FreeBSD Manual Pages
MOTION(1) Motion Options and Config Files MOTION(1) NAME motion - Detect motion using a video4linux device or network camera SYNOPSIS motion [ -hbnsm ] [ -c config file path ] [ -d level ] [ -k level ] [ -p pid_file ][ -l log_file ] DESCRIPTION Motion uses a video4linux device or network camera to detect motion. If motion is detected both normal and motion pictures can be taken. Motion can also take actions to notify you if needed. Creation of automated snapshots is also possible. OPTIONS -c Full path and filename of config file. For example: /home/kurt/motion.conf The default is /usr/local/etc/motion un- less specified differently when building Motion. Many RPMs and Debian packages will use /etc or /etc/motion as the default. -h Show help screen. -b Run in daemon mode. -n Run in non-daemon mode. -s Run in setup mode. Also forces non-daemon mode. -d Run with message log level 1-9. -k Run with message log type 1-9. -l Full path and file name for the log file. -p Full path and filename for process id file (pid file). E.g /var/run/motion.pid. Default is not defined. Pid file is only created when Motion is started in daemon mode. -m Start in pause mode. CONFIG FILE OPTIONS These are the options that can be used in the config file. They are overridden by the commandline! All number values are inte- ger numbers (no decimals allowed). Boolean options can be on or off (values "1", "yes" and "on" all means true and any other value means false). daemon Values: on/off Default: off Description: When specified as ON, Motion goes into daemon (background process) mode and releases the terminal. setup_mode Values: on/off Default: off Description: Start in Setup-Mode, daemon disabled. pid_file Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: File to store the process ID, also called pid file. log_file Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: File to save logs messages, if not defined stderr and syslog is used. log_level Values: 1 to 9 (EMG, ALR, CRT, ERR, WRN, NTC, INF, DBG, ALL) Default: 6 / NTC Description: Specify the level of verbosity in the messages sent to the log. log_type Values: COR, STR, ENC, NET, DBL, EVT, TRK, VID, ALL Default: ALL Description: Filter to log messages by type quiet Values: on/off Default: on Description: Do not sound beeps when detecting motion native_language Values: boolean Default: on Description: Use this option to enable native language on the webcon- trol and log message. Specify off to have messages pro- vided in English. camera_name Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: User specified string to describe the camera. camera_id Values: Numeric identification number for the camera Default: The order in which the camera is opened by Motion Description: Use this option to assign a number to each camera that is consistent every time that Motion is started. By default Motion will assign a number based upon the sequence in which it reads the configuration and this sequence may not be the same every time that Motion starts. camera Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: This option specifies the full path and file name to in- dividual camera files. This option can be listed multi- ple times. Each camera file should contain the options that are unique to that camera/video device. Common op- tions are obtained from the motion.conf file and values are overwritten from each camera file. While the mo- tion.conf includes four sample camera files, the actual limit of cameras is only dependent upon the machine capa- bilities. Remember: If you have more than one camera you must have one camera file for each one. For example, 2 cameras would require 3 files: The motion.conf file AND camera1.conf and camera2.conf. only put the options that are unique to each camera in the camera config files. camera_dir Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: This option specifies the optional subdirectory that con- tains the camera config files. target_dir Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: Target base directory for pictures and films. It is rec- ommended to use an absolute path. If this option is not defined, the current working directory is used. This op- tion accepts the conversion specifiers included at the end of this manual. video_device Values: User specified string Default: /dev/video0 Description: String to specify the video device to be used for captur- ing. The format is usually /dev/videoX where X varies depending upon the video devices connected to the com- puter. For FreeBSD certain devices use the bktr subsys- tem and they will use /dev/bktr0. video_params Values: User specified string Default: None Description: String to specify the parameters to pass in for a video_device. The parameters permitted are dependent upon the device. This only applies to V4L2 devices. The Motion log reports all the available options for the de- vice. auto_brightness Values: 0 - 3 Default: 0 Description: The auto_brightness feature uses the device options to adjust the brightness Only recommended for cameras with- out auto brightness. 0-disabled, 1=Use brightness, 2=Use exposure, 3=Use absolute exposure. tuner_device Values: User Specified String Default: /dev/tuner0 Description: Tuner device to be used for capturing images. This is ONLY used for FreeBSD. roundrobin_frames Values: 1 to unlimited Default: 1 Description: Number of frames to capture in each roundrobin step roundrobin_skip Values: 1 to unlimited Default: 1 Description: Number of frames to skip before each roundrobin step roundrobin_switchfilter Values: on/off Default: off Description: Filter out noise generated by roundrobin netcam_url Values: User specified string Default: None Description: Full connection URL string to use to connect to a network camera. In addition to standard camera protocols, the following prefixes are added by the Motion application. ftp:// mjpg:// mjpeg:// file:// v4l2:// The connection string is camera specific. It is usually the same as what other video playing applications would use to connect to the camera stream. netcam_params Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: User specified parameters for the network camera. netcam_high_url Values: User specified string Default: None Description: Full connection URL string to use to connect to a high resolution network camera. The URL must provide a stream of images instead of only a static image. The following prefixes are recognized rtsp:// rtmp:// The connection string is camera specific. It is usually the same as what other video playing applications would use to connect to the camera stream. Motion currently only supports basic authentication for the cameras. Di- gest is not currently supported. Basic authentication can be specified in the URL or via the netcam_userpass option. netcam_high_params Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: User specified parameters for the network camera. netcam_userpass Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: The user id and password required to access the network camera string. Only basic authentication is supported at this time. Format is in user:password format when both a user name and password are required. width Values: Dependent upon video device Default: 640 Description: Image width in pixels for the video device. height Values: Dependent upon video device Default: 480 Description: Image height in pixels for the video device framerate Values: 2 - 100 Default: 15 Description: The maximum number of frames to capture in 1 second. The default of 100 will normally be limited by the capabili- ties of the video device. Typical video devices have a maximum rate of 30. minimum_frame_time Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: The minimum time in seconds between capturing picture frames from the camera. The default of 0 disables this option and relies upon the capture rate of the camera. This option is used when you want to capture images at a rate lower than 2 per second. rotate Values: 0, 90, 180, 270 Default: 0 Description: Rotate image this number of degrees. The rotation af- fects all saved images as well as movies. flip_axis Values: none, v, h Default: none Description: Flip the images vertically or horizontally. The flip af- fects all saved images as well as movies. locate_motion_mode Values: on/off/preview Default: off Description: When specified as 'on', locate and draw a box around the moving object. When set 'preview', only draw a box in preview_shot pictures. locate_motion_style Values: box : Draw traditional box around the part of the image generating the motion redbox : Draw a red box around the part of the image gen- erating the motion cross : Draw a cross on the part of the image generating the motion redcross : Draw a red cross on the part of the image gen- erating the motion Default: box Description: When locate_motion_mode is enable, this option specifies how the motion will be indicated on the image. text_left Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: Text to place in lower left corner of image. Format specifiers follow C function strftime(3) text_right Values: User specified string Default: %Y-%m-%d\n%T Description: Text to place in lower right corner of image. Format specifiers follow C function strftime(3) text_changes Values: on/off Default: off Description: When specified, draw the number of changed pixed on the images. This option will normally be set to off except when you setup and adjust the motion settings. The text is placed in upper right corner of the image. text_scale Values: 1 to 10 Default: 1 Description: The scale at which to draw text over the image. text_event Values: User specified string Default: %Y%m%d%H%M%S Description: Define the value of the special event conversion speci- fier %C. The user can use any