1ROTCTLD(8) Rotator Control Daemon ROTCTLD(8)
2
6 rotctld - Hamlib TCP rotator control daemon
7
9 rotctld [OPTION]...
10
12 The rotctld program is an NEW Hamlib rotator control daemon ready for
13 testing that handles client requests via TCP sockets. This allows mul‐
14 tiple user programs to share one rotator (this needs testing). Multiple
15 rotators can be controlled on different TCP ports by use of multiple
16 rotctld processes. The syntax of the commands are the same as rotctl.
17 It is hoped that rotctld will be especially useful for client authors
18 using languages such as Perl, Python, PHP, and others.
19 rotctld communicates to a client through a TCP socket using text com‐
21 mands shared with rotctl. The protocol is simple, commands are sent to
22 rotctld on one line and rotctld responds to "get" commands with the
23 requested values, one per line, when successful, otherwise, it responds
24 with one line "RPTR x", where x is a negative number indicating the
25 error code. Commands that do not return values respond with the line
26 "RPTR x", where x is zero when successful, otherwise is a regative num‐
27 ber indicating the error code. Each line is terminated with a newline
28 '\n' character. This protocol is primarily for use by the NET rotctl
29 (rot model 2) backend.
30 A separate Extended Response protocol extends the above behavior by
32 echoing the received command string as a header, any returned values as
33 a key: value pair, and the "RPTR x" string as the end of response
34 marker which includes the Hamlib success or failure value. See the
35 PROTOCOL section for details. Consider using this protocol for clients
36 that will interact with rotctld directly through a TCP socket.
37 Keep in mind that Hamlib is BETA level software. While a lot of back‐
39 end libraries lack complete rotator support, the basic functions are
40 usually well supported. The API may change without publicized notice,
41 while an advancement of the minor version (e.g. 1.1.x to 1.2.x) indi‐
42 cates such a change.
43 Please report bugs and provide feedback at the e-mail address given in
45 the REPORTING BUGS section. Patches and code enhancements are also
46 welcome.
47
49 This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
50 options starting with two dashes ('-').
51 Here is a summary of the supported options:
53 -m, --model=id
55 Select rotator model number. See -l, "list" option below.
56 -r, --rot-file=device
58 Use device as the file name of the port the rotator is con‐
59 nected. Often a serial port, but could be a USB to serial
60 adapter or USB port device. Typically /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1,
61 /dev/ttyUSB0, etc.
62 Default is /dev/rotator (may be a symbolic link to the actual
64 device).
65 -s, --serial-speed=baud
67 Set serial speed to baud rate. Uses maximum serial speed from
68 rotor backend capabilities (set by -m above) as the default.
69 -T, --listen-addr=IPADDR
71 Use IPADDR as the listening IP address. The default is ANY.
72 -t, --port=number
74 Use number as the TCP listening port. The default is 4533.
75 N.B.: As rigctld's default port is 4532, it is advisable to use
77 odd numbered ports for rotctld, e.g. 4533, 4535, 4537, etc.
78 -L, --show-conf
80 List all config parameters for the rotator defined with -m
81 above.
82 -C, --set-conf=parm=val[,parm=val]*
84 Set config parameter. e.g. --set-conf=stop_bits=2
85 Use -L option for a list.
87 -l, --list
89 List all model numbers defined in Hamlib and exit.
90 -u, --dump-caps
92 Dump capabilities for the radio defined with -m above and exit.
93 -e, --end-marker
95 Use END marker in rotctld protocol.
96 N.B.: This option should be considered obsolete. Please con‐
98 sider using the Extended Response protocol instead (see PROTOCOL
99 below). This option will be removed in a future Hamlib release.
100 -v, --verbose
102 Set verbose mode, cumulative (see DIAGNOSTICS below).
103 -h, --help
105 Show a summary of these options and exit.
106 -V, --version
108 Show the version of rotctld and exit.
109 N.B. Some options may not be implemented by a given backend and will
111 return an error. This is most likely to occur with the --set-conf and
112 --show-conf options.
