DisOrder 5.2

[Mark Wooding]

I am pleased to announce version 5.2 of DisOrder: a multiuser software
jukebox, which was released last weekend.

It seems that I took over from Richard Kettlewell as the primary
maintainer of DisOrder back in late 2015, and I had a collection of
patches ready to include back then.  It seems rather remiss of me not to
have made a release in the last four and a half years.  So: my apologies
for that.

The new release is available as a tarball by HTTP as

  * archive: https://ftp.distorted.org.uk/pub/mdw/disorder-5.2.tar
  * signature: https://ftp.distorted.org.uk/pub/mdw/disorder-5.2.tar.gz.gpg

or FTP as

  * archive: ftp.distorted.org.uk:/pub/mdw/disorder-5.2.tar
  * signature: ftp.distorted.org.uk:/pub/mdw/disorder-5.2.tar.gz.gpg

Development is in Git; the repository can be cloned or browsed at

  * https://git.distorted.org.uk/~mdw/disorder/
  * https://github.com/ewxrjk/disorder/
  * https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~mdw/git/disorder/

and the new release tag is named simply `5.2'.  The tarballs and Git
tags should be signed by

pub   dsa3072 2014-03-24 [SC]
      7A2122A85B67A6A2048336CD78627D02E359CA55
uid           [ultimate] Mark Wooding (mdw-codesign-2014) <mdw at distorted.org.uk>

The public key is available from

  https://www.distorted.org.uk/~mdw/gpg-keys/mdw-codesign-2014.gpg


Highlights in this release:

PulseAudio Support

        PulseAudio is now supported, if the support library is available
        at build time. It is the default for client applications,
        reflecting its widespread use in desktop environments.


Changes To RTP Support

        Disobedience now has a menu to select the network playback API.

        disorder-playrtp now selects playback API using a `--api'
        option.  The old API-selection options remain available but are
        deprecated and will be removed in the future.

        RTP playback can now transmit to multiple unicast destinations,
        added and removed on demand.  This is controlled by the new
        rtp_mode option. The motivating use case is a bridged network
        with high- and low-capacity components.  However it is may also
        be useful in a routed network without multicast routing support.


GStreamer support

        If it's detected at configure time, a new decoder program
        `disorder-gstdecode' and a new tracklength plugin
        `tracklength-gstreamer' are built.  These use the GStreamer
        library for filetype detection, audio decoding and sample-rate
        conversion, among other features.  Using these, DisOrder can
        play any audio file supported by GStreamer.

        The decoder has a number of options for controlling the
        sample-rate and audio format conversion, allowing various
        tradeoffs between quality and processor time.  (High-quality
        conversion can consume more processor time than decoding, so
        this is potentially useful on very a small device such as a
        Raspberry Pi.)

        The GStreamer decoder can also use ReplayGain information stored
        in audio files' metadata to adjust playback volume, so that
        tracks with very wide dynamic range don't sound really quiet in
        comparison.  This information can be added using tools such as
        `mp3gain', `vorbisgain', or `metaflac'.  This is turned on by
        default if you use the decoder; you can choose between per-album
        or per-track settings, or turn it off entirely, using command-
        line options.

        The GStreamer decoder is not used by default, but it can be
        enabled easily enough by dropping something like the following
        into the server configuration file:

            player
            player *.flac execraw /usr/sbin/disorder-gstdecode -ralbum -f-8.0
            player *.mp2 execraw /usr/sbin/disorder-gstdecode -ralbum -f-8.0
            player *.mp3 execraw /usr/sbin/disorder-gstdecode -ralbum -f-8.0
            player *.ogg execraw /usr/sbin/disorder-gstdecode -ralbum -f-8.0
            player *.wav execraw /usr/sbin/disorder-gstdecode -ralbum -f-8.0

            tracklength
            tracklength *.flac tracklength-gstreamer
            tracklength *.mp2 tracklength-gstreamer
            tracklength *.mp3 tracklength-gstreamer
            tracklength *.ogg tracklength-gstreamer
            tracklength *.wav tracklength-gstreamer


Bug fixes

          * The CGI program now checks user passwords even when it runs
            as the main jukebox user(!).

          * Disobedience doesn't crash when search terms change under
            its feet.

          * The CGI program doesn't crash on some POST requests.

-- [mdw]
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 389 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/pipermail/sgo-software-announce/attachments/20200507/a7de1967/attachment.sig>