Ubuntu Manpage: rotctld - Hamlib TCP rotator control daemon

Provided by: libhamlib-utils_1.2.15.3-1ubuntu4_amd64

NAME

       rotctld - Hamlib TCP rotator control daemon

SYNOPSIS

       rotctld [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION

The rotctld program is an NEW Hamlib rotator control daemon ready for testing that handles client
requests via TCP sockets. This allows multiple user programs to share one rotator (this needs testing),
except on Win32 where pthreads are not available. Multiple rotators can be controlled on different TCP
ports by use of multiple rotctld processes. The syntax of the commands are the same as rotctl. It is
hoped that rotctld will be especially useful for client authors using languages such as Perl, Python,
PHP, and others.

rotctld communicates to a client through a TCP socket using text commands shared with rotctl. The
protocol is simple, commands are sent to rotctld on one line and rotctld responds to "get" commands with
the requested values, one per line, when successful, otherwise, it responds with one line "RPRT x", where
x is a negative number indicating the error code. Commands that do not return values respond with the
line "RPRT 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. This protocol is primarily for use by the NET
rotctl (rot model 2) backend.

A separate Extended Response protocol extends the above behavior by echoing the received command string
as a header, any returned values as a key: value pair, and the "RPRT x" string as the end of response
marker which includes the Hamlib success or failure value. See the PROTOCOL section for details.
Consider using this protocol for clients that will interact with rotctld directly through a TCP socket.

Keep in mind that Hamlib 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.

Please report bugs and provide feedback at the e-mail address given in the REPORTING BUGS section.
Patches and code enhancements are also welcome.

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:

-m, --model=id
Select rotator model number. See -l, "list" option below.

-r, --rot-file=device
Use device as the file name of the port the rotator is connected. Often a serial port, but could
be a USB to serial adapter or USB port device. Typically /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyUSB0,
etc. on Linux or COM1, COM2, etc. on Win32.

-s, --serial-speed=baud
Set serial speed to baud rate. Uses maximum serial speed from rotor backend capabilities (set by
-m above) as the default.

-T, --listen-addr=IPADDR
Use IPADDR as the listening IP address. The default is ANY.

N.B.: This option seems mandatory on Win32, eg: -T 127.0.0.1

-t, --port=number
Use number as the TCP listening port. The default is 4533.

N.B.: As rigctld's default port is 4532, it is advisable to use odd numbered ports for rotctld,
e.g. 4533, 4535, 4537, etc.

N.B.: This option seems mandatory on Win32, eg: -t 4533

-L, --show-conf
List all config parameters for the rotator defined with -m above.

-C, --set-conf=parm=val[,parm=val]*
Set config parameter. e.g. --set-conf=stop_bits=2

Use -L option for a list.

-l, --list
List all model numbers defined in Hamlib and exit. As of 1.2.15.1 the list is sorted by model
number.

N.B. In Linux the list can be scrolled back using Shift-PageUp/ Shift-PageDown, or using the
scrollbars of a virtual terminal in X or the cmd window in Windows. The output can be piped to
'more' or 'less', e.g. 'rotctld -l | more'.

-u, --dump-caps
Dump capabilities for the radio defined with -m above and exit.

-e, --end-marker
Use END marker in rotctld protocol.

N.B.: This option should be considered obsolete. Please consider using the Extended Response
protocol instead (see PROTOCOL below). This option will be removed in a future Hamlib release.

-v, --verbose
Set verbose mode, cumulative (see DIAGNOSTICS below).

-h, --help
Show a summary of these options and exit.

-V, --version
Show the version of rotctld and exit.

N.B. Some options may not be implemented by a given backend and will return an error. This is most
likely to occur with the --set-conf and --show-conf options.

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 Hamlib error code.

COMMANDS

Commands can be sent over the TCP socket either as a single char, or as a long command name plus the
value(s) space separated on one '\n' terminated line. See PROTOCOL.

Since most of the Hamlib operations have a set and a get method, an upper case letter will be used for
set methods whereas the corresponding lower case letter refers to the get method. Each operation also
has a long name; prepend a backslash to send a long command name.

Example (Perl): `print $socket "\\dump_caps\n";' to see what the rotor's backend can do (NOTE: In Perl
and many other languages a '\' will need to be escaped with a preceding '\' so that even though two
backslash characters appear in the code, only one will be passed to rotctld. This is a possible bug,
beware!).

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 Hamlib error message.

Here is a summary of the supported commands (In the case of "set" commands the quoted string is replaced
by the value in the description. In the case of "get" commands the quoted string is the key name of the
value returned.):

P, set_pos 'Azimuth' 'Elevation'
Set position: Azimuth and Elevation as double precision floating point values.

p, get_pos
Get position: 'Azimuth' and 'Elevation' as double precision floating point values.

M, move 'Direction' 'Speed'
Move the rotator in a specific direction at the given rate.

Values are integers where Direction is defined as 2 = Up, 4 = Down, 8 = Left, and 16 = Right.
Speed is an integer between 1 and 100. Not all backends that implement the move command use the
Speed value. At this time only the gs232a utilizes the Speed parameter.

S, stop
Stop the rotator.

K, park
Park the antenna.

C, set_conf 'Token' 'Value'
Set Token to Value.

Backend dependent. Needs testing.

R, reset 'Reset'
Reset the rotator.

Integer value of '1' for Reset All.

_, get_info
Get misc information about the rotator.

At the moment returns 'Model Name'.

w, send_cmd 'Cmd'
Send raw command string to rotator.

For binary protocols enter values as \0xAA\0xBB. Expect a 'Reply' from the rotator which will
likely be a binary block or an ASCII string.

Locator Commands

These commands offer conversions of Degrees Minutes Seconds to other formats, Maidenhead square locator
conversions and distance and azimuth conversions.

L, lonlat2loc 'Longitude' 'Latitude' 'Loc Len [2-12]'
Returns the Maidenhead locator for the given 'Longitude' and 'Latitude'.

Both are floating point values. The precision of the returned square is controlled by 'Loc Len'
which should be an even numbered integer value between 2 and 12.

For example, "+L -170.000000 -85.000000 12\n" returns "Locator: AA55AA00AA00\n".

l, loc2lonlat 'Locator'
Returns 'Longitude' and 'Latitude' in decimal degrees at the approximate center of the requested
grid square (despite the use of double precision variables internally, some rounding error
occurs). West longitude is expressed as a negative value. South latitude is expressed as a
negative value. Locator can be from 2 to 12 characters in length.

For example, "+l AA55AA00AA00\n" returns "Longitude: -169.999983\nLatitude: -84.999991\n".

D, dms2dec 'Degrees' 'Minutes' 'Seconds' 'S/W'
Returns 'Dec Degrees', a signed floating point value.

Degrees and Minutes are integer values and Seconds is a floating point value. S/W is a flag with
'1' indicating South latitude or West longitude and '0' North or East (the flag is needed as
computers don't recognize a signed zero even though only the Degrees value only is typically
signed in DMS notation).

d, dec2dms 'Dec Degrees'
Returns 'Degrees' 'Minutes' 'Seconds' 'S/W'.

Values are as in dms2dec above.

E, dmmm2dec 'Degrees' 'Dec Minutes' 'S/W'
Returns 'Dec Degrees', a signed floating point value.

Degrees is an integer value and Minutes is a floating point value. S/W is a flag with '1'
indicating South latitude or West longitude and '0' North or East (the flag is needed as computers
don't recognize a signed zero even though only the Degrees value only is typically signed in DMS
notation).

e, dec2dmmm 'Dec Deg'
Returns 'Degrees' 'Minutes' 'S/W'.

Values are as in dmmm2dec above.

B, qrb 'Lon 1' 'Lat 1' 'Lon 2' 'Lat 2'
Returns 'Distance' 'Azimuth' where Distance is in km and Azimuth is in degrees.

All Lon/Lat values are signed floating point numbers.

A, a_sp2a_lp 'Short Path Deg'
Returns 'Long Path Deg' or -RIG_EINVAL upon input error..

Both are floating point values within the range 0.00 to 360.00.

a, d_sp2d_lp 'Short Path km'
Returns 'Long Path km'.

Both are floating point values.

PROTOCOL

       Default Protocol

       The rotctld 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'.

       Example set (Perl code):

       print $socket "P 135 10\n";

       print $socket "\\set_pos 135 10\n";   # escape leading '\'

       A one line response will be sent as a reply to set commands, "RPRT x\n" where x is the Hamlib error  code
       with '0' indicating success of the command.

       Responses  from  rotctld get commands are text values and match the same tokens used in the set commands.
       Each value is returned on its own line.  On error the string "RPRT x\n" is returned where x is the Hamlib
       error code.

       Example get (Perl code):

       print $socket "p\n";
       "135"
       "10"

       Most get functions return one to three values. A notable  exception  is  the  \dump_caps  function  which
       returns many lines of key:value pairs.

       This  protocol  is  primarily  used  by the NET rotctl (rotctl model 2) backend which allows applications
       already written for Hamlib's C API to take advantage of rotctld without the need of rewriting application
       code.  An application's user can select rotor model  2  ("NET  rotctl")  and  then  set  rot_pathname  to
       "localhost:4533" or other network host:port (set by the -t option above).

       Extended Response Protocol

       An  EXPERIMENTAL  Extended  Response  protocol  has been introduced into rotctld as of February 10, 2010.
       This protocol adds several rules to the strings returned by rotctld and  adds  a  rule  for  the  command
       syntax.

