SHOUTcast DNAS 2 Beta (Build 14) 01/25/2011

[DrO]

Presenting the latest BETA drop of the SHOUTcast DNAS server for broadcasters, developers and testers. This build is our latest GM release candidate and introduces new features as listed in the “Changes” section below, as well as addresses bugs reported in the previous BETA builds.

This BETA release is now available for the following platforms:

• Windows 32-bit and 64-bit versions) (Windows 2000 and up)
• Windows 64-bit
• Linux
• Linux 64-bit (*)
• Mac OS X (Intel)
• BSD 8.x

* These are newly supported versions of the DNAS v2 as of this release.


Downloads

You can download the updated version of the DNAS v2 from the direct downloads for the operating system version you require:

• Windows (32-bit)
• Windows (64-bit)
• Linux
• Linux (64-bit)
• Mac OS X (Intel)
• BSD 8.x

Changes

Build 14 (01/25/2011):

• Improved handling of the mimetype reported by legacy mp3 sources to improve usage of v1 sources (maps more mimetypes to audio/mpeg as applicable)
• Added /nextsongs?sid=# to show the next coming songs in an xml form (if known) when using a compatible v2 stream source
• Added 'admincssfile' option to allow for using v1 DNAS / SHOUTcast 2 / custom css styling of the index.html and the admin pages (check documentation for usage)
• Changed 'admin.cgi?mode=reload&sid=#' to also update 'password' and 'requirestreamconfigs'
• Changed 'configrewrite=1' to not output 'include' on exit
• Fixed Windows version logfile path generation if none or an invalid configuration file is passed (relates to change of default logfile path to %temp%\sc_serv.log in previous build)
• Fixed Windows service not running and being identified as sc_trans in the system event logs
• Updated some of the example configurations to resolve issues with platform specific path handling
• Updated Configuration Builder to latest version

Build 13 (01/20/2011):

• Added 'streammaxuser' to the stream configuration group options to allow for a per stream limit with 'maxuser' still ensuring a maximum client limit on the server
• Added support for wildcards via the 'include' feature e.g. 'include=stream/*.conf' to allow for a specific file for each stream configuration on the server
• Added a new 'admin.cgi?mode=reload&sid=#' mode to the administation support which will make the server reload its stream configurations by adding / removing / updating any streams on the fly where it can (unless '&force=1' is also passed) otherwise it will kick sources and clients as applicable
• Added YP connection status on the 'Server Status' message on index.html and the admin page to make it easier to see if a YP connection on a public server exists
• Added more information to the log generated to indicate if a YP connection has worked or not without having to enable debugging in the configuration file or completely cryptic messages
• Added &page=5 additional param handling to the admin.cgi?mode=viewxml stats action to provide the currently held metadata of the playing song (amount of information depends on the source and what metadata it provides)
• Added &page=6 additional param handling to the admin.cgi?mode=viewxml stats action to provide the currently known stream configurations (amount of information depends on the number of stream configurations specified)
• Added Configuration Builder (see config_builder folder) as a graphical way of making working configuration files (in combination with forum user thinktink)
• Now ships in linux 64-bit - is identified as 'posix(linux x64)' with the 32-bit version now identified as 'posix(linux x86)'
• Changed YP2 connection failures to be reported more clearly instead of an obscure /yp/resp/updatefreq missing error or requiring 'yp2debug=1' to be enabled
• Changed default location of the log file on Windows installs to %temp%\sc_serv.log instead of c:\sc_serv.log (resolves some issues on Windows Vista / 7 and write permissions)
• Changed pvt_update(..) to not spam the logs when 'yp2debug=1' is enabled in the configuration file if a connection attempt to the YP2 fails
• Changed http header checks to allow empty values from a 'key:value' pair to resolve some client connection issues
• Changed the 'Server Status' message on the index.html and the admin pages to show 'There is no source connected or no stream is configured for stream #X' when the stream is not active or there is no source connected
• Changed the reported configuration file on the index.html and the admin pages to be the base file loaded instead of the last included file if 'include' is used in the configuration files
• Changed handling of v1 sources to autofill the aim, irc and icq entries with N/A or 0 as appropriate if not set in what the source sends to the server e.g. Nicecast on Mac
• Fixed an api dependency issue preventing this from running on Windows 2000
• Fixed /nextsong?sid=# to show the unescaped version of the <soon/> metadata tag if received from the source
• Fixed clients trying to connect via Ultravox 2.0 (e.g. Winamp 5.5x and older versions) not being able to connect or causing non-Windows versions of the server to terminate incorrectly
• Fixed logging not working when passing certain invalid configuration files
• Fixed admin.cgi?mode=resetxml not working - now will reset <peaklisteners> and <streamhits> fields to mimick v1 DNAS handling
• Disabled the <webdata/> block in the admin.cgi?mode=viewxml stats (as well as via the &page=2 additional param) for the time being
• Disabled some of the admin.cgi?mode=viewxml stats entries not currently being filled in just to cut down on unnecessary bandwidth usage - better use use the &page=# option to get specific sets of stats instead of all in one go to keep bandwidth usage down
• Updated documentation based on user feedback and related changes, added sc_serv_simple.conf as an ultra simple configuration example, minor other issues & changes made

