iTunes-compatible server for Linux?

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825 points

iTunes-compatible server for Linux?

Anyone know if there's such a thing now? All the ones I know of (Firefly, mt-daapd etc.) were broken in an update to iTunes quite a while ago and have never recovered.

All I'm aiming for is software for Debian that can run headless, and cause a Shared Library to show up on iTunes 10 & 11 on Macs and an iPhone (iOS 6) on the LAN, from which I can stream music and video. Compatibility with ALAC is crucial.

*Fingers crossed*

Mac mini (Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 256GB SSD, 500GB HDD, 8GB RAM

Posted on Mar 19, 2013 7:48 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 25, 2013 9:16 AM in response to Scotch_Brawth

Firefly aka. mt-daapd was patched by the various NAS makers (who use Linux to run their NAS boxes) to work still with iTunes. However these days for Linux and only Linux their is a more modern replacement called 'Forked-daapd'.

I have personally not done anything with forked-daapd because it is only for Linux, having just done a Google search it looks like it might not be being actively supported any more. However as a starter have a look at these pages and do your own search.

http://macvalley.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/successful-installation-of-forked-daapd. html

https://github.com/jasonmc/forked-daapd

http://www.mmacleod.ca/blog/2012/05/patching-forked-daapd-so-it-actually-works/

http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/forked-daapd

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Answer 2

Scotch_Brawth Author

Level 3

825 points

Apr 16, 2013 8:38 AM in response to John Lockwood

Sorry for not responding sooner.

The Forked-DAAP patch mentioned on the mmacleod.ca page is for a bug other than the one preventing current compatibility, as far as I can tell. He says,

with recent versions of iTunes forked-daapd was dropping out after about 5 minutes of audio.

The symptom of the breakage I'm referring to prevents iTunes from ever connecting to the daapd server - it just hangs indefinitely.

However as a starter have a look at these pages and do your own search.

When I posted my thread here I made it quite clear I was asking whether anyone knew if such a thing existed now. I've already searched pretty extensively, and was hoping to get an answer from someone with more knowledge on the matter—not, as has happened in this case, less.

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Answer 3

Apr 16, 2013 9:44 AM in response to Scotch_Brawth

Scotch_Brawth wrote:

When I posted my thread here I made it quite clear I was asking whether anyone knew if such a thing existed now. I've already searched pretty extensively, and was hoping to get an answer from someone with more knowledge on the matter—not, as has happened in this case, less.

John was trying to give you what help he could. Remember that this is a user-to-user forum and no-one has to answer your questions - and why should they if they are likely to get a response like the above?

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Answer 4

Oct 30, 2013 9:51 AM in response to Scotch_Brawth

I'm in the same situation trying to put all my iTunes collection on a headless Ubuntu server.

No alternative solution yet?

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Answer 5

Oct 30, 2013 10:26 AM in response to viktor smari

viktor smari wrote:

I'm in the same situation trying to put all my iTunes collection on a headless Ubuntu server.

No alternative solution yet?

The options are still the same.

Firefly works for music only to iTunes on a Mac or PC (not an Apple TV), forked-daapd works for music and I believe videos as well and will work with an Apple TV as well as iTunes on a Mac or a PC. As you are using Ubuntu it should be in theory easier to get working on that than a Mac or a NAS box. People do now have forked-daapd working on a RasberryPI as an example (running Linux).

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