Hamlib/tests/rotctld.8

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.TH ROTCTLD "8" "Novembre 1, 2008" "Hamlib" "Rotator Control Daemon"
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.SH NAME
rotctld \- Hamlib rotator control daemon
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rotctld
[\fIOPTION\fR]...
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBrotctld\fP program is an EXPERIMENTAL \fBHamlib\fP rotator daemon that 
handles TCP client requests. This allows multiple user programs to share one 
rotator. Multiple rotators can be controlled on different TCP ports. The syntax 
of the commands are the same as \fBrotctl\fP. It is hoped that \fBrotctld\fP 
will be especially useful for languages such as Perl, Python, and others.
.PP
.\" TeX users may be more comfortable with the \fB<whatever>\fP and
.\" \fI<whatever>\fP escape sequences to invoke bold face and italics, 
.\" respectively.
\fBrotctld\fP communicates to a client through a TCP socket using text
commands shared with \fBrotctl\fP. The protocol is simple, commands are sent
to \fBrotctld\fP on one line and \fBrotctld\fP responds to "get" commands with
the requested values, one per line, when successful, otherwise, it responds
with one line "RPTR x", where x is a negative number indicating the error code.
Commands that do not return values responds with the line "RPTR x", where x
is zero when successful, otherwise is a regative number indicating the error code.
Each line is terminated with a newline '\\n' character.
.PP
Keep in mind that \fBHamlib\fP is BETA level software. 
While a lot of backend libraries lack complete rotator support, the basic functions
are usually well supported.  The API may change without publicized notice, 
while an advancement of the minor version (e.g. 1.1.x to 1.2.x) indicates such
a change.
.PP
Please report bugs and provide feedback at the e-mail address given in the 
REPORTING BUGS section.  Patches and code enhancements are also welcome.
.SH OPTIONS
This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes (`-').

Here is a summary of the supported options:
.TP
.B \-m, --model=id
Select rotator model number. See rotator model list (use 'rotctl -l').
.TP
.B \-r, --rot-file=device
Use \fIdevice\fP as the file name of the port the rotator is connected.
Often a serial port, but could be a USB to serial adapter.  Typically 
/dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyUSB0, etc.
.TP
.B \-s, --serial-speed=baud
Set serial speed to \fIbaud\fP rate. Uses maximum serial speed from rig
backend capabilities as the default.
.TP
.B \-L, --show-conf
List all config parameters for the rotator defined with -m above.
.TP
.B \-C, --set-conf=parm=val[,parm=val]*
Set config parameter.  e.g. stop_bits=2
.br
Use -L option for a list.
.TP
.B \-e, --end-marker
Use END marker in rotctld protocol.
.TP
.B \-t, --port=number
Use \fInumber\fP as the TCP listening port. The default is 4533.
.TP
.B \-T, --listen-addr=IPADDR
Use \fIIPADDR\fP as the listening IP address. The default is ANY.
.TP
.B \-l, --list
List all model numbers defined in \fBHamlib\fP and exit.
.TP
.B \-v, --verbose
Set verbose mode, cumulative (see DIAGNOSTICS below).
.TP
.B \-h, --help
Show a summary of these options and exit.
.TP
.B \-V, --version
Show the version of \fBrotctld\fP and exit.
.PP
\fBN.B.\fP Some options may not be implemented by a given backend and will
return an error.  This is most likely to occur with the \fI\-\-set-conf\fP 
and \fI\-\-show-conf\fP options.
.pp
Please note that the backend for the rotator to be controlled, 
or the rotator itself may not support some commands. In that case, 
the operation will fail with a \fBHamlib\fP error code.
.SH COMMANDS
Commands can be sent over the TCP socket either as a single char, or as a 
long command name plus the value(s) on one '\\n' terminated line. See 
PROTOCOL.
.PP
Since most of the \fBHamlib\fP operations have a \fIset\fP and a \fIget\fP method,
an upper case letter will be used for \fIset\fP method whereas the 
corresponding lower case letter refers to the \fIget\fP method.  Each operation
also has a long name, prepend a backslash to send a long command name.
.PP
Please note that the backend for the rotator to be controlled, 
or the rotator itself may not support some commands. In that case, 
the operation will fail with a \fBHamlib\fP error message.
.PP
Here is a summary of the supported commands:
.TP
.B P, set_pos
Set position: azimuth and elevation.
.TP
.B p, get_pos
Get position: azimuth and elevation.
.TP
.B K, park
Park the antenna.
.TP
.B S, stop
Stop the rotator.
.TP
.B R, reset
Reset the rotator.
.TP
.B M, move
Move the rotator in a specific direction.
.TP
.B _, get_info
Get misc information about the rotator.
.TP
.B w, send_cmd
Send raw command string to rotator. 
.br
For binary protocols enter values as \\0xAA\\0xBB

.SH PROTOCOL
The \fBrotctld\fP protocol is intentionally simple. Commands are entered on
a single line with any needed values. In Perl, reliable results are obtained
by terminating each command string with a newline character, '\\n'.
.PP
Example \fIset\fP (Perl code):

print $socket "P 135 10\\n";
.br
print $socket "\\\\set_pos 135 10\\n";   # escape leading '\\'
.PP
Responses from \fBrotctld\fP are text values and match the same tokens used
in the \fIset\fP commands. Each value is returned on its own line. To
signal the end of a response the "END\\n" string is sent.
.PP
Example \fIget\fP (Perl code):

print $socket "p\\n";

"135"
.br
"10"
.br
"END"
.PP
Most \fIget\fP functions return one to three values. 
Future work will focus on making this output compatible with assignment to a
hash, dictionary, or other key:value variable.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
The \fB-v\fP, \fB--version\fP option allows different levels of diagnostics
to be output to \fBstderr\fP and correspond to -v for BUG, -vv for ERR, 
-vvv for WARN, -vvvv for VERBOSE, or -vvvvv for TRACE.  
.PP
A given verbose level is useful for providing needed debugging information to
the email address below.  For example, TRACE output shows all of the values
sent to and received from the rotator which is very useful for rotator backend
library development and may be requested by the developers.
.SH SECURITY
No authentication whatsoever; don't leave this TCP port open wide to the Internet.
Please ask if stronger security is needed.
.SH BUGS
The daemon is not detaching and backgrounding itself.

Much testing needs to be done.
.SH REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <hamlib-developer@lists.sourceforge.net>.
.br
We are already aware of the bugs in the previous section :-)
.SH AUTHORS
Written by Stephane Fillod and the Hamlib Group
.br
<http://www.hamlib.org>.
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2000-2008 Stephane Fillod and the Hamlib Group.
.PP
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY
or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR rotctl (1),
.BR hamlib (3)