icecast-server/NEWS

Icecast 2.3 
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**** New features for 2.3.0 ****

- Streaming support for ogg speex, ogg flac, ogg midi

- intro file support - per mount settable
   Intro files will play when a listener first connects to a stream.  This
   is designed for station jingles and the like.  If you don't broadcast 
   in ogg vorbis, you must make sure the bitrate/samplerate/number of 
   channels match up to your stream.

- on-demand relays, global and per-relay settable
   On demand relays only connect to the relayed content when there are
   listeners attached to the relay.  This can save bandwidth in certain cases.

- fallback to file, extends on the intro file handling.
   With this feature, you can specify a "fallback file" which will be played
   in a loop and sent your currently connected listeners in the event of a
   source client disconnect.  This means your listeners stay connected while
   you fix your disconnect problem.  Same rules regarding bitrate/samplerate/
   number of channels apply as with intro files.

- new mount-level settings
   1. public, type/subtype, genre settings, stream description,
      stream url, stream name, bitrate (override what is sent from the source
      client)
   2. mp3 metadata interval
   3. on-[dis]connect scripts can be stated per-mount, invoked at source 
      start/stop and take 1 arg which is the mountpoint.

- New URL listener authenticator.
   This delegates your listener authorization to an external application.
   URL calls are made on listener connect/disconnect as well as source
   connect/disconnect.  It is meant for large broadcasters who have existing
   authentication systems that need to be integrated into.  Included is 
   an example php-based application that can be used in conjunction with 
   the url authenticator to manage a simple subscription-based broadcast.

- HTPasswd authenticator uses in-memory structures now.

- On demand files now can be fed through an authenticator

- Update to admin/web xslt interface

**** Fixes for 2.3.0 ****
- real/helix works
- win32 access log correct
- stats client is stable now (curl -X STATS http://admin@host:port/)
- show mountpoints on stats that are inactive but have an active fallback
- more updates over HUP possible
- improved stability under heavy load
- moving clients will no longer sometimes deadlock the server
- avoid small writes to reduce TCP overhead.


Icecast 2.2 
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****New features for 2.2 (in no particular order):****

- Theora Video support -
Icecast now supports video streaming via theora.  Currently, we require the latest
(alpha 4) version of libtheora.  This is an optional compile, so if you don't
have theora then icecast will safely ignore it

- Shoutcast style source client support -
Icecast now supports the connection protocol used by the Shoutcast DSP source
client.  This is the same connection protocol used by their NSV encoding tools.
This means that not only can you use the Shoutcast DSP to stream to icecast, but
that you can also stream NSV via their tools.

- AAC is added as a supported streaming format -
Not too many source clients support streaming in this format, but we support it.

- Cluster password -
Now you can specify a cluster password as a <mount> option in the config. This
will allow you to cluster multiple servers/mounts into a single listing on the 
stream directory.  Note that this is different than "grouping" which groups together
streams coming from the same physical IP and with the same stream name.  Clusters
are meant for relays of the same stream and will only be listed *once* in the stream
directory.  When a listener tunes into a cluster, they will be served an m3u file
with all the clusters for that stream.

- Playlist Log -
This is an option setting that will create an audit trail of metadata that comes through
icecast.  It is a single file that contains information for all mountpoints.

- Range Support for static files -
We now support seeking in files served off the icecast fserve.

- Metadata Update via Admin -
We now support metadata updates via the admin interface for both MP3 AND Ogg Vorbis
streams.

- Per mount hidden stats and YP prevention -
You many now indicate certains mounts to be excluded (i.e. hidden) from the main
status.xsl page.  This is useful when using local private relays.  You can also
override the YP setting (as in disable) on a per-mount basis.  Also useful for
local private relays.

- Multiple example config files -
We now have multiple config files for you to use as a base.  A "simple" one for 
quick-start, and a more detailed "advanced" one with all the features, as well
as a "shoutcast compatable" one, which shows how you'd config for using the
shoutcast DSP.