Getting Started

If you already have a running instance of the DNAS v2 then there should not be any issues with replacing your current version with this new version.

If this is a new install then make sure to read through the information in 'docs\getting_started.txt' along with the example configuration files provided in this new version which should make it easier to get started. Alternatively you should consider looking at the configuration builder which is included in the 'config_builder' folder.

Finally, all copies of the documentation can also be found online at http://dev.winamp.com/wiki/SHOUTcast_Broadcaster


Reporting Issues

If you do come across an issue with the DNAS v2, then please do post in this thread with as much information as possible about what you're doing at the time, the system you are using and anything else which will make it easier to understand what is or isn't going on with your install.


Known Issues

The following are known issues with the v2 DNAS raised in previous releases but not currently fixed / fully confirmed as needing to be fixed (i.e. intended behaviour):

• If the external IP is bound to a different device than the primary on the machine then the server will not work as expected (e.g. eth1 instead of eth0)
• The /listen.pls action does not form a valid url if dstip is not specified leading to http://0.0.0.0:8000/ as the stream address which will not work
• When connecting Winamp 5.60x to a v2 SHOUTcast stream when using the Bento or Big Bento skins will cause the Winamp UI to lockup for up to 60seconds (depends upon the machine, etc). Install http://download.nullsoft.com/shoutca...Stream_Fix.exe to resolve this issue (this patch will be shipped with the next version of Winamp after 5.60x)

Additional Information

Windows versions of the DNAS v2 are built with a dependency against the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package. If sc_serv is unable to start due to a dependency issue then you will need to install the correct version of the package so it can run which depends on the version of sc_serv you are attempting to run:

32-bit - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...d-3802b2af5fc2
64-bit - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...4-157cfdffee4e


This new version has been tested on a number of current Linux versions (Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS) so should hopefully run on other versions as well and without any dependency or locale related issues (as affected the first version).


Discussion about the previous version of the server including changelogs can be found in the following threads

• SHOUTcast DNAS 2 Beta (Build 10)
• SHOUTcast DNAS 2 Beta (Build 7)

-daz

[thinktink]

Added 'streammaxuser'...

WH00T!

[maksimilian]

sometimes Current song: and Next song: just empty, how fix it? Use latest versions of shoutcast2 and sc_trans2. And how make it display full song name in Current/Next song (Artist - Title, not like now only Title).

Big Thx.
Sorry for bad english =(

[DrO]

thinktink: indeed

maksimilian: if the source doesn't provide the title information then the server will not show anything on the admin pages for those aspects - not something that can really be changed. however i know there are some issues with sc_trans not relaying on the information from sources i.e. if a DJ connects to it via the Winamp+Source DSP combination but that will hopefully be resolved with the next drop of sc_trans (hopefully before the end of the month).

as for the title, it currently uses what is passed as the title from the source (usually in the TIT2 xml metadata field if using a v2 source) though i suppose it could be expanded with an extra parameter on the current/nextsong url query to try to create a title which is more like what the clients connecting to the server will generate i.e.Artist - Title - Album (as Winamp 5.60x will do and fallback gracefully for what isn't passed / available from the source metadata). will have a think and see about doing that (as need to account for the handling of legacy sources for something like that).

