Re: Installing Lilypond 2.23.10

[Jean Abou Samra]

Le 17/07/2022 à 17:03, David Sumbler a écrit :
> At the moment I am testing it on a short file - in fact, your 
> "grow-in-up-direction" example from the Extending Lilypond document. 
>  Compiling it is taking over 80 seconds each time; after the first 
> time, I would expect a file like this to take only 3 or 4 seconds. 
>  This is very unsatisfactory.


I can't explain this without further info -- was the directory where
you installed LilyPond clean before?

See below though.


> No, I have never used a distro version of Lilypond.  Until this time, 
> I have always used a script downloaded from the Lilypond website.  I 
> install Lilypond globally (although I am the only user of this 
> computer), and the script chooses to put things where they now are.  I 
> always thought /usr/local/lilypond/usr/share/lilypond/ was an odd 
> place to put it, but that wasn't my choice.
>
> When I moved 2.23.10 from my home folder, I intentionally put it in 
> the same place as previous versions have been on my previous Ubuntu 
> installations, hoping this would increase the chances of it actually 
> working.  On this current OS version, I have not actually had any 
> previous versions of Lilypond, which is why I needed to install it 
> again now.
>
> In my .emacs file I have:
>
> ;;for Lilypond mode
> (setq load-path (append (list (expand-file-name 
> "/usr/local/lilypond/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp")) load-path))
> (autoload 'LilyPond-mode "lilypond-mode" "LilyPond Editing Mode" t)
> (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.ly$" . LilyPond-mode))
> (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.ily$" . LilyPond-mode))
>
> So yes, clearly Lilypond mode is working now because I have installed 
> Lilypond where the .sh script would have put it.  I can also see that 
> I can easily work round this by editing my .emacs file, if I decide to 
> put Lilypond somewhere else (e.g. my home folder).
>
> Is it the intention that the next "stable" version of Lilypond will be 
> packaged in this new way?  Will the shell script be done away with 
> there too?
>
> Even if not, what are the perceived advantages of this change for the 
> development versions, at least?


Yes, all new versions of LilyPond will use this packaging. Getting
rid of the .sh script was not the only change; it was actually a
wholesale switch to a new compilation system, which is now 100×
simpler and more reliable, and now creates static binaries. Before,
a .sh installer was required, because once installed the binaries
couldn't be moved around. Now that they can, it is just unnecessary.

Not having a .sh installer has other advantages, too. It avoids
conflicts with distro packages. It makes the installation process
exactly the same across all OSes. It prevents people from shooting
themselves in the foot by not realizing that several versions of
LilyPond can be installed in parallel.

I think you are overcomplicating things by trying to mimic
the previous installation process with the new binaries.
Changing /usr/local/ is normally done by package managers
and dedicated tools, not by hand. If you don't know what
you're doing there, don't touch it. (This kind of advice applies
to any command using sudo, actually.)

Instead, follow these simple steps. (I agree that _finding_ them
is not simple, but again it will eventually be in the learning
manual, with screenshots. That change has landed and will appear
in the next release.)

1. Download the archive.
2. Unpack it.
3. Move the lilypond-2.23.10 directory inside it in your
   home folder.
4. In your .emacs, change the path in (expand-file-name ...)
   to "~/lilypond-2.23.10/share/emacs/site-lisp".

And that's all.

Best,
Jean