I downloaded autolame-1.17.sh.gz and unzipped/untarred it with Ark (not sure this is the correct way...I search but couldnt find the proper tar command) to a directory called /home/username/autolame...I then created an in and out directory per the instructions. I have installed lame encoder and found it at /usr/bin/lame directory.

If I understand the instructions correctly, all I should need to do is copy/drag a wav file to the in directory and wait...the output should be in the out directory. After 2 hours of waiting and rechecking nothing has shown up in the out directory.

I'm not sure if my settings/scripts are set correctly...would someone mind looking over and provide suggestions...how do I even run autolame, copy/drag file to in directory? My settings are below....thanks.

#!/bin/sh
#############################################################################
#
# autolame $Revision: 1.17 $ $Date: 2003/04/04 19:39:21 $
# automatic encoding of .wav files
#
# Copyright (C) 2000 Christian Garbs <mitch@uni.de>
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
#
#############################################################################
#
# Get the most current version here:
# http://www.h.shuttle.de/mitch/stuff.en.html
#
# $Id: autolame.sh,v 1.17 2003/04/04 19:39:21 mitch Exp $
#
#############################################################################
#
# INSTALLATION:
#
# Copy this script into a directory (this directory will be the autolame
# root directory). Then create two subdirectories called 'in' and 'out'
# and edit the following variables to your needs:
#
#
# ===> autolame root
#
ROOTDIR=/home/cbjhawks/autolame
#
#
# ===> lockfile
# (it's best to remove this file on every bootup)
#
LOCKFILE=$ROOTDIR/autolame.LOCK
#
#
# ===> encoder (this doesn't need to be lame, others will work, too)
#
ENCODER=/usr/bin/lame
ENCODERPARAMS=-hk
#
# another encoder:
#ENCODER=/usr/local/bin/notlame
#ENCODERPARAMS="-h -p -t -b 160"
#
#
# ===> where to show status messages
#
# current console/no redirection:
SCREEN=
#
# on this tty (must be writable for this user!)
#SCREEN=/dev/tty11
#
# be quiet:
#SCREEN=/dev/null
#
# logfile:
#SCREEN=/var/log/autolame.log
#
#
#
# ===> nice level
#
NICE=13
#
#
# ===> rescan file (this is just used as a flag)
#
RESCAN=$ROOTDIR/autolame.RESCAN
#
#
# ===> external programs:
#
# If your $PATH is set correctly, you don't need explicit paths: (see below)

BASENAME=basename
DATE=date
DIRNAME=dirname
FIND=find
MKDIR=mkdir
MV=mv
RENICE=renice
RM=rm
RMDIR=rmdir
SED=sed
TOUCH=touch
#
# This works fine for my SuSE 6.3:
#BASENAME=/usr/bin/basename
#DATE=/bin/date
#DIRNAME=/usr/bin/dirname
#FIND=/usr/bin/find
#MKDIR=/bin/mkdir
#MV=/bin/mv
#RENICE=/usr/bin/renice
#RM=/bin/rm
#RMDIR=/bin/rmdir
#SED=/usr/bin/sed
#TOUCH=/usr/bin/touch
#
# These should do on Red Hat 6.2:
#BASENAME=/bin/basename
#DATE=/bin/date
#DIRNAME=/bin/dirname
#FIND=/usr/bin/find
#MKDIR=/bin/mkdir
#MV=/bin/mv
#RENICE=/usr/bin/renice
#RM=/bin/rm
#RMDIR=/bin/rmdir
#SED=/bin/sed
#TOUCH=/bin/touch
#
#
#
# This script should be called periodically (e.g. from cron).
# Simply put your .wav files into the 'in' directory and wait a bit.
# The encoded files will written to the 'out' directory (LOOK OUT: duplicate
# names will be overwritten silently!). The already encoded .wav files will
# be erased.
#
# If you call this script with "-s" (silent) as an argument, the
# message "already running!" will not be displayed if another instance
# if autolame is running.
#
#############################################################################
#
# YOU DON'T NEED TO EDIT ANYTHING BEYOND...
#
#############################################################################
#
...I have deleted anything after this area of the script...thanks again.
This is my current $PATH statement:

cbjhawks@linux-801d:~> echo $PATH
/opt/kde3/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib/jvm/jre/bin:/usr/lib/mit/bin:/usr/lib/mit/sbin:/opt/gnome/bin:/usr/lib/qt3/bin

I can't uncompress autolame since I'm at work but I'll venture a guess and say no cron job was created. If it wasn't you'll be waiting awhile. Can you post the instructions?

This is the critical line in the script. It basically says that you need to run the script periodically; it doesn't do anything to set this up for you.

So you need to set up a cron job to run this. To do that, first run this at the command-line:

[code]
export EDITOR=nano # or your preferred editor
crontab -e
[code]

You should then be taken into an editor, which may be blank or may already have some lines defined. Add this line to the end, exactly as is:

The /5 means to run every five minutes; you can safely set this to any number from 1 to 30.

Save the file and wait five minutes.


Alternatively, you could just run /home/cbjhawks/autolame/autolame.sh every time you drop a file into that directory.

Hope that helps,

— Robert J Lee.

I have edited this post...so ignore the subject line...my problem was that the properties for the script did not have the "execute" permission enable...once I did that the wav in the in directory started to encode to mp3...see below

cbjhawks@linux-801d:~/autolame> ./autolame-1.17.sh

autolame [03/23/09 08:08:07] : autolame-1.17.sh $Revision: 1.17 $
autolame [03/23/09 08:08:07] : checking for files
autolame [03/23/09 08:08:07] : <./Allan Jackson_Where were you> start
autolame [03/23/09 08:09:10] : <./Allan Jackson_Where were you> finished
autolame [03/23/09 08:09:10] : checking for files
autolame [03/23/09 08:09:10] : no more files
cbjhawks@linux-801d:~/autolame>

Awesome...thanks for your help/ideas!!!