conversion specifier in this option except %C. Date and time values are from the timestamp of the first image in the current event. The %C can be used filenames and text_left/right for creating a unique identifier for each event. emulate_motion Values: on/off Default: off Description: Always save images even if there was no motion. pause Values: on/off Default: off Description: When Motion is started, pause the motion detection. threshold Values: 1 to unlimited Default: 1500 Description: Threshold for number of changed pixels in an image that triggers motion detection threshold_maximum Values: 0, 1 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: Maximum of changed pixels in an image that triggers mo- tion detection. A value of zero disables this option. threshold_tune Values: on/off Default: off Description: Automatically tune the threshold down if possible. noise_level Values: 1 to unlimited Default: 32 Description: Noise threshold for the motion detection. noise_tune Values: on/off Default: on Description: Automatically tune the noise threshold despeckle_filter Values: e/E : erode d/D : dilate l : label Default: Not defined Description: Despeckle motion image using (e)rode or (d)ilate or (l)abel. The recommended value is EedDl. Any combination (and number of) of E, e, d, and D is valid. (l)abeling must only be used once and the 'l' must be the last let- ter. Comment out to disable area_detect Values: 1 to 9 Default: Not Defined Description: When motion is detected in the predefined areas indicated below, trigger the script indicated by the on_area_de- tected. The trigger is only activated once during an event. one or more areas can be specified with this op- tion. Note that this option is only used to trigger the indicated script. It does not limit all motion detection events to only the area indicated. Image Areas 123 456 789 mask_file Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: When particular area should be ignored for motion, it can be accomplished using a PGM mask file. The PGM mask file is a specially constructed mask file that allows the user to indicate the areas for which motion should be moni- tored. This option specifies the full path and name for the mask file. mask_privacy Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The PGM mask file is a specially constructed mask file that allows the user to indicate the areas to remove from all images. This option specifies the full path and name for the privacy mask file. smart_mask_speed Values: 0 to 10 Default: 0 (off) Description: Speed of mask changes when creating a dynamic mask file. lightswitch_percent Values: 0 to 100 Default: 0 Description: Ignore sudden massive light intensity changes. Triggers when the percentage of the picture area that changed in- tensity is greater than this value. lightswitch_frames Values: 1 to 1000 Default: 5 Description: Number of frames to ignore when lightswitch has been triggered. minimum_motion_frames Values: 1 to unlimited Default: 1 Description: The minimum number of picture frames in a row that must contain motion before a event is triggered. The default of 1 means that all motion is detected. The recommended range is 1 to 5. event_gap Values: -1 to unlimited Default: 60 Description: The number of seconds of no motion that triggers the end of an event. An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short timeframe. The recommended value is 60 seconds. The value -1 is allowed and dis- ables events causing all Motion to be written to one sin- gle movie file and no pre_capture. If set to 0, motion is running in gapless mode. Movies don't have gaps any- more. An event ends right after no more motion is de- tected and post_capture is over. pre_capture Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: The number of pre-captured (buffered) pictures from be- fore motion was detected that will be output upon motion detection. The recommended range is 0 to 5. It is not recommended to use large values since it will cause Mo- tion to skip frames. To smooth movies use larger values of post_capture instead. post_capture Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: Number of frames to capture after motion is no longer de- tected. Script Options on_event_start, on_event_end, on_picture_save on_motion_detected, on_area_detected, on_movie_start on_movie_end, on_camera_lost, on_camera_found Values: User defined string Default: Not defined Description: Specify the full path and file name for the script to ex- ecute when the indicated event occurs. When a file name is required for the script, append a %f to the script string. picture_output Values: on, off, first, best, center Default: off Description: Output pictures when motion is detected. When set to 'first', only the first picture of an event is saved. Picture with most motion of an event is saved when set to 'best'. Picture with motion nearest center of picture