Install speech toolkit and create features

install_tts.py

from __future__ import print_function
import subprocess
import shutil
import os
import stat
import time

# This script looks extremely defensive, but *should* let you rerun at
# any stage along the way. Also a lot of code repetition due to eventual support
# for "non-blob" install from something besides the magic kk_all_deps.tar.gz

# Contents of kk_all_deps.tar.gz
"""
all_deps/
all_deps/festlex_CMU.tar.gz
all_deps/festival-2.4-release.tar.gz
all_deps/HTK-3.4.1.tar.gz
all_deps/festlex_POSLEX.tar.gz
all_deps/HTS-2.3_for_HTK-3.4.1.tar.bz2
all_deps/VCTK-Corpus.tar.gz
all_deps/hts_engine_API-1.10.tar.gz
all_deps/festvox_cmu_us_slt_cg.tar.gz
all_deps/speech_tools-2.4-release.tar.gz
all_deps/festvox-2.7.0-release.tar.gz
all_deps/festlex_OALD.tar.gz
all_deps/SPTK-3.9.tar.gz
all_deps/HTS-demo_CMU-ARCTIC-SLT.tar.bz2
"""

# We are about to install a lot of things
# 2 primary directories inside base_dir
# all_deps/* will have all zipped dirs
# vctk/VCTK-Corpus will have all the data
# speech_synthesis/* will have a bunch of compiled C++ codebases
# we also set the environment appropriately and write out some helper scripts
starting_dir = os.getcwd()

base_install_dir = "/Tmp/kastner/"

base_synthesis_dir = base_install_dir + "speech_synthesis/"
base_vctk_dir = base_install_dir + "vctk/"

vctkdir = base_vctk_dir + "VCTK-Corpus/"
merlindir = base_synthesis_dir + "latest_features/merlin/"
estdir = base_synthesis_dir + "speech_tools/"
festdir = base_synthesis_dir + "festival/"
festvoxdir = base_synthesis_dir + "festvox/"
htkdir = base_synthesis_dir + "htk/"
sptkdir = base_synthesis_dir + "SPTK-3.9/"
htspatchdir = base_synthesis_dir + "HTS-2.3_for_HTL-3.4.1/"
htsenginedir = base_synthesis_dir + "hts_engine_API-1.10/"
htsdemodir = base_synthesis_dir + "HTS-demo_CMU-ARCTIC-SLT/"

# http://www.nguyenquyhy.com/2014/07/create-full-context-labels-for-hts/

env = os.environ.copy()

env["ESTDIR"] = estdir
env["FESTVOXDIR"] = festvoxdir
env["FESTDIR"] = festdir
env["VCTKDIR"] = vctkdir

def copytree(src, dst, symlinks = False, ignore = None):
  if not os.path.exists(dst):
    os.makedirs(dst)
    shutil.copystat(src, dst)
  lst = os.listdir(src)
  if ignore:
    excl = ignore(src, lst)
    lst = [x for x in lst if x not in excl]
  for item in lst:
    s = os.path.join(src, item)
    d = os.path.join(dst, item)
    if symlinks and os.path.islink(s):
      if os.path.lexists(d):
        os.remove(d)
      os.symlink(os.readlink(s), d)
      try:
        st = os.lstat(s)
        mode = stat.S_IMODE(st.st_mode)
        os.lchmod(d, mode)
      except:
        pass # lchmod not available
    elif os.path.isdir(s):
      copytree(s, d, symlinks, ignore)
    else:
      shutil.copy2(s, d)

# Convenience function to reuse the defined env
def pwrap(args, shell=False):
    p = subprocess.Popen(args, shell=shell, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                         stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE, env=env,
                         universal_newlines=True)
    return p


