NAME

       aj-snapshot  -  command line utility to store/restore ALSA and/or JACK connections to/from
       an XML file

SYNOPSIS

       aj-snapshot [ -adfjqrx ] [ -p polling_interval ] [ -i client_name ]... [ FILE ]

DESCRIPTION

       Aj-snapshot is a small program that can be used to make snapshots of the connections  made
       between  JACK and/or ALSA clients. Because JACK can provide both audio and MIDI support to
       programs, aj-snapshot can store both types of connections for JACK.  ALSA,  on  the  other
       hand,  only  provides routing facilities for MIDI clients. If you call aj-snapshot without
       any options, aj-snapshot will store all current ALSA and JACK  connections  to  FILE.  The
       file will be an XML file, and you can use a text-editor if you want to edit it manually.

OPTIONS

       -a or --alsa

              Only store or restore ALSA midi connections. Also works in daemon mode.

       -d or --daemon

              Run  aj-snapshot  in  daemon  mode.  Aj-snapshot  will  first  try  to  restore the
              connections from the specified snapshot file. After this,  it  will  wait  for  new
              ports to be registered with ALSA or JACK. Every second by default, aj-snapshot will
              check if new ports were registered in ALSA or JACK. When this is the case, it  will
              try to restore the connections from your snapshot file. If you start aj-snapshot in
              daemon mode, you don't need to specify the  -r,--restore  flag  as  it  is  implied
              anyway.

              If you send the HUP signal to the daemon, the daemon will reload the snapshot file.
              This gives you the possibility to trigger a connections restore. For an example  on
              how  to  do  this, see the EXAMPLES section below. When you combine the daemon mode
              with the -x,--remove option, sending the HUP signal to the daemon  will  clear  all
              connections before restoring.

              When the JACK server is stopped (or crashes) while aj-snapshot runs in daemon mode,
              aj-snapshot will try to keep running. When the JACK server is started again  later,
              aj-snapshot will reattach automatically and restore your connections when needed.

       -f or --force

              When  you try to save a snapshot over an existing file, aj-snapshot will ask you if
              you want to overwrite that file. With this option, you  can  force  aj-snapshot  to
              overwrite that file.

       -j or --jack

              Only store or restore JACK audio and midi connections. Also works in daemon mode.

       -p  interval

              Whenever  a  program  registers  a  port with ALSA or JACK, aj-snapshot will see if
              there are connections in the snapshot file that should be restored. By default, aj-
              snapshot will check (poll) if there are new ports every second (1000 milliseconds).
              With this option you can choose how often aj-snapshot should check for  new  ports.
              The value of interval should be specified in milliseconds.

       -q or --quiet

              Don't print any information about the connections that are stored or restored.

       -r or --restore

              When  you  specify  the  -r flag, aj-snapshot will try to restore all ALSA and JACK
              connections from FILE. (without it, aj-snapshot will try to  store  connections  to
              FILE).  You  can  combine  this  option  with  the -a or -j options, if you want to
              restore ALSA or JACK connections only.

       -x or --remove

              The -x option can be used when restoring connections, or  when  running  in  daemon
              mode.  With  this  option,  aj-snapshot will remove all existing connections before
              restoring the snapshot file. When you combine it with the -a or -j option, only the
              connections  for the specific subsystem (ALSA or JACK) will be removed. Without the
              -x option, aj-snapshot will try to restore connections on top  of  the  connections
              that are already active.

              There  is  one more way in which you can use the -x option. If you call aj-snapshot
              without the FILE argument, you can use the -x option to remove  all  existing  ALSA
              and  JACK  connections  (without doing anything else). As before you can combine it
              with the -a or -j options.

       -i  client_name

              You can use this option to name a client that should be ignored by aj-snapshot. You
              should  write  the  exact  name  of  the  client  after the -i option. If that name
              contains spaces, or other characters that have special meaning to  the  shell,  you
              should  put  the  name  between single (safest) or double quotes. To know the exact
              name of a client, you could save a snapshot and look up the name  in  the  snapshot
              file. If you want to ignore multiple clients, you have to repeat the -i option with
              different client names (the maximum is 50 clients).

       -h or --help

              Print a short help message

EXAMPLES

       aj-snapshot test.snap

              Stores a snapshot of all current  ALSA  and  JACK  connections  to  a  file  called
              "test.snap".  If  that file already exists, aj-snapshot will ask you if you want to
              overwrite that file.

       aj-snapshot -r test.snap

              Restores all ALSA and JACK connections from the file "test.snap". This  will  leave
              any other active connections intact.

       aj-snapshot -xr test.snap

              Restore  all  ALSA  and  JACK connections from the file "test.snap", but remove all
              existing connections first.

       aj-snapshot -a test.snap

              Store all current ALSA connections to "test.snap".

       aj-snapshot -rj test.snap

              Restore all JACK connections from "test.snap". This  means  that  ALSA  connections
              that might be stored in the file won't be restored.

       aj-snapshot -qfj test.snap

              Store all current JACK connections to "test.snap". Don't print any info on standard
              out (be quiet), and forcibly overwrite "test.snap" if it already exists.

       aj-snapshot -ax

              Remove all ALSA connections

       aj-snapshot -d test.snap &

              Run aj-snapshot in daemon mode and make it a background process (&). Whenever a new
              ALSA or JACK client registers a port, connections from test.snap will be restored.

       aj-snapshot -djx test.snap &

              Run  aj-snapshot in daemon mode for the JACK connections in "test.snap". Remove all
              existing JACK connections whenever the connections from test.snap are restored.

       1) aj-snapshot -d test.snap &
       2) aj-snapshot -f test.snap
       3) kill -HUP $(pidof aj-snapshot)

              1) First start up aj-snapshot in daemon mode with the file "test.snap".
              2) After some connection changes, a second instance of aj-snapshot  (which  is  not
              run in daemon mode) overwrites that file with the new connections state.
              3)  Send  the  HANGUP  signal to the daemon to make it reload the file with the new
              connections state (see 'man kill', and 'man pidof').

AUTHOR

       Written by Lieven Moors and Jari Suominen

REPORTING BUGS

       To report aj-snapshot bugs, or if you have feature requests:
       ⟨http://sourceforge.net/projects/aj-snapshot/⟩

       Aj-snapshot home page:
       ⟨http://aj-snapshot.sourceforge.net/⟩

       Clone the git repository:
       git clone ⟨git://gitorious.org/aj-snapshot/aj-snapshot.git⟩

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2009-2012 Lieven Moors and Jari Suominen.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO  WARRANTY,
       to the extent permitted by law.