SqueezeSlave

From SqueezeboxWiki

SqueezeSlave is a software music player that allows you to play music streamed from Squeezebox Server (formerly known as SqueezeCenter, SlimServer) and SqueezeNetwork.

SqueezeSlave is an alternative to SoftSqueeze. The main difference is that SqueezeSlave has no graphical interface (GUI), but rather is run from a command line. This makes SqueezeSlave useful as a player for "headless" applications (e.g., server computer without display). It's also useful as a background player where a display is not required, or as a player which uses the least computing resources.

SqueezeSlave was written by Richard Titmuss with contributions from Duane Paddock, Dominique Leroux, Graham Chapman, Ivor Bosloper, Jason Melvin, Sam Gupta and Luke Redpath.

SqueezeSlave is currently maintained by Ralph Irving http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?u=3484.

Executable versions for Windows, Linux PPC/Intel, OSX PPC/Intel and Solaris SPARC/Intel can be downloaded from SourceForge.net at: https://sourceforge.net/projects/softsqueeze/files/squeezeslave/squeezeslave-0.9.95/

The linux version supports ALSA, pulseaudio, OSS, IR remotes, USB displays and an on screen text mode display. The additional display features no longer require patching for Squeezebox Server v7.4 r26720 or later. For older versions of SqueezeCenter the replay gain patches below include the necessary changes for the display feature.

Version 0.9 brings replay gain support with Squeezebox Server v7.4 r26720 or later. Positive dB replay gain values are ignored to prevent clipping.

Patch files squeezecenter_squeezeslave_player3-7.3.patch and squeezecenter_squeezeslave_player3-7.2.patch are included in the binary packages if that build has the features enabled for squeezecenter 7.3.3 and 7.2.2 running on linux/solaris. They are also available in the source tree under the patches subdirectory.

1 Installation
2 Command Line Switches
- 2.1 squeezeslave 0.9-95 (Windows)
- 2.2 squeezeslave 0.9-95 (Linux)

Installation

Mac OS X installation

The Mac OS X version can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/softsqueeze/files/squeezeslave/squeezeslave-0.9.95/squeezeslave-0.9-95-osx.tar.gz/download . Unpacking the file gives a folder with

A GNU LICENSE.txt
An squeezeslave-ppc and
a squeezeslave-intel executable.
A launchd squeezeslave.plist description file
There are several other squeezeslave binaries included but are not needed unless you run into problems.

A look at the plist file indicates that the executable is to be renamed and moved to /opt/local/bin/. You might have to create the corresponding directory.

Time to open the Terminal as an administrator, navigate to the place the downloaded files are located and

mkdir -p /opt/local/bin/
mv squeezeslave-intel /opt/local/bin/squeezeslave

You can now check the command line options with

/opt/local/bin/squeezeslave -h

The next step is to find out which number is associated to the output device you plan to use

/opt/local/bin/squeezeslave -L

which gave me

Output devices:
  0: iSight
  1: Built-in Line Input
  2: Built-in Digital Input
  3: Built-in Output
  4: Built-in Line Output
  5: Built-in Digital Output

Now try to run it. If your Squeezecenter runs on the same machine and you want to send the audio to the line output

/opt/local/bin/squeezeslave -o4

If the Squeezecenter runs on another machine, add its host name to the command line

/opt/local/bin/squeezeslave -o4 macmini.mynet

Now open the SqueezeCenter control webpage and look at the players list. The new Squeezeslave should have appeared.

If this works, you are ready to have Squeezeslave automatically launched at boot time.

