LilyPond — Changes

Major changes in LilyPond

• Margins are now wider by default following the general layout of several publishers (and the recommendations of Elaine Gould).

  In order to switch back to the previous settings (e.g., to keep the same layout when upgrading an existing score to version 2.25.22), add the following code:

  \paper {
    top-margin = 5\mm
    bottom-margin = 6\mm
    top-system-spacing.basic-distance = 1
    top-markup-spacing.basic-distance = 0
    left-margin = 10\mm
    right-margin = 10\mm
    inner-margin = 10\mm
    outer-margin = 20\mm
    binding-offset = 0\mm
  }
  

• Instead of generating PostScript or SVG output by itself, LilyPond can now use the Cairo library to produce its output. This is referred to as the ‘Cairo backend’, and can be turned on using the -dbackend=cairo command-line option. This works for all output formats (PDF, SVG, PNG, PostScript), and brings speed and rendering fidelity improvements in SVG output in particular. However, keep in mind that this backend does not yet implement all features of the default backends. Among the features not currently supported are PDF outlines, the -dembed-source-code option for PDF, and the output-attributes property for SVG.
• The distances between clefs and time signatures, together with the distances between clefs and key signatures, are now calculated differently. As a consequence, you will get better spacing for extra-wide clefs (like \clef "GG") or extra-slim clefs (like \clef "petrucci-c3").

  In the following image, both old and new positions are shown. The percentage gives the width difference of clef plus time signature and clef plus key signature, respectively.

  

  Note that, as before, the widest clef in a staff group determines the horizontal position of all clefs in a system; this means, for example, that a piano score containing a treble and an alto clef doesn’t change at all.

  If you want to restore the previous default values for whatever reason, add

  \override Staff.Clef.space-alist.time-signature =
              #'(minimum-space . 3.5)
  \override Staff.Clef.space-alist.key-cancellation =
              #'(minimum-space . 3.5)
  \override Staff.Clef.space-alist.key-signature =
              #'(minimum-space . 4.2)
  

  to your score.

• The LilyPond major mode for the GNU Emacs text editor provided by the Emacs Lisp package lilypond-mode.el has been renamed from LilyPond-mode to lilypond-mode. The namespace prefix for the package is changed to all lowercase lilypond- from LilyPond-, meaning all its functions, variables, etc., now have the all-lowercase prefix. This change is made to comply with the idiomatic Emacs naming convention, most importantly, having the major mode name be the same as the package name that provides it. Therefore, this also makes it easier for new users to set up LilyPond in Emacs.

  As a result, this will break some existing Emacs configurations for the end users. However, it only requires minimal changes to the Emacs initialization file. Here’s an example of setting up lilypond-mode using the built-in use-package macro in Emacs:

  (use-package lilypond-mode
    :ensure nil
    :mode "\\.\\(ly\\|ily\\)$")
  

New for musical notation

New for specialist notation

• For orthogonality with other ancient clefs, five new mensural clefs are available: "mensural-f2", "mensural-f3", "mensural-f4" (same as "mensural-f"), "mensural-f5", "mensural-g1", "mensural-g2" (same as "mensural-g").
• The default time signature and accidental style in a PetrucciStaff context is now the same as in MensuralStaff.
• White mensural ligatures now support some rare ligatures (semibreves alone or in the middle), and allow tweaks to show some non-necessary stems.

  \score {
    \relative {
      \set Score.timing = ##f
      \set Score.measureBarType = #'()
      \override NoteHead.style = #'petrucci
      \override Staff.TimeSignature.style = #'mensural
      \clef "petrucci-c4"
      \[ a1 g f e \]
      \[ a1 g\longa \]
      \[ \once \override NoteHead.left-down-stem = ##t
         a\breve b
         \once \override NoteHead.right-down-stem = ##t
         g\longa \]
      \[ \once \override NoteHead.right-down-stem = ##t
         b\maxima
         \once \override NoteHead.right-up-stem = ##t
         g\longa \]
    }
    \layout {
      \context {
        \Voice
        \remove Ligature_bracket_engraver
        \consists Mensural_ligature_engraver
      }
    }
  }
  

  

