JACKD(1)

📦
version 1.9.22 · 17 versions
, in opensuse-leap 16.0

🎀 JACKD 🎀

ok so bestie, you've stumbled onto JACKD(1) — the manual page for jackd, and honestly? she's iconic. grab a boba, we're getting into it 💅

✨ NAME ✨

jackd — the JACK Audio Connection Kit sound server. that's the whole vibe. 💖

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

jackd [options] -d backend [backend-parameters]
jackd --help

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so jackd is the JACK audio server daemon, and what she does is let JACK client programs process and route audio and MIDI data in a synchronous, sample-accurate and low-latency way. like, she's not messy — she's precise. ✨

she was originally written for the GNU/Linux operating system, but she also runs on various Unix platforms, Mac OS X and MS Windows. versatile queen 👑

JACK can connect a number of different client applications to an audio device and also to each other. most clients are external — running in their own processes as normal applications. JACK also supports internal clients, which run within the jackd process using a loadable "plugin" interface. iykyk 🫶

JACK differs from other audio servers in being designed from the ground up for professional audio work. she focuses on two key areas: synchronous execution of all clients and low latency operation. main character energy, no cap. 🔥

fun lore moment: the name JACK makes a reference to the classical way of patching audio connections with physical audio jack cables. and it's also a recursive acronym — that's an abbreviation which is part of itself. JACK Audio Connection Kit. the way that she's literally named after herself 😭 iconic behavior

for the latest JACK info please consult the web site: <http://www.jackaudio.org/>. 💻

💅 OPTIONS 💅

okay this is the big one, stay with me bestie 🫶

  • -d, --driver backend [backend-parameters ] — select the audio interface backend. the current list of supported backends is: alsa, coreaudio, dummy, firewire, oss sun and portaudio. heads up, they're not all available on all platforms. all backend-parameters are optional.
  • -h, --help — print a brief usage message describing the main jackd options. these do not include backend-parameters, which are listed using the --help option for each specific backend. examples below show how to list them. 👀
  • -a, --autoconnect modechar — select how to handle self connect requests. they can be ignore or fail, on all port or just external ones. use the --help option to know your system specific options. the default is to not restrict self connect requests.
  • -m, --no-mlock — do not attempt to lock memory, even if --realtime. 🔒
  • -n, --name server-name — name this jackd instance server-name. if unspecified, this name comes from the $JACK_DEFAULT_SERVER environment variable. (default: "default")
  • -p, --port-max n — set the maximum number of ports the JACK server can manage. (default: 256)
  • --replace-registry — remove the shared memory registry used by all JACK server instances before startup. this should rarely be used, and is intended only for occasions when the structure of this registry changes in ways that are incompatible across JACK versions (which is rare). like, genuinely rare. don't just vibe with it 🙈
  • -R, --realtime — use realtime scheduling. this is needed for reliable low-latency performance. on many systems, it requires jackd to run with special scheduler and memory allocation privileges, which may be obtained in several ways. (default: true)
  • -r, --no-realtime — do not use realtime scheduling. the opposite vibe.
  • -P, --realtime-priority int — when running --realtime, set the scheduler priority to int.
  • --silent — silence any output during operation. 🤫
  • -T, --temporary — exit once all clients have closed their connections. she leaves when the party's over 💀
  • -t, --timeout int — set client timeout limit in milliseconds. in realtime mode the client timeout must be smaller than the watchdog timeout (5000 msec). (default: 500)
  • -Z, --nozombies — prevent JACK from ever kicking out clients because they were too slow. this cancels the effect of any specified timeout value, but JACK and its clients are still subject to the supervision of the watchdog thread or its equivalent. no zombies allowed bestie 🧟‍♀️
  • -C, --internal-session-file internal-session-file — load internal clients and connections from internal-session-file. each line of this configuration file starts with a command. the following commands are available:
    • l(oad) client-name lib-name client-args — with this command an internal JACK client will be instantiated. client-name and lib-name cannot contain spaces. the rest of the line will be interpreted as client-args and sent to the client library.
    • c(on) source-port destination-port — with this command a source port will be connected to a destination port. source-port and destination-port cannot contain spaces. 🔗

comments are allowed, they start with #.

an example configuration could look like the following:

 l inprocess1 inprocess
 l amp1 jalv http://lv2plug.in/plugins/eg-amp
 c amp:out system:playback_1
  • -u, --unlock — unlock libraries GTK+, QT, FLTK, Wine. set them free 🔓
  • -v, --verbose — give verbose output. she's a talker 💬
  • -c, --clocksource ( h(pet) | s(ystem) ) — select a specific wall clock (HPET timer, System timer). ⏰
  • -V, --version — print the current JACK version number and exit.

