webcam

webcam(1)                                                            webcam(1)

NAME

       webcam - capture images and upload them to a webserver using ftp

SYNOPSIS

       webcam [ config file ]

DESCRIPTION

       webcam  captures  images from a video4linux device like bttv, annotates
       them and and uploads them to a webserver using ftp in a endless loop.

CONFIGURATION

       At startup webcam reads the configuration from the given config file or
       ~/.webcamrc  if  none  is specified in the command line.  It looks like
       this (the given values are the defaults):

       [ftp]
       host = www
       user = webcam
       pass = xxxxxx
       dir  = public_html/images
       file = webcam.jpeg
       tmp  = uploading.jpeg
       passive = 1
       debug = 0
       auto = 0
       local = 0
       ssh = 0

       [grab]
       device = /dev/video0
       text = "webcam %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
       infofile = filename
       width = 320
       height = 240
       delay = 3
       input = composite1
       norm = pal
       rotate = 0
       top = 0
       left = 0
       bottom = -1
       right = -1
       quality = 75
       trigger = 0
       once = 0

       The annotation text is processed with strftime.  Check the  strftime(3)
       or  date(1) manpage to see how you can format the timestamps.  The text
       can also be read from a extern file (use infofile for that).  input  is
       the  video  source (TV/composite/whatever), norm the TV norm.  delay is
       the delay between two images in seconds.  quality is the  JPEG  quality
       for the stored images.

       If  debug  in  the  ftp  section is set to 1 the complete communication
       between webcam and the ftp utility is printed to stderr.  auto  enables
       autologin  via  ~/.netrc  (starts  the  ftp  utility  without  the '-n'
       switch).  If local in the ftp section is non-zero, files will be stored
       locally  (using  the  dir, tmp, and file parameters) rather than ftped.
       ssh set to non-zero makes webcam use ssh instead of ftp.

       top, bottom, left, and right in the grab  section  allow  cropping  the
       image  after  it is grabbed.  They should satisfy 0<=top<bottom<=height
       and 0<=left<right<=width.  (0,0 is the top, left corner.)  If rotate is
       positive, the output image will be rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees
       that number of times (1, 2, or 3).

       With trigger set to a non-zero value webcam will upload the image  only
       if the content of the image has changed.  It just looks for the maximum
       difference between the last uploaded and current image  and  if  it  is
       greater  than  the specified value the image will be uploaded.  If once
       is set to 1 webcam will upload a single frame and quit.

       archive can be used to create a (local) archive of the  webcam  images.
       Just  specify  a  the filename for the files as argument.  The filename
       will be processed with strftime(3), so you can use the place the  usual
       time format controls into the string to get unique filenames.

AUTHOR

       Gerd Knorr <kraxel@bytesex.org>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1997-2001 Gerd Knorr
       This  program  is  distributed  in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY  WARRANTY;  without  even  the  implied  warranty  of  MER-
       CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.



                           (c) 1998-2000 Gerd Knorr                  webcam(1)