Make your own Linux iTunes Server
This walkthrough is based on Fedora Core 3 which I'm running on my MythTV Server. If you find any innaccuracies, please let me know and I'll fix 'em.
Install daapd using APT
Make sure you have Dag's repository set up for apt (you might wish to set up a Yum repo instead as Yum is included by default with Fedora).
My repo file looks like this...
# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dries.list
rpm http://apt.sw.be dries/fedora/fc3/i386 dries
rpm-src http://apt.sw.be dries/fedora/fc3/i386 dries
Make sure you are up to date then get the daapd package, the howl package (needed for mDNSRepsonder) and their depencencies...
# apt-get update
# apt-get dist-upgrade
# apt-get install daapd
# apt-get install howl
Configuration
Create a config file like this one
# cat /etc/daapd.conf
Port 3689
ServerName MythMusic
DBName daapd music
Password
Root /av/audio
Cache /var/spool/daapd/cache
Timescan 2
Rescan 0
Change /av/audio to the location of your music collection, and create the folder /var/spool/daapd/cache as root (if you don't do this, the files will be rescanned by the server each time you run daapd). If you want to secure your audio files, put a password in the obvious gap.
Start daapd as a Service
Create a file called /etc/rc.d/init.d/daapd with the following contents
# cat /etc/init.d/daapd
#!/bin/sh
#
# A startup script for the daapd DAAP server
#
# chkconfig: 345 98 2
# description: This script is used to start the daapd \
# server as a background process.\
#
# Usage /etc/init.d/daapd start|stop|reload|restart|status
# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
DAAP_CONF=/etc/daapd.conf
DAAP_LOG=/var/log/daapd/access_log
prog=DAAP
exe=/usr/bin/daapd
start() {
echo -n "Starting $prog: "
if [ -f /var/lock/subsys/daapd ] ; then
echo_failure
echo
exit 1;
fi
daemon $exe -c $DAAP_CONF >> $DAAP_LOG &
RETVAL=$?
[ $RETVAL = 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/daapd && echo_success
echo
return $RETVAL
}
stop() {
echo -n "Stopping $prog: "
killproc $exe
RETVAL=$?
echo
[ $RETVAL = 0 ] && rm -f /var/lock/subsys/daapd /var/run/daapd.pid
}
reload()
{
echo -n $"Reloading $prog:"
killproc $exe -HUP
RETVAL=$?
echo
}
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
reload)
reload
;;
restart)
stop
start
;;
status)
status $exe
RETVAL=$?
;;
*)
echo "Usage: daapd {start|stop|reload|restart|status}"
exit 1
esac
Create the log folder so that the service can write a log file.
# mkdir -p /var/log/daapd
Now you should be able to start daapd as a service...
# service daapd start
Starting DAAP: [ OK ]
It may be some time before you can access this service if you have a large collection, as it will not respond until it has indexed the files.
mDNSResponder Configuration
In order for iTunes to detect the new playlists, you need to setup mDNSResponder to broadcast the presence of the service. Add the following line to the end of the mDNSResponser config file.
# tail -1 /etc/howl/mDNSResponder.conf
MythMusic _daap._tcp. local. 3689
Start mDNSResponder
# service mDNSResponder start
Starting mDNSResponder... [ OK ]
Any copies of iTunes residing on your local network should now have a shared music folder containing your entire music collection, including any playlists found in the same folder.