113 Please note that the backend for the rotator to be controlled, or the
115 rotator itself may not support some commands. In that case, the opera‐
116 tion will fail with a Hamlib error code.
117
119 Commands can be sent over the TCP socket either as a single char, or as
120 a long command name plus the value(s) space separated on one '\n' ter‐
121 minated line. See PROTOCOL.
122 Since most of the Hamlib operations have a set and a get method, an
124 upper case letter will be used for set methods whereas the correspond‐
125 ing lower case letter refers to the get method. Each operation also
126 has a long name; prepend a backslash to send a long command name.
127 Example (Perl): `print $socket "\\dump_caps\n";' to see what the
129 rotor's backend can do (NOTE: In Perl and many other languages a '\'
130 will need to be escaped with a preceding '\' so that even though two
131 backslash characters appear in the code, only one will be passed to
132 rotctld. This is a possible bug, beware!).
133 Please note that the backend for the rotator to be controlled, or the
135 rotator itself may not support some commands. In that case, the opera‐
136 tion will fail with a Hamlib error message.
137 Here is a summary of the supported commands (In the case of "set" com‐
139 mands the quoted string is replaced by the value in the description.
140 In the case of "get" commands the quoted string is the key name of the
141 value returned.):
142 P, set_pos 'Azimuth' 'Elevation'
144 Set position: Azimuth and Elevation as double precision floating
145 point values.
146 p, get_pos
148 Get position: 'Azimuth' and 'Elevation' as double precision
149 floating point values.
150 M, move 'Direction' 'Speed'
152 Move the rotator in a specific direction at the given rate.
153 Values are integers where Direction is defined as 2 = Up, 4 =
155 Down, 8 = Left, and 16 = Right. Speed is an integer between 1
156 and 100. Not all backends that implement the move command use
157 the Speed value. At this time only the gs232a utilizes the
158 Speed parameter.
159 S, stop
161 Stop the rotator.
162 K, park
164 Park the antenna.
165 C, set_conf 'Token' 'Value'
167 Set Token to Value.
168 Backend dependent. Needs testing.
170 R, reset 'Reset'
172 Reset the rotator.
173 Integer value of '1' for Reset All.
175 _, get_info
177 Get misc information about the rotator.
178 At the moment returns 'Model Name'.
180 w, send_cmd 'Cmd'
182 Send raw command string to rotator.
183 For binary protocols enter values as \0xAA\0xBB. Expect a
185 'Reply' from the rotator which will likely be a binary block or
186 an ASCII string.
187 Locator Commands
189 These commands offer conversions of Degrees Minutes Seconds to other
191 formats, Maidenhead square locator conversions and distance and azimuth
192 conversions.
193 L, lonlat2loc 'Longitude' 'Latitude' 'Loc Len [2-12]'
195 Returns the Maidenhead locator for the given 'Longitude' and
196 'Latitude'.
197 Both are floating point values. The precision of the returned
199 square is controlled by 'Loc Len' which should be an even num‐
200 bered integer value between 2 and 12.
201 For example, "+L -170.000000 -85.000000 12\n" returns "Locator:
203 AA55AA00AA00\n".
204 l, loc2lonlat 'Locator'
206 Returns 'Longitude' and 'Latitude' in decimal degrees at the
207 approximate center of the requested grid square (despite the use
208 of double precision variables internally, some rounding error
209 occurs). West longitude is expressed as a negative value.
210 South latitude is expressed as a negative value. Locator can be
211 from 2 to 12 characters in length.
212 For example, "+l AA55AA00AA00\n" returns "Longitude:
214 -169.999983\nLatitude: -84.999991\n".
215 D, dms2dec 'Degrees' 'Minutes' 'Seconds' 'S/W'
217 Returns 'Dec Degrees', a signed floating point value.
218 Degrees and Minutes are integer values and Seconds is a floating
220 point value. S/W is a flag with '1' indicating South latitude
221 or West longitude and '0' North or East (the flag is needed as
222 computers don't recognize a signed zero even though only the
223 Degrees value only is typically signed in DMS notation).
224 d, dec2dms 'Dec Degrees'
226 Returns 'Degrees' 'Minutes' 'Seconds' 'S/W'.
227 Values are as in dms2dec above.
229 E, dmmm2dec 'Degrees' 'Dec Minutes' 'S/W'
231 Returns 'Dec Degrees', a signed floating point value.
232 Degrees is an integer value and Minutes is a floating point
234 value. S/W is a flag with '1' indicating South latitude or West
235 longitude and '0' North or East (the flag is needed as computers
236 don't recognize a signed zero even though only the Degrees value
237 only is typically signed in DMS notation).
238 e, dec2dmmm 'Dec Deg'
240 Returns 'Degrees' 'Minutes' 'S/W'.
241 Values are as in dmmm2dec above.
243 B, qrb 'Lon 1' 'Lat 1' 'Lon 2' 'Lat 2'
245 Returns 'Distance' 'Azimuth' where Distance is in km and Azimuth
246 is in degrees.
247 All Lon/Lat values are signed floating point numbers.
249 A, a_sp2a_lp 'Short Path Deg'
251 Returns 'Long Path Deg' or -RIG_EINVAL upon input error..
252 Both are floating point values within the range 0.00 to 360.00.
254 a, d_sp2d_lp 'Short Path km'
256 Returns 'Long Path km'.
257 Both are floating point values.
259
261 Default Protocol
262 The rotctld protocol is intentionally simple. Commands are entered on a
264 single line with any needed values. In Perl, reliable results are
265 obtained by terminating each command string with a newline character,
266 '\n'.
267 Example set (Perl code):
269 print $socket "P 135 10\n";
271 print $socket "\\set_pos 135 10\n"; # escape leading '\'
273 A one line response will be sent as a reply to set commands, "RPTR x\n"
275 where x is the Hamlib error code with '0' indicating success of the
276 command.
277 Responses from rotctld get commands are text values and match the same
279 tokens used in the set commands. Each value is returned on its own
280 line. On error the string "RPTR x\n" is returned where x is the Hamlib
281 error code.
282 Example get (Perl code):
284 print $socket "p\n";
286 "135"
287 "10"
288 Most get functions return one to three values. A notable exception is
290 the \dump_caps function which returns many lines of key:value pairs.
291 This protocol is primarily used by the NET rotctl (rotctl model 2)
293 backend which allows applications already written for Hamlib's C API to
294 take advantage of rotctld without the need of rewriting application
295 code. An application's user can select rotor model 2 ("NET rotctl")
296 and then set rot_pathname to "localhost:4533" or other network
297 host:port.
298 Extended Response Protocol
300 An EXPERIMENTAL Extended Response protocol has been introduced into
302 rotctld as of February 10, 2010. This protocol adds several rules to
303 the strings returned by rotctld and adds a rule for the command syntax.
304 1. The command received by rotctld is echoed with its long command name
306 followed by the value(s) (if any) received from the client terminated
307 by the specified response separator as the first record of the
308 response.
309 2. The last record of each block is the string "RPTR x\n" where x is
311 the numeric return value of the Hamlib backend function that was called
312 by the command.
313 3. Any records consisting of data values returned by the rotor backend
315 are prepended by a string immediately followed by a colon then a space
316 and then the value terminated by the response separator. e.g. "Azimuth:
317 90.000000\n" when the command was prepended by '+'.
318 4. All commands received will be acknowledged by rotctld with records
320 from rules 1 and 2. Records from rule 3 are only returned when data
321 values must be returned to the client.
322 An example response to a +P command (note the prepended '+'):
324 $ echo "+P 90 45" | nc -w 1 localhost 4533
326 set_pos: 90 45
327 RPRT 0
328 In this case the long command name and values are returned on the first
330 line and the second line contains the end of block marker and the
331 numeric rig backend return value indicating success.
332 An example response to a +\get_pos query:
334 $ echo "+\get_pos" | nc -w 1 localhost 4533
336 get_pos:
337 Azimuth: 90.000000
338 Elevation: 45.000000
339 RPRT 0
340 In this case, as no value is passed to rotctld, the first line consists
342 only of the long command name. The final line shows that the command
343 was processed successfully by the rotor backend.
344 Invoking the Extended Response protocol requires prepending a command
346 with a punctuation character. As shown in the examples above, prepend‐
347 ing a '+' character to the command results in the responses being sepa‐
348 rated by a newline character ('\n'). Any other punctuation character
349 recognized by the C ispunct() function except '\', '?', or '_' will
350 cause that character to become the response separator and the entire
351 response will be on one line.
352 Separator character summary:
354 '+'
356 Each record of the response is appended with a newline ('\n').
357 ';', '|', or ','
359 Each record of the response is appended by the given character
360 resulting in entire response on one line.
361 Common record separators for text representations of spreadsheet
363 data, etc.
364 '?'
366 Reserved for 'help' in rotctl short command
367 '_'
369 Reserved for \get_info short command
370 '#'
372 Reserved for comments when reading a command file script
373 Other punctuation characters have not been tested! Use at your
375 own risk.
376 For example, invoking a ;\get_pos query with a leading ';' returns:
378 get_pos:;Azimuth: 90.000000;Elevation: 45.000000;RPRT 0
380 Or, using the pipe character '|' returns:
382 get_pos:|Azimuth: 90.000000|Elevation: 45.000000|RPRT 0
384 And a \set_pos command prepended with a '|' returns:
386 set_pos: 135 22.5|RPRT 0
388 Such a format will allow reading a response as a single event using a
390 prefered response separator. Other punctuation characters have not
391 been tested!
392 All commands with the exception of \set_conf have been tested with the
394 Extended Response protocol and the included testrotctld.pl script.
395
397 Start rotctld for a Ham IV rotor with the RotorEZ installed using a
398 USB-to-serial adapter and backgrounding:
399 $ rotctld -m 401 -r /dev/ttyUSB1 &
401 Connect to the already running rotctld, and set position to 135.0
403 degrees azimuth and 30.0 degrees elevation with a 1 second read time‐
404 out:
405 $ echo "\set_pos 135.0 30.0" | nc -w 1 localhost 4533
407 Connect to a running rotctld with rotctl on the local host:
409 $ rotctl -m2
411
413 The -v, --version option allows different levels of diagnostics to be
414 output to stderr and correspond to -v for BUG, -vv for ERR, -vvv for
415 WARN, -vvvv for VERBOSE, or -vvvvv for TRACE.
416 A given verbose level is useful for providing needed debugging informa‐
418 tion to the email address below. For example, TRACE output shows all
419 of the values sent to and received from the rotator which is very use‐
420 ful for rotator backend library development and may be requested by the
421 developers. See the README.betatester and README.developer files for
422 more information.
423
425 No authentication whatsoever; DO NOT leave this TCP port open wide to
426 the Internet. Please ask if stronger security is needed or consider
427 using an SSH tunnel.
428 As rotctld does not need any greater permissions than rotctl, it is
430 advisable to not start rotctld as root or another system user account
431 in order to limit any vulnerability.
432
434 The daemon is not detaching and backgrounding itself.
435 Much testing needs to be done.
437
439 Report bugs to <hamlib-developer@lists.sourceforge.net>.
440 We are already aware of the bugs in the previous section :-)
442
444 Written by Stephane Fillod, Nate Bargmann, and the Hamlib Group
445 <http://www.hamlib.org>.
447
449 Copyright © 2000-2009 Stephane Fillod
450 Copyright © 2010 Nate Bargmann
451 Copyright © 2000-2009 the Hamlib Group.
452 This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
454 NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
455 PURPOSE.
456
458 rotctl(1), hamlib(3)
459Hamlib March 1, 2010 ROTCTLD(8)