Lingon http://sourceforge.net/projects/lingon/ provides a gui to edit and create launchd configuration files or you can edit squeezeslave.plist with a text editor and customize it to your installation.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
	<dict>
		<key>KeepAlive</key>
		<true/>
		<key>OnDemand</key>
		<false/>
		<key>RunAtLoad</key>
		<true/>
		<key>Label</key>
		<string>squeezeslave</string>
		<key>ProgramArguments</key>
		<array>
			<string>/opt/local/bin/squeezeslave</string>
			<string>-o4</string>
			<string>-r10</string>
			<string>macmini.mynet</string>
		</array>
	</dict>
</plist>

If you intend to use more than one Squeezeslave, you will need to provide a different mac address to each

		<array>
			<string>/opt/local/bin/squeezeslave</string>
			<string>-o4</string>
			<string>-r10</string>
			<string>-m00:00:00:00:00:16</string>
			<string>macmini.mynet</string>
		</array>

For me, the lengthier command parameter --mac 00:00:00:00:00:16 didn't work properly.

Move the file to the proper place

mv squeezeslave.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/squeezeslave.plist

Start Squeezeslave

launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/squeezeslave.plist

Check it is running

ps ax | grep squeeze

Stop it

launchctl remove squeezelave

The Squeezeslave should now automatically launch at login time.

Linux build instructions

Prebuilt versions of squeezeslave for most platforms are available on SourceForge.net. However, if you have problems with the precompiled binaries for linux, please checkout the source and build yourself. There have been many issues lately with system libraries and the linux binaries that have been solved by building your own.

The current source tree for squeezeslave is available on Google Code.

The current and all previous 0.8 releases are available for checkout.

svn checkout http://squeezeslave.googlecode.com/svn/squeezeslave/trunk/squeezeslave

The makefiles build all required support libraries; portaudio, flac, ogg, vorbis and mad.

System libraries are still required for alsa (asound), curses (ncurses) and lirc_client and may require installing the "development" packages to compile successfully.

On ubuntu linux the following commands run as root will install the additional requirements.

sudo apt-get install subversion

sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev

and these additional packages are only required to build the INTERACTIVE version, makefiles with "display" in the filename. The INTERACTIVE (display) adds support for a text console display, much like the SliMP3 player and the ability to control the display using the keyboard. USB LCD displays and IR remotes can also be used with the display version.

sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev

sudo apt-get install liblircclient-dev

Which makefile does what?

Most current linux distributions are based on the Linux 2.6 kernel so these makefiles should work for most current linux installs.

Linux 2.6 32-bit intel kernel, OSS, ALSA and pulseaudio audio drivers.

makefile.linux26-alsa

makefile.linux26-alsa-display

Linux 2.6 64-bit intel kernel, OSS, ALSA and pulseaudio audio drivers.

makefile.linux26-i64-alsa

makefile.linux26-i64-alsa-display

Linux 2.6 32-bit PowerPC kernel (PS3, PPC Mac), OSS, ALSA and pulseaudio audio drivers

makefile.linux26-ppc-alsa

makefile.linux26-ppc-alsa-display

A typical build

svn checkout http://squeezeslave.googlecode.com/svn/squeezeslave/trunk/squeezeslave
cd squeezeslave
make -f makefile.linux26-alsa realclean
make -f makefile.linux26-alsa

Upon successfull completion, you'll find a file in the bin/ directory starting with squeezeslave. Several makefiles append additional words to help identify the "flavour" of the build for packaging purposes. You can safely rename the file to be called just squeezeslave. This step is NOT necessary with the above build example.

cd bin; mv squeezeslave-alsa squeezeslave

FreeBSD build instructions

You need the following ports packages: audio/libogg, audio/libvorbis, audio/libmad, audio/flac, audio/portaudio2 and optionaly comms/lirc.

If you don't want lirc, you need to remove '-DINTERACTIVE' from makefile (line 7).

Then, type:

make -f makefile.freebsd

NetBSD build instructions

You need the following pkgsrc packages: multimedia/libogg, audio/libvorbis, audio/libmad, audio/flac and audio/portaudio-devel.

Then use the following makefile [[1]].

and:

make -f makefile.netbsd

This makefile doesn't build squeezeslave with INTERACTIVE (lirc and screen). This should work (you need to install wip/lirc) but I didn't test.

Windows build instructions

Download Cygwin setup from http://www.cygwin.com/setup.exe

Setup.exe version 2.674 was used for this install.

