Ubuntu Manpage: aj-snapshot - store and restore snapshots of JACK and/or ALSA connections

NAME

       aj-snapshot - store and restore snapshots of JACK and/or ALSA connections

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 , --alsa

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

-d , --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 , --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 , --jack

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

-p interval, --poll=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 , --quiet

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

-r , --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 , --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, --ignore=client_name

You can use this option to specify one or more clients that should be ignored by
aj-snapshot. You can write the name of the client after the -i option, and you may
use wildcard patterns in that string (regular shell globbing). 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 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 , --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⟩

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.