flask-daapserver 2.2.0

DAAP server framework implemented with Flask

DAAP server for streaming media, built around the Flask micro framework. Supports iTunes, artwork and revisioning.

Introduction.

The Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP) is a protocol designed by Apple to share media over the network, using HTTP as transport layer. It advertises servers via Bonjour/Zeroconf over the network.

This Python module implements the full stack, by providing a HTTP server (built around Flask), a high-level application layer and Bonjour/Zeroconf advertising.

Data model

DAAP uses an easy data model. The basic model consists of the following entities.

• Server

• Databases

• Containers

• Items

• Container Items

A server contains databases, a database contains containers and items, a container contains container items and a container item is a one-to-many mapping between items and containers. While the DAAP client implementation of iTunes only supports one database per server, the protocol does not have any limitations. Therefore, this implementation does not limit you to add multiple databases.

If applicable to the client, data can be revisioned. Only changes are shared between server and client, happening in real time. Because several clients can be on different revisions, it’s neccessary to keep track of all changes to the data model. This is done by a so-called tree revision storage. When all clients are up to date, the older revisions can be removed.

The data model entities are implemented by classes. Objects don’t have references to children, but they have access to their IDs (e.g. parent.child_id versus parent.child).

Installation

Make sure Cython is installed. While not required, it can boost performance of some modules significantly.

To install, simply run pip install git+https://github.com/basilfx/flask-daapserver. It should install all dependencies.

Usage

Take a look at the examples, or to the projects using Flask-DAAPServer:

• SubDaap — Bridge between SubSonic and iTunes.

Examples

There are three examples included in the examples/ directory. You can run them with python <filename>.

• Benchmark.py — Benchmark revision tree speed and memory usage.

• ExampleServer.py — Most basic example of a DAAP server.

• RevisionServer.py — Demonstration of revisioning capabilities.

License

See the LICENSE file (MIT license).

Part of this work (DAAP rendering) is based on the original work of Davyd Madeley.