5.4 Error messages
Different error messages can appear while compiling a file:
- Warning
- Something looks suspect. If you are requesting something out of the
ordinary then you will understand the message, and can ignore it.
However, warnings usually indicate that something is wrong with the
input file.
- Error
- Something is definitely wrong. The current processing step (parsing,
interpreting, or formatting) will be finished, but the next step will
be skipped.
- Fatal error
- Something is definitely wrong, and LilyPond cannot continue. This
happens rarely. The most usual cause is misinstalled fonts.
- Scheme error
- Errors that occur while executing Scheme code are caught by the Scheme
interpreter. If running with the verbose option (
-V
or
--verbose
) then a call trace of the offending
function call is printed.
- Programming error
- There was some internal inconsistency. These error messages are
intended to help the programmers and debuggers. Usually, they can be
ignored. Sometimes, they come in such big quantities that they obscure
other output. In this case, file a bug-report.
- Aborted (core dumped)
- This signals a serious programming error that caused the program to
crash. Such errors are considered critical. If you stumble on one,
send a bug-report.
If warnings and errors can
be linked to some part of the input file, then error messages have the
following form
filename:lineno:columnno: message
offending input line
A line-break is inserted in the offending line to indicate the column
where the error was found. For example,
test.ly:2:19: error: not a duration: 5:
{ c'4 e'5
g' }
These locations are LilyPond's best guess about where the warning or
error occured, but (by their very nature) warnings and errors occur
when something unexpected happens. If you can't see an error in the
indicated line of your input file, try checking one or two lines
above the indicated position.