpreted music for score 1

Interpreting music (score 2)... 

[8][16][24][32][40][48][54]

Preprocessing graphical objects...

Successfully interpreted music for score 2

Interpreting music (score 3)... 

[8][16][24][32][40]

Preprocessing graphical objects...

Successfully interpreted music for score 3

Calculating page and line breaks 

(3 possible page breaks)... 

[1][2][3]

Successfully calculated line and page breaks

Drawing systems...

Systems drawn successfully

Generating layout, writing to `FSFlute2Part.ps'...

Layout successfully generated 

Converting to `FSFlute2Part.pdf'...

Layout successfully converted to Portable Document Format (pdf)


Each pass of the compilation starts with a {whatever}ing ... type message,
may have a progress message ([1] [2] [3] or suchlike), and is terminated by
a 'successful completion' message.  Obviously there would also be messages
to inform the user if the particular phase of the compilation failed.

I know this probably looks like a cosmetic change, but it would give newer
users of Lilypond (like me), a nice warm fuzzy glow when using the compiler
and I hope would not be too tricky to implement.

Cheers,

Ian Hulin


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