# Print output
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4417546/constantly-print-subprocess-output-while-process-is-running
def execute(cmd, shell=False):
    popen = pwrap(cmd, shell=shell)
    for stdout_line in iter(popen.stdout.readline, ""):
        yield stdout_line

    popen.stdout.close()
    return_code = popen.wait()
    if return_code:
        raise subprocess.CalledProcessError(return_code, cmd)


def pe(cmd, shell=False):
    """
    Print and execute command on system
    """
    for line in execute(cmd, shell=shell):
        print(line, end="")

# Setup all the directories
os.chdir(base_install_dir)
if not os.path.exists(base_synthesis_dir):
    os.mkdir(base_synthesis_dir)

if not os.path.exists(base_vctk_dir):
    os.mkdir(base_vctk_dir)

# Check for the big bundle
install_bundle = "kk_all_deps.tar.gz"
install_bundle_path = base_install_dir + install_bundle
if not os.path.exists(install_bundle):
    print("ERROR: Must have %s in %s" % (install_bundle, base_install_dir))
    raise IOError("Make sure the filepath %s has the right file" % install_bundle_path)

# Start unpacking things
os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)

# create a temporary symlink to unzip
if not os.path.exists(base_synthesis_dir + install_bundle):
    os.symlink(install_bundle_path, base_synthesis_dir + install_bundle)

dep_dir = "all_deps/"
full_dep_dir = base_synthesis_dir + dep_dir
if not os.path.exists(full_dep_dir):
    print("Unpacking deps...")
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", install_bundle]
    pe(untar_cmd)

# Unpack vctk
# Install dir for vctk
os.chdir(base_install_dir)
if not os.path.exists(base_vctk_dir):
    os.mkdir(base_vctk_dir)

# symlink
os.chdir(base_vctk_dir)
vctk_pkg = "VCTK-Corpus.tar.gz"
vctk_pkg_path = base_vctk_dir + vctk_pkg
if not os.path.exists(vctk_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(base_synthesis_dir + dep_dir + vctk_pkg, vctk_pkg_path)

if not os.path.exists(vctkdir):
    print("Unpacking vctk...")
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", vctk_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

os.chdir(base_install_dir)
speech_tools_pkg = "speech_tools-2.4-release.tar.gz"
speech_tools_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + speech_tools_pkg
if not os.path.exists(speech_tools_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + speech_tools_pkg, speech_tools_pkg_path)

os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
if not os.path.exists(estdir):
    print("Unpacking speech_tools...")
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", speech_tools_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

# rough check if speech_tools is built or not, if not build it
if not os.path.exists(estdir + "bin/siod"):
    # apparently we expect exist status 2???
    os.chdir(estdir)
    configure_cmd = ["./configure"]
    pe(configure_cmd)
    make_cmd = ["make", "-j", "4"]
    pe(make_cmd)

# Install festival
os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
festival_pkg = "festival-2.4-release.tar.gz"
festival_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + festival_pkg
if not os.path.exists(festival_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + festival_pkg, festival_pkg_path)

if not os.path.exists(festdir):
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", festival_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

if not os.path.exists(festdir + "bin/festival"):
    os.chdir(festdir)
    configure_cmd = ["./configure"]
    pe(configure_cmd)
    make_cmd = ["make"]
    pe(make_cmd)

# Install festival addons
# festlex_CMU
# festlex_OALD
# festlex_POSLEX
# festvox_cmu_us_slt_cg.tar.gz
cmu_lex_pkg = "festlex_CMU.tar.gz"
cmu_lex_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + cmu_lex_pkg
if not os.path.exists(cmu_lex_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + cmu_lex_pkg, cmu_lex_pkg_path)

oald_pkg = "festlex_OALD.tar.gz"
oald_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + oald_pkg
if not os.path.exists(oald_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + oald_pkg, oald_pkg_path)

poslex_pkg = "festlex_POSLEX.tar.gz"
poslex_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + poslex_pkg
if not os.path.exists(poslex_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + poslex_pkg, poslex_pkg_path)

slt_cg_pkg = "festvox_cmu_us_slt_cg.tar.gz"
slt_cg_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + slt_cg_pkg
if not os.path.exists(slt_cg_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + slt_cg_pkg, slt_cg_pkg_path)

os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
if not os.path.exists(festdir + "lib/voices"):
    # if no voice dir install all the lex stuff...
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", slt_cg_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", poslex_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", oald_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", cmu_lex_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

# Install festvox
os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
festvox_pkg = "festvox-2.7.0-release.tar.gz"
festvox_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + festvox_pkg
if not os.path.exists(festvox_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + festvox_pkg, festvox_pkg_path)

if not os.path.exists(festvoxdir):
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", festvox_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

# build it
if not os.path.exists(festvoxdir + "src/ehmm/bin/ehmm"):
    os.chdir(festvoxdir)
    configure_cmd = ["./configure"]
    pe(configure_cmd)
    make_cmd = ["make"]
    pe(make_cmd)

# Install htk
# patch for HTS
os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
htk_pkg = "HTK-3.4.1.tar.gz"
htk_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + htk_pkg
if not os.path.exists(htk_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + htk_pkg, htk_pkg_path)

if not os.path.exists(htkdir):
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", htk_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

if not os.path.exists(htkdir + "HTKTools/HSGen"):
    # HTS patchfile
    os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
    hts_patch_pkg = "HTS-2.3_for_HTK-3.4.1.tar.bz2"
    patch_dir = "hts_patch/"
    hts_patch_dir = base_synthesis_dir + patch_dir
    hts_patch_path = hts_patch_dir + hts_patch_pkg
    if not os.path.exists(hts_patch_pkg):
        if not os.path.exists(hts_patch_dir):
            os.mkdir(hts_patch_dir)
        if not os.path.exists(hts_patch_path):
            os.symlink(full_dep_dir + hts_patch_pkg, hts_patch_path)

    full_patch_path = hts_patch_dir + "HTS-2.3_for_HTK-3.4.1.patch"
    os.chdir(hts_patch_dir)
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xjf", hts_patch_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)
    os.chdir(htkdir)
    try:
        pe("patch -p1 -d . -f < %s" % full_patch_path, shell=True)
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
        # we expect the patch to partially fail :/
        pass

    os.chdir(htkdir)
    pe(["./configure", "--disable-hlmtools", "--disable-hslab"])
    pe(["make"])

os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
sptk_pkg = "SPTK-3.9.tar.gz"
sptk_subdir = base_synthesis_dir + "sptk/"
sptk_pkg_path = sptk_subdir + sptk_pkg
if not os.path.exists(sptk_subdir):
    os.mkdir(sptk_subdir)

if not os.path.exists(sptk_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + sptk_pkg, sptk_pkg_path)

# Install sptk
if not os.path.exists(sptkdir):
    os.chdir(sptk_subdir)
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", "SPTK-3.9.tar.gz"]
    pe(untar_cmd)
    os.chdir("SPTK-3.9")
    os.mkdir("out")
    pe(["./configure", "--prefix=%s" % sptk_subdir + "SPTK-3.9/out"])
    pe(["make"])
    os.chdir(sptk_subdir + "SPTK-3.9")
    pe(["make install"], shell=True)
    os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
    os.mkdir("SPTK-3.9")
    copytree("sptk/SPTK-3.9/out", "SPTK-3.9")

os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
hts_engine_pkg = "hts_engine_API-1.10.tar.gz"
hts_engine_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + hts_engine_pkg
if not os.path.exists(hts_engine_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + hts_engine_pkg, hts_engine_pkg_path)

if not os.path.exists(htsenginedir):
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xzf", hts_engine_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

# Install hts engine
os.chdir(htsenginedir)
if not os.path.exists(htsenginedir + "bin/hts_engine"):
    configure_cmd = ["./configure"]
    pe(configure_cmd)
    make_cmd = ["make"]
    pe(make_cmd)

os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
hts_demo_pkg = "HTS-demo_CMU-ARCTIC-SLT.tar.bz2"
hts_demo_pkg_path = base_synthesis_dir + hts_demo_pkg
if not os.path.exists(hts_demo_pkg_path):
    os.symlink(full_dep_dir + hts_demo_pkg, hts_demo_pkg_path)

