WRA(1) General Commands Manual WRA(1)
NAME
wra - web radio alarm
SYNOPSIS
wra [ -V | --version ] [ -v | --verbose | -d level | --debug=level ] [
-h | --help ] [ -p | --paths ] [ -n | --simulate ] [ -l | --list-sta-
tions ] [ -f file | --config-file=file ] { station | on time | off time
} ...
DESCRIPTION
Wra is a web radio alarm. It can be used to turn one of a number of web
radio stations on or off at specified times.
URLs for radio stations' streams are specified in wra's configuration
file.
Wra delegates the task of playing a stream to a media player (e.g.
mpv(1), vlc(1)), audacious(1)), according to rules written in wra's
configuration file.
On and off times are specified in the format hhmm or now. If an on
time is specified with hhmm, then audio will be faded in.
If station is specified, then it must match one of the IDs reported by
wra -l. It detemines the station that subsequent on time's turn on.
CONFIGURATION
When wra is first run it creates a symlink ~/.config/wra/wrarc pointing
to a read-only list of radio stations. The user is free to replace the
symlink with a read-write copy of the file that the symlink points to
and then edit the file. Reasons to do this include: changing the de-
fault player for a station; adding a station.
OPTIONS
-d level, --debug=level Determines how verbose this program will be.
The message types displayed for the different
values of level are as follows: 0 displays no
messages; 1 displays only errors, 2 displays
errors and warnings; 3 displays errors, warn-
ings and informational messages; higher values
display errors, warnings, informational mes-
sages and various messages intended for debug-
ging. The default is 2.
-h, --help Displays a brief usage message.
-p, --paths Lists the compiled-in paths of various files
and directories that this program uses.
-n, --simulate Some external commands that this program runs
may be displayed rather than actually exe-
cuted. BEWARE: different programs implement
different levels of simulation; so do not rely
on -n having no effect!
-v, --verbose Equivalent to -d 3.
-V, --version Prints the program's version number and exits.
-l, --list-stations List defined stations.
-f file, --config-file=file
Load an alternative configuration file.
EXIT STATUS
On success wra returns zero. On failure it returns non-zero and dis-
plays a diagnostic message.
FILES
~/.config/wra/wrarc
Default location of configuration file
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
WRA_DEFAULT_STATION
Specifies the radio station to play if no station has been spec-
ified on the command line.
EXAMPLES
Assuming WRA_DEFAULT_STATION has been set to one of the station IDs
listed it the output of wra -l, then the following command will start
the default station now:
wra on now
The following command wakes you up with BBC Radio 4 and sends you to
sleep with SomaFM's Drone Zone:
wra r4 on 0655 off 0755 drone on 2200 off 2300
CAVEATS
Wra is not suitable for crontabs (see crontab(5)) because Pulseaudio
(see pulseaudio(1)) depends on so many environment variables. Use
wra-cron(1) instead.
STANDARDS
This manual page documents version 4.99.0.4 of wra.
SEE ALSO
audacious(1), crontab(5), ffplay(1), mplayer(1), mpv(1), vlc(1),
pulseaudio(1)
AUTHOR
Alexis Huxley <alexishuxley@gmail.com>
COPYRIGHT & DISTRIBUTION POLICY
Copyright (C) 2003-2025 Alexis Huxley
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 MER-
CHANTABILITY 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.
8 Aug 2025 WRA(1)