🌸 ALSA BACKEND OPTIONS 🌸

these are the ALSA-specific girlypops 🎀

  • -C, --capture [ name ] — provide only capture ports, unless combined with -D or -P. optionally set capture device name.
  • -d, --device name — the ALSA pcm device name to use. if none is specified, JACK will use "hw:0", the first hardware card defined in /etc/modules.conf.
  • -z, --dither [rectangular,triangular,shaped,none] — set dithering mode. if none or unspecified, dithering is off. only the first letter of the mode name is required.
  • -D, --duplex — provide both capture and playback ports. defaults to on unless only one of -P or -C is specified. (default: true)
  • -h, --help — print a brief usage message describing only the alsa backend parameters.
  • -M, --hwmeter — enable hardware metering for devices that support it. otherwise, use software metering.
  • -H, --hwmon — enable hardware monitoring of capture ports. this is a method for obtaining "zero latency" monitoring of audio input. it requires support in hardware and from the underlying ALSA device driver. 👑

when enabled, requests to monitor capture ports will be satisfied by creating a direct signal path between audio interface input and output connectors, with no processing by the host computer at all. this offers the lowest possible latency for the monitored signal. slay.

presently (March 2003), only the RME Hammerfall series and cards based on the ICE1712 chipset (M-Audio Delta series, Terratec, and others) support --hwmon. in the future, some consumer cards may also be supported by modifying their mixer settings. 👀

without --hwmon, port monitoring requires JACK to read audio into system memory, then copy it back out to the hardware again, imposing the basic JACK system latency determined by the --period and --nperiods parameters.

  • -i, --inchannels int — number of capture channels. (default: maximum supported by hardware)
  • -I, --input-latency — extra input latency (frames). (default: 0)
  • -n, --nperiods int — number of periods of playback latency. in seconds, this corresponds to --nperiods times --period divided by --rate. the default is 2, the minimum allowed. for most devices, there is no need for any other value with the --realtime option. without realtime privileges or with boards providing unreliable interrupts (like ymfpci), a larger value may yield fewer xruns. this can also help if the system is not tuned for reliable realtime scheduling. 🫶

for most ALSA devices, the hardware buffer has exactly --period times --nperiods frames. some devices demand a larger buffer. if so, JACK will use the smallest possible buffer containing at least --nperiods, but the playback latency does not increase.

for USB audio devices it is recommended to use -n 3. Firewire devices supported by FFADO (formerly FreeBoB) are configured with -n 3 by default.

  • -o, --outchannels int — number of playback channels. (default: maximum supported by hardware)
  • -O, --output-latency — extra output latency (frames). (default: 0)
  • -P, --playback [ name ] — provide only playback ports, unless combined with -D or -C. optionally set playback device name.
  • -p, --period int — number of frames between JACK process() calls. this value must be a power of 2. if you need low latency, set -p as low as you can go without seeing xruns. a larger period size yields higher latency, but makes xruns less likely. the JACK capture latency in seconds is --period divided by --rate. (default: 1024)
  • -r, --rate int — sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -S, --shorts — try to configure card for 16-bit samples first, only trying 32-bits if unsuccessful. (default: 32-bit samples)
  • -s, --softmode — ignore xruns reported by the ALSA driver. this makes JACK less likely to disconnect unresponsive ports when running without --realtime.
  • -X, --midi [seq|raw] — which ALSA MIDI system to provide access to. using raw will provide a set of JACK MIDI ports that correspond to each raw ALSA device on the machine. using seq will provide a set of JACK MIDI ports that correspond to each ALSA "sequencer" client (which includes each hardware MIDI port on the machine). raw provides slightly better performance but does not permit JACK MIDI communication with software written to use the ALSA "sequencer" API. choose wisely 🎹

