VLS user guide
CyrilDeguetAlexisde Lattre2002, 2003
the VideoLAN project
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version
1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation ;
with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
Back-Cover Texts. The text of the license can be found in the appendix
.VideoLANVLSstreammulticastMPEG-1MPEG-2MPEG-4DVDDVB
This document is the complete user guide of VLS
.Introduction
What is the VideoLAN project ?
Overview
VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, developed
by students of the Ecole Centrale
Paris and developers from all over the world, under the
GNU General Public
License (GPL). VideoLAN is designed to stream MPEG videos on high
bandwidth networks.The VideoLAN solution includes :VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2
and MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial
television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or
multicast,VLC (initially VideoLAN Client), which can be used as
a server to stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs and live
videos on the network in unicast or multicast ; or used as a client
to receive, decode and display MPEG streams under multiple operating
systems.Here is an illustration of the complete VideoLAN solution :More details about the project can be found on the VideoLAN Web site.
VideoLAN software
VLCVLC works on many platforms : Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS,
*BSD, Solaris, Familiar Linux, Yopy/Linupy and QNX. It can read :MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk,
a CD-ROM drive, ...DVDs and VCDs,from a satellite card (DVB-S),MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams from the
network sent by VLS or VLC's stream output.
VLC can also be used as a server to stream :
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files,DVDs,from an MPEG encoding card,
to :
one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called
unicast,a dynamic group of machines that the clients can
join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called
multicast,in IPv4 or IPv6
.To get the complete list of VLC's possibilities
on each plateform supported, see the VLC features
page.
VLC doesn't work on Mac OS 9, and will
probably never do.
VLS
VLS can stream :
an MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files stored on a hard drive
or on a CD,
a DVD located in a local DVD drive or copied on a hard
disk,
a satellite card (DVB-S) or a digital terrestial
television card (DVB-T)
,
an MPEG encoding card
;to:one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called
unicast,a dynamic group of machines that the clients can
join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called
multicast,in IPv4 or IPv6
.A Pentium 100 MHz with 32 MB of memory should be enough to send one
stream on the network. When streaming a lot of videos stored on a
hard drive, the actual limitation is not the processor but the hard
drive and the network connection.VLS works under Linux and Windows. To get the complete
list of VLS's possibilities on each plateform supported, see the streaming features
page.Mini-SAP-server
You can add a channel information service based on the SAP/SDP
standard to the VideoLAN solution. The mini-SAP-server sends announces
about the multicast programs on the network in IPv4 or IPv6, and VLCs
receive these annouces and automatically add the programs announced to
their playlist.
The mini-SAP-server works under Linux and Mac OS X.
What is a codec ?
To fully understand the VideoLAN solution, you must
understand the difference between a codec and a
container format
A codec is a compression
algorithm, used to reduce the size of a stream. There are audio codecs
and video codecs. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Vorbis, DivX, ... are
codecs
A container format contains
one or several streams already encoded by codecs. Very often, there
is an audio stream and a video one. AVI, Ogg, MOV, ASF, ... are
container formats. The streams contained can be encoded using different
codecs. In a perfect world, you could put any codec in any container
format. Unfortunately, there are some incompatibilities. You can
find a matrix of possible codecs and container formats on the features
page
To decode a stream, VLC first
demuxes it. This means that it reads the container
format and separates audio, video, and subtitles, if any. Then, each of
these are passed decoders that do the mathematical
processing to decompress the streams
.
There is a particular thing about MPEG:
MPEG is a codec. There are
several versions of it, called MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, ...
MPEG is also a container format, sometimes refered
to as MPEG System. There are several types of MPEG:
ES, PS, and TSWhen you play an MPEG video from a DVD, for instance, the MPEG
stream is actually composed of several streams (called Elementary
Streams, ES): there is one stream for video, one for audio, another for
subtitles, and so on. These different streams are mixed together into a
single Program Stream (PS). So, the .VOB files you can find in a DVD are
actually MPEG-PS files. But this PS format is not adapted for streaming
video through a network or by satellite, for instance. So, another
format called Transport Stream (TS) was designed for streaming MPEG
videos through such channels.
