Liquidsoap installation - cannot find the folders

[carrzkiss]

Ubuntu | NGINX | HLS | Liquidsoap
I used the following to install the latest version of LS.
opam pin -y liquidsoap 2.2.4-1
I was reviewing some commands from my previous setup with Icecast and LS.
When I noticed there were NO folders for Liquidsoap in the system,
(The Liquidsoap Subfolders within these folders.)
/var/run
/var/log/
/etc/init.d/
/etc/
/opt/

Will I need to create the folders, or did the installer not do the jobs?

[vitoyucepi]

Hi @carrzkiss,

/var/run
/var/log/
/etc/init.d/
/etc/
/opt/

These directories are expected to be populated by the OS installer.
Probably I didn't understand your question correctly and you are looking for some other directories.
For example /var/log/liquidsoap, I don't think opam has the ability or rights to create that path.

[carrzkiss]

I am sorry; you are right; I did not clarify.
I mean, the Liquidsoap SUB folders within them folders.
Where are the LS folders?

[carrzkiss]

Ubuntu | NGINX | HLS | Liquidsoap
(I have NGINX and HLS installed. The NGINX website is running, so at least that part is taken care of.)
I want to run a radio station with HLS with Liquidsoap.
I have done this with IceCast but was told that HLS would be the better option for my goal.

If I can get a station going with HLS and Liquidsoap, I will work my way to the rest after completing that part.

[vitoyucepi]

Ubuntu

What is the version?

I want to run a radio station with HLS with Liquidsoap.

Packages or containers. Are you familiar with Docker?

[carrzkiss]

ubuntu 23.10

I figured out how to update all packages from 2.1.4 to 2.2.4
opam upgrade liquidsoap
(Learning as I go)

Docker, no.

This is usually what I run to get Liquidsoap

opam depext taglib ffmpeg lame cry ssl samplerate magic lastfm inotify ocurl liquidsoap
opam install taglib ffmpeg lame cry ssl samplerate magic lastfm inotify ocurl liquidsoap

(Which gives you 2.1.4, but why? Why don't they fix this so that all current versions are installed instead of all old versions?)

[carrzkiss]

Everything is up-to-date now.
Don't know why that was so frustrating.

[vitoyucepi]

ubuntu 23.10

This is a problem because in the server world, it's extremely unusual to use non-lts versions.

Which gives you 2.1.4, but why? Why don't they fix this so that all current versions are installed instead of all old versions?

It may be package cache or an outdated ocaml.
Could you share the result of the `opam list' command?

Docker, no.

It could solve a lot of problems, but opam is still an option.

To run liquidsoap, you need a binary and a script. You can create a system or user service with systemd.

I already explained the process of creating a service file in #2558 and #3354, but I can explain the whole process again for you.

[carrzkiss]

Can you please explain this part

This is a problem because in the server world, it's extremely unusual to use non-lts versions

[vitoyucepi]

For me the answer is simple, with lts releases I can be assured that I won't have to do a serious migration for the next 2-3 years. At most 5 or even 10 years if you have a pro subscription.
In the virtual server world, you don't rely heavily on hardware support, so the kernel and core utilities are the only things that should get regular updates and security patches.

To solve the problem of outdated software, I use containers with the desired versions. I have my own small build infrastructure so I can reliably update and tune software to my needs.

[carrzkiss]

OK.
I am downloading the Ubuntu Server 22.04.4 LTS.
Once I have it installed and up to where I am now.
I will take a look at your links and start from there.

[carrzkiss]

I am looking at your first post.

Get /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
Is this a file I must create in that folder location with the code provided in the link?

[Unit]
Description=Liquidsoap service for channel %I
Documentation=man:liquidsoap(1)
After=network.target
ConditionPathExists=/etc/liquidsoap/%I.liq

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/liquidsoap --quiet /etc/liquidsoap/%I.liq
User=liquidsoap
Group=liquidsoap

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

If so, the location of the LIQ files will be in the /srv folder
Would I change the above /etc/ to /srv/
I am going to assume yes and continue. If wrong, I can always redo it.