🍓 COREAUDIO BACKEND PARAMETERS 🍓

mac girlies this one's for you 🍎✨

  • -c, --channels — maximum number of channels. (default: 2)
  • -i, --inchannels — maximum number of input channels. (default: 2)
  • -o, --outchannels — maximum number of output channels. (default: 2)
  • -C, --capture — whether or not to capture. (default: true)
  • -P, --playback — whether or not to playback. (default: true)
  • -D, --monitor — provide monitor ports for the output. (default: false)
  • -D, --duplex — capture and playback. (default: true)
  • -r, --rate — sample rate. (default: 44100)
  • -p, --period — frames per period, must be a power of 2. (default: 128)
  • -d, --device — CoreAudio device name. (default: none)
  • -I, --input-latency — extra input latency (frames). (default: 0)

and that's part 1 bestie, hold on, more coming 💖

  • -O, --output-latency — Extra output latency, measured in frames. (default: 0)
  • -l, --list-devices — Shows you every CoreAudio device it can find. Iconic for figuring out what to feed to -d. (default: false)
  • -H, --hog — Takes exclusive access of the audio device, so nobody else gets to touch it. (default: false)
  • -L, --async-latency — Extra output latency in asynchronous mode, as a percent. (default: 100)
  • -G, --grain — Computation grain in the RT thread, as a percent. (default: 100)
  • -s, --clock-drift — Whether or not to compensate clock drift in a dynamically created aggregate device. (default: false)

🎀 DUMMY BACKEND PARAMETERS 🎀

The test-drive backend — no real hardware, all vibes. 🦋

  • -C, --capture int — How many capture ports you want. (default: 2)
  • -P, --playback int — How many playback ports you want. (default: 2)
  • -r, --rate int — Sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -p, --period int — Number of frames between JACK process() calls. ⚠️ This value must be a power of 2. Chasing low latency? Set -p as low as you can go without seeing xruns. A larger period size yields higher latency, but makes xruns less likely. The JACK capture latency in seconds is --period divided by --rate. (default: 1024)
  • -w, --wait int — Number of usecs to wait between engine processes. (default: 21333)

🌐 NETONE BACKEND PARAMETERS 🌐

Network audio, bestie. Sending your tunes across the wire. ✨

  • -i, --audio-ins int — Number of capture channels. (default: 2)
  • -o, --audio-outs int — Number of playback channels. (default: 2)
  • -I, --midi-ins int — Number of midi capture channels. (default: 1)
  • -O, --midi-outs int — Number of midi playback channels. (default: 1)
  • -r, --rate int — Sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -p, --period int — Frames per period. (default: 1024)
  • -n, --num-periods int — Network latency setting, measured in no. of periods. (default: 5)
  • -l, --listen-port int — The socket port we're listening on for sync packets. (default: 3000)
  • -f, --factor int — Factor for sample rate reduction. (default: 1)
  • -u, --upstream-factor int — Factor for sample rate reduction on the upstream. (default: 0)
  • -c, --celt int — Sets celt encoding and number of kbits per channel. (default: 0)
  • -b, --bit-depth int — Sample bit-depth (0 for float, 8 for 8bit and 16 for 16bit). (default: 0)
  • -t, --transport-sync int — Whether or not to slave the transport to the master transport. (default: true)
  • -a, --autoconf int — Whether or not to use Autoconfig, or just start. (default: true)
  • -R, --redundancy int — Send packets N times. (default: 1)
  • -e, --native-endian int — Don't convert samples to network byte order. (default: false)
  • -J, --jitterval int — Attempted jitterbuffer microseconds on master. (default: 0)
  • -D, --always-deadline int — Always use deadline. (default: false)

🔊 OSS BACKEND PARAMETERS 🔊

Old-school sound system energy. Lowkey nostalgic. 💜

  • -r, --rate int — Sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -p, --period int — Number of frames between JACK process() calls. This value must be a power of 2. If you need low latency, set -p as low as you can go without seeing xruns. A larger period size yields higher latency, but makes xruns less likely. The JACK capture latency in seconds is --period divided by --rate. (default: 1024)
  • -n, --nperiods int — Number of periods in the hardware buffer. The period size (-p) times --nperiods times four is the JACK buffer size in bytes. The JACK output latency in seconds is --nperiods times --period divided by --rate. (default: 2)
  • -w, --wordlength int — Sample size in bits. (default: 16)
  • -i, --inchannels int — Number of capture channels. (default: 2)
  • -o, --outchannels int — Number of playback channels. (default: 2)
  • -C, --capture device_file — Input device for capture. (default: /dev/dsp)
  • -P, --playback device_file — Output device for playback. (default: /dev/dsp)
  • -b, --ignorehwbuf boolean — Whether or not to ignore hardware period size. (default: false)
  • -e, --excl boolean — Requests exclusive and direct access to the sound device. This avoids mixing and automatic audio conversion in the OSS driver, and the extra latency that comes with that. (default: false)
  • -I, --input-latency — Extra input latency, in frames. (default: 0)
  • -O, --output-latency — Extra output latency, in frames. (default: 0)

