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Blog > Packages debian/ubuntu for Rivendell 2.1.2

Rivendell 2.1.2 has been announced on December 30 by Fred Gleason. In short, the main changes are :

• Shoutcast support in RLM (macros)
• a better error handling in import/export operations
• an updated spanish translation
• and some various bugfixes

Rivendell 2.1.2 packages are available on the Tryphon debian repository for :

• Debian squeeze/stable, wheezy/testing, sid/unstable
• Ubuntu : lucid/10.04(LTS) natty/11.04

Binaries for i386 and amd84 are provided.

Refactored packages

With release 2.x, Rivendell packages have been completely rewrited.

After a test period (on releases 2.0.2 and 2.1.0), these packages 2.1.2 are the first “official” release.

Many thanks for feedback provided by subscribers on Rivendell mailing-list (to french subscribers too)

Here are some of changes provided by Rivendell 2.1.2 packages :

A new package : rivendell-server

With Rivendell 2, exchanges between Rivendell stations and server have changed. To help the server deployment, we created a rivendell-server to setup Rivendell database, storage and rdxport webservice.

A Rivendell station, using a server on local network, only requires the rivendell package.

In the “special” case of a standalone station, you need to install the both packages (rivendell and rivendell-server).

Easier setup

The default configuration setup by packages (rivendell and rivendell-server) is simplified.

Rivendell 1.x packages provided a lot of options (via debconf), including partial setups for jackd or pam. This detail level made less accessible Rivendell on first installation. And advanced Rivendell administrators have their own ways to setup their Rivendell hosts, by overriding the package configuration mechanism.

Now a fresh install provides a simple configuration with as few questions as possible. Rivendell is setup to use alsa for sound and a local Rivendell server.

You can have a functional Rivendell in few minutes :

Step 1 : Add the Tryphon debian repository to your source lists

Step 2 : Install a MySQL server : sudo apt-get install mysql-server

Step 3 : Install both Rivendell “server” and “station” : sudo apt-get install rivendell-server rivendell

Step 4 : Add user who needs to use Rivendell in the rivendell group. For example, to use yourself in this group : sudo adduser $USER rivendell

Check if this user is specified at AudioOwner line in file /etc/rd.conf . If you used sudo to install package, your username will be used. This information will configurable during the package installation.

Step 5 : Log out et start a new session (Gnome, KDE, …) to load changes on group and permissions.

Step 6 : Start rdadmin which creates the database by asking you the Mysql administrator login (root) and password (specified during mysql-server install).

Step 7 : Start rdairplay, play the Test cast and enjoy.

Optional MPEG support

Libraries required to import and export MPEG formats (mp2 and mp3) are no longer installed automatically.

If you need this MPEG support, you just have to install the 3 following packages :

apt-get install libmp3lame0 libtwolame0 libmad0

These libraires have several licence problems, so Debian users will have to add the Debian Multimedia repository to install these packages.

Easier startup

Daemons used by Rivendell applications (caed, ripcd et rdcatch) are easier to manage by the user.

The daemons launch performed by /etc/init.d/rivendell is now disabled by default. The “classic” mechanism is now used by default : the first Rivendell application starts the 3 daemons.

A small tool rivendell-daemons is added to stop daemons easily from a shell :

$ rivendell-daemons stop
Stop Rivendell caed daemon : done
Stop Rivendell ripcd daemon : done
Stop Rivendell rdcatchd daemon : done

New icon set

A new icon set has been created from the Open Icon Library :

It’s used in application menus created by the package rivendell.

Known problems

Ubuntu 11.10/oneiric : packagees are not available for the moment on this distribution. A pending compilation problem blocks the package build.

Conflict with package rivendell 1.7.2 : some files have been moved into librivendell package. If a conflict is reported on files /usr/share/rivendell/*.qm, uninstall librivendell 1.7.2 before installing the 2.1.2 release.

Backstage

Like all Tryphon projects, package sources are available on http://projects.tryphon.eu/rivendell2-debian.

The project’s wiki gives instructions to rebuild packages.