Ubuntu Manpage: irrecord - IR-codes recording tool for usage with LIRC

NAME

       irrecord - IR-codes recording tool for usage with LIRC

SYNOPSIS

       irrecord [-f] [-n] [-H driver] [-d device] [file]

       irrecord -a <file>

       irrecord -l

       irrecord --help | --version

DESCRIPTION

       This program will record the signals from your remote control and create a config file for
       lircd.  Although a good deal of effort is put in this program it is often not possible  to
       automatically recognize all features of a remote control. See USAGE NOTES below.

       If file is not specified it defaults to "irrecord.lircd.conf"

       If  file  already  exists  and  contains  a  valid  config  irrecord will use the protocol
       description found there and will only try to record the buttons.

OPTIONS

-a --analyse
Analyse a raw_codes config file, trying to convert it to a regular configuration.

-u --update
Add new buttons to an existing config file. No protocol information is updated.

-f --force
Force raw mode. Use this if recording fails otherwise. This creates a raw codes
configuration file which can be used as-is or converted using the -a option.

-n --disable-namespace
Disable namespace checks.

-l --list-namespace
List valid button names.

-H --driver=driver
Use given driver. -H help lists available drivers.

-d --device=device
Read from given device. Use mode2(1) --list-devices to list available devices for a
driver.

-U --plugindir=directory
Load drivers from directory. See DRIVER LOADING.

-k --keep-root
Don't drop root privileges after opening device. See RUNNING AS ROOT.

-A, --driver-options key:value[|key:value...]
Set one or more options for the driver. The argument is a list of key:value pairs
delimited by '|'. The key can not contain spaces, but such are allowed in the value
part. Certain characters including '#' and ';' are used as comment markers in the
config file and are not allowed anywhere.

-D --loglevel=level
Determine the amount of logging information. [level] can be a symbolic syslog
level: 'error','warning, 'info', 'notice' or 'debug'. lirc also defines three
additional levels 'trace', 'trace1' and 'trace2' which gives even more messages
('trace2' bringing the most). However, in the log these messages are marked as
'debug'. The level can also be an integer in the range 3 (almost no messages) to
10.

-O, --options-file <path>
File containing default values for all options. A relative path is interpreted from
current directory. See [FILES] below.

-h --help
Display this message.

-v --version
Display version.

USAGE NOTES

       The  primary  options  are  --driver and usually also --device (some drivers does not need
       --device). These could be verified using mode2(1) if irrecord runs into trouble.

       When driver and device is known it saves some work to update  lirc_options.conf  with  the
       new  values.  irrecord  uses  the  [lircd]  section  as  a  fallback,  so  with  a  proper
       lirc_options.conf irrecord could be run without command line options.

       Using an existing file as a template can sometimes be required for irrecord  to  work.  If
       using  one  of  the  generic  templates  it  can  also provide better timing. See PROTOCOL
       PARAMETERS AND TEMPLATES.

       If the program fails to recognize the protocol of the remote control  you  could  use  the
       --force option to at least create a config file in raw mode.

REPEAT MASKS

       After  recording  some buttons with irrecord, you should check the repeat masks. These are
       needed in order to handle repeated button presses, which are very common

       Using the config file, start lircd and irw. Keeping a button pressed down, you should  see
       something like:<

               0000000000f40bf0 00 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 01 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 02 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 03 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 04 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 05 KEY_1 ANIMAX

       Note how the second field gets incremented. This must work for correct operation.

PROTOCOL PARAMETERS AND TEMPLATES.

irrecord actually works in two phases. In the first, it tries to identify the protocol
used by the remote. Although this often works quite well, there are advantages using an
existing file as a template.

One reason to use a template is when irrecord fails to recognize the protocol in the
beginning. In such cases, try to find an existing configuration from the same vendor using
something like:

$ irdb-get find motorola
# lots of remotes listed...
$ irdb-get download motorola/VIP_1200.lircd.conf # Pick any
$ cp VIP_1200.lircd.conf my_remote.lircd.conf
$ irrecord my_remote.lircd.conf

Invoking irrecord this way re-uses the existing protocol which usually works (vendors
seldom changes protocol parameters).

Another reason to use an existing file is to get more exact timing, important when
planning to also transmit (blast). In such cases, using a generic template found using
irdb-get find generic has advantages since the timing values here are hand-crafted from
specifications. To use these, you need to know which protocol your remote uses, though.

If decoding of IR commands does not work reliably you can try to modify the eps and aeps
values in the lircd config file to adjust the tolerance of signal lengths. aeps is an
absolute value while eps is a relative value expressed in percent. See lircd.conf(5)

TROUBLESHOOTING

   Multiple-personalities remotes
       Some remotes actually emulates two or more remotes. irrecord runs into trouble if  buttons
       from different logical remotes are mixed in the same run, in  particular  in  the  initial
       protocol identification. For such devices, irrecord must be invoked once for every logical
       device using only buttons from this device during the run.

   Un-printable garbage when using default driver
       If there is various non-printable garbage on the screen when running irrecord  when  using
       the default driver the rc protocol needs to be set.  With a single device the protocol can
       be set and inspected using

               sudo sh -c "echo 'lirc' > /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocol"
               cat /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocol

   Physical disturbances
       As for physical disturbances, the primary source is fluorescent light. You should not have
       any  such  light  around  when  using  irrecord.   It's  also important to have a suitable
       distance between the remote and the  capture  device,  which  often  is  smaller  than  in
       typical,  normal usage. However, making the distance too small might cause other problems.
       At a first try use a foot or two.

DRIVER LOAD PATH

       Drivers are loaded dynamically. This is done from a  traditional  *ux  ´:´-separated  path
       where each component in the path is searched (leading part first, trailing last).

       The path used for this is determined by (falling priority):

       - The --plugindir option.

       - The 'plugindir' entry in  the [lircd] section of the lirc_options.conf file.

       - The environment variable LIRC_PLUGINDIR.

       - A hardcoded default (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lirc/plugins).

RUNNING AS ROOT

       In  many  cases  irrecord  needs to run as root to access devices not available to regular
       users. On the other hand, running as root creates problems such  as  log  files  owned  by
       root, security concerns etc.

       In  order  to  cope with this, irrecord by default drops root privileges after opening the
       input device. This support is based on that root permissions are accquired  using  sudo(1)
       e. g., using

               $ sudo irrecord --device /dev/lirc0 --driver default

       If  not  using  sudo,  the  same  behaviour  could  be  accomplished  using  the SUDO_USER
       environment variable e. g.,

               # SUDO_USER=$LOGNAME irrecord --device /dev/lirc0 --driver default

       The --keep-root option will make irrecord to keep root privileges for the complete run.

FILES

       /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf
           The options file holding default values for command line  options  in  the  [irrecord]
           section.  For some values including debug, plugindir, driver and device irrecord falls
           back to the [lircd] section if not found in [irrecord].

       -   The location of this file can be  changed  using  the  -O/--options-file  command-line
           option or using the environment variable LIRC_OPTIONS_PATH.

       ~/.cache/irrecord.log
           Debug  output.  Setting the XDG_CACHE_HOME environment variable relocates this file to
           $XDG_CACHE_HOME/irrecord.log