NASD(1)

💖 NASD(1) — General Commands Manual 💖

okay bestie, you're reading the nasd(1) page, straight out of section 1 of the General Commands Manual, and honestly? it's giving "the backbone of your entire audio setup" and nobody talks about it enough. let's get into it 🌸

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✨ NAME ✨

nasd — Network Audio System server 👑

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nasd [:listen port offset] [-option ...]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so nasd is the generic name for the Network Audio System server. it's frequently a link or a copy of the appropriate server binary for driving the most frequently used server on a given machine. lowkey a shapeshifter, highkey iconic 🦋

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🌈 STARTING THE SERVER 🌈

the server is usually started from /etc/rc or a user's startup script. no cap, that's just where it lives.

when the Network Audio System server starts up, it takes over /dev/audio. 💅

and here's the tea — note that if ReleaseDