Configuration reference¶

camerad reads a single plain-text configuration file, named with --config. By convention it ends in .cfg, but nothing enforces that.

File format¶

One key per line, with an optional trailing comment:

KEY=VALUE            # optional comment

Keys that take several values are written as an indexed array, repeating the key:

DEFAULT_FIRMWARE=(0 /home/dsp/E2V4240/tim.lod)
DEFAULT_FIRMWARE=(1 /home/dsp/E2V4240/tim.lod)

Anything after # is ignored.

When the server runs as a daemon, the file is re-read on SIGHUP. Not every key takes effect on reload: some are read once at startup, and some are only defaults that a command can override at runtime. The key tables note which is which.

Key tables¶

Note

The key tables are generated at documentation build time from the keys camerad actually reads, so a key added to or dropped from the code without a matching description fails the build. See development.

Build options¶

These are CMake options, fixed when the software is compiled, not .cfg keys.

Option	Default	Meaning
`CONTROLLER`	none, required	`archon` or `astrocam`. CMake errors out if unset.
`INSTRUMENT`	none	Instrument module to build, from `camerad/Instruments/<name>`
`INTERFACE_TYPE`	`Archon`	Selects which emulator is built, independently of `CONTROLLER`. `AstroCam` builds none, since none exists for ARC.
`ENABLE_SHM_OUTPUT`	`OFF`	Build the ImageStreamIO shared-memory output. Also needs `-DImageStreamIO_DIR=<prefix>/lib/cmake`.
`BUILD_PYTHON_MODULE`	`OFF`	Build the `camera_interface` Python module. Needs pybind11 at compile time only.
`CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`	`/usr/local`	Where `make install` puts binaries and the module

ENABLE_SHM_OUTPUT and SHM_ENABLED are separate gates: a .cfg that sets SHM_ENABLED=yes on a build compiled without ENABLE_SHM_OUTPUT logs a warning and carries on without shared memory, rather than failing to start.