- Relay user/pass -
You can now specify authentication used by a relay.  This is for the case where
you have listener authentication enabled for a mountpoint, and want to connect
a relay to it.

Icecast 2.1 11/04/2004
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****New features for 2.1 (in no particular order):****

-Listener Authentication-

  Icecast now supports listener authentication.  This provides a mechanism for
  creating/maintaining users and passwords for listeners.  Currently, we only
  have implemented a simple, file-based storage for users and passwords.  New
  authenticators are on the horizon (such as URL-based or possibly MySQL based)
  New admin pages were also added for the maintenance of users/passwords. Please
  check the docs for a more detailed description of this new feature.

-Multi-Level Fallbacks-
 
  Multi-level fallbacks allow for specifications of a series of fallback mounts
  that you can use to automatically move listeners in the event of a source being
  disconnected.  In the event of new listeners attaching to the source stream that has
  been disconnected, they are routed to the fallback mount (if specified).
  Icecast now has fallback-override capability as well which means that in the event
  of a source stream failure, listeners are moved to the fallback mount, and then
  automatically recaptured when the original source stream returns.

-Burst-On-Connect-

  This is an new, optional config setting which will send a initial burst of 
  data to connecting listeners.  This has the effect of reducing 
  (significantly) the startup buffer latency from the end-user perspective.  
  This option is enabled by default.


****New Enhancements for 2.1****

-Update to admin interface-

  This interface has been cleaned up quite a bit and made a bit nicer.

-Rewrite of the YP listing code-

  The icecast yp code has received a complete overhaul by karl, and it's a much
  more stable and failure-resistant implementation.

-Lots and lots of bugs fixed-

  Check the ChangeLog for a complete list of these...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2003-10-12
    Added documentation

2003-04-23
    Support aliases

2003-03-09
    Support listening on multiple sockets.

2003-03-08
    Support for shoutcast source protocol added.

2003-03-08
    Started implementing generic admin interface. Supports (so far): 
    - dynamic configuration of mount fallbacks
        /admin/fallbacks?mount=/mount&fallback=/fallback
    - setting of mp3 metadata
        /admin/metadata?mount=/mount&mode=updinfo&song=New%20Title
    - dumping raw xml stats
        /admin/rawstats
    - listing all connected clients on a mountpoint: 
        /admin/listclients?mount=/mountname

2003-03-05
    Implemented the ability to reread the config file on SIGHUP. For now, this
    does not affect configuration for currently running sources (only new
    sources and global parameters like max-listeners)

2003-03-02 
    More features:	 
    -- per mountpoint listener maxima   
    -- static configuration of mountpoint fallbacks   
    -- stream dumping (write incoming stream to disk)

2003-02-27
    Fix log buffering on win32 - previously, logs were never flushed, so they
    only got output every few tens or hundreds of lines.

2003-02-27
	Support new icy-audio-info header, to communicate various parameters to
    clients and yp servers, including sample rate, quality, channels, bitrate

2003-02-25
    Full support for relaying mp3 metadata (if turned on in config file)

2003-02-25
    Allow configuration of maximum client queue length (in bytes)

2003-02-14
    Finished full IPv6 support. 

2003-02-12
	Allow configuring local mountpoint seperately from remote mountpoint for
    relays

2003-02-12
	Per mountpoint usernames and passwords (for sources)

2003-02-11
	Now that it's been officially assigned, use application/ogg instead of
	application/x-ogg

2003-02-07
    Allow relaying of mp3 streams from icecast 1.x and shoutcast

2003-02-07
    Added ability to configure individual relays (rather than just all streams
    from a single server).

2003-02-03
    Added support for YP directory services listings
	are only used by the yp listing routines

2003-02-03
    Support command line parameter -b to run in the background (not supported
    on win32)

2002-12-31 
    Implement configurable mountpoint fallbacks (on source exit, clients are
    transferred to another mountpoint automatically, without disconnecting
    them)

2002-12-31
    Implemented full mp3 metadata support.

(older stuff is missing from here)