[vitoyucepi]

If you store your scripts in a specific user's home folder, you can create a user-level service instead of a system-level service, although you don't have to.

Let's stick with the system level.
/etc/systemd/system/liquidsoap-hls.service

[Unit]
Description=Liquidsoap hls
Documentation=man:liquidsoap(1)
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/liquidsoap --quiet /home/user/main.liq
User=user
Group=user

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[carrzkiss]

I am running the following to start the script.
liquidsoap 101.liq
Errors and Warning

At line 1, char 0-4:
Warning 3: This expression should have type unit.
At line 1, char 4-7:
Error 4: Undefined variable liq

I have loaded an empty 101.liq file
And I have loaded it with code.
And they both give the same warnings and errors.

From your 2558 thread.
This is my script, which was changed to point to the folder structure with the LIQ files.

The error above makes me think it's pointing at this script, as [Unit] is the 0-4 characters.

[Unit]
Description=Liquidsoap service for channel %I
Documentation=man:liquidsoap(1)
After=network.target
ConditionPathExists=/srv/liquidsoap/%I.liq

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/liquidsoap --quiet /srv/liquidsoap/%I.liq
User=liquidsoap
Group=liquidsoap

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

I also read in the 3354 thread that the code has changed a lot from the last time I ran LS.

The Top part is from my old script.
The bottom part is from gAlleb (From the other day)

# This is from my original Icecast/Liquidsoap script
# log dir
set ("log.file.path","/var/log/liquidsoap/101.log")
set("scheduler.fast_queues",1)
# Music
music = playlist("https://www.website.com/DJ/101.asp",mode="normal")

# Start building the feed with music
radio = music

# ===========================================
# Provide by gAlleb on March 24, 2024 
# (https://github.com/savonet/liquidsoap/issues/3825#issuecomment-2018942115)
# ===========================================
# Stream it out
radio101 = mksafe(radio101)

# For Station101
# Define 3 streams with different bitrates. You can make 1 or 2 streams (as you wish).

aac_lofi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="96k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)
aac_midfi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="128k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)
aac_hifi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="192k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)

# Put them all together 
hls_streams = [("aac_lofi", aac_lofi), ("aac_midfi", aac_midfi), ("aac_hifi", aac_hifi)]

# Make interesting names for your segments
def hls_segment_name(~position,~extname,stream_name) =
    timestamp = int_of_float(time())
    duration = 4
    "#{stream_name}_#{duration}_#{timestamp}_#{position}.#{extname}"
end

output.file.hls(playlist="radio101.m3u8",
    segment_duration=4.0,
    segments=5,
    segments_overhead=2,
    segment_name=hls_segment_name,
    persist_at="C:/nginx/html/hls/persist",
    "C:/nginx/html/hls",
    hls_streams,
    radio101
)

[carrzkiss]

I do not have this.
/etc/systemd/system/liquidsoap-hls.service
I have this.
/etc/systemd/system/[email protected]

Are the [Unit] scripts per station? (per LIQ file)
As you said:
user-level service instead of a system-level service

[vitoyucepi]

Both files are in system scope.
You can use /etc/systemd/system/[email protected], but the script file should be placed in /srv/liquidsoap/, in your case the filename could be 101.liq.

[Unit]
Description=Liquidsoap service for channel %I
Documentation=man:liquidsoap(1)
After=network.target
ConditionPathExists=/srv/liquidsoap/%I.liq

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/liquidsoap --quiet /srv/liquidsoap/%I.liq
User=liquidsoap
Group=liquidsoap

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

To start the service, use the command systemctl start [email protected].
To enable the service (start on boot) use systemctl enable [email protected].

Could you paste the contents of 101.liq and the log of the liquidsoap /srv/liquidsoap/101.liq command?

