[pulseview.git] / manual / cli.txt

== Command-line Interface

Even though PulseView has a graphical user interface, there is also a command-line interface that
you can make use of. It is meant to provide functions for convenience and debug purposes, not to
replace the user interface itself.

Running 

	pulseview -h

gives you a list of these functions.

Since PulseView can't automatically scan for devices connected to a COM port (ttySx on Linux) or
Ethernet, you can tell it to look for a specific device using the -d or --driver parameter. Its
usage is the same as for sigrok-cli. For example:

	pulseview -d lecroy-xstream:conn=vxi/192.168.178.20/111

Also, just as with sigrok-cli, you can specify -i / --input-file and -I / --input-format to open
a file on startup. Without -I, it is assumed that the file is in the native sigrok format (.sr).
You can also specify more than one file but they are all expected to be in the same format then.
Example:

	pulseview -i data.vcd -I vcd

The remaining parameters are mostly for debug purposes:

	-V / --version		Shows the release version
	-l / --loglevel		Sets the libsigrok/libsigrokdecode log level (max is 5)
	-D / --no-scan		Don't auto-scan 
	-c / --clean		Don't restore previous sessions on startup

Of these, -D can be useful when PulseView gets stuck during the startup device scan. No such
scan will be performed then, allowing the program to start up but you'll have to scan for your
acquisition device(s) manually before you can use them then.

Another potentially useful option is -c, which can be used when PulseView doesn't start up and
you don't know what could cause this.

Thus, the combination of both parameters can be seen as some kind of "safe mode" for PulseView:

	pulseview -D -c
Commit	Line	Data
1894027b SA	1	== Command-line Interface
	2
	3	Even though PulseView has a graphical user interface, there is also a command-line interface that
	4	you can make use of. It is meant to provide functions for convenience and debug purposes, not to
	5	replace the user interface itself.
	6
	7	Running
	8
	9	pulseview -h
	10
	11	gives you a list of these functions.
	12
	13	Since PulseView can't automatically scan for devices connected to a COM port (ttySx on Linux) or
	14	Ethernet, you can tell it to look for a specific device using the -d or --driver parameter. Its
	15	usage is the same as for sigrok-cli. For example:
	16
	17	pulseview -d lecroy-xstream:conn=vxi/192.168.178.20/111
	18
	19	Also, just as with sigrok-cli, you can specify -i / --input-file and -I / --input-format to open
	20	a file on startup. Without -I, it is assumed that the file is in the native sigrok format (.sr).
	21	You can also specify more than one file but they are all expected to be in the same format then.
	22	Example:
	23
	24	pulseview -i data.vcd -I vcd
	25
	26	The remaining parameters are mostly for debug purposes:
	27
	28	-V / --version Shows the release version
	29	-l / --loglevel Sets the libsigrok/libsigrokdecode log level (max is 5)
	30	-D / --no-scan Don't auto-scan
	31	-c / --clean Don't restore previous sessions on startup
	32
	33	Of these, -D can be useful when PulseView gets stuck during the startup device scan. No such
	34	scan will be performed then, allowing the program to start up but you'll have to scan for your
	35	acquisition device(s) manually before you can use them then.
	36
	37	Another potentially useful option is -c, which can be used when PulseView doesn't start up and
	38	you don't know what could cause this.
	39
	40	Thus, the combination of both parameters can be seen as some kind of "safe mode" for PulseView:
	41
	42	pulseview -D -c