-daz

[DigiBC]

Private pages drop outs

There seems to be an issue with the private pages (so far I've only tested the Windows 32-bit version):

Unfortunately theses pages aren't available continuously, there are some short interruptions.
The following string is called by an ASP webpage, so that it leads to an error sometimes:

http://localhost:8080/admin.cgi?mode=viewxml&sid=1&pass=********


Btw: I'm glad that the special character issue in "NEXTTITLE" has been fixed!

[DrO]

DigiBC: maybe the page is being queried too fast or the DNAS is busy at the time and so by the time it gets around to responding the ASP aspect has timed out. if you look at the server logs, it should indicate (might need to enable some debugging options of web connections) if the page request was received and if it succeeded or not.

-daz

[DigiBC]

DigiBC: maybe the page is being queried too fast or the DNAS is busy at the time and so by the time it gets around to responding the ASP aspect has timed out. if you look at the server logs, it should indicate (might need to enable some debugging options of web connections) if the page request was received and if it succeeded or not.

Frankly speaking I don't think it's an ASP problem, because these interruptions do last for much more than a few milliseconds. (I've never had similar problems with earlier DNAS versions.)
When I open the above mentioned link in my browser I can reproduce the problem by simply refreshing the page. After several tries the browser will display an error: "XML Page Cannot Be Displayed".

[DrO]

with what i know i changed in the handling of that action (which was to remove information not filled) there's no reason for it to be acting that much differently between it and drop 10.

i've just spent the last 5 minutes manually accessing the page in Firefox and IE and i've not been able to see any failures occur (or when i've been using it for testing the state of things in the server as part of the drop 13 development). so i'm not too sure what to say at the moment though looking at the logs is about the only thing i can think off which might help to give an idea of what is or isn't going on.

-daz

[DigiBC]

I've done another test with Windows 7 x64, but no private page problems (interruptions) occurred there...


Anyway, I've discovered a new problem:
On both operating systems - Windows XP (DNAS 32-bit) and Windows 7 x64 (DNAS 64-bit) - after installing as a Windows service it fails to run as a service.
The only error I can find in the Event Log:

code:
sc_trans   msg:<***>   logger could not open console

I've never used "sc_trans"...

[DrO]

i'll double-check the service handling though i did find something yesterday which had 'sc_trans' as the string so it's probably the same thing (is from sc_serv having parts derived from sc_trans).

-daz

[DrO]

DigiBC: the service issue is from the change made to make the server work on Windows 2000 - same issue also affects sc_trans. as well the string which i had changed was related to this so should be sorted for the next sc_serv2 drop.

-daz

[TiggaStyle]

Added a new 'admin.cgi?mode=reload&sid=#' yes yes

Thanks for that.

[DrO]

Updated first post with changes and links to build 14

As well. i'll post a copy of the SC2 style css file soon (though anyone using Firebug or something similar can work it out anyway ).

-daz

[DigiBC]

Another big step ahead! Thanks a lot!

It's great to find additional metadata, but there's a little inconsistency in 'adminadmin.cgi?mode=viewxml&sid=#' now:
SONGTITLE and SONGHISTORY don't include the artist anymore, whereas NEXTTITLE still includes artist - songtitle.

Frankly speaking I would be prefer the old type of view including the artist (also for compatibility reasons).

[DrO]

It's great to find additional metadata, but there's a little inconsistency in 'adminadmin.cgi?mode=viewxml&sid=#' now:
SONGTITLE and SONGHISTORY don't include the artist anymore, whereas NEXTTITLE still includes artist - songtitle.

it's usually down to the source and how they provide things as i'm trying to standardise them. though if you use admin.cgi?sid=#&mode=viewxml&page=5 then you can get the raw data and form titles as needed that way.

generally the currentsong is just using the title (TIT2 field if working with a v2 source) whereas the nexttitle can vary as you're seeing - like the DSP will just grab the next title from Winamp in a pre-formatted method whereas i've made v2.1.3 provide the required metadata which leads to just the TIT2 value showing.

i've still to work out the best approach on what to do though i think it should all just be the equivalent of the TIT2 field for the next tracks as well but having a 'full' mode which tries to form the title as a client will get it (like was raised in maksimilian's post) though that then has issues with the next track support so i'm undecided.

it also doesn't help that v1 sources do it a different way but am sure will get something sorted in the end.

-daz