scmpc(1)scmpc User Guide scmpc(1)NAMEscmpc - An Audioscrobbler client for MPD
SYNOPSISscmpc [ -dhknqv ] [ -f <config_file> ] [ -i <pid_file> ]
DESCRIPTIONscmpc is a client for MPD (the Music Player Daemon) which submits your
tracks to Audioscrobbler. It can be run as a daemon, which is the
default behaviour, or it can be run in the foreground with the logs
directed to standard out.
scmpc can be run without a connection to the internet as it stores
songs in a queue if they can't be submitted immediately. The size of
this queue can be limited in the configuration file so as to avoid
scmpc taking up all your memory. The queue is saved at another config‐
urable interval so that if scmpc is stopped unexpectedly for some rea‐
son, such as a power failure, you should 'lose' as few songs as possi‐
ble.
The program is also forgiving in terms of the connection to the MPD
server. If it can't connect immediately it will wait for half an hour
and then try again. If it discovers that the server exists but doesn't
respond to requests for the current song it will assume the server is
password protected and the correct password wasn't specified, and it
will not attempt to reconnect. The program doesn't exit in case there
is a queue that could be submitted to Audioscrobbler, but when that is
done the program will do very little. Check the log if the program
doesn't appear to be doing anything.
scmpc is able to pick up and submit songs if crossfading is enabled,
and it is able to ignore internet streams. It will submit songs without
an Album specified, but only if the Title and Artist are both set.
OPTIONS-d or --debug
Sets the logging level to debug, which will log everything con‐
sidered noteworthy while the program is being developed. Proba‐
bly unnecessary for normal use.
-f or --config-file <file>
The location of an alternative configuration file. This over‐
rides the default search options, but is still overridden by any
command line options.
-h or --help
Prints a summary of the available command line options.
-i or --pid-file <file>
The location of the pid file, which essentially stores the
process id and makes sure that only one copy of the daemon is
running at once.
-k or --kill
Kills the currently running scmpc-n or --foreground
Runs the program in the foreground instead of immediately fork‐
ing. It also redirects logging output to standard out and
doesn't create a pid file.
-q or --quiet
Sets the logging level to none, which disables logging com‐
pletely.
-v or --version
Prints the name and version of the program along with a brief
copyright notice.
CONFIGURATIONscmpc looks for its configuration file first at ~/.scmpcrc, then at
~/.scmpc/scmpc.conf and finally at ${prefix}/etc/scmpc.conf. If a con‐
fig file is specified as a command line option that file will be used
instead.
If scmpc doesn't find a file at any of these locations it will silently
use the compiled in defaults. This will mean that no tracks will be
submitted to Audioscrobbler because no username or password will have
been specified, but scmpc will still add any valid songs to the unsub‐
mitted song queue.
The format of the configuration file is fairly simple - strings must be
quoted, but numbers and identifiers (such as the logging level) should
not be. Comments start with a hash: #. There are also two sections, mpd
and audioscrobbler, which consist of the section name, an opening brace
{, the options specific to that section, and a closing brace. White‐
space outside the configuration names and options isn't significant.
Global Configuration Options
log_level
Select the amount of logging you would like scmpc to do.
This is a choice of four identifiers, not a text string,
so don't quote it. Valid options are: error, warning,
info and debug.
log_file
The file that scmpc should write the log to. It will be
created if necessary.
pid_file
The file in which scmpc will store its process id, in
order to check that it is only run once, and in order to
send the daemon signals. This is only created if scmpc is
run as a daemon.
cache_file
The file in which scmpc will save the unsubmitted song
queue for use when the program restarts. It will be read
when scmpc starts, and saved when scmpc exists. The queue
is also saved periodically (how often is controlled by
the cache_interval option).
cache_interval
The interval in minutes between saving the unsubmitted
queue in case the program exits unexpectedly.
queue_length
The maximum number of songs to hold in the unsubmitted
songs queue at once. You are unlikely to need to lower
this, but it's there in case.
MPD Section
host The hostname or IP address of the server on which MPD is
running. Currently only supports IPv4.
port The port which MPD is listening on.
timeout
The timeout in seconds before giving up on the MPD
server.
password
Set this if you need a password to read information from
the MPD server.
Audioscrobbler Section
username
Your Audioscrobbler username.
password
Your plaintext Audioscrobbler password.
password_hash
Your md5 hashed Audioscrobbler password. password_hash
will be preferred over password if it is set
FILES
~/.scmpcrc
~/.scmpc/scmpc.conf
${prefix}/etc/scmpc.conf
Configuration files
/var/lib/scmpc/scmpc.cache
The default location of the cache file.
/var/log/scmpc.log
The default location of the log file.
/var/run/scmpc.pid
The default location of the pid file.
BUGS
If libcurl was compiled with IPv6 support and Audioscrobbler supports
it, it should work for communicating with Audioscrobbler, but I have no
way of knowing.
There is no proxy support for communicating with MPD. However, if you
use a proxy to connect to the internet and your http_proxy environment
variable is set up correctly, scmpc should use that automatically when
connecting to Audioscrobbler.
Currently, there is no support for translating scmpc, but that could be
added at some point in the future if there is demand for it.
Please report any other bugs to Christoph Mende
<mende.christoph@gmail.com>.
CREDITS
Original author: Jonathan Coome <jcoome@gmail.com>
Current maintainer: Christoph Mende <mende.christoph@gmail.com>
20 December 2008 scmpc(1)