[gAlleb]

Maybe @carrzkiss needs somewhat a bit detailed guide) I'm reading all this like a thriller :) Let's do like Vito is suggesting:

1. Like Vito has said, it's better for you to use .deb package on Ubuntu 22.04. So forget about opam for now.

2. Navigate to your home user directory (e.g. /home/carrzkiss) and download and install Liquidsoap using following commands:

wget https://github.com/savonet/liquidsoap/releases/download/v2.2.4/liquidsoap_2.2.4-ubuntu-jammy-2_amd64.deb -O liquidsoap.deb
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ./liquidsoap.deb

3. Great! Now make a folder called liquidsoap in you home directory (e.g. /home/carrzkiss)

cd /home/carrzkiss
mkdir liquidsoap
cd liquidsoap

4. Write a liquidsoap script and test it with liquidsoap 101.liq:

nano 101.liq

Paste this script:

Script

# This is from my original Icecast/Liquidsoap script
# log dir
# set ("log.file.path","/var/log/liquidsoap/101.log")
set("scheduler.fast_queues",1)
# Music
music = playlist("https://www.website.com/DJ/101.asp",mode="normal")

# Start building the feed with music
#
# I've changed your radio to radio 101
#
radio101 = music

# ===========================================
# Provide by gAlleb on March 24, 2024 
# (https://github.com/savonet/liquidsoap/issues/3825#issuecomment-2018942115)
# ===========================================
# Stream it out
radio101 = mksafe(radio101)

# For Station101
# Define 3 streams with different bitrates. You can make 1 or 2 streams (as you wish).

aac_lofi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="96k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)
aac_midfi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="128k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)
aac_hifi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="192k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)

# Put them all together 
hls_streams = [("aac_lofi", aac_lofi), ("aac_midfi", aac_midfi), ("aac_hifi", aac_hifi)]

# Make interesting names for your segments
def hls_segment_name(~position,~extname,stream_name) =
    timestamp = int_of_float(time())
    duration = 4
    "#{stream_name}_#{duration}_#{timestamp}_#{position}.#{extname}"
end

output.file.hls(playlist="radio101.m3u8",
    segment_duration=4.0,
    segments=5,
    segments_overhead=2,
    segment_name=hls_segment_name,
#
# Please note that you need to indicate here real paths to your nginx server. 
# They would probably be /var/www/html/...
#
    persist_at="C:/nginx/html/hls/persist",
    "C:/nginx/html/hls",
# 
# 
# 
# 
    hls_streams,
    radio101
)

5. Now you have your script at /home/carrzkiss/liquidsoap/101.liq

6. It's time to create systemd file. Please execute following commands:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]

A new file will open, paste the following into it (remember we are taking into account, that you have created /home/carrzkiss/liquidsoap directory and 101.liq file within this directory):

[Unit]
Description=Liquidsoap daemon for %I
After=network.target
Documentation=https://www.liquidsoap.info/

[Service]
Type=simple
User=carrzkiss
ExecStart=liquidsoap /home/carrzkiss/liquidsoap/%I.liq
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Press control + x and enter to save this file. Execute following commands

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable [email protected]

This will enable your liquidsoap script (/home/carrzkiss/liquidsoap/101.liq) as a service and enable liquidsoap service on system boot.

7. You have to have your nginx server running by now. You've said that it runs on 192.168.5.10:8080 and This loads the webpage from Nginx. Ok. To be sure from where your nginx serves files, please navigate to /etc/nginx/sites-available:

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available
ls

You should see your config file default I presume. Open it and find the directory which nginx serves:

sudo nano default

You should find something like this: root /var/www/html; or similar. Nevertheless, remember it, then make a dir hls inside it: sudo mkdir /var/www/html/hls and then edit your /home/carrzkiss/liquidsoap/101.liq accordingly:

...
...
#
# Please note that you need to indicate here real paths to your nginx server. 
# They would probably be /var/www/html/...
#
    persist_at="/var/www/html/hls/persist",
    "/var/www/html/hls/",
# 
# 
# 
# 
...
...

8. Restart your nginx and start liquidsoap:

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart liquidsoap@101

9. Your m3u8 file should be served from here: 192.168.5.10:8080/hls/radio101.m3u8
   You can open it via any program that supports HLS.

