grandfatherclock - report time acoustically

grandfatherclock [-v] [-f config-file] [-l lock-file] [-q] [-t HHMM] [-c play-command] [-a device] [-g gain] [-p toll-count] [-d audio-dir] [-1 audio-file] [-2 audio-file] [-3 audio-file] [-4 audio-file] [-h audio-file]

grandfatherclock plays audio files to sound the nearest hour or quarter as directed. Command line arguments and an optional configuration file determine the location of the audio files, and the commands to play them. The file is usually executed every hour or quarter hour by a cron(1) job.

Options are set by reading an optional configuration file and then modifying options set by command line arguments. No more than one configuration file is read. The configuration file name is the first of: the one named in the command line, the one named in the environment variable, the first readable one named in the FILES section.

-f file

Specify a configuration file to read.

-l file

Specify a lock file whose presence inhibits execution.

-v

Report debugging information.

-q

Sound the nearest quarter hour.

-a device-address

AUDIO_DEVICE Write the audio files to this device.

-g gain-float

PLAY_GAIN Set an overall gain available as %g in the play command.

-p toll-count

PAUSE_BETWEEN_TOLLS If nonzero, after each count of tolls, pause for an additional second.

-c shell-command

PLAY_COMMAND This shell command plays the audio file %f with gain %g to device %a.

-d directory

AUDIO_DIRECTORY The relative addresses among the audio files are relative to this directory.

-1 file

Q1_FILE Play this file at the first quarter of the hour.

-2 file

Q2_FILE Play this file at the half hour.

-3 file

Q3_FILE Play this file at the third quarter of the hour.

-4 file

Q4_FILE Play this file at the hour.

-h file

TOLL_FILE Play this file for each toll.

grandfatherclock -?

Display the latest options, keys, and defaults.

grandfatherclock -q

Play the nearest quarter hour and toll the hour if appropriate.

grandfatherclock -p 4

Toll the hour with a pause between each 4 tolls.

crontab -e

(Add) 0,15,30,45 * * * * grandfatherclock -q

Emulate a grandfather clock.

GRANDFATHERCLOCKRC

If set, read the configuration from this file. Command line arguments override the settings in this file.

$HOME/.grandfatherclockrc

Personal configuration file

/etc/grandfatherclockrc

System wide configuration file

crontab(1), crontab(5)

grandfatherclock is Copyright (C) 2000 by Dr. Robert J. Meier

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. <oohara@debian.org>