Release Notes for OpenSong V3.4.1 Beta

Updates since V3.4.0

• Menu selections are faster than in V3.4.0.
• Action buttons in the main OpenSong window are wider.
• OpenSong will not crash if the Backgrounds folder is not available.
• The Swedish translation has been updated (Thanks, Lars!).
• MacOS releases are in packages instead of DMG files.

Why "V3.4"?

After macOS Catalina (10.15) was introduced in 2019, we released an interim version of OpenSong for macOS labeled "V3.0" as a 64-bit macOS application. This was required to support Catalina since that release removed the ability to run 32-bit applications. It addressed security changes made to macOS that required OpenSong to move the support files into the application bundle rather than keeping them in separate folders in the same folder as the application.

Since that release, OpenSong development has moved forward, primarily with bug fixes, but also with a couple of new features as described below. Some of the interim builds have been used at the developers' churches for testing, and those have been given release numbers to identify them. V3.4 reflects the next point release beyond the version numbers used in testing.

What Is New?

There are two brand-new features in V3.4:

• NDI Output

  The NDI protocol developed by NewTek is a high-speed, low-latency protocol for video and audio transport over a network. It has been integrated into two programs commonly used along with OpenSong to support streaming video: Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and vMix.

  OpenSong will create a 1920x1080 NDI video source that mirrors the presentation when OpenSong is in any of the three presentation modes (single screen, dual screen, or preview). This can be used by OBS or vMix to include with the streaming output or a program such as NDI Monitor (available from NewTek in their NDI tools package) to extend OpenSong output to other screens on the church campus.

  The NDI library from NewTek is included with OpenSong, however, it is only in binary form and is a closed-source library. If you require a "pure" open-source application, remove the libndi file from the OpenSong distribution. This will disable the NDI output capability. No additional configuration is necessary.

  • On Windows, the file Processing.NDI.Lib.x86.dll can be found in the OpenSong Libs folder next to the OpenSong.exe application.

  • On macOS, use the Finder to locate the OpenSong app in the /Applications folder. Right-click the OpenSong application and select Show Contents. Navigate to the Contents/Frameworks folder and remove libndi.4.dylib.

  • On Linux, remove the libndi.4.5.1.so file from the OpenSong Libs folder next to the opensong executable.

  NDI is not available at this time for macOS when using the native Apple Silicon version of OpenSong. If you have a Mac with the Apple M1 chip and require NDI output, use the Intel version of OpenSong through the Rosetta translation.

• Current Slide Text to XML file

  vMix (and perhaps other programs) supports monitoring a file for changes and extracting the text for use elsewhere. In vMix, for example, the text can be used to generate a "lower third" (caption, "chyron"). Rather than displaying the OpenSong output, a lower third can be generated from this file to overlay on the video output in vMix.

  This file is generated automatically at each slide change and is called VMixOpenSong.xml. The folder where the file is written can be configured in the Main Settings ("Preferences" on macOS) within OpenSong. At this time, the filename is fixed.

In addition, the most visible changes in the existing functionality can be found in the way Bible files are handled. If a Bible name is given in the XML for the Bible file, OpenSong will display this as the Bible name in both the scripture selection window and any output.

Security changes in both Windows and macOS prevent OpenSong from writing the Bible index files next to the Bibles placed in the OpenSong Scripture folder next to (or within, in the case of macOS) the application. OpenSong now will look in that folder as before for Bibles. It will also look for Bibles in folders named OpenSong Scripture or Scripture in the same folder where the other OpenSong files (Songs, Sets, etc.) are stored. Index files will always be written to the Scripture folder in this location.

For the other changes, please refer to the source code Changelog file.

Platform Support

This release of OpenSong supports the following platforms:

• Windows 10. The application may be backward-compatible with Windows 8 and Windows 7, but it has not been tested. OpenSong remains a 32-bit application on Windows.

• macOS. A minimum version of 10.13 (High Sierra) is required. OpenSong is a 64-bit application. The application has been code signed and the DMG is notarized. Two versions are available, one for Intel architecture and one for Apple Silicon architecture. OpenSong is not released as a Universal binary since NDI support is not yet available for Apple Silicon.

• Linux on Intel. Unlike previous releases, this release of OpenSong is a 64-bit application. The 32-bit libraries are no longer required. The libunwind8 library must be installed. OpenSong is a GTK3 application. It has been tested on Ubuntu 20.04 and Linux Mint 20, but should be compatible with other modern distributions.

• Linux on Raspberry Pi. This is a preview release. OpenSong requires the Raspberry Pi 32-bit operating system. Although it will run on a Raspberry Pi 3, a Raspberry Pi 4 with a minimum of 2 GB memory is suggested. OpenSong requires the libunwind8 library and GTK3 support.

  N.B. On the Raspberry Pi, the use of the "border" attribute on the text font will significantly slow down the program. Alternative methods for creating the border on text are under investigation. Until this is resolved, we recommend disabling the use of the border, especially on the body of the slide.

Important note for Mac users

OpenSong may hang when using "Print to PDF" on the Mac's print dialog box under certain conditions.

To work around this issue, start Terminal and use the following command to change the way system dialogs are presented.

defaults write org.opensong.opensong dialogs -dict usesheets 0