These parameters configure 'gross behaviours' -such as allowing Giocoso to scrobble, creating a database and so on. They tend to be things which, once configured, never need re- configuring, so you will probably end up using most of these only once. There are no defaults applicable to any of these parameters: you either use them or not, and if you use ones shown to need a parameter value, you must yourself supply a meaningful value.
| Runtime Parameter | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| --createdb | Initiates the creation of a Sqlite3 database of which music recordings exist. Requires the --dbname parameter to say what the database name should be, and also requires the --musicdir parameter to know in what folder to find music recordings to add to the database. If the specified database already exists, the instruction to create the database is ignored. Takes no value argument. | |
| --refreshdb | Initiates a re-scan of the filesystem to re-populate the music database (picking up recordings newly acquired, for example; or to pick up tag changes made to existing recordings). Requires the --dbname parameter so we know what database to update. Also requires the --musicdir folder, so we know what folders to scan for music recordings with which to re-populate the database. Takes no value argument. | |
| --musicdir=xxxx | Specifies the full path to a folder that contains FLAC files somewhere within it for Giocoso to scan and analyse when creating or refreshing a database. Also used to specify a specific folder of music to play when running Giocoso in Direct Play Mode. Files can be stored within sub-sub-folders, and the --musicdir can merely specify the root of the tree hierarchy: Giocoso will scan any number of folders deep before giving up. | |
| --importplays=xxxx | Initates the extraction of the PLAYS tables out of one database file (the parameter value argument is the full path and filename of the source database) and imports those records into the Giocoso database specified by the --dbname parameter (which must be present and specifies the destination database). The principal use for this sort of functionality is to recover a PLAYS table from a backup. No other part of the source database is imported into the destination database: the RECORDINGS table, for example, is not brought across (since it can be re-populated from scratch by doing a --refreshdb operation). | |
| --scrobble-config | Initiates the process whereby Giocoso is granted privileges to write play history to a Last.fm account. Requires a valid Last.fm account before you start. Takes no value argument. | |
| --checkver | Initiates a check of whether a newer version of Giocoso than the one you're currently using has been released. If an update is found, Giocoso will offer to fetch and install it for you (though you are not obliged to apply the update). As with the initial installation of Giocoso, an update -if applied- will prompt for sudo privileges to be granted, since root privileges are required to copy the relevant files to their proper locations. Takes no value argument. | |
| --licence [or --license] | Initiates the fetching and display of the text of the GNU General Public License, version 2, under which Giocoso is licensed. It is a requirement of the GPL that the license text is made readily available to users of software licensed under its terms: this parameter fulfils that requirement. The parameter can be spelled either with a final 'c' or an 's', depending on your choice of US or UK English! Takes no value argument. | |
| --debug | Initiates the display of a number of variables and their values, prior to continuing to perform the program's normal functions. Of no practical use to anyone, really, other than developers who might be wondering why the program works (or fails to work) under specific circumstances. Support requests should ideally be accomplished by a screen or text capture of all the variables and their values: it allows the developer to better understand the circumstances pertaining to Giocoso's use in a user's specific environment. Takes no value argument. | |
| --editx | Triggers the opening of the excludes.txt file within the operating system's default editor. Once opened, the complete, case-sensitive and precise composer names you do not want Giocoso to select for random playback can be added, one composer name per line. The excludes.txt file can be edited by 'normal' text editors at any time: this parameter simply allows you to conveniently edit it using the same terminal session as you'd run Giocoso in to play music. | |
| --editconf | Triggers the opening of the persistent configuration file (giocoso.conf) within the operating system's default editor. Once opened, the file may be edited to switch on, off or configure specific values for any of the dozen or so runtime parameters that are capable of being persistently stored (not all runtime parameters are). | |
| --reindex | Triggers the rebuilding of all indexes within the Giocoso database. Not something that is ever really needed, except in exceptional instances of database corruption. | |
| --unlock | If two Giocoso sessions are allowed to play music simultaneously, the second will terminate music play in the first, but in a messy way that may cause issues when updating the history of plays or when scrobbling to Last.fm. Giocoso version 2.01 therefore introduces a 'play lock', which prevents a second music-playing Giocoso session from even starting when one is already playing music. Should your PC crash, however, Giocoso will stop playing... but the play lock will remain, and that will stop you ever playing music again! Launching Giocoso with the --unlock runtime parameter, however, forcibly removes the play lock, permitting normal Giocoso play sessions to be started once more. Note that you can remove the play lock at any time, but doing so is a really bad idea. Only remove it when you've terminated a playing Giocoso session in a 'dirty' fashion and really need to remove it. | New feature in Version 2.01 only. |
| --descan | When a Giocoso session is scanning your music files, trying to create or refresh the music database, it creates a lot of temporary text files on disk. If a second Giocoso session were to be launched with an instruction to create or refresh the same database at the same time, chaos would ensue as the second session would over-write the temporary files needed by the first, and vice versa. Giocoso version 2.01 therefore introduces a 'scan lock', which prevents parallel, simultaneous database creates or refreshes. If your PC crashes or gets turned off during a refresh operation, however, the scan lock will be left behind and prevent any future refreshes. Launching Giocoso with the --descan runtime parameter will, however, forcibly remove the scan lock and permit databases refreshes once more. Do not use this option unless you need to, otherwise database corruption will take place. | New feature in Version 2.01 only. |
[Back to Front Page]|[Back to Parameter Front Page]|[Appearance Parameters]|[Selective Parameters]|[Reporting Parameters]