How can I use VideoLAN ?
Documentation
The user documentation of VideoLAN is made up of 4 documents :
the VideoLAN Quickstart. This
document will give you a quick overview of VLC, VLC's stream output,
the Video On Demand solution and the channel information service
system.
the VideoLAN HOWTO. This
document is the complete guide of the VideoLAN streaming
solution.
the VLC user guide. This document
is the complete guide for VLC.
the VLS user guide. This document
is the complete guide for VLS.
the VideoLAN FAQ.
This document contains Frequently Asked Questions about
VideoLAN.
The latest version of these documents can be found on the documentation page
.
You can also have a look at the VideoLAN Wiki. This is a website
that everyone can change. We use it to document everything that is not
in the "official" documentation: the tips and tricks for each O.S., the
graphical interfaces, etc...
User support
If you have problems using VideoLAN, and if you don't find the
answer to your problems in the documentation, please look at the online
archive of the mailing-lists. There are two English-speaking
mailing-lists for the users :
vlc@videolan.org
for the questions on VLC
,streaming@videolan.org
for the questions on VLS, mini-SAP-server
and the network
.
If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe to the mailing-lists,
please go to the
mailing-list page.
You can also talk with VideoLAN users and developers on IRC :
server irc.freenode.net, channel
#videolan
.
If you find a bug, please follow the instructions on
the
bug reporting page
.
Command line usage
VLC has many different graphical interfaces, that
are organized quite differently in order to be in harmony with the
guidelines of each operating system supported. Documenting the use
of each graphical interface is too long, and some features are only
available via the command line interface. Therefore we decided to
document only the command line interface, but in many cases it shoud
be easy to guess how to use the graphical interface for the same use
!
VLS has a command line and a telnet interface, but no
graphical interface !
All the commands that show up in this document should be typed
inside a terminal.
.
Open a terminal
Windows
Click on Start,
Run and type :
cmdEnter
(Windows 2000 / XP),commandEnter
(Windows 95 / 98 / ME).
The terminal appears
Le terminal apparait
Under Windows, you need to be in the directory where the
program is installed to run it.
Linux / Unix
Open a terminal
:
In the documentation, we adopt the following
conventions for the Unix commands :
commands that should be typed as
root have a # prompt :
# command_to_be_typed_as_root
commands that should be typed as a regular user have a
% prompt :
% command_to_be_typed_as_regular_userMac OS X
Go to Applications, open the
folder Utilities and double-click on
Terminal
:
Under Mac OS X, you need to be in the directory where
the program is installed to run it, and start the command with
./
.BeOS
In the deskbar, go to Application and then
Terminal :
Under BeOS, you need to be in the directory where
the program is installed to run it, and start the command with
./
.
Installing VLS
Installing VLS
Windows
Download the ZIP file from the VLS
Windows download page, unzip-it and run
setup.exe
.GNULinux & Mac OS X
Install the libraries
Many libraries are needed for particular uses
libdvbpsi
(always needed)
libdvdcss
if you want to be able to access encrypted DVDs
,libdvdread
if you want to be able to stream DVDs
,libdvb
if you want to be able to stream from a DVB card (a
satellite card or a digital terrestial TV card)
.
Download the libraries from the VLS
sources download page
.
For each library, uncompress, configure
(unless for libdvb which doesn't have a
./configure), compile and install
:% tar xvzf library.tar.gz% cd library% ./configure% make# make install
Check that the configuration file
/etc/ld.so.conf contains the following line
:
/usr/local/lib
If the line is not present, add-it and then run
:# ldconfig
Install VLS
Download the sources of the latest release : get
the file vls-version.tar.gz from the VLS
sources download page. Uncompress-it and generate
./configure
:% tar xvzf vls-version.tar.gz% cd vls-version
To get the list of configuration options, do
% ./configure --help
Then configure vls
:
if you want a basic VLS without DVD support, do
:% ./configure --disable-dvd
if you want a VLS with DVD support, do
:% ./configure
if you want a VLS with DVB support, do
:% ./configure --enable-dvb --with-dvb=PATH_TO_DVB_DRIVERS --with-libdvb=PATH_TO_LIBDVB
Then, compile and install
:% make# make install
You can also do a make uninstall,
make clean or make distclean as
needed
.