       1. The command received by rotctld is echoed with its long command name followed by the value(s) (if any)
       received  from  the  client  terminated  by  the  specified response separator as the first record of the
       response.

       2. The last record of each block is the string "RPRT x\n" where x is the  numeric  return  value  of  the
       Hamlib backend function that was called by the command.

       3.  Any  records  consisting  of  data  values  returned  by  the rotor backend are prepended by a string
       immediately followed by a colon then a space and then the value terminated  by  the  response  separator.
       e.g. "Azimuth: 90.000000\n" when the command was prepended by '+'.

       4.  All  commands received will be acknowledged by rotctld with records from rules 1 and 2.  Records from
       rule 3 are only returned when data values must be returned to the client.

       An example response to a +P command  command sent from the shell prompt (note the prepended '+'):

       $ echo "+P 90 45" | nc -w 1 localhost 4533
       set_pos: 90 45
       RPRT 0

       In this case the long command name and values are returned on the first line and the second line contains
       the end of block marker and the numeric rig backend return value indicating success.

       An example response to a +\get_pos query:

       $ echo "+\get_pos" | nc -w 1 localhost 4533
       get_pos:
       Azimuth: 90.000000
       Elevation: 45.000000
       RPRT 0

       In this case, as no value is passed to rotctld, the first line consists only of the  long  command  name.
       The final line shows that the command was processed successfully by the rotor backend.

       Invoking  the  Extended Response protocol requires prepending a command with a punctuation character.  As
       shown in the examples above, prepending a '+' character to the command results  in  the  responses  being
       separated  by  a newline character ('\n').  Any other punctuation character recognized by the C ispunct()
       function except '\', '?', or '_' will cause that character to  become  the  response  separator  and  the
       entire response will be on one line.

       Separator character summary:

       '+'
              Each record of the response is appended with a newline ('\n').

       ';', '|', or ','
              Each record of the response is appended by the given character resulting in entire response on one
              line.

              Common record separators for text representations of spreadsheet data, etc.

       '?'
              Reserved for 'help' in rotctl short command

       '_'
              Reserved for \get_info short command

       '#'
              Reserved for comments when reading a command file script

              Other punctuation characters have not been tested!  Use at your own risk.

       For example, invoking a ;\get_pos query with a leading ';' returns:

       get_pos:;Azimuth: 90.000000;Elevation: 45.000000;RPRT 0

       Or, using the pipe character '|' returns:

       get_pos:|Azimuth: 90.000000|Elevation: 45.000000|RPRT 0

       And a \set_pos command prepended with a '|' returns:

       set_pos: 135 22.5|RPRT 0

       Such  a  format  will  allow  reading  a response as a single event using a preferred response separator.
       Other punctuation characters have not been tested!

       All commands with the exception of \set_conf have been tested with the Extended Response protocol and the
       included testrotctld.pl script.

EXAMPLES

       Start rotctld for a  Ham  IV  rotor  with  the  RotorEZ  installed  using  a  USB-to-serial  adapter  and
       backgrounding on Linux:

       $ rotctld -m 401 -r /dev/ttyUSB1 &

       Start rotctld for RotorEZ using COM3 on Win32:

       C:\> rotctld -m 401 -r COM3 -T 127.0.0.1 -t 4533

       Connect  to  the  already  running  rotctld,  and  set position to 135.0 degrees azimuth and 30.0 degrees
       elevation with a 1 second read timeout from the shell prompt:

       $ echo "\set_pos 135.0 30.0" | nc -w 1 localhost 4533

       Connect to a running rotctld with rotctl on the local host on POSIX:

       $ rotctl -m2

       and on Win32:

       C:\> rotctl -m 2 -r 127.0.0.1:4533

DIAGNOSTICS

       The -v, --version option allows different levels of diagnostics to be output to stderr and correspond  to
       -v for BUG, -vv for ERR, -vvv for WARN, -vvvv for VERBOSE, or -vvvvv for TRACE.

       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.  See the
       README.betatester and README.developer files for more information.

SECURITY

       No authentication whatsoever; DO NOT leave this TCP port open  wide  to  the  Internet.   Please  ask  if
       stronger security is needed or consider using an SSH tunnel.

       As  rotctld  does  not  need any greater permissions than rotctl, it is advisable to not start rotctld as
       root or another system user account in order to limit any vulnerability.

BUGS

       The daemon is not detaching and backgrounding itself.

       Much testing needs to be done.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <hamlib-developer@lists.sourceforge.net>.

       We are already aware of the bugs in the previous section :-)

AUTHORS

       Written by Stephane Fillod, Nate Bargmann, and the Hamlib Group

       <http://www.hamlib.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2000-2009 Stephane Fillod
       Copyright © 2011-2012 Nate Bargmann
       Copyright © 2000-2009 the Hamlib Group.

       This is free software; see the source for copying  conditions.   There  is  NO  warranty;  not  even  for
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.