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NAME

       grandfatherclock - report time acoustically

SYNOPSIS

       grandfatherclock  [-v]  [-f  config-file] [-l lock-file] [-q] [-t HHMM]
       [-c play-command] [-a device] [-g gain] [-p toll-count] [-d  audio-dir]
       [-1  audio-file]  [-2  audio-file]  [-3 audio-file] [-4 audio-file] [-h
       audio-file]

DESCRIPTION

       grandfatherclock plays audio files to sound the nearest hour or quarter
       as directed.  Command line arguments and an optional configuration file
       determine the location of the audio files, and  the  commands  to  play
       them.   The  file  is  usually executed every hour or quarter hour by a
       cron(1) job.

OPTIONS

       Options are set by reading an  optional  configuration  file  and  then
       modifying  options  set  by  command  line arguments.  No more than one
       configuration file is read.  The configuration file name is  the  first
       of: the one named in the command line, the one named in the environment
       variable, the first readable one named in the FILES section.

       -f file
              Specify a configuration file to read.

       -l file
              Specify a lock file whose presence inhibits execution.

       -v     Report debugging information.

       -q     Sound the nearest quarter hour.

       -a device-address
              AUDIO_DEVICE Write the audio files to this device.

       -g gain-float
              PLAY_GAIN Set an overall  gain  available  as  %g  in  the  play
              command.

       -p toll-count
              PAUSE_BETWEEN_TOLLS If nonzero, after each count of tolls, pause
              for an additional second.

       -c shell-command
              PLAY_COMMAND This shell command plays the  audio  file  %f  with
              gain %g to device %a.

       -d directory
              AUDIO_DIRECTORY The relative addresses among the audio files are
              relative to this directory.

       -1 file
              Q1_FILE Play this file at the first quarter of the hour.

       -2 file
              Q2_FILE Play this file at the half hour.

       -3 file
              Q3_FILE Play this file at the third quarter of the hour.

       -4 file
              Q4_FILE Play this file at the hour.

       -h file
              TOLL_FILE Play this file for each toll.

EXAMPLES

       grandfatherclock -?
              Display the latest options, keys, and defaults.

       grandfatherclock -q
              Play the nearest quarter hour and toll the hour if  appropriate.

       grandfatherclock -p 4
              Toll the hour with a pause between each 4 tolls.

       crontab -e
              (Add) 0,15,30,45 * * * * grandfatherclock -q
              Emulate a grandfather clock.

ENVIRONMENT

       GRANDFATHERCLOCKRC
              If  set,  read  the  configuration from this file.  Command line
              arguments override the settings in this file.

FILES

       $HOME/.grandfatherclockrc
              Personal configuration file

       /etc/grandfatherclockrc
              System wide configuration file

SEE ALSO

       crontab(1), crontab(5)

COPYRIGHT

       grandfatherclock is Copyright (C) 2000 by Dr. Robert J. Meier
       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under  the  terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at  your
       option) any later version.
       This  program  is  distributed  in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT  ANY  WARRANTY;  without   even   the   implied   warranty   of
       MERCHANTABILITY  or  FITNESS  FOR  A  PARTICULAR  PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.
       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.