Root Directory: C:\cygwin
All Users (Recommended)
Local Package Directory C:\cygwin\pkgs
Choose a mirror close to your location.

Install the following packages. Note that most are "core" required packages and will already be selected for installation.

alternatives
apache2
apache2-devel
base-cygwin
base-files
base-passwd
bash
binutils
bzip2
coreutils
crypt
csih
cygrunsrv
cygutils
cygwin
cygwin-doc
dash
diffutils
editrights
findutils
gawk
gcc-core
gcc-g++
gcc-mingw-core
gcc-mingw-g++
gdb
gettext
grep
groff
gzip
ipc-utils
less
libX11_6
libXau6
libXdmcp6
libXext6
libXmuu1
libXtst6
libapr1
libaprutil1
libbz2_1
libdb4.2
libexpat1
libgcc1
libgdbm4
libgmp3
libiconv2
libintl2
libintl3
libintl8
libncurses8
libncurses9
libneon27
libopenldap2_3_0
libpcre0
libpopt0
libpq5
libreadline6
libreadline7
libsasl2
libserf0_0
libsqlite3_0
libssp0
libstdc++6
libwrap0
libxcb1
login
make
man
mingw-runtime
minires
openssh
openssl
patch
popt
rebase
run
sed
subversion
tar
tcltk
termcap
terminfo
terminfo0
texinfo
tzcode
vim
w32api
wget
which
zlib
zlib-devel
zlib0

If you'd like to be able to ssh to your windows machine, instructions on setting up cygwin sshd can be found at http://pigtail.net/LRP/printsrv/cygwin-sshd.html This step is not required to build squeezeslave.

To build an ASIO binary you need to obtain Steinberg's ASIO SDK asiosdk2.2.zip file from http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/3rd_party_developer/sdk_download_portal.html as it cannot be included in the repository. Registration is required. The ASIO SDK is not needed for the DirectX build.

You'll need to download the DirectX SDK file DXSDK_Mar09.exe or older from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=24A541D6-0486-4453-8641-1EEE9E21B282&displaylang=en as it's not included in the repository. The currently available DXSDK_Aug09.exe does NOT compile with squeezeslave. If the version of the SDK you're using is not DXSDK_Mar09.exe you'll need to update the filename in the makefile as well. The DirectX SDK is not needed for the ASIO build.

Launch a 'Cygwin Bash Shell" command prompt window. The icon should be on your Desktop.

svn checkout http://squeezeslave.googlecode.com/svn/squeezeslave/trunk/squeezeslave
cd squeezeslave

Direct sound build
Copy DXSDK_Mar09.exe file into the sources subdirectory using Windows explorer.
make -f makefile.mingw32 realclean
make -f makefile.mingw32

ASIO build
Copy asiosdk2.2.zip file into the sources subdirectory using Windows explorer.
make -f makefile.mingw32-asio realclean
make -f makefile.mingw32-asio

Upon successfull completion, you'll find a file in the bin/ directory called squeezeslave.exe. Several makefiles append a hyphen and an additional word to help identify the "flavour" of the build for packaging purposes.

Command Line Switches

Command Line Switches (options) available (this list available by using the -h switch)

If you experience problems using the --longer command line options, try the one letter equivalent. For those options that require and additional argument, leave no space between the letter and the argument.

For example;

squeezeslave -r10 -o4 -m00:00:00:00:00:02 schostname

squeezeslave 0.9-95 (Windows)

compile flags: win32 portaudio:1420 debug

squeezeslave [options] [<squeezecenter address>]

The SqueezeCenter address defaults to 127.0.0.1.

Options:

-h, --help: Prints this message.

-a,--predelay_amplitude <val>:

Sets the amplitude of a high-frequency tone

The frequency is set at the source's sampling

rate/2 and the amplitude is in absolute value.

For 16-bit sources, the max is 32767, but values

below 10 are likely to work. The goal is to

produce an inaudible signal that will cause DACs

to wake-up and lock before actual samples are

played out. If the DAC locks using only silence,

do not use this option (it will default to 0).