is saved when set to 'center'. Can be used as preview shot for the corresponding movie. picture_output_motion Values: on/off Default: off Description: Output pictures with only the pixels moving object (ghost images) picture_type Values: jpeg/ppm/webp/grey Default: jpeg Description: The file type of output images picture_quality Values: 1 to 100 Default: 75 Description: The quality (in percent) to be used by the jpeg and webp compression picture_exif Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: Text to include in a JPEG EXIF comment picture_filename Values: User specified string Default: %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S-%q Description: The file path for motion triggered images (jpeg, ppm or webp) relative to target_dir. The file extension .jpg, .ppm or .webp is automatically added so do not include this. Set to 'preview' together with best-preview fea- ture enables special naming convention for preview shots. This option accepts the conversion specifiers included at the end of this manual. snapshot_interval Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: When specified as 0, the snapshot feature is disabled. When a value is specified, the value indicates the number of seconds between snapshots. snapshot_filename Values: User specified string Default: %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S-snapshot Description: The file path for snapshots relative to target_dir. The file extension .jpg, .ppm or .webp is automatically added so do not include this. A symbolic link called last- snap.jpg created in the target_dir will always point to the latest snapshot, unless snapshot_filename is exactly 'lastsnap' This option accepts the conversion specifiers included at the end of this manual. movie_output Values: on/off Default: on Description: Use ffmpeg to encode movies of the motion. movie_output_motion Values: on/off Default: off Description: Use ffmpeg to encode movies with only the pixels moving object (ghost images) movie_max_time Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 120 Description: Maximum length in seconds of a movie. When value is ex- ceeded a new movie file is created. The value of 0 means that there is no limit. movie_bps Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 400000 Description: Bitrate to be used by the ffmpeg encoder. This option is ignored if movie_quality is not 0. movie_quality Values: 0 to 100 Default: 60 Description: Enable and define the variable bitrate for the ffmpeg en- coder. movie_bps is ignored if variable bitrate is en- abled. When specified as 0, use the fixed bitrate de- fined by movie_bps. When defined as 1 - 100 varies the quality of the movie. A value of 1 is worst quality ver- sus a value of 100 is best quality. movie_codec Values: Motion videos: mpeg4 - Creates .avi file msmpeg4 - Creates .avi file swf - Flash film with extension .swf flv - Flash video with extension .flv ffv1 - FF video codec 1 for Lossless Encoding mov - QuickTime mp4 - MPEG-4 Part 14 H264 encoding mkv - Matroska H264 encoding hevc - H.265 / HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) Default: mkv Description: For regular motion videos, the container/codec must be available in the ffmpeg installed on the computer. movie_duplicate_frames Values: on/off Default: off Description: When creating videos, should frames be duplicated in or- der to keep up with the requested frames per second movie_passthrough Values: on/off Default: off Description: When using a rtsp camera, make movies without decoding the stream. movie_filename Values: User specified string Default: %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S Description: File path for motion triggered ffmpeg films (movies) rel- ative to target_dir. The extensions(.swf, .avi, etc) are automatically added so do not include them This option accepts the conversion specifiers included at the end of this manual. movie_extpipe_use Values: on/off Default: off Description: Use the external pipe in order to encode videos. This is a replacement option for the FFMPEG builtin encoder for movie_output only. The options movie_filename and time- lapse_filename are also used from the ffmpeg feature movie_extpipe Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: Command line string to receive and process a pipe of im- ages to encode. Generally, use '-' for STDIN timelapse_interval Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: Number of seconds between frame captures for a timelapse movie. Specify 0 to disable the timelapse. timelapse_mode Values: hourly daily weekly-sunday weekly-monday monthly manual Default: daily Description: File rollover mode for the timelapse video. timelapse_fps Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 30 Description: Frames per second used for playback of the timelapse video. timelapse_codec Values: mpg - Creates mpg file with mpeg-2 encoding. mpeg4 - Creates