• The use of the file gregorian.ly is deprecated. While still working for backward compatibility, it should be replaced with a VaticanaScore context together with some manual \layout changes (if necessary): code like

  \include "gregorian.ly"
  
  \score {
    \new VaticanaStaff { ... }
  }
  

  should become

  \new VaticanaScore {
    \new VaticanaStaff { ... }
  }
  
  \layout {
    indent = 0
    ragged-last = ##t
  }
  

• LilyPond’s ‘arabic’ note name language is deprecated. While still working for backward compatibility (if you load hel-arabic.ly), it is recommended to use ‘english’, ‘italiano’, or your preferred note name language instead.
• Defaults for fret diagram fret labels have changed.
  • The default value for fret-label-vertical-offset is set to -0.5, which centers the label in the fret space.
  • The default number format is now 'custom, with a format string of "~dfr" (resulting in ‘3fr’, for example), instead of 'roman-lower.
• Command \autoBeamOff now stops auto-beaming immediately. Previously, its effect was delayed if a beam generated by the auto-beamer engraver was still active.
• It is no longer necessary to switch off auto-beaming while using \crossStaff.
• The \upbow and \downbow signs are now properly inverted if used below a staff. As a consequence, the glyphs scripts.upbow and scripts.downbow have been renamed to scripts.uupbow and scripts.udownbow, respectively, and the new inverted glyphs are named scripts.dupbow and scripts.ddownbow.

  \relative c' {
    f4^\downbow f^\upbow f_\downbow f_\upbow
  }
  

  

Miscellaneous improvements

• The Scheme functions duration-length and ly:duration-length are renamed to ly:duration->number and ly:duration->moment, respectively.
• The new Scheme function ly:parser-append-to-include-path appends its argument to the current parser’s include path.
• The baseMoment context property is deprecated in favor of beatBase. Using baseMoment transparently accesses beatBase and triggers a warning.
• The value of the timeSignatureSettings context property uses the symbol beatBase where it formerly used baseMoment. convert-ly does not address this change.
• Embedding PNG images is now supported using the new \image markup command. This supplements the existing \epsfile command for EPS images.

  \image works for both PNG and EPS images. For EPS images, the difference between using \image and \epsfile is that \image adds a white background by default, while \epsfile does not.

• The new \qr-code markup command inserts a QR code of the specified size for the specified URL. This can be used to link to, e.g., the website of a composer or publisher, the LilyPond source files for the score, recordings, etc.

  \markup \qr-code #10 "https://lilypond.org"
  

  

• Parentheses for text markup have been added to the Emmentaler fonts, which harmonize with digits (in contrast to the already available parentheses for accidentals).
• A figure-dash glyph (U+2012) and an en-dash glyph (U+2013) have been added to the Emmentaler fonts.
• A figure space (U+2007), a thin space (U+2009), and a hair space (U+200A) have been added to the Emmentaler fonts.
• The -dinclude-settings option can now be given multiple times to include several stylesheets.
• In the LaTeX backend of lilypond-book, all inline images are now vertically shifted. The amount can be controlled globally with command-line option --inline-vshift and locally with an argument to the snippet option inline.
• Two new command-line options -dfirst and -dlast have been introduced; they are equivalent to setting showFirstLength and showLastLength, respectively, in a LilyPond input file. For example, saying

  lilypond -dlast=R1*5 ...
  

  makes LilyPond render only the last five measures (assuming a 4/4 time signature).