Uninstalling VLS
Windows
Go to the Control Panel,
click on Add and remove programs, select
VLS and click on Modify/Remove
and follow the steps to uninstall the program
.
If you compiled VLS from sources
Go to the directory containing VLS sources and run
:# make uninstall
Then you can remove the VLS sources
.
Overview and basic concepts
VLS structure
From a user's point of view, VLS can be divided into
four kinds of components
:
a manager
,inputs
,
converters
,
et des sorties
.
Input
The role of an input is to
read MPEG streams from a given source (file, DVD, DVB card, device,
...), and feed the right converters with these
streams. An input may be able to read several streams, which are called
programs. There are several kinds of inputs
:
the local input, which can read
videos from files or DVDs
,
the video input, which
can read videos from MPEG encoding cards devices
,
the dvb input, which
can read videos from DVB cards,
l'entrée dvb, qui peut
lire depuis des cartes DVB,
the v4l input, which
can read from acquisition cards supported by the Video4Linux
drivers
.
You can use several inputs and play several programs
at the same time
.
Converter
The role of a converter is to
receive a stream from an input, and convert it into the MPEG-TS format.
VLS is able to convert PS streams (from DVDs, for instance) into TS
streams (ps2ts converter). Of course, it can also read TS streams, and
fix them by handling stream discontinuities (ts2ts converter)
.
Channel
A channel receives a stream from a
converter, and send it to a given destination (network, file, ...).
If you want, you can call a "channel" an "output": it is the
same thing !). Currently, two kinds of channels are supported:
network and file. Note that,
at the moment, VLS can support only one output per
stream, so you cannot play a stream on the network and write it into
a file at the same time. The network output is highly configurable:
you can choose which network interface you want to use, and specify
source and destination IP addresses
.
Manager
The manager controls
the way streams are sent. Through an administration
interface, you can tell the manager to start, stop,
suspend, resume, forward or rewind the different programs. You
can also get a list of all programs available in the Program
Table. The manager gets this table from the VLS configuration file
(vls.cfg), so it cannot be changed once VLS has
been started. At the moment, you cannot ask the manager whether a given
stream is being broadcasted, but you will get an error message if you
try to stop a stream that was not broadcasted
.
Administration interface
There are currently two ways to launch the
streaming
:
you can use the command line to
give arguments at startup;
or you can use the telnet
interface to start/stop/pause the streaming whenever you
want
.
When using the telnet interface, you must
authenticate before typing any command, because any user may not
be allowed to execute any command (this can be configured in the
vls.cfg configuration file)
.Configuration
VLS reads its configuration from the
vls.cfg configuration file, which
is supposed to be located in the current directory or
in SYSCONF_DIR/videolan/vls (where
SYSCONF_DIR is /usr/local/etc
if you built and installed VLS by hand, or is /etc
if you installed the debian binary package)
.
To write a vls.cfg file, use the one supplied
with VLS as a start-point
.
General structure
VLS configuration file vls.cfg
is divided into sections, and each section may contain several
variables
:
BEGIN "FirstSection"
Variable1 = "value1"
Variable2 = "value2"
[...]
END
BEGIN "SecondSection"
Variable1 = "value1"
Variable3 = "value3"
[...]
END
[...]
All section names, variable names and values are not
case-sensitive. There can be empty sections and subsections. Comments
must follow a # character. Some variables have a
default value; it means that you can ommit to declare these variables,
and then they will be given their default value
.
Writing a vls.cfg
Here is an explanation of all the sections you can
find in a vls.cfg
:Section "Vls"
This section contains application wide settings
.
LogFile = "name"
Name of VLS log file. If left empty "", then no
logging to files is done. Default is "vls.log"
.
SystemLog = "[disable|enable]"
Logging to the SystemLog. Today, only the SystemLog
using syslogd is implemented: compile with ./configure
--enable-syslog
.
If VLS is started as vlsd, then
the following configuration is mandatory
:
BEGIN "Vls"
LogFile = ""
SystemLog = "enabled"
ScreenLog = "disabled"
END
ScreenLog = "[disable|enable]"
Logging to the console
.
Example
:
BEGIN "Vls"
LogFile = "vls.log"
SystemLog = "disable"
ScreenLog = "enable"
END
Section "Groups"
In this section, you can define some groups of
users, and which commands these users are allowed to execute. For
each group you want to define, you must add a line in the following
format
:
groupname = "command1|command2|..."
This adds a group "groupname", the users of which
are allowed to execute command1, command2, and so on. At the moment, the
available commands are: help, browse, start, suspend, resume, forward,
rewind, stop, shutdown, logout
.
Example
:
BEGIN "Groups"
monitor = "help|browse|logout"
master = "help|browse|start|resume|suspend|forward|rewind|stop|shutdown|logout"
END
Section "Users"
This section contains a list of users allowed to
control VLS through an administration interface. For each user, add a
line in the following format
:
username = "password:groupname"
This adds a user "username", who belongs to the
group "groupname" (defined in the "Groups" section) and can log in with
the password "password"
.
Under Unix/Linux, the password must be encrypted,
with a tool such as mkpasswd, or with the UNIX
function "crypt"
.
Under Windows, the password must be in clear text
.
Example for Unix/Linux
:
BEGIN "Users"
monitor = "3BcKWoiQn0vi6:monitor" # password is 'monitor'
admin = "42BKiCguFAL/c:master" # password is 'Vir4Gv5S'
END
Section "Telnet"
In this section, you can configure the telnet
administration interface
.
LocalPort = "port"
Defines which port will be used for the telnet
server. Default port is "9999"
.
Domain = "domain"
Either "inet4" or "inet6" (default is "inet4"). If
you want to use IPv4 addresses, put "inet4", and if you want to use
IPv6, put "inet6"
.
LocalAddress = "IP address"
Defines on which IP address the telnet server will
listen for requests. Default address is "0.0.0.0" (or "0::0" with
IPv6)
.
Example
:
BEGIN "Telnet"
LocalPort = "9999"
END
Section "NativeAdmin"
Same syntax as "Telnet". Not used yet
.Section "Inputs"
In this section, you can define which inputs you
want to use. For each input you need, add a line in the following
format
:
InputName = "Type"
This adds a input named "InputName", the type
of which is "Type". As explained before, there are several types of
input
:
"local" to play a stream from a file or a DVD
,
"video" to play a stream from an MPEG encoding
card
,
"dvb" to play a stream from a DVB card
,
"v4l" to play a stream from a Video4Linux device
.
Each input must be configured in its own section
(see next paragraph)
.
Example
:
BEGIN "Inputs"
local1 = "local"
pvr = "video"
dvb1 = "dvb"
tuner = "v4l"
END
Inputs configuration
For each input declared in the "Inputs" section,
excepted "local" inputs, you must add a section with the same name as
the corresponding input. For instance, if you declared an input "pvr",
there should be one section named "pvr" too. The syntax of such sections
depends on the type of the corresponding input
.
To configure a local input, you don't have to do
anything. Except when another trickplay strategy must be used
:
BEGIN "Local1"
ProgramCount = "1"
TrickPlay = "normal"
END
"Local1" is the name of the local input you want to
configure. "ProgramCount" is the number of programs assigned to this
input. "TrickPlay" is the trickplay strategy that is used by this input
(default is "normal")
.
To configure a video input, add a section in the
following format
:
BEGIN "VideoInputName"
Device = "device"
Type = "type"
END
"VideoInputName" is the name of the video input you
want to configure. "Device" is the path of the MPEG encoding card you
want to read from (default is "/dev/video"). "Type" is either "Mpeg2-PS"
or "Mpeg2-TS", depending on your device configuration (default is
"Mpeg2-PS")
.
Example for a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 card
:
BEGIN "pvr"
Device = "/dev/video0"
Type = "Mpeg2-PS"
END
To configure a dvb input, add a section in the
following format
:
BEGIN "DvbInputName"
DeviceNumber = "devicenumber"
SendMethod = "0"
END
"DvbInputName" is the name of the dvb input you
want to configure. Set "SendMethod" to "0" if you to stream the
complete DVB stream and set it to "1" if you only want to stream
the MPEG audio and video streams (default is "0"). "DeviceNumber"
is the number of the DVB device you want to read from (read
from /dev/ost/dvr<devicenumber>,
default is ""). The dvb configuration file is defined by the
driver. You can find it in $HOME/.dvbrc for
/dev/dvb/adapter0 or in $HOME/.dvbrc.X for
/dev/dvb/adapterX
.
Example
:
BEGIN "dvb1"
DeviceNumber = "0"
TrickPlay = "normal"
END
Section "Channels"
In this section, you can define the channels
(outputs) you want to use. For each channel, write a line in the
following format
:
ChannelName = "Type"
This adds a channel named "ChannelName", the type of
which is "Type". "Type" must be either "network" or "file". Like inputs,
channels must be configured in their own section
.
Example
:
BEGIN "Channels"
localhost = "network"
client1 = "network"
client2 = "network"
multicast1 = "network"
multicast2 = "network"
localfile = "file"
END
Channels configuration
For each channel declared in the "Channels" section,
you must add a section with the same name as the corresponding channel.
The syntax of such a section depends on the type of the corresponding
channel
.
To configure a network channel, add a section in the
following format
:
BEGIN "NetChannelName"
Domain = "Domain"
Type = "Type"
SrcHost = "SourceHost"
SrcPort = "SourcePort"
DstHost = "DestHost"
DstPort = "DestPort"
TTL = "ttl"
Interface = "Interface"
END
"NetChannelName" is the name of the network channel
you want to configure
.
"Domain" is either "inet4" if you use IPv4
addresses, or "inet6" if you use IPv6 (default is "inet4")
.
"Type" is either "unicast", "broadcast" or
"multicast" (default is "unicast"), depending on what you want to do
(and on your "DstHost" address)
.
"SourceHost" is the IP address (or DNS name) from
which VLS will send the stream
.
"SourcePort" is the UDP port from which the stream
will be sent
.
"DestHost" is the IP address (or DNS name) to which
the stream will be sent
.
"DestPort" is the UDP port to which the stream will
be sent (default is "1234")
.
"TTL" is an option useful only if "Type" is
"multicast" (default value is "0"). You can use it to increase the TTL
of your multicast packets if they have to cross several routers
.
"Interface" is an option only supported under
GNU/Linux, to force the stream to be sent through a given network
interface, "eth1" for instance" (to use this option, you must have
super-user permissions)
.
"SrcHost" and "SrcPort" are optional (if you don't
set them, VLS will not 'bind' the socket)
.
To configure a file channel, add a section in the
following format
:
BEGIN "FileChannelName"
FileName = "file"
Append = "append"
END
"FileChannelName" is the name of the file channel
you want to configure. "file" is the name of the file where the stream
will be stored (default is "fileout.ts"). "append" is either "yes" or
"no", and indicates whether VLS will append the stream at the end of the
file, or rewrite it
.
Example
:
BEGIN "localhost" # The client is on the same host as the server
DstHost = "localhost"
DstPort = "1234"
END
BEGIN "client1" # unicast towards client1
DstHost = "192.168.1.2"
DstPort = "1234"
END
BEGIN "client2" # unicast towards client2 in IPv6
Domain = "inet6"
DstHost = "3ffe:ffff::2:12:42"
DstPort = "1234"
END
BEGIN "multicast1" # multicast streaming
Type = "multicast"
DstHost = "239.2.12.42"
DstPort = "1234"
TTL = "2"
END
BEGIN "multicast2" # multicast streaming in IPv6
Domain = "inet6"
Type = "multicast"
DstHost = "ff08::1"
DstPort = "1234"
TTL = "12"
END
BEGIN "localfile" # file output
FileName = "stream.ts"
Append = "no"
END
If you use Windows, you should specify the "SrcHost"
and "SrcPort" fields. For example
:
BEGIN "client1" # The client is on the same host as the server
SrcHost = "192.168.1.1" # IP of VLS
SrcPort = "1242" # Source port : the value is not important
DstHost = "192.168.1.2" # IP of the client
DstPort = "1234"
END
Programs Configuration
As explained before, you must define the programs.
Each one is a MPEG stream (a file, for example). To do this, you must
add an "Input" section in your vls.cfg file. Each
"Input" section must have the following syntax
:
BEGIN "Input"
FilesPath = "path"
ProgramCount = "count"
END
"path" is the path where your MPEG files are located
(by default it is the current directory). "count" is the number of
programs defined ("0" by default)
.
For each program you want to define, you must add a
section with the following format
:
BEGIN "number"
Name = "name"
Type = "type"
FileName = "file"
Device = "device"
END
"number" is the program number: the first program
has number 1, the second number 2, and so on
.
"name" is the program name, by which you will tell
VLS to start this program (see next chapter "Running VLS")
.
"type" can be "Mpeg1-PS", "Mpeg2-PS", "Mpeg2-TS",
or "DVD". If your stream is stored in a MPEG file (*.mpeg, *.mpg,
*.vob, and so on...), it is probably in Mpeg1-PS or Mpeg2-PS
format
.
if "type" is set to "Mpeg1-PS", "Mpeg2-PS", or
"Mpeg2-TS", VLS will assume your stream is stored in the file "file", in
the directory "path" ("path" being the variable defined in the "Input"
section)
.
if "type" is "DVD", the variable "Device" will be
used instead of "FileName" (the variable "FilesPath" is not prepended
to the device name !). The variable "Device" is the device of your DVD
drive ("/dev/hdc" or "/dev/cdrom" for instance). You can also play a DVD
copied on a hard disk: then "device" is the directory where the .vob
files are stored ("/mnt/data/VIDEO_TS" for instance)
.
VLS can stream MPEG files that meet two critera
:
the file must be MPEG PS
(Program Stream) or MPEG TS (Transport Stream),
that contain video and audio multiplexed. VLS cannot stream MPEG
ES (Elementary Stream), i.e. a file with only audio
or video
.
In order to know if an MPEG file is MPEG
PS, MPEG TS or MPEG
ES, read the file with VLC and look at the messages
(select in the menu View / Messages, or use the
command line vlc -vvv)
.
If you see a line
:
[00000107] main module debug: using demux module "ts_dvbpsi"
it means the file is MPEG TS
.
If you see a line
:
[00000109] main module debug: using demux module "ps"
it means the file is MPEG PS
.
If you see a line
:
[00000109] main module debug: using demux module "es"
it means the file is MPEG ES, VLS can't stream it.
.
the sequence header of the video must repeat itself
regularly, which is often the case with MPEG-2, but very rare with
MPEG-1. There is no easy way to know if the sequence header is repeated
regularly. Files with a .vob extension are
normally MPEG-2 files and files with .mpg or
.mpeg extension or usually MPEG-1 files
.
You can download this
streamable MPEG-2 PS file for your tests : presentation_short.vob
.
In order to play DVDs, you need to compile VLS with
DVD support, which uses libdvdread and libdvdcss. You will need
read and write access rights to the DVD
device
.