avi file with the default encoding. Default: mpg Description: For mpg timelapse videos, if motion is shutdown and restarted, new pics will be appended to any previously created file with name indicated for timelapse. For mpeg4 timelapse videos, if motion is shutdown and restarted, new pics will create a new file with the name indicated for timelapse. timelapse_filename Values: User specified string Default: %Y%m%d-timelapse Description: File path for timelapse movies relative to target_dir. The file extensions(.mpg .avi) are automatically added so do not include them This option accepts the conversion specifiers included at the end of this manual. video_pipe Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: Output images to a video4linux loopback device. video_pipe_motion Values: User specified string Default: Not Defined Description: Output motion images to a video4linux loopback device. webcontrol_port Values: 0 to maximum port number Default: 0 Description: Port number for the web control / preview page. webcontrol_ipv6 Values: on/off Default: off Description: Listen to IPv6 localhost instead of IPv4. This option is also applicable for all streams. webcontrol_localhost Values: on/off Default: on Description: Restrict control connections to localhost only webcontrol_parms Values: 0 = No parameters available to change on web control 1 = Limited list of parameters available to change 2 = Advanced list of parameters (usually requires restart to become effective) 3 = Restricted list of parameters (User IDs, passwords, commands to execute, etc) Default: 0 Description: The type of parameters that are able to be modified via the web interface. This parameter can never be modified via the web interface and must be specified directly in the configuration file. webcontrol_interface Values: 0-2 Default: 0 Description: Specified the web control interface type. 0=css, 1=text, 2=legacy webcontrol_auth_method Values: 0 = disabled 1 = Basic authentication 2 = MD5 digest (the safer authentication) Default: 0 Description: The authentication method to use for the webcontrol. webcontrol_authentication Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The username and password to use for authentication of the webcontrol. The format is Username:Password webcontrol_tls Values: on/off Default: off Description: When specified as on, use SSL/TLS for the webcontrol. webcontrol_cert Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The full path to the SSL certification file for webcon- trol webcontrol_key Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The full path to the SSL key file for webcontrol webcontrol_header_params Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The comma separated header=value pairs to use for the we- bcontrol responses. webcontrol_lock_attempts Values: integer Default: 5 Description: The number of failed authentication attempts before IP is locked out. webcontrol_lock_minutes Values: integer Default: 5 Description: The number of minutes a failed authentication IP is locked out. webcontrol_lock_max_ips Values: integer Default: 5 Description: The maximum number of concurrent IPs that can be locked out. stream_port Values: 0 to port number limit Default: 0 Description: This option is the port number that the mini-http server listens on for streams of the pictures. stream_localhost Values: on/off Default: on Description: Restrict stream connections to localhost only stream_auth_method Values: 0 = disabled 1 = Basic authentication 2 = MD5 digest (the safer authentication) Default: 0 Description: The authentication method to use for viewing the stream. stream_authentication Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The username and password to use for authentication of the stream. The format is Username:Password stream_tls Values: on/off Default: off Description: When specified as on, use SSL/TLS for the stream port. stream_header_params Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The comma separated header=value pairs to send for the stream responses. stream_preview_scale Values: 1 to 100 Default: 25 Description: This defines what percentage the stream image should be scaled to for the preview page stream_preview_newline Values: on/off Default: off Description: When the image is put on the preview page, should the im- age start on a new line. This option allows the user to specify whether the preview images should be side by side or stacked on the page. stream_preview_method Values: 0 to 2 Default: 0 Description: Method to display images on webcontrol page. 0=Full, 1=Substream, 2=Static stream_quality Values: 1 to 100 Default: 50 Description: The quality in percent for the jpg images streamed. stream_grey Values: on/off Default: off Description: Send the live stream of the camera in grey (black and white) instead of color. stream_maxrate Values: 1 to unlimited Default: 1 Description: Maximum frame