Status: We (well mostly Dupuy) are currently RestructuringTheDocumentation; i.e. moving the MusicBrainzDocumentation from the main server into the Wiki. The docs on the homepage are often quite dated, so we will try to update and intertwingle them here. But this is work in progress, so beware and read the status notices!

Right now this page is roughly structured into docs for users, for developers and other. It would probably be better to have different structures that present the documentation. So I hereby invite everyone to invent and add categories like CategoryDocumentationSomething for the following pages. Just go ahead and create some! We can sort it out later --DonRedman

User Documentation

• HowTos:

  • A collection of tutorials. Lightweight, short and user-orientated step by step instructions.

• HowEditingWorks and the different EditTypes:

  • A general introduction and detailed descriptions of each type of edit that you can possibly make to MusicBrainz data.

• AdvancedRelationships:

  • The AdvancedRelationships documentation and the list of AdvancedRelationshipTypes.

• AdvancedSearch:

  • Describes the server-based search (also used by the MusicBrainzTagger).

• MusicBrainzTerminology:

  • A collection of all terms the MusicBrainz community uses, what they mean, and wheter there is a wiki page explaining them.

• ReleaseLanguage:

  • Describes the assignement of the language and script attribute to releases.

• PicardDocumentation:

  • Documentation of the PicardTagger, the next generation tagger in development.

• HowAnnotationsWork:

  • A rudimentary page that explains the ArtistAnnotation and ReleaseAnnotation.

• HowVotingWorks:

  • Also quite rudimentary. It explains the decision mechanism of the ModBot.

• EditorPrivacy:

  • Privacy implications of being a MusicBrainz editor.

• TextSearchSyntax:

  • How to use the powerful text search features in MusicBrainz

Developer Documentation

I am not sure how much of this stuff really belongs here. Some of it is probably better of in MusicBrainzDevelopment. --DonRedman

Software

• The ClientHOWTO describes the use of libmusicbrainz, and the ClientExamples programs.

Discs

• DiscSubmission is an overview of the highly technical content of DiscIDCalculation. (from cd_submission.html and disc.html)

Tagging

The following pages are pretty messy, partially outdated, and make extensive use of BadWikiNames.

• ID3v240 -- Useful links for people wanting to use ID3v2 tags in applications

• ID3v2Tags -- A list of some TXXX tags for ID3v2 to toss about and try to "standardize".

• DiscIdsAndTagging -- A short exposé on various tagging standards and their handling of DiscIDs

• MusicBrainzTag -- Standardization for MusicBrainz-specific tags. (from metadata_tags.html)

• MusicBrainzIdentifier -- as used in standardized MusicBrainzTags. (from id-intro.html)

Server

• AutoInsertFromFreeDB -- Explains how data is automatically entered as FreeDBModerations

• ServerAccessPaths

• ReleaseEditorArguments -- Explains the arguments to pre-populate the fields in the release editor

• Various BugReports and FeaturePages and the like:

  • CalculateTrackTimes (was TrackTimesProposal)

  • MultiSessionCDBug

Database

• MusicBrainzDatabase—Start page for documentation about the database

• WindowsDBInstallation—Brief tutorial on installing PostgreSQL under cygwin and some key tips

• PantherDBInstallation—Steps to intall PostgreSQL and import MusicBrainz data on Mac OS X 10.3 aka Panther

• DebianVMWareDatabase—HOWTO install the database under Debian running under VMWare.

Other Documentation

• Japanese documentation for MusicBrainz Metadata Initiative 2.1

• OtherDatabases -- Other music databases which we might try to work with

• LinksToFreeCreativeCommonsLicenseMusic

• MusicBrainzSummits