# Unpack HTS demo
if not os.path.exists(htsdemodir):
    untar_cmd = ["tar", "xjf", hts_demo_pkg_path]
    pe(untar_cmd)

if not os.path.exists(htsdemodir + "data/lf0/cmu_us_arctic_slt_a0001.lf0"):
    os.chdir(htsdemodir)
    configure_cmd = ["./configure"]
    configure_cmd += ["--with-fest-search-path=%s" % (festdir + "examples")]
    configure_cmd += ["--with-sptk-search-path=%s" % (sptkdir + "bin")]
    configure_cmd += ["--with-hts-search-path=%s" % (htkdir + "HTKTools")]
    configure_cmd += ["--with-hts-engine-search-path=%s" % (htsenginedir + "bin")]
    pe(configure_cmd)

print("Typing 'make' in %s will run a speech sythesis demo, but it takes a long time" % htsdemodir)
print("Also dumping a helper source script to %stts_env.sh" % base_synthesis_dir)
# http://www.nguyenquyhy.com/2014/07/create-full-context-labels-for-hts/
lns = ["export ESTDIR=%s\n" % estdir]
lns.append("export FESTDIR=%s\n" % festdir)
lns.append("export FESTVOXDIR=%s\n" % festvoxdir)
lns.append("export VCTKDIR=%s\n" % vctkdir)
lns.append("export HTKDIR=%s\n" % htkdir)
lns.append("export SPTKDIR=%s\n" % sptkdir)
lns.append("export HTSENGINEDIR=%s\n" % htsenginedir)
lns.append("export HTSDEMODIR=%s\n" % htsdemodir)
lns.append("export HTSPATCHDIR=%s\n" % htspatchdir)
lns.append("export MERLINDIR=%s\n" % merlindir)

os.chdir(base_synthesis_dir)
with open("tts_env.sh", "w") as f:
    f.writelines(lns)

Hi Where Can I download the kk_all_deps.tar.gz?

What I needed to do to make this script work...

1. Create your own kk_all_deps.tar.gz. Searched for all the files directly on Google and was able to download them. One of them required a login + terms of use agreement. Downloading the files takes half an hour.
2. Change this to the absolute path of your base installation base_install_dir = "/Tmp/kastner/" (Relative path broke for me)
3. Replace "xzf" with "xvf"
4. Added to line 107 for more helpful error messages.

        stderr = popen.stderr.read()
        print('STDERR:', stderr)

5. Install snack

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tcl-snack

6. Running this takes longer than an hour.

I'm getting the following error (following @PetrochukM above) after a few minutes of running this script, any solution?

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "install_tts.py", line 362, in <module>
    pe(configure_cmd)
  File "install_tts.py", line 116, in pe
    for line in execute(cmd, shell=shell):
  File "install_tts.py", line 107, in execute
    raise subprocess.CalledProcessError(return_code, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['./configure', '--with-fest-search-path=/home/paperspace/voiceloop/test/speech_synthesis/festival/examples', '--with-sptk-search-path=/home/paperspace/voiceloop/test/speech_synthesis/SPTK-3.9/bin', '--with-hts-search-path=/home/paperspace/voiceloop/test/speech_synthesis/htk/HTKTools', '--with-hts-engine-search-path=/home/paperspace/voiceloop/test/speech_synthesis/hts_engine_API-1.10/bin']' returned non-zero exit status 1

I had to run the command with sudo (sudo python2 install_tts.py)

I had to run the command with sudo (sudo python2 install_tts.py)

Do you have any other steps?

Everytime when I run this, it hangs to a specific operations [as shown in screenshot]. Any suggestions please.....