☀️ SUN BACKEND PARAMETERS ☀️

Sun/Solaris hardware. Retro but make it fashion. 🌸

  • -r, --rate int — Sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -p, --period int — Number of frames between JACK process() calls. Must be a power of 2. Want low latency? Set -p as low as you can go without seeing xruns. A larger period size yields higher latency, but makes xruns less likely. JACK's capture latency in seconds is --period divided by --rate. (default: 1024)
  • -n, --nperiods int — Number of periods in the hardware buffer. The period size (-p) times --nperiods times four (assuming 2 channels 16-bit samples) is the JACK buffer size in bytes. The JACK output latency in seconds is --nperiods times --period divided by --rate. (default: 2)
  • -w, --wordlength int — Sample size in bits. (default: 16)
  • -i, --inchannels int — Number of capture channels. (default: 2)
  • -o, --outchannels int — Number of playback channels. (default: 2)
  • -C, --capture device_file — Input device for capture. (default: /dev/audio)
  • -P, --playback device_file — Output device for playback. (default: /dev/audio)
  • -b, --ignorehwbuf boolean — Whether or not to ignore hardware period size. (default: false)

🎧 PORTAUDIO BACKEND PARAMETERS 🎧

PortAudio does the cross-platform thing so you don't have to. Cross-platform slay. 🌈

  • -c, --channel — Maximum number of channels. (default: all available hardware channels)
  • -i, --channelin — Maximum number of input channels. (default: all available hardware channels)
  • -I, --input-latency — Extra input latency, in frames. (default: 0)
  • -o, --channelout — Maximum number of output channels. (default: all available hardware channels)
  • -O, --output-latency — Extra output latency, in frames. (default: 0)
  • -C, --capture — Whether or not to capture. (default: true)
  • -P, --playback — Whether or not to playback. (default: true)
  • -D, --duplex — Capture and playback. (default: true)
  • -r, --rate — Sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -p, --period — Frames per period, must be a power of 2. (default: 1024)
  • -n, --name — Driver name. (default: none)
  • -z, --dither — Dithering mode. (default: none)

🔥 FIREWIRE BACKEND PARAMETERS 🔥

The FFADO-flavoured one. Serious hardware, serious vibes. ⭐

  • -d, --device name — The Firewire device name to use. If none is specified, JACK will try to use "hw:0". To get a list of available Firewire devices, see ffado-test. It's recommended to use the GUID of a Firewire device to rule out any ambiguities. Once the GUID of the device is known ("ffado-test ListDevices"), it can be used like -dguid:0xff2584e39b078a2e to tell JACK which interface to use. Sometimes resetting the Firewire bus can help ("ffado-test BusReset") if there is any problem. (default: hw:0)
  • -p, --period int — Number of frames between JACK process() calls. This value must be a power of 2. If you need low latency, set -p as low as you can go without seeing xruns. A larger period size yields higher latency, but makes xruns less likely. The JACK capture latency in seconds is --period divided by --rate. (default: 1024)
  • -n, --nperiods int — Number of periods of playback latency. ⚠️ Value must be greater or equal 2. In seconds, this corresponds to --nperiods times --period divided by --rate. (default: 3)
  • -r, --rate int — Sample rate. (default: 48000)
  • -C, --capture [ name ] — Provide only capture ports, unless combined with -D or -P. Optionally set capture device name.
  • -P, --playback [ name ] — Provide only playback ports, unless combined with -D or -C. Optionally set playback device name.
  • -D, --duplex — Provide both capture and playback ports. This option is the default behaviour and can normally be omitted. -D can not be combined with -P or -C.
  • -I, --input-latency — Extra input latency, in frames. (default: 0)
  • -O, --output-latency — Extra output latency, in frames. (default: 0)
  • -v, --verbose — libffado verbose level. (default: 3)
  • -X, --snoop — Snoop Firewire traffic. (default: false)
  • -h, --help — Print a brief usage message describing only the firewire backend parameters.