-k, --keepalive <sec>: Controls how frequently squeezeslave sends a

alive signal to SqueezeCenter. 6.5.x servers

need this to avoid dropping the player's

connection. By default, the implementation

chooses the right value: 10s for a >=6.5.x server

and 0s for a <6.5.xserver, which means no

keepalive.

-L, --list List available audio devices and exit.

-m, --mac <mac_address>: Sets the mac address for this instance.

Use the colon-separated notation.

The default is 00:00:00:00:00:01.

SqueezeCenter uses this value to distinguish

multiple instances, allowing per-player settings.

-e, --playerid: Pretend to be the player-type-id specified. Some

types may require -m00:04:20:00:00:01 as well.

softsqueeze

squeezebox2

transporter

softsqueeze3

receiver

controller

boom

softboom

squeezeplay

-o, --output <device_id>: Sets the output device id.

The default id is 0.

The output device ids can be found with -L.

-p, --predelay <msec>: Sets a delay before any playback is started. This

is useful if the DAC used for output is slow to

wake-up/lock, causing the first few samples to be

dropped.

--retry Causes the program to retry connecting to

SqueezeCenter until it succeeds or is stopped using

SIGTERM or keyboard entry (see -s/--signal).

If the connection to SqueezeCenter is lost, the

program will poll it until it restarts. --retry

enables retry with a 5 second delay between

attempts.

-r <sec> For a different retry interval use -r and the

desired interval in seconds. (ie. -r10)

A value is required for this option.

-V, --version: Prints the squeezeslave version.

-v, --volume <sw|off>: Enables/disables volume changes done by

SqueezeCenter during its operation, such as when

changing the volume through the web interface or

when applying replay gain. Defaults to sw.

sw: volume changes performed in software.

off: volume changes ignored.

-Y, --debuglog <logfile>: Redirect debug output from stderr to <logfile>

-d, --debug <trace_name>: Turns on debug tracing for the specified level.

The option can be used multiple times to enable

multiple levels.

Available levels:

slimproto

slimaudio

slimaudio_buffer

slimaudio_buffer_v

slimaudio_decoder

slimaudio_decoder_v

slimaudio_http

slimaudio_http_v

slimaudio_output

slimaudio_output_v

squeezeslave 0.9-95 (Linux)

compile flags: linux portaudio:1420 debug signals interactive

squeezeslave [options] [<squeezecenter address>]

The SqueezeCenter address defaults to 127.0.0.1.

Options:

-h, --help: Prints this message.

-a,--predelay_amplitude <val>:

Sets the amplitude of a high-frequency tone

produced during the predelay (see --predelay).

The frequency is set at the source's sampling

rate/2 and the amplitude is in absolute value.

For 16-bit sources, the max is 32767, but values

below 10 are likely to work. The goal is to

produce an inaudible signal that will cause DACs

to wake-up and lock before actual samples are

played out. If the DAC locks using only silence,

do not use this option (it will default to 0).

-k, --keepalive <sec>: Controls how frequently squeezeslave sends a

alive signal to SqueezeCenter. 6.5.x servers

need this to avoid dropping the player's

connection. By default, the implementation

chooses the right value: 10s for a >=6.5.x server

and 0s for a <6.5.xserver, which means no

keepalive.

-l, --lcd Enable LCDd (lcdproc) text display.

Requires LCDd running on local host.

-i, --lirc Enable lirc remote control support.

Requires lirc running on local host.

-c, --lircrc <filename>: Location of lirc client configuration file.

Default: ~/.lircrc

-D, --display Enable slimp3 style text display and

keyboard input.

Keys: 0-9: 0-9

Insert Add

Cursor Keys Arrows

>,< Fwd,Rew

Home Home

End Now Playing

Space or P Pause

Enter Play

R Repeat

S Shuffle

? Search

B Browse

F Favourites

% Size

Z Sleep

+,- Vol up,down

-w. --width <chars> Set the display width to <chars> characters

If using LCDd, width is detected.

-M, --daemonize <logfile> Run squeezeslave as a daemon.

Messages written to specified file.