rate to send to stream stream_motion Values: on,off Default: off Description: Limit stream to 1 fps when no motion is being detected. database_type Values: mysql, mariadb, postgresql, sqlite3 Default: Not defined Description: The type of database being used. database_dbname Values: User defined string Default: Not defined Description: The name of the database being used (dbname). For SQLite3, the full path to the database. database_host Values: User defined string Default: localhost Description: The hostname, DNS name, or IP address at which the data- base is running. Optionally for PostgreSQL, full path of the local directory containing its Unix domain pipe. For SQLite3, ignored. database_port Values: 0 to maximum port number Default: Not defined Description: TCP port number used for database access. For SQLite3, ignored. Default ports used by DBMSs: MySQL & MariaDB, 3306; PostgreSQL, 5432. database_user Values: User defined string Default: Not Defined Description: The username to access the database. For SQLite3, ig- nored. database_password Values: User defined string Default: Not Defined Description: The database password for the user to access the data- base. For SQLite3, ignored. database_busy_timeout Values: 0 to unlimited Default: 0 Description: SQLite3 only: database wait time in milliseconds for locked database to be unlocked before returning database locked error sql_log_picture Values: on/off Default: off Description: Log to the database when creating motion triggered pic- ture file sql_log_snapshot Values: on/off Default: off Description: Log to the database when creating a snapshot image file sql_log_movie Values: on/off Default: off Description: Log to the database when creating motion triggered movie file sql_log_timelapse Values: on/off Default: off Description: Log to the database when creating timelapse movies file sql_query Values: User defined string Default: Not defined Description: SQL statement to execute when Motion saves an image file or begins recording a movie and the corresponding file type's sql_log_* configuration option is set on. Use same conversion specifiers as for text features. Addi- tional special conversion specifiers are: %n = the number representing the file_type %f = filename with full path Sample table set up (not sql_query): Mysql: CREATE TABLE security (camera INTEGER NOT NULL, filename CHAR(80) NOT NULL, frame INTEGER, file_type INTEGER NOT NULL, time_stamp DATETIME NOT NULL, text_event CHAR(255)); Postgresql: CREATE TABLE security (camera INTEGER NOT NULL, filename VARCHAR NOT NULL, frame INTE- GER, file_type INTEGER NOT NULL, time_stamp TIME- STAMP NOT NULL, text_event VARCHAR); Sample sql_query INSERT INTO security(camera, filename, frame, file_type, time_stamp, text_event) VALUES(%t, '%f', %q, %n, '%Y-%m-%d %T', '%C') sql_query_start Values: User defined string Default: Not defined Description: SQL statement to execute at the start of a motion event. When the related table schema (and, for PostgreSQL, a RE- TURNING clause included in this statement) provide for it, the database generates a table-unique event ID that is returned and substituted for the %{dbeventid} conver- sion specifier. When no valid value is returned, %{dbeventid} is replaced by zero. sql_query_stop Values: User defined string Default: Not defined Description: SQL statement to execute upon closure of a motion event movie or timelapse movie file, provided the corresponding file type's sql_log_* configuration option is set on. track_type Values: 0 = none 1 = stepper 2 = iomojo 3 = pwc 4 = generic 5 = uvcvideo 6 = servo Default: 0 Description: This option specifies the type of tracker. The generic type enables the definition of motion center and motion size to be used with the conversion specifiers for op- tions like on_motion_detected track_auto Values: on/off Default: off Description: Enables/disables the automatic tracking. track_port Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: The serial port of the motor. For example /dev/ttyS0 Tracking options track_motorx, track_motorx_reverse, track_motory, track_motory_reverse track_maxx, track_minx, track_maxy, track_miny, track_homex, track_homey track_iomojo_id, track_step_angle_x, track_step_angle_y, track_move_wait track_speed, track_stepsize Values: device dependent Default: 0 Description: These options specify the parameters for cameras with tracking capabilities. track_generic_move Values: User specified string Default: Not defined Description: Full path and file name for the script to execute to move a camera in generic tracking mode. SIGNALS Motion responds to the following signals: SIGHUP The config file will be reread. SIGTERM If needed motion will create an movie file of the last event and exit SIGUSR1 Motion will create an movie file of the current event. NOTES Snapshot A snapshot is a picture taken at regular intervals independently of any movement in