💖 EXAMPLES 💖

Okay so here's where it gets fun — actual commands you can steal. 🫶

Print usage message for the parameters specific to each backend:

jackd -d alsa --help
jackd -d coreaudio --help
jackd -d net --help
jackd -d dummy --help
jackd -d firewire --help
jackd -d oss --help
jackd -d sun --help
jackd -d portaudio --help

Run the JACK daemon with realtime priority using the first ALSA hardware card defined in /etc/modules.conf:

jackstart --realtime --driver=alsa

Run the JACK daemon with low latency giving verbose output, which can be helpful for trouble-shooting system latency problems. A reasonably well-tuned system with a good sound card and a low-latency kernel can handle these values reliably. Some can do better. If you get xrun messages, try a larger buffer. Tuning a system for low latency can be challenging. Please consult the JACK FAQ for more suggestions:

jackstart -Rv -d alsa -p 128 -n 2 -r 44100

Run jackd with realtime priority using the "sblive" ALSA device defined in ~/.asoundrc. Apply shaped dithering to playback audio:

jackd -R -d alsa -d sblive --dither=shaped

Run jackd with no special privileges using the second ALSA hardware card defined in /etc/modules.conf. Any xruns reported by the ALSA backend will be ignored. The larger buffer helps reduce data loss. Rectangular dithering will be used for playback:

jackd -d alsa -d hw:1 -p2048 -n3 --softmode -zr

Run jackd in full-duplex mode using the ALSA hw:0,0 device for playback and the hw:0,2 device for capture:

jackd -d alsa -P hw:0,0 -C hw:0,2

Run jackd in playback-only mode using the ALSA hw:0,0 device:

jackd -d alsa -P hw:0,0

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

okay bestie, this section is literally all about the little environment variables that make JACK do its thing behind the scenes — no cap, these matter 💅

JACK is evolving a mechanism for automatically starting the server when needed. Any client started without a running JACK server will attempt to start one itself using the command line found in the first line of $HOME/.jackdrc if it exists, or /etc/jackdrc if it does not. If neither file exists, a built-in default command will be used, including the -T flag, which causes the server to shut down when all clients have exited. ✨

As a transition, this only happens when $JACK_START_SERVER is defined in the environment of the calling process. In the future this will become normal behavior. In either case, defining $JACK_NO_START_SERVER disables this feature. 🫶

  • $JACK_DRIVER_DIR — set this to change where JACK looks for the backend drivers. lowkey important if you've got your drivers in a weird spot 🦋
  • $JACK_DEFAULT_SERVER — specifies the default server name. If not defined, the string "default" is used. If set in their respective environments, this affects jackd unless its --name parameter is set, and all JACK clients unless they pass an explicit name to jack_client_open(). iykyk 👑
  • $JACK_NO_AUDIO_RESERVATION — defining this will bypass audio device reservation via session bus (DBus). This can be useful if JACK was compiled with DBus support but should run on a headless system. very much the move for your lil headless setup 🧚
  • $JACK_PROMISCUOUS_SERVER — enables an alternate way of handling the various shared resources (Unix sockets, semaphores, ...). In this mode, the generated names will not contain the user id anymore, and the permissions of those resources will be relaxed, allowing clients from different users to talk with the same server. Moreover, on platforms that support it (all POSIX variants), if set to a valid Unix group name or id, the permissions will be restricted to that group, so only members of that group will be able to launch clients that talk to this server.
⚠️ Important note: it must be set with the same value for both server and clients to work as expected. fr fr, mismatch it and everything just vibes wrong 💀

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

🦋 BUGS 🦋

Please report bugs as issues to the corresponding repository: <http://www.github.com/jackaudio/>

like, genuinely, if something's broken just tell them — they wanna know 🙈

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Architect and original implementer: Paul Davis — the main character himself ✨

Original design group: Paul Davis, David Olofson, Kai Vehmanen, Benno Sennoner, Richard Guenther and other members of the Linux Audio Developers group. iconic collective behavior 💜

Programming: Paul Davis, Jack O'Quin, Taybin Rutkin, Stéphane Letz, Fernando Pablo Lopez-Lezcano, Steve Harris, Jeremy Hall, Andy Wingo, Kai Vehmanen, Melanie Thielker, Jussi Laako, Tilman Linneweh, Johnny Petrantoni, Torben Hohn. look at this lineup, absolute legends 🫶

Manpage written by Stefan Schwandter, Jack O'Quin, Alexandre Prokoudine and Thomas Brand.

Create a PDF file from this manpage — yes you can turn this whole thing into a PDF, slay:

man -t jackd | ps2pdf - > jackd.pdf

that's the whole page bestie, you made it to the end 🎉 this is JACK 1.9.22, dated November 2024 — go make some noise, ily, bye! 💖

📦 where this page comes from