• A visual index of all LilyPond graphical objects (grobs) is now available as a manual. This is based on Joram Berger’s work for LilyPond 2.19.
• The printing of arpeggios has been improved, using new, different default values for the Arpeggio.positions property. Adjustments of this property must probably be updated.
• LilyPond provides support for in-notes, i.e., footnote-like annotations between music systems. This isn’t new (it was actually available since version 2.15.17, published in 2011) but it had some flaws and wasn’t documented until now.
• The lilysong script has been removed. Besides lacking any documentation, it hasn’t been maintained for a long time. Additionally, it has been using an external speech synthesis program called festival, which is no longer maintained either.
• Two new spacing styles are available for the space-alist grob property: shrink-space and semi-shrink-space; these spaces only shrink and don’t stretch. They are also used directly in LilyPond, improving the formatting of tightly spaced staves.
• The lilypond binary has a new command-line option -dstaff-size to set the global staff size, equivalent to setting set-global-staff-size in a LilyPond input file.
• Instead of the functions \bookOutputName and \bookOutputSuffix we now recommend to use the paper variables output-filename and output-suffix (which are not new but stayed undocumented until now). While the former will work unchanged, the latter is more coherent and easier to understand, especially if combined with predefined paper variables.
• The Stem.details.lengths property now also accepts pairs as list elements, allowing to set the length for up and down stems separately.
• The ly:self-alignment-interface::aligned-on-x-parent function (used by many grobs to compute the x-offset) now listens to a new PaperColumn property called X-alignment-extent. Set by default, it provides a fallback width for the PaperColumn grob in case it doesn’t contain note heads. This helps align dynamic scripts that are attached to spacer rests, for example.

  music =
    \new Staff <<
      { f'2 g'2 }
      { s4\f s\f s\f s\f }
    >>
  
  \score {
    \music
  }
  
  \score {
    \music
  
    \layout {
      \context {
        \Score
        \override PaperColumn.X-alignment-extent = ##f
      }
    }
  }
  

  

• BassFigureContinuation grobs now support horizontal-line-spanner-interface; the padding property has been replaced with the corresponding sub-properties in bound-details.
• The \align-on-other markup command now accepts #f as a value for the alignment, indicating a markup’s reference point.
• A new function \withRelativeDir is now available for markup commands that include files, and where such files should be found relative to the input file. Example:

  \markup { \image #X #3 \withRelativeDir "test.png" }
  

• The positioning of horizontal (analysis) brackets has been improved; in particular, the HorizontalBracket grob now has an outside-staff-priority value of 800. As a consequence, however, nested horizontal brackets might be positioned differently than before. You can fix this by adjusting outside-staff-priority values with \tweak (where the outermost bracket should get the highest priority value).
• A new Scheme function to-staff-space is provided to convert absolute dimensions (in various units) to staff-space units. Examples:

  top-markup-spacing.basic-distance = #(to-staff-space 2 'cm)
  
  % default unit is pt
  \markup
    \override #`(baseline-skip . ,(to-staff-space 20))
    \column {
      foo
      bar
    }
  

• Two new markup functions \abs-hspace and \abs-vspace are available to provide absolute dimensions that stay the same regardless of the current staff size.
• The data emitted by the command-line option -dshow-available-fonts is now sent to standard output.
• Function ly:font-config-display-fonts got an optional argument to select the output port.
• The Scheme command-line option handling is now more robust. In course of the new implementation, some minor changes were necessary.
  • On the command line, the argument for the -dpaper-size option no longer needs to be extra-quoted, i.e., a call like -dpaper-size=a3 works just fine.
  • The pixmap-format option now expects a string as a value, not a symbol. No change on the command line, but a call like

    #(ly:set-option 'pixmap-format 'pngalpha)
    

    must be changed to

    #(ly:set-option 'pixmap-format "pngalpha")
    

    The same holds for options separate-page-formats and tall-page-formats. Note that convert-ly can handle this automatically.

• The side-position-interface got two new properties, X-padding and minimum-X-space, to control the horizontal padding and minimum distance to a grob’s parent object, independently of the vertical padding and minimum distance. This is useful for grobs like Fingering that can be attached either horizontally or vertically to note heads, and which need different padding values for the X- and Y-axis, respectively.
• \pushContextProperty and \popContextProperty are two new commands for manipulating context properties. The first one pushes the current value to a stack and sets a new value, while the second one pops off the value from the stack and uses it to restore the previous value.

  {
    c'
    \pushContextProperty Staff.fontSize 3
    c'
    \pushContextProperty Staff.fontSize 6
    c'
    \popContextProperty Staff.fontSize
    c'
    \popContextProperty Staff.fontSize
    c'
  }
  

  

• A new grob property whiteout-color is available to set the color used for white-out operations. Similarly, the \whiteout markup command now listens to a color property to do the same.

For older news, go to https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.22/Documentation/changes/, or go back to the Documentation index.