Version 3.0d18 – Development Version

Big Update

This is a big update, so please be careful, as there are likely to be lots of bugs and maybe even regressions. It's still very much a moving target. The processor load is about 25% higher. There is still quite a bit of work to do, especially on the backends apart from ALSA.

The most obvious audible change is if you are using software volume control and can take advantage of 32- or 24-bit DACs. Dithering can now occur on a 32-bit or 24-bit sample rather than on a 16-bit sample, making the noise floor very much lower. This is the case, for example, with a Pimoroni PHAT DAC.

New Features

• 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 24-bit three-byte (S24_3LE and S24_3BE) and 32-bit output to ALSA devices. (Other back ends are not updated yet.)
• 44,100, 88,200, 176,400 and 352,800 sample per second output. This is done using simple upsampling.
• Internal processing including software volume control and interpolation is done after sample size and rate conversion.
• Apple ALAC decoder support. This needs the libalac library, available at ALAC. Add the flag --with-apple-alac to the ./configure arguments. Then you can choose the Apple ALAC decoder in the configuration file.
• Support for mbed TLS has been added and the use of PolarSSL is deprecated, as mbed TLS is a development of PolarSSL and PolarSSL itself is not being developed further.
• Settings that were denominated in frames are now deprecated but still honoured. Deprecation warnings are issued.

Version 2.8.6 – Explicit identification as a ShairportSync device

Enhancement

• This release contains a small change – it identifies itself as a ShairportSync device rather than an AirPort device. This should make it possible for Tuneblade, and possibly other players, to recognise it correctly.

Version 2.8.5 – Bug fixes, enhancements, new ./configure option

This release includes bug fixes and minor enhancements and is recommended for all users.

Note: if you're upgrading, there is a new ./configure option:

The enhancements and bug fixes in 2.8.5 were made in versions 2.8.4.1 to 2.8.4.8 inclusive. Please read RELEASENOTES.md for the details.

For advice on updating an installation you built yourself, please visit the UPDATING page.

V2.8.4.8 – Development Version

Enhancements

• Add a new metadata item clip (for CLient IP). This item is a string comprising the IP number of the "client", and is sent when a play session is starting. The "client" is the sender of the audio stream, e.g. iTunes on a Mac, or the Music player in iOS.
• When synchronisation has been disabled on the ALSA device (you should only do this for testing), Shairport Sync now refrains from asking for buffer length information from the device.

V2.8.4.7 – Development Version

Pesky Changes You Cannot Ignore

• This update means the build process now uses the directory path sysconfdir to determine where to place the configuration file shairport-sync.conf. The default value for sysconfdir is /usr/local/etc which is used in the BSD family, whereas /etc is normally used in Linux. So, to retain the present behaviour of Shairport Sync, you must add an extra parameter to the ./configure... command. The parameter you must add is --sysconfdir=/etc. (This has been added to the sample configuration command line in README.md.)
• Shairport Sync has been updated to use the value of sysconfdir to determine where to look for the configuration file. If sysconfdir has been left with its default value of /usr/local/etc, then Shairport Sync will look for /usr/local/etc/shairport-sync.conf. If, as recommended for Linux, sysconfdir has been set to /etc, then Shairport Sync will look, as before, for /etc/shairport-sync.conf.

Enhancement

• The version string output when you use the command-line option -V now includes the value of the sysconfdir, e.g. 2.8.4.7-OpenSSL-Avahi-ALSA-soxr-sysconfdir:/etc.

V2.8.4.6 – Development Version

Enhancement

• Add a new alsa configuration setting: use_mmap_if_available to control the use of mmap. The default is "yes" -- see #351.

From 2.8.4.5:

• Handle varying packet lengths -- this makes it compatible with the HTC Connect, HTC's AirPlay implementation -- see #338.

V2.8.4.4 – Enhancement

Enhancement

• Use alsa direct access (MMAP) feature to improve performance if MMAP is supported. Thanks to Yihui Xiong.

V2.8.4.3 – Minor Bug Fix

Bug Fix

• Set the RTSP socket to close on exec() of child processes; otherwise, background run_this_before_play_begins or run_this_after_play_ends commands that are sleeping prevent the daemon from being restarted because the listening RTSP port is still in use. Fixes #329.

V2.8.4.2 – Minor Bug Fixes

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where you could not compile the audio_pipe back end without enabling metadata support (thanks to busa-projects for reporting the issue).
• Fixed a few small issues causing compiler warnings in mdns_dns_sd.c.

Other

• Removed the INSTALL file – it's generated automatically by autoreconf -fi anyway – added it to the files to be ignored in .gitignore and added a simple INSTALL.md file.

V2.8.4.1 – Minor bug fixes

Bug Fixes

• Fixed two issues when including support for pulseaudio.
• Corrected two small errors in sample parameters for the UDP metadata stream settings, thanks to rkam.