Icecast - Oct 2006 - Can ices read/stream a remote file rather than a local file?

Would it possible to use ices to send to icecast an audio file that
it's not located on the same machine where ices is running, but on
another machine?

I've checked through the source code of ices, and found out that it
uses PERL's read function. Maybe by changing this code I would get my
result?  What do you suggest?

If this is not possible, could ices in some way "upload" the remote
audio file to its own machine (so that, later, it can stream it to
icecast)?

Finally, if nothing of this is possible with ices/icecast, would it be
possible with some other input source or stream program?

Thanks to anyone who spends time and effort in replying.
.claudio

Hi,

A first possibility is to make your remote file look local, using some
network filesystem: fusesmb, ftpfs, sshfs, etc. However, a network
error occuring while Ices is decoding your file may crash the stream
of make it lag.

Otherwise, using perl-scriptability of Ices, you can make it download
files in advances (using whatever lib or external program from Perl)
and then pass them to Ices, and finally erase them after playback.
It's not exactly straightforward.

There may be better and easier solutions.

Another possibility is to move to another tool. I developped
liquidsoap after having tried to pack several features in a perl
script used with Ices, and ended up with a messy unmaintainable
script. Liquidsoap handles remote files transparently
(http,https,ftp,smb) and does much more:
http://savonet.sf.net/wiki/Liquidsoap. Feel free to ask questions!

Hope this helps.
-- 
David