Brick Daemon (brickd) – Tinkerforge

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    - Requirements
    - Installation
      - Windows
      - Linux
      - Mac OS X
    - Logging
    - Configuration
      - WebSockets
      - Authentication
    - Checking Installed Version
    - Commandline Options
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# Brick Daemon (brickd)

The Brick Daemon is a daemon (or service on Windows) that acts as a bridge between the Bricks/Bricklets and the API bindings for the different programming languages.

The daemon routes data between the USB connections and TCP/IP sockets. When using the API bindings a TCP/IP connection to the daemon is established. This concepts allows the creation of bindings for almost every language without any dependencies. Therefore it is possible to program Bricks and Bricklets from embedded devices that only support specific languages, such as smart phones.

Additionally it is possible to separate the machine running the Brick Daemon from the machine running the user code. This allows e.g. a Brick connected to a PC to be controlled from a smart phone or over the Internet from another PC.

## Requirements

- Windows XP or newer
- Linux with libusb 1.0 or newer
- Mac OS X 10.8 or newer

## Installation

- Windows
- Linux
- Mac OS X

## Logging

By default Brick Daemon logs messages about information, warnings and errors. This includes basic information about USB hotplug and TCP/IP connections.

- Windows: Log messages are reported in the Windows Event Log. You can use the `logviewer.exe` tool (part of the brickd installation) to view the Windows Event Log filtered for brickd messages.
- Linux and Mac OS X: Log messages are written to `/var/log/brickd.log`.

If the default logging configuration has not enough details to debug a problem then there is the debug level log. This is not enable by default because it drastically increases the mount of log messages and can have an impact on the packet routing performance of brickd.

- Windows: The `logviewer.exe` tool also includes a Live Debug Log view that connects to the currently running brickd and displays a full debug log.

## Configuration

The Brick Daemon configuration is stored in a file using a key-value format:

- Windows: The configuration file is called `brickd.ini` and stored in the Brick Daemon installation directory:

      C:\Program Files\Tinkerforge\Brickd\brickd.ini

- Linux and Mac OS X: The configuration file is called `brickd.conf` and stored in:

      /etc/brickd.conf

After changing the configuration file Brick Daemon has to be restarted to pick up the changes:

- Windows:

  Open the "Computer Management", navigate to the "Services" section and restart the Brick Daemon service.

- Linux:

      sudo /etc/init.d/brickd restart

- Mac OS X:

      sudo launchctl stop com.tinkerforge.brickd
      sudo launchctl start com.tinkerforge.brickd

If there are errors in the configuration file then Brick Daemon will report them in the log.

### WebSockets

WebSockets are supported since Brick Daemon version 2.1.0 , but disabled by default. To enable it you have to configure the WebSocket port in the Brick Daemon configuration file.

The WebSocket port option has `listen.websocket_port` as key. An value of 0 or removing the `listen.websocket_port` key disables the WebSocket support. Here is the WebSocket part of an example configuration using the recommended value 4280 as WebSocket port:

>     listen.websocket_port = 4280

Afterwards Brick Daemon has to be restarted to pick up the configuration change. Now the browser version of the JavaScript bindings can connect to Brick Daemon and control Bricks and Bricklets.

Note

As WebSockets basically allow any website in your browser to connect to your Bricks and Bricklets we recommended that you use authentication in combination with WebSockets.

### Authentication

Authentication is supported since Brick Daemon version 2.1.0, but disabled by default. To enable it you have to configure an authentication secret in the Brick Daemon configuration file.

The authentication secret can be 64 ASCII characters long and has `authentication.secret` as key. An empty value or removing the `authentication.secret` key disables authentication. Here is the authentication part of an example configuration using `My Authentication Secret!` as secret:

    authentication.secret = My Authentication Secret!

Afterwards Brick Daemon has to be restarted to pick up the configuration change. Now every TCP/IP connection to the Brick Daemon has to prove that it knows the authentication secret before normal communication can occur. See the authentication tutorial for more information.

## Checking Installed Version

Since Brick Daemon version 1.0.8 you can check which Brick Daemon is currently installed with the --version commandline argument:

- Windows:

      "C:\Program Files\Tinkerforge\Brickd\brickd.exe" --version

- Linux:

      brickd --version

- Mac OS X:

      /usr/libexec/brickd.app/Contents/MacOS/brickd --version

## Commandline Options

Common:

- `--help` shows help and exits
- `--version` shows version number and exits
- `--check-config` checks config file for errors
- `--debug` sets all log levels to debug
- `--libusb-debug` sets libusb log level to debug

Windows only:

- `--install` registers Brick Daemon as service and start it
- `--uninstall` stops service and unregister it
- `--console` forces start as console application
- `--log-to-file` writes log messages to a file

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