P.S. Since we made systemd service with User=carrzkiss - you may need to grant additional permissions before starting everything up:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html
sudo usermod -a -G www-data carrzkiss
sudo chgrp -R www-data /var/www/html/hls
sudo chmod -R g+rws /var/www/html/hls

Or you can run the service as root which is not great, just change User=carrzkiss to User=root, reload daemon and start service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart [email protected]

Try this as a starting point. Then you can tune up your nginx config with dedicated config, aliases if needed, other settings, modify liquidsoap script, etc. etc.

[carrzkiss]

Thank you, Vito.
I have an in-house server farm with Windows 2k6 running a web farm.
I have enough to tend to, so I agree 100%.
The more accessible, the better.

I will add your code to my list.
I will do another VM installation of this entire procedure, so I will know what exactly needs to be done.
I like doing OS installs, especially those I usually do not do.
And Linux is something I don't do regularly.
However, with this Radio setup, I will look into doing more for the farm.

[vitoyucepi]

You should consider learning basic container stuff, like how to build and run containers. Docker is a fairly popular modern deployment tool because it solves a lot of software distribution problems.
You may have heard of snap or flatpak, which do the same thing, but for graphical interfaces.

[carrzkiss]

I have one more question, and this should be wrapped up.
The metadata.
I looked at 3324
Toots has this.

# Update title metadata when both artist and title are present.
def hls_meta(m) =
  title = m["title"]
  artist = m["artist"]
  if artist != "" and title != "" then
    [("title", "#{artist} - #{title}")]
  else
    []
  end
end

hls_source = metadata.map(source, hls_meta)

I edited it to fit mine, but it breaks the station.

radio101 = mksafe(radio101)

# Update title metadata when both artist and title are present.
def hls_meta(m) =
  title = m["title"]
  artist = m["artist"]
  if artist != "" and title != "" then
    [("title", "#{artist} - #{title}")]
  else
    []
  end
end

hls_radio101 = metadata.map(radio101, hls_meta)

# and the output
output.file.hls(playlist="radio101.m3u8",hls_radio101,

I tried this, but it killed the live station.

[vitoyucepi]

The metadata modification function should be placed after the playlist and before the output.

# Music
music = playlist("https://www.website.com/DJ/101.asp",mode="normal")

# Update title metadata when both artist and title are present.
def hls_meta(m) =
  title = m["title"]
  artist = m["artist"]
  if artist != "" and title != "" then
    [("title", "#{artist} - #{title}")]
  else
    []
  end
end

# Start building the feed with music
radio = metadata.map(music, hls_meta)

I tried this, but it killed the live station.

How does it kill the live station?
Did you restart the service with systemctl restart [email protected] and everything went down?
Can you grab the log from /var/log/liquidsoap/101.log or journalctl -r -u liquidsoap@101?

[carrzkiss]

I saw SNAP during the installation of Ubuntu.
I checked to see what it was but had read that most people would not use it.
So, at that time, I just left it alone.

I watched a video on the installation of Azuracast, and it uses Docker.
I will look more into it.
I will do just that if I can make the process more efficient.

[carrzkiss]

The stream stops after about 11 seconds. If I comment out the meta, it will run normally.
After a few seconds, you hear what sounds like a SKIP in the audio.
journalctl -r -u liquidsoap@101

Mar 29 05:12:29 darklinuxserver liquidsoap[18652]:   (_) -> _  
Mar 29 05:12:29 darklinuxserver liquidsoap[18652]: but it should be a subtype of the type of the value at source.liq, line 50, char 77  
Mar 29 05:12:29 darklinuxserver liquidsoap[18652]:   source(_) (inferred at playlist.liq, line 371, char 2-49)  
Mar 29 05:12:29 darklinuxserver liquidsoap[18652]: Error 5: this value has type  
Mar 29 05:12:29 darklinuxserver liquidsoap[18652]: radio = metadata.map(music, hls_meta)  
Mar 29 05:12:29 darklinuxserver liquidsoap[18652]: At /home/darkhliquid/liquidsoap/101.liq, line 24, char 21-26:  

The error hits on this line. radio101 = metadata.map(music, hls_meta)

def hls_meta(m) =
  title = m["title"]
  artist = m["artist"]
  if artist != "" and title != "" then
    [("title", "#{artist} - #{title}")]
  else
    []
  end
end