Full example
:
BEGIN "Input"
FilesPath = "/home/videolan/streams"
ProgramCount = "4"
END
BEGIN "1" # MPEG2 stream stored in /home/videolan/streams/Dolby.vob
Name = "dolby"
FileName = "Dolby.vob"
Type = "Mpeg2-PS"
END
BEGIN "2" # another file
Name = "canyon"
FileName = "Dolby_Canyon.vob"
Type = "Mpeg2-PS"
END
BEGIN "3" # DVD
Name = "dvd"
Device = "/dev/cdrom"
Type = "Dvd"
END
BEGIN "4" # DVD stored on a hard disk
Name = "matrix"
Device = "/mnt/data/matrix/VIDEO_TS"
Type = "Dvd"
END
Running VLS
Launching VLS
If you want to use the telnet interface, running
VLS is very easy: just type vls in a shell
console, and that's all. Running vlsd will
start VLS as a daemon and will detach itself from the launching
shell. Remember that VLS will try to load its configuration file
(vls.cfg) from the current directory, and if
there is no vls.cfg there, it will try to load it
from SYSCONF_DIR/etc/videolan (see section )
.
If your log file is vls.log as
in the example, VLS will need write access in the current directory, or
you will see something like
:
*** Exception *** in copy constructor (0xbffffc98, copy of 0x80e30a8)
Unable to open the log file "vls.log": Error: Could not open file 'vls.log':
Permission denied
Remember also that you must be root when using the
"Interface" option in vls.cfg
.
If everything is right, you will see something like
:
VideoLAN Server v 0.5.3 (Jun 6 2003) - (c)1999-2003 VideoLAN
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "channel:file" registered
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "channel:network" registered
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "mpegreader:file" registered
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "mpegconverter:ts2ts" registered
[...]
What you can see on the screen (stderr) is exactly
what goes in the log file vls.log
.
When VLS has been successfully started, it doesn't
take any command from its standard input, so you can put it into
background (you can use the screen utility to do
that)
.
On the other hand, if you want to
use the command line interface, please see the VideoLAN HOWTO
.
Using the telnet interface
After VLS has been launched, it opens a telnet
server (on the port 9999 by default). You can connect to this server
with the following command
:% telnet localhost 9999
You should see something like
:
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to vls.
Escape character is '^]'.
Videolan Server Administration System
Login:
Then you must authenticate with a login/password
pair defined in vls.cfg. When you have been
successfully authenticated, you should see a prompt like
:
admin@vls>
>
Then you can type some commands, which are explained
in the next paragraph. To log out, type logout after
the telnet prompt
.
Interface commands
help
Usage: help [command]
.
Called with no argument, "help" gives the list of
all the commands (available or not). Called with one argument it gives
details about how to use the specified command
.browse
Usage: browse [input]
.
Called without argument, "browse" gives all programs
of inputs. Called with one argument it only gives the programs of the
specified input. Each program is given with its status
.start
Usage: start <program> <channel> <input> [--loop] [--rtp]
"start" launches the specified program of the
specified input and broadcasts it through the specified channel. The
option "--loop" makes the program being repeated indefinitely. The
option "--rtp" makes the TS packet to be send through the RTP protocol,
as defined in RFC 1889 and RFC 2250
.stop
Usage: stop <channel>
"stop" ends the broadcast of the specified channel
.forward
Usage: forward <channel> <speed>
"forward" forwards the channel with the given speed.
This does not work when reading directly from a device such as an MPEG
encoding card, a DVB card or an acquisition card
.rewind
Usage: rewind <channel> <speed>
"rewind" rewinds the channel with the given
speed. This does not work when reading directly from a device such as an
MPEG encoding card, a DVB card or an acquisition card
.suspend
Usage: suspend <channel>
"suspend" suspends the streaming of the specified
channel
.resume
Usage: resume <channel>
"resume" resumes the streaming of the specified
channel
.logout
Usage: logout
"logout" closes the current administration session
and the remote connection
.shutdown
Usage: shutdown
"shutdown" stops all the programs and shutdowns VLS
.GNU Free Documentation LicenseVersion 1.2, November 2002
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