Ushare - UPnP Media Server for Linux
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Contents
Introduction
uShare[1][2] is a Upnp (TM) A/V Media Server based on GmediaServer[3]. It implements the server component that provides UPnP media devices with information on available multimedia files. uShare uses the built-in http server of libupnp to stream the files to clients. uShare is written for the GeeXboX[4] project. It is designed to provide access to multimedia contents to GeeXboX but can of course be used by any other UPnP client device. It should compile and run on any modern POSIX compatible system such as Linux. uShare is free software - it is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Supported File Formats List
- Video files : asf, avi, dv, divx, wmv, mjpg, mjpeg, mpeg, mpg, mpe, mp2p, vob, mp2t, m1v, m2v, m4v, m4p, mp4ps, ts, ogm, mkv, rmvb, mov, qt
- Audio files : ac, ac3, aif, aiff, at3p, au, snd, dts, rmi, mp1, mp2, mp3, mp4, mpa, ogg, wav, pcm, lpcm, l16, wma, mka, ra, rm, ram
- Image files : bmp, ico, gif, jpeg, jpg, jpe, pcd, png, pnm, ppm, qti, qtf, qtif, tif, tiff
- Playlist files : pls, m3u, asx
- Subtitle files : dks, idx, mpl, pjs, psb, scr, srt, ssa, stl, sub, tts, vsf, zeg
- Various text files : bup, ifo
Supported Devices
- Xbox 360
- D-Link DSM-320
- Roku SoundBridge M2000 Network Music Player devices
- and others
Installation
The following UPnP library is required to build and run uShare: Linux SDK for UPnP Devices (libupnp), 1.3.1 or later [5]
OpenLink - Ipkg (PowerPC)
- Install Ipkg on the Linkstation (for end-users) and enable the NSLU2 Feed: Ipkg Package List: PowerPC
- Install ushare
ipkg install ushare
Compile from Source
- Install the Precompiled C development environment, running on the LS
- Then get the source files install them
wget http://ushare.geexbox.org/releases/ushare-0.9.7.tar.bz2 wget http://ovh.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/upnp/libupnp-1.3.1.tar.gz
Configure, make and install libupnp1.3.1
tar -xvzf libupnp-1.3.1.tar.gz cd libupnp-1.3.1 ./configure make make install
Then configure, make and install ushare
tar -xvjf ushare-0.9.7.tar.bz2 cd ushare-0.9.7 ./configure make make install
Configuration
At first you need to be sure that you have setup a multicast route for UPnP messages. If you don't but have a default route attributed, then this later will be used. Otherwise, simply declare a new route for UPnP multicasts (for example using eth0 interface) :
route add -net 239.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 eth0
To complete the installation, you must edit /etc/ushare.conf to add the location(s) of your media files.
# /etc/ushare.conf # Configuration file for uShare # uShare UPnP Friendly Name (default is 'uShare'). USHARE_NAME= # Interface to listen to (default is eth0). # Ex : USHARE_IFACE=eth1 USHARE_IFACE= # Port to listen to (default is random from IANA Dynamic Ports range) # Ex : USHARE_PORT=49200 USHARE_PORT=49200 # Directories to be shared (space or CSV list). # Ex: USHARE_DIR=/dir1,/dir2 USHARE_DIR=
Then you can create a start/stop script
#!/bin/sh ### BEGIN INIT INFO # Required-Start: $local_fs $syslog # Required-Stop: # Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 # Default-Stop: 0 1 6 # Short-Description: start and stop ushare # Description: ### END INIT INFO PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/ushare NAME=ushare DESC="uShare UPnP A/V Media Server" PIDFILE=/var/run/ushare.pid [ -r "/etc/ushare.conf" ] && . /etc/ushare.conf # abort if no executable exists [ -x $DAEMON ] || exit 0 # abort if no shared directory is defined [ -z "$USHARE_DIR" ] && exit 0 set -e checkpid() { [ -e $PIDFILE ] || touch $PIDFILE } case "$1" in start) echo -n "Starting $DESC: $NAME" checkpid start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --background --oknodo \ --make-pidfile --pidfile $PIDFILE \ --exec $DAEMON -- $USHARE_OPTIONS echo "." ;; stop) echo -n "Stopping $DESC: $NAME" start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 2 --quiet --oknodo --pidfile $PIDFILE echo "." ;; reload|force-reload) echo -n "Reloading $DESC: $NAME" start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --oknodo --pidfile $PIDFILE --e$ echo "." ;; reload|force-reload) echo -n "Reloading $DESC: $NAME" start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --oknodo --pidfile $PIDFILE --e$ echo "." ;; restart) $0 stop $1 start ;; *) N=/etc/init.d/$NAME echo "Usage: $N {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}" >&2 exit 2 ;; esac exit 0
Run at Startup
And run the following to have it startup and stop on system start/shutdown
cd /etc/rc.d/rc2.d ln -s ../init.d/ushare S99ushare cd ../rc0.d ln -s ../init.d/ushare K02ushare cd ../rc6.d ln -s ../init.d/ushare K02ushare
Usage
uShare runs from the console only. It supports the usual --help option which displays usage and option information.
Command Line Options
-n | --name=NAME | Set UPnP Friendly Name (default is 'uShare') |
-i | --interface=IFACE | Use IFACE Network Interface (default is 'eth0') |
-p | --port=PORT | Forces the HTTP server to run on PORT |
-c | --content=DIR | Share the content of DIR directory (default is './') |
-w | --no-web | Disable the control web page (enabled by default) |
-v | --verbose | Set verbose display. |
-D | --daemon | Run as a daemon. |
-V | --version | Display the version of uShare and exit |
-h | --help | Display this help |
uShare expects at least one directory argument (-c argument), specifying where multimedia files are stored. You should probably also use the -i option to specify which interface uShare should listen on.
ushare -i eth0 -c /shares
Web Interface
![]() After starting ushare you can go to the web interface to manage it's shares: http://linkstation:49200/web/ushare.html |
References
- ↑ GeeXboX uShare : A free UPnP A/V Media Server for Linux.
- ↑ Ushare - GeeXboX wiki
- ↑ GMediaServer : the original Media Server on which uShare was based.
- ↑ GeeXboX : the Linux multimedia distribution that uses djmount to provide access to UPnP contents.
- ↑ SDK for UPnP Devices (libupnp): An Open Source UPnP Development Kit.
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