Unpacking vctk... checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking target system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking for gcc... gcc checking whether the C compiler works... yes checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out checking for suffix of executables... checking whether we are cross compiling... no checking for suffix of object files... o checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed checking for ranlib... ranlib checking for ar... ar checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E checking for ANSI C header files... yes checking for sys/types.h... yes checking for sys/stat.h... yes checking for stdlib.h... yes checking for string.h... yes checking for memory.h... yes checking for strings.h... yes checking for inttypes.h... yes checking for stdint.h... yes checking for unistd.h... yes checking whether byte ordering is bigendian... no checking for tputs in -lncurses... yes configure: creating ./config.status config.status: creating config/config Making in directory ./siod ... Making in directory ./rxp ... Making in directory ./audio ... Making in directory ./utils ... Making in directory ./base_class ... Making in directory ./ling_class ... Making in directory ./speech_class ... Making in directory ./sigpr ... Making in directory base_class/string ... Making in directory ./stats ... Making in directory sigpr/pda ... Making in directory ./grammar ... Making in directory base_class/inst_tmpl ... Making in directory stats/wagon ... Making in directory grammar/scfg ... Making in directory ./intonation ... Making in directory stats/kalman_filter ... gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES hash_sfmp_t.cc Making in directory grammar/wfst ... Making in directory intonation/tilt ... gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES hash_srp.cc Making in directory grammar/ngram ... gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES tbuffer_t.cc Making in directory ./lib ... make est_program_makefile from est_program_makefile-in make est_mainline from est_mainline-in Making in directory ./main ... gcc -O3 -Wall -o ch_lab ch_lab_main.o -L../lib -lestools -L../lib -lestbase -L../lib -leststring -lncurses -ldl -lncurses -lm -lstdc++ gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES deq_s_t.cc

links to the files since no one else seems willing to compile it:

http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festlex_CMU.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festival-2.4-release.tar.gz
https://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b97020/DSP/HTK-3.4.1.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festlex_POSLEX.tar.gz
http://hts.sp.nitech.ac.jp/archives/2.3/HTS-2.3_for_HTK-3.4.1.tar.bz2
https://datashare.is.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10283/2651/VCTK-Corpus.zip?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/hts-engine/hts_engine%20API/hts_engine_API-1.10/hts_engine_API-1.10.tar.gz?r=https%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fprojects%2Fhts-engine%2Ffiles%2Fhts_engine%2520API%2Fhts_engine_API-1.10%2Fhts_engine_API-1.10.tar.gz%2Fdownload%3Fuse_mirror%3Dmanagedway%26amp%3D%26r%3D%26use_mirror%3Dmanagedway&ts=1560430595
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/voices/festvox_cmu_us_slt_cg.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/speech_tools-2.4-release.tar.gz
http://www.festvox.org/festvox-2.7/festvox-2.7.0-release.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festlex_OALD.tar.gz
http://download2.nust.na/pub4/sourceforge/s/project/sp/sp-tk/SPTK/SPTK-3.9/SPTK-3.9.tar.gz
http://hts.sp.nitech.ac.jp/archives/2.1.1beta/HTS-demo_CMU-ARCTIC-SLT.tar.bz2

Everytime when I run this, it hangs to a specific operations [as shown in screenshot]. Any suggestions please.....