the picture. Motion image A "motion" image/movie shows the pixels that have actually changed during the last frames. These pictures are not very use- ful for normal presentation to the public but they are quite useful for testing and tuning and making mask files as you can see exactly where motion sees something moving. Motion is shown in greytones. If labelling is enabled the largest area is marked as blue. Smart mask is shown in read. Normal image A "normal" image is the real image taken by the camera with text overlayed. Cameras and config files If Motion was invoked with command line option -c pathname Mo- tion will expect the config file to be as specified. When you specify the config file on the command line with -c you can call it anything. If you do not specify -c or the filename you give Motion does not exist, Motion will search for the configuration file called 'motion.conf' in the following order: 1. Current directory from where motion was invoked 2. Then in a directory called '.motion' in the current users home directory (shell environment variable $HOME). E.g. /home/goofy/.motion/motion.conf 3. The motion/ subdirectory inside the directory defined by the --sysconfdir=DIR when running .configure during installation of Motion (If this option was not defined the default is /usr/lo- cal/etc/) If you have write access to /usr/local/etc/motion then the edi- tor recommends having only one motion.conf file in the default /usr/local/etc/motion directory. Motion has a configuration file in the distribution package called motion-dist.conf. When you run 'make install' this files gets copied to the /usr/local/etc/motion directory. The configuration file needs to be renamed from motion-dist.conf to motion.conf. The original file is called motion-dist.conf so that your perfectly working motion.conf file does not acciden- tally get overwritten when you re-install or upgrade to a newer version of Motion. If you have more than one camera you should not try and invoke Motion more times. Motion is made to work with more than one camera in a very elegant way and the way to do it is to create a number of camera config files. Motion will then create an extra thread of itself for each camera. If you only have one camera you only need the motion.conf file. The minute you have two or more cameras you must have one camera config file per camera be- sides the motion.conf file. So if you have for example two cameras you need motion.conf and two camera config files. Total of 3 config files. An option that is common to all cameras can be placed in mo- tion.conf. (You can also put all parameters in the camera files but that makes a lot of editing when you change a common thing). An option that is unique to a camera must be defined in each camera file. The first camera is defined in the first camera file called from motion.conf. The 2nd camera is defined in the 2nd camera file called from motion.conf etc. Any option defined in motion.conf will be used for all cameras except for the cameras in which the same option is defined in a camera config file. Motion reads its configuration parameters in the following se- quence. If the same parameter exists more than one place the last one read wins. 1. Motion reads the configuration file motion.conf from the be- ginning of the file going down line by line. 2. If the option "camera" is defined in motion.conf, the camera configuration file(s) is/(are) read. 3. Motion continues reading the rest of the motion.conf file. Any options from here will overrule the same option previously defines in a camera config file. 4. Motion reads the command line option again overruling any previously defined options. So always call the camera config files in the end of the mo- tion.conf file. If you define options in motion.conf AFTER the camera file calls, the same options in the camera files will never be used. So always put the camera file call at the end of motion.conf. If motion is built without specific features such as ffmpeg, mysql etc it will ignore the options that belongs to these fea- tures. You do not have to remove them or comment them out. If you run the http control command http://host:port/0/con- fig/writeyes, motion will overwrite motion.conf and all the cam- era.conf files by autogenerated config files neatly formatted and only with the features included that Motion was built with. If you later re-build Motion with more features or upgrade to a new version, you can use your old config files, run the mo- tion.conf.write command, and you will have new config files with the new options included all set to their default values. This makes upgrading very easy to do. Conversion Specifiers for Advanced Filename and Text Features The table below shows all the supported Conversion Specifiers you can use in the options text_left, text_right, snapshot_file- name, jpeg_filename, ffmpeg_filename, timelapse_filename, on_event_start, on_event_end, on_picture_save, on_movie_start, on_movie_end, and