shairport-sync/BUILDFORAP1.md

Build Instructions for AirPlay 1

Here are simple instructions for building and installing Shairport Sync to provide an AirPlay 1 service on a recent Linux based on Debian, including Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi OS.

In the commands below, note the convention that a # prompt means you are in superuser mode and a $ prompt means you are in a regular unprivileged user mode. You can use sudo ("SUperuser DO") to temporarily promote yourself from user to superuser, if permitted. For example, if you want to execute apt-get update in superuser mode and you are in user mode, enter sudo apt-get update.

Configure and Update

Do the usual update and upgrade:

# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade

(Separately, on a Raspberry Pi only, if you haven't done so already, consider using the raspi-config tool to expand the file system to use the entire card.)

Turn Off WiFi Power Management

If you are using WiFi, you should turn off WiFi Power Management:

# iwconfig wlan0 power off

WiFi Power Management will put the WiFi system in low-power mode when the WiFi system is considered inactive, and in this mode it may not respond to events initiated from the network, such as AirPlay requests. Hence, WiFi Power Management should be turned off. (See TROUBLESHOOTING.md for more details.)

Reboot the computer.

Remove Old Copies

Before you begin building Shairport Sync, it's best to search for and remove any existing copies of the application, called shairport-sync. Use the command $ which shairport-sync to find them. For example, if shairport-sync has been installed previously, this might happen:

$ which shairport-sync
/usr/local/bin/shairport-sync

Remove it as follows:

# rm /usr/local/bin/shairport-sync

Do this until no more copies of shairport-sync are found.

Remove Old Startup and Service Scripts

You should also remove the startup script and service definition files /etc/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service, /lib/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service, /etc/init.d/shairport-sync, /etc/dbus-1/system.d/shairport-sync-dbus.conf and /etc/dbus-1/system.d/shairport-sync-mpris.conf if they exist – new ones will be installed if necessary.

Reboot after Cleaning Up

If you removed any installations of Shairport Sync or any of its startup script files in the last two steps, you should reboot.

Build and Install

Okay, now let's get the tools and sources for building and installing Shairport Sync.

First, install the packages needed by Shairport Sync:

# apt-get install build-essential git xmltoman autoconf automake libtool \
    libpopt-dev libconfig-dev libasound2-dev avahi-daemon libavahi-client-dev libssl-dev libsoxr-dev

Next, download Shairport Sync, check out the development branch, configure it, compile and install it:

$ git clone https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync.git
$ cd shairport-sync
$ git checkout development
$ autoreconf -fi
$ ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --with-alsa --with-soxr --with-avahi --with-ssl=openssl --with-systemd
$ make
$ sudo make install

By the way, the autoreconf step may take quite a while -- be patient!

Configure

Now to configure Shairport Sync. In this walkthrough, it will be configured for an alsa output device. A list of alsa output devices is given at the end of the help information. For example, on a Raspberry Pi, at the end of the output from the command $ shairport-sync -h, the following appears:

...
Settings and options for the audio backend "alsa":
    -d output-device    set the output device, default is "default".
    -c mixer-control    set the mixer control name, default is to use no mixer.
    -m mixer-device     set the mixer device, default is the output device.
    -i mixer-index      set the mixer index, default is 0.
    hardware output devices:
      "hw:Headphones"

Using a program such as alsamixer, the name of a mixer (i.e. an attenuator or volume control that could be used to control the output level) can be determined. In this case, the name of the mixer is Headphone.

Following this, here are the important options for the Shairport Sync configuration file at /etc/shairport-sync.conf. Note that everything is case-sensitive:

// Sample Configuration File for Shairport Sync on a Raspberry Pi using the built-in audio DAC
general =
{
  volume_range_db = 60;
};

alsa =
{
  output_device = "hw:Headphones";
  mixer_control_name = "Headphone";
};

The volume_range_db = 60; setting makes Shairport Sync use only the usable part of the Raspberry Pi's built-in audio card mixer's attenuation range. It may not be necessary for other output devices.

The next step is to enable Shairport Sync to start automatically on boot up:

# systemctl enable shairport-sync

Finally, either reboot the Pi or start the shairport-sync service:

# systemctl start shairport-sync

The Shairport Sync AirPlay service should now appear on the network with a service name made from the computer's hostname with the first letter capitalised, e.g. hostname ubuntu gives a service name Ubuntu. You can change the service name and set a password in the configuration file.

Connect and enjoy...