Ubuntu Manpage: lirc-config-tool - tool to scan and generate lirc config files

NAME

       lirc-config-tool - tool to scan and generate lirc config files

SYNOPSIS

       lirc-config-tool   -s|-u [ -c FILE]

       lirc-config-tool  [-o DIR] [-d] [-c FILE] [FILES]

       lirc-config-tool   -l

OPTIONS

       Without   options,   generates   all  available  application  specific  lircrc  files   in
       ~/.config/lirc. The optional [files] is a list of files to build or dump, as listed by -l.

       -s     Scan lircd file for key symbols which are duplicated or not in namespace.

       -u     Update existing lircd file to use key symbols in namespace.

       -l     List available files to generate.

       -d     Dump file templates usable as stdin on stdout.

       -o  <dir>
              Output directory, defaults to ~/.config/lirc

       -c  <lircd-filename>
              lircd(8) config file, defaults to /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

       -h     Print help message

DESCRIPTION

The script is designed to assist in the setup of the lirc(8) configuration files for
ordinary remote controls. It is not aimed to handle full-blown keyboards or joystick
devices. The generated lircrc files represents a starting point which will need further,
manual refinements but might "work" in a basic sense in many cases.

The setup involves normalizing the lircd.conf to use symbols in the legal namespace, and
to create application specific lircrc files which uses the normalized symbols.

To assist normalizing /etc/lircd.conf, the script can report symbols used which not are in
the namespace. It can can also update many of these symbols to corresponding symbols
within the namespace.

The script also can create application specific lircrc files such as mythtv.lircrc or
vlc.lircrc. It then uses the normalized key symbols in /etc/lirdc.conf. By default,
files are created in ~/.config/lirc.

Generated lircrc files basically combines known keys from /etc/lirc/lircd.conf with
template data for an application. The process results in a lircrc file, a list a of unused
keys and some entries which don't match any existing key. The unused keys and unmatched
entries are written as comments into the generated file.

An 'illegal' key i. e., a key not in namespace, will not match any entry and will thus
always be unused. However, it's perfectly possible to use it later on while manually
modifying the lircrc files.

When updating files, script always makes backup copies.

The generated lircrc files are intended to be included in a main ~/.config/lircrc file. A
minimal such might look like

include ~/.config/lirc/mythtv.lircrc

EXAMPLES

       Scan /etc/lirc/lircd.conf for duplicated symbols and symbols not in namespace:

              lirc-config-tool -s

       Update a local lircd.conf file to use symbols in namespace:

              lirc-config-tool -uc ./lircd.conf

       List available files to generate:

              lirc-config-tool -l

       Generate one of the files listed by -l, creates ~/.config/lirc/mythtv.lircrc:

              lirc-config-tool mythtv

       Dump template data  for mythtv:

              lirc-config-tool -d mythtv >mythtv.lircdata

       Use possibly edited data to create a modified mythtv.lircrc in current dir:

              lirc-config-tool -o . stdin < mythtv.lircdata

LIRCD.CONF CONVERSIONS

       The -s option simply reports all key symbols  not  in  namespace.  It  also  reports  some
       symbols    which   although   legal   are   inappropriate   in   this   context,   notably
       KEY_NUMERIC_0..KEY_NUMERIC_9. If present, duplicated keys are also reported.

       The -u option converts several known symbols to their corresponding KEY_* symbols. Symbols
       which  have  names  like  KEY_WINDOWS  but  not  are  in namespace gets a X_ prefix e. g.,
       KEY_WINDOWS -> X_KEY_WINDOWS. The converted file  thus  guarantees  that  any  key  symbol
       starting with KEY_ is a legal symbol.

       All  known  numeric keys such as '1', 'KEY_1', 'KEY_KP_1', 'KEY_NUMERIC_1 are converted to
       KEY_1.

       All modifications are marked by comments in file.

EXTENDING

       The script can be extended to support more applications  by  providing  a  shell  function
       named *.lircdata. E. g., to add a new application named "my_app" based on the built-in vlc
       application:

                $ lirc-config-tool -d vlc >my_app.lircdata
                $ function my_app_lircdata()
                > {
                >    cat my_app.lircdata
                > }
                $ export -f my_app_lircdata
                $ lirc-config-tool  my_app

DATA FORMAT

       The script uses a simple, line-oriented format to represent the lircrc files.  The purpose
       of  the  format  is to be compact and thus to give a good overview, and also to be easy to
       parse.  Each line is divided in comma-separated tokens.  There are four kind of lines.

       Comment lines begins with a '#'. These are copied verbatim to the output file.

       The first data line represents global items, applicable to all entrys. The first  word  is
       the  program  name.  It's used in the first 'program=' line.  Following words, if present,
       are optional lines which will be appended to each entry in the file.

       A data line starting with 'begin' or 'end'  is  a   mode  block  designator.  It's  copied
       verbatim to output file.

       All other data lines represents a button/config entry. The format is
           <button> <config> [extra]...
       The button value  is used in the  button = line, and the config item is used in the config
       = line. Both are mandatory. Following items, if any, are copied as verbatim lines  to  the
       entry.

       An unlikely example: The data format

           myprog, flags = quit
           begin volume_mode
           KEY_VOLUMEUP, volume-up, delay=4, repeat=1
           KEY_VOLUMEDOWN, volume-down
           end volume_mode

       translates to:

           begin volume_mode
               begin
                   program = myprog
                   button  = KEY_VOLUME_UP
                   config  = volume-up
                   delay   = 4
                   repeat  = 1
                   flags   = quit
               end
               begin
                   program = myprog
                   button  = KEY_VOLUME_DOWN
                   config  = volume-down
                   flags   = quit
               end
           end volume_mode

COPYRIGHT

       License  GPLv2+:  GNU  GPL version 2 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.