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jamulussoftware / jamulus

Jamulus enables musicians to perform real-time jam sessions over the internet.
https://jamulus.io
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Stop/start recording when headless on Windows #1007

Closed Andrew999999 closed 3 years ago

Andrew999999 commented 3 years ago

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

If jamulus server is started with e.g. Task Scheduler with no gui it is not possible to turn recording on/off. It is either on for the duration the server is running, or off. This mode of operation is used when the user wants to turn the server instance off/on remotely (e.g. when being hosted in AWS) and doesn't want to have to log in as a user each time to start the server.

Describe the solution you'd like <! --A clear and concise description of what you want to happen. --> Ability to remotely turn recording off/on on a jamulus server, preferably without having to log in to the Windows server hosting it - although I recognise that that is optional.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Settings file that is periodically read by Jamulus server - easy but will result in delay before recording starts. This would cause usability issues. Inter-process communication from another application - more complex to code specific to Windows, but would provide instant control which would fit well with useability (e.g. "let's record the next song"). Control from a client - most complex, e.g. which client, but best from a UX perspective as no remote login to the server is required first.

Additional context

A basic capability is available via SIGNIT for linux-hosted servers. But SIGINT is not supported on Windows.

ann0see commented 3 years ago

I think the linux headless build supports this with SIGUSR1 or SIGUSR2 not sure if Windows can send these commands

Andrew999999 commented 3 years ago

SIGUSR1 and 2 aren't supported on Windows. Other inter-process communications methods are available on Windows.

hoffie commented 3 years ago

SIGUSR1 and 2 aren't supported on Windows. Other inter-process communications methods are available on Windows.

Right. Can you detail what methods would be common/useful on Windows in this case?

Andrew999999 commented 3 years ago

SIGUSR1 and 2 aren't supported on Windows. Other inter-process communications methods are available on Windows.

Right. Can you detail what methods would be common/useful on Windows in this case?

  1. Settings file that is periodically read by Jamulus server - very easy to implement but will probably result in delay before recording starts. This would cause usability issues depending on polling period. However given the additional work to code inter-process communication this might be the best pragmatic solution.
  2. Inter-process communication from another application - more complex to code specific to Windows, but would provide instant control which would fit well with usability (e.g. "let's record the next song").
  3. Control from a client - most complex, e.g. which client, but best from a UX perspective as no remote login to the server is required first.

This article discusses various mechanisms in Windows for dealing with the various types of UNIX messages. http://www.zemris.fer.hr/~leonardo/os/math/labosi/pripreme/upute/misc/Unix2Win.htm

For SIGUSR1/2 messages it suggests using SendMessage() - although this is asynchronous, so PostMessage() might be better. The function would need to be invoked from a second application or a PowerShell script e.g. as here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56078270/use-powershell-to-send-message-to-a-window-control

pljones commented 3 years ago

The PowerShell script option sounds feasible. The existing signal handling code is messy and platform-specific anyway -- introducing proper PostMessage() support would probably be very useful.

Another option, of course, is run the server on Linux ;).

I have a Windows shortcut that just runs something like systemctl kill -s SIGUSR1 jamulus using ssh, for controlling my server. systemctl knows how to send a signal to the named service.

gilgongo commented 3 years ago

@Andrew999999 It seems like there may be a solution to this emerging, but if it's OK I'll move this to a Discussion until we agree on a defined action that we can add to the backlog.