Installing MP3db on your Linux/BSD/OSX Computer

NOTE: In this document /path_to_your_mp3s means just that: the filesystem path to the root directory of your mp3 files. Replace it whenever used with YOUR path.

Install the Scripts

Run the following commands as (root, any superuser)

• mv _mp3db /path_to_your_mp3s
• mv ./_mp3db/helpers/MP3db-backend.pl /usr/bin
• mv ./MP3db.pl /path_to_your_mp3s
• ln -s /path_to_your_mp3s/MP3db.pl /path_to_your_mp3s/MP3db.pls
• ln -s /path_to_your_mp3s/MP3db.pl /path_to_your_mp3s/MP3db.mp3

Note: To upgrade to future releases just do the first 3 steps, and nothing else in this document.

Create the MP3db Database

Run the following command as (root, any superuser). The -p assumes you have set up MySQL with a password for the user account you're using.

• mysqladmin -p create MP3db

Edit /usr/bin/MP3db-backend.pl with whatever text editor you prefer and find the section at the top labled "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!!!". Below this line, configure your SQL username and password. Here's an example:

my $sqluser = 'my_username';
my $sqlpass = 'sqlpassword111';

Run the following commands as (root, any superuser)

• perl /usr/bin/MP3db-backend.pl --initdb
• perl /usr/bin/MP3db-backend.pl --dir /path_to_your_mp3s

That last command may take some time to scan all of your mp3s, depending on the size of your collection and the speed of your computer. A time of 10 minutes or more would not be unreasonable.

NOTE: As you make changes to your MP3 collection such as adding or deleting mp3s or changing the info inside the tags, these changes will not appear in the database until you re-scan your collection. I recommend setting up a cron job to run the backend script on a nightly basis.

Configure Apache

Please follow the section below that corresponds to the version of Apache you have installed.

Apache 1.3.x

• Edit your httpd.conf file and locate the string "AddType" Below the existing AddType lines add the following lines:

  AddType audio/mpeg mp3 MP3
  AddType audio/x-scpls pls PLS

• Also in httpd.conf, locate the first "<Directory" and below that block add the following:

  <Directory /path_to_your_mp3s>
  	Options FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI -Indexes
  	Order allow,deny
  	Allow from all
  	DirectoryIndex MP3db.pl
  	PerlSendHeader Off
  	<Files ~ "(MP3db\.pl|MP3db\.pls|MP3db\.mp3)$">
  		SetHandler perl-script
  		PerlHandler Apache::Registry
  	</Files>
  </Directory>
  

• Restart apache

Apache 2.x

• Edit your httpd.conf file and locate the string "AddType" Add the following lines below that line:

  AddType audio/mpeg mp3 MP3
  AddType audio/x-scpls pls PLS

• Edit httpd.conf and locate the "<Directory" block you added that contains the MP3db settings. Delete the entire <Files> </Files> sub-block and replace it with the following:

  <Directory /path_to_your_mp3s>
  	Options FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI -Indexes
  	Order allow,deny
  	Allow from all
  	PerlSendHeader Off
  	DirectoryIndex MP3db.pl
  	<Files ~ "(MP3db\.pl|MP3db\.pls|MP3db\.mp3)$">
  		SetHandler perl-script
  		PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
  	</Files>
  </Directory>
  

• Restart apache

Testing

Browse to http://yoursite.dom/path_to_your_mp3s and if the MP3db main page loads, you're all done! If not, read the directions again and check your error log for details on where you may have gone astray.

Appendix A: Requirements

• A unix based OS such as Linux or FreeBSD
• MySQL Version 4 or higher
• Perl version 5.8 or higher
• Apache with mod_perl (compatible with versions 1.33.x and 2.x)
• The following perl modules (available from CPAN)
  • CGI
  • CGI::Session
  • CGI::Cookie
  • Benchmark::Timer
  • DBI
  • DBD::mysql
  • MP3::Info
  • MP3::Tag
  • List::Compare

Appendix B: Optional Compression

Some of the pages and playlists generated by the script contain a lot of data, sometimes totaling half a meg just to browse a list of all your artists. Over slower connections the size of the pages can cause long wait times as well as buffering problems if you load a large page while streaming a song. The solution is to implement compression in Apache. Below are solutions for both Apache versions.

Apache 1.3.x

• Install the CPAN modules Apache::OutputChain and Apache::GzipChain
• Edit httpd.conf and locate the <Directory block you added that contains the MP3db settings. Delete the entire <Files> </Files> sub-block and replace it with the following:

  <Files ~ "(MP3db\.pl|MP3db\.pls)$">
  	SetHandler perl-script
  	PerlHandler Apache::OutputChain Apache::GzipChain Apache::Registry
  </Files>
  <Files ~ "(MP3db\.mp3)$">
  	SetHandler perl-script
  	PerlHandler Apache::Registry
  </Files>
  

Apache 2.x

• Install the Apache2 module mod_deflate (if not already installed)
• Edit httpd.conf and locate the <Directory block you added that contains the MP3db settings. Under the line that starts with DirectoryIndex add the following line:

  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain audio/x-scpls audio/playlist text/css application/x-javascript
  

Appendix C: Alternate Configurations

The apache set up can be done in many ways, using <Directory, <Location or even <VirtualHost configurations. If you know how to set them up, use whichever suits you best. I prefer a virtual host myself.

Appendix D: Acknowledgements

This program uses code or software from the following authors

• Lincoln D. Stein for Apache::MP3 (http://search.cpan.org/dist/Apache-MP3/)
• Jeroen Wijering for his Flash mp3 player (http://www.jeroenwijering.com/)
• Sam Stephenson for Prototype (http://prototype.conio.net/)
• Thomas Fuchs for script.aculou.us (http://script.aculo.us/)
• Dragon Labs for Octopus Engine (http://www.dragon-labs.com/)