Unpacking vctk... checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking target system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking for gcc... gcc checking whether the C compiler works... yes checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out checking for suffix of executables... checking whether we are cross compiling... no checking for suffix of object files... o checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed checking for ranlib... ranlib checking for ar... ar checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E checking for ANSI C header files... yes checking for sys/types.h... yes checking for sys/stat.h... yes checking for stdlib.h... yes checking for string.h... yes checking for memory.h... yes checking for strings.h... yes checking for inttypes.h... yes checking for stdint.h... yes checking for unistd.h... yes checking whether byte ordering is bigendian... no checking for tputs in -lncurses... yes configure: creating ./config.status config.status: creating config/config Making in directory ./siod ... Making in directory ./rxp ... Making in directory ./audio ... Making in directory ./utils ... Making in directory ./base_class ... Making in directory ./ling_class ... Making in directory ./speech_class ... Making in directory ./sigpr ... Making in directory base_class/string ... Making in directory ./stats ... Making in directory sigpr/pda ... Making in directory ./grammar ... Making in directory base_class/inst_tmpl ... Making in directory stats/wagon ... Making in directory grammar/scfg ... Making in directory ./intonation ... Making in directory stats/kalman_filter ... gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES hash_sfmp_t.cc Making in directory grammar/wfst ... Making in directory intonation/tilt ... gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES hash_srp.cc Making in directory grammar/ngram ... gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES tbuffer_t.cc Making in directory ./lib ... make est_program_makefile from est_program_makefile-in make est_mainline from est_mainline-in Making in directory ./main ... gcc -O3 -Wall -o ch_lab ch_lab_main.o -L../lib -lestools -L../lib -lestbase -L../lib -leststring -lncurses -ldl -lncurses -lm -lstdc++ gcc -c -fno-implicit-templates -O3 -Wall -I../../include -DINSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES deq_s_t.cc

The problem is that the stderr pipe is not read concurrently with stdout, causing it to fill up and the corresponding process to block. Replacing the execute method with following code fixes this:

def _readerthread(fh, buffer):
    buffer.append(fh.read())
    fh.close()
def execute(cmd, shell=False):
    popen = pwrap(cmd, shell=shell)
    _stderr_buff = []
    stderr_thread = \
        threading.Thread(target=_readerthread,
                         args=(popen.stderr, _stderr_buff))
    stderr_thread.daemon = True
    stderr_thread.start()
    for stdout_line in iter(popen.stdout.readline, ""):
        yield stdout_line
    popen.stdout.close()
    stderr_thread.join()
    return_code = popen.wait()
    if return_code:
        print("STDERR:", _stderr_buff[0])
        raise subprocess.CalledProcessError(return_code, cmd)

I also had to compile using "-j1" instead of "-j4", otherwise the build order gets messed up, and the linker won't find the files it needs.

updated SPTK link:

http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festlex_CMU.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festival-2.4-release.tar.gz
https://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b97020/DSP/HTK-3.4.1.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festlex_POSLEX.tar.gz
http://hts.sp.nitech.ac.jp/archives/2.3/HTS-2.3_for_HTK-3.4.1.tar.bz2
https://datashare.is.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10283/2651/VCTK-Corpus.zip?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/hts-engine/hts_engine%20API/hts_engine_API-1.10/hts_engine_API-1.10.tar.gz?r=https%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fprojects%2Fhts-engine%2Ffiles%2Fhts_engine%2520API%2Fhts_engine_API-1.10%2Fhts_engine_API-1.10.tar.gz%2Fdownload%3Fuse_mirror%3Dmanagedway%26amp%3D%26r%3D%26use_mirror%3Dmanagedway&ts=1560430595
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/voices/festvox_cmu_us_slt_cg.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/speech_tools-2.4-release.tar.gz
http://www.festvox.org/festvox-2.7/festvox-2.7.0-release.tar.gz
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/downloads/festival/2.4/festlex_OALD.tar.gz
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sp-tk/files/SPTK/SPTK-3.9/SPTK-3.9.tar.gz/download
http://hts.sp.nitech.ac.jp/archives/2.1.1beta/HTS-demo_CMU-ARCTIC-SLT.tar.bz2

Doesn't work on Ubuntu 20.04. Doesn't work under conda env as tclsh doesn't know about snack package. Wow.
Had to use gcc4.7, update patch to include HFst.c (from 2.1.1, because 2.3 doesn't contain HFst), had to update HST-demo configure file to remove check for hts_engine version>0.95, because it wasn't checking correctly.

Where do I download merlin from?
Anyone looking, here's the answer https://github.com/CSTR-Edinburgh/merlin