on_motion_detected. In text_left and text_right you can additionally use '\n' for new line. %a The abbreviated weekday name according to the current locale. %A The full weekday name according to the current locale. %b The abbreviated month name according to the current locale. %B The full month name according to the current locale. %c The preferred date and time representation for the current lo- cale. %C Text defined by the text_event feature %d The day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 to 31). %D Number of pixels detected as Motion. If labelling is enabled the number is the number of pixels in the largest labelled motion area. %E Modifier: use alternative format, see below. %f File name - used in the on_picture_save, on_movie_start, on_movie_end, and sql_query features. %F Equivalent to %Y-%m-%d (the ISO 8601 date format). %h The height of the image. %H The hour as a decimal number using a 24-hour clock (range 00 to 23). %i Width of the rectangle containing the motion pixels (the rectan- gle that is shown on the image when locate is on). %I The hour as a decimal number using a 12-hour clock (range 01 to 12). %j The day of the year as a decimal number (range 001 to 366). %J Height of the rectangle containing the motion pixels (the rec- tangle that is shown on the image when locate is on). %k The hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (range 0 to 23); single digits are preceded by a blank. (See also %H.) %K X coordinate in pixels of the center point of motion. Origin is upper left corner. %l The hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (range 1 to 12); single digits are preceded by a blank. (See also %I.) %L Y coordinate in pixels of the center point of motion. Origin is upper left corner and number is positive moving downwards (I may change this soon). %m The month as a decimal number (range 01 to 12). %M The minute as a decimal number (range 00 to 59). %n Filetype as used in the on_picture_save, on_movie_start, on_movie_end, and sql_query features. %N Noise level. %o Threshold. The number of detected pixels required to trigger mo- tion. When threshold_tune is 'on' this can be used to show the current tuned value of threshold. %p Either 'AM' or 'PM' according to the given time value, or the corresponding strings for the current locale. Noon is treated as `pm' and midnight as `am'. %P Like %p but in lowercase: `am' or `pm' or a corresponding string for the current locale. %q Picture frame number within current second. For jpeg filenames this should always be included in the filename if you save more then 1 picture per second to ensure unique filenames. It is not needed in filenames for mpegs. %Q Number of detected labels found by the despeckle feature %r The time in a.m. or p.m. notation. %R The time in 24-hour notation (%H:%M). %s The number of seconds since the Epoch, i.e., since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. %S The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 61). %t Camera ID number %T The time in 24-hour notation (%H:%M:%S). %u The day of the week as a decimal, range 1 to 7, Monday being 1. See also %w. %U The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 00 to 53, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of week 01. See also %V and %W. %v Event number. An event is a series of motion detections happen- ing with less than 'gap' seconds between them. %V The ISO 8601:1988 week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 01 to 53, where week 1 is the first week that has at least 4 days in the current year, and with Monday as the first day of the week. See also %U and %W. %w The day of the week as a decimal, range 0 to 6, Sunday being 0. See also %u. %W The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 00 to 53, starting with the first Monday as the first day of week 01. %x The preferred date representation for the current locale without the time. %X The preferred time representation for the current locale without the date. %y The year as a decimal number without a century (range 00 to 99). %Y The year as a decimal number including the century. %z The time-zone as hour offset from GMT. %Z The time zone or name or abbreviation. %$ The camera name. %{host} The computer host name %{fps} The frame per seconds. %{dbeventid} The id number returned from mysql_insert_id. %{ver} The version number of Motion. More information Motion homepage: https://motion-project.github.io/ Motion Guide (user and installation guide): AUTHORS Jeroen Vreeken (pe1rxq@amsat.org), Folkert van Heusden, Kenneth Lavrsen (kenneth@lavrsen.dk), Juan Angulo Moreno <juan@apuntale.com>, the mo- tion-project team, and many others Motion 2020-10-19 MOTION(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | SIGNALS | NOTES | AUTHORS
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