# Start building the feed with music
radio101 = metadata.map(music, hls_meta) # <<<<<< This is the error line.

# radio101 = music

My 101.liq code without Meta

# This is from my original Icecast/Liquidsoap script
# log dir
set ("log.file.path","/var/log/liquidsoap/101.log")
set("scheduler.fast_queues",1)
# Music
music = playlist("https://www.website.com/DJ/101.asp",reload_mode="rounds", reload=1)

## Start building the feed with music
##
## I've changed your radio to radio 101
##
radio101 = music

# ===========================================
# Provide by gAlleb on March 24, 2024
# (https://github.com/savonet/liquidsoap/issues/3825#issuecomment-2018942115)
# ===========================================
# Stream it out
radio101 = mksafe(radio101)

# For Station101
# Define 3 streams with different bitrates. You can make 1 or 2 streams (as you wish).

aac_lofi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="96k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)
aac_midfi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="128k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)
aac_hifi = %ffmpeg(
    format="mpegts",
    %audio(
        codec="aac",
        samplerate=44100,
        channels=2,
        b="192k",
        profile="aac_low"
    )
)

# Put them all together
hls_streams = [("aac_lofi", aac_lofi), ("aac_midfi", aac_midfi), ("aac_hifi", aac_hifi)]

# Make interesting names for your segments
def hls_segment_name(~position,~extname,stream_name) =
    timestamp = int_of_float(time())
    duration = 4
    "#{stream_name}_#{duration}_#{timestamp}_#{position}.#{extname}"
end

output.file.hls(playlist="radio101.m3u8",
    segment_duration=4.0,
    segments=5,
    segments_overhead=2,
    segment_name=hls_segment_name,
#
# Please note that you need to indicate here real paths to your nginx server.
# They would probably be /var/www/html/...
#
    persist_at="/var/www/html/hls/persist",
    "/var/www/html/hls/",

    hls_streams,
    radio101
)

[carrzkiss]

I have it in
journalctl -r -u liquidsoap@101
I see the Album Name and Date but not the artist.
The artist's name is most likely there; it is just not showing it due to being cut off.

[("album", "Visual Lies"), ("date", "1987"), ("on_air_timestamp", "1711954036.00"), ("kind", "{audio=pcm(stereo)}"), ("year", "1987"), ("artist", >
Apr 01 02:47:16 linuxserver liquidsoap[2934]:

[vitoyucepi]

Just to be sure, you didn't see the artist because it was blank, or because you didn't scroll horizontally? Try scrolling using arrow keys.

[carrzkiss]

Quick question.
Can we change this from

    persist_at="/var/www/html/hls/persist",
                      "/var/www/html/hls/",

to

    persist_at="/var/www/stream.example.com/hls/101/persist",
                      "/var/www/stream.example.com/hls/101/",

I did this, and it started creating files, but it will not stream past 12 seconds and repeats the same song repeatedly.

I've restarted sudo systemctl restart liquidsoap@101
I've even rebooted, and it's still the same thing.

I wanted to try to keep all the files in their folders, such as stations 101, 102, etc.

And to answer your question.
Yes, scrolling sideways, I did not know I could, and it shows all the media file information.
Artist | Album | Song | initial_uri
That is what I wanted to see was the {initial_uri}
That gives the file itself, which I will be able to use against the server.

So I can get the information here. Why can't it be passed through to the media player or website?

[vitoyucepi]

It's hard to predict what the culprit is, but if you send me the result of ls -alR /var/www/stream.example.com/ I might be able to give you some advice.
I assume that /var/www/stream.example.com has owner www-data:www-data and permissions 0755. The same for /var/www/stream.example.com/hls/. In this case find /var/www/stream.example.com/hls/ -type d -exec chmod g+rwx {} \;.

[carrzkiss]

OK, I messed up the last install and had to redo it.
Now, I have the folder structure how I want it to be.
Changing the Folder location of files.
(To change the folders, you must create a new station; you can't just change them; it will not work after you change them.)

The new installation and the folders are done how I want them to be and are working great.
I have a few problems, but I will open a new thread.
I think this one is completed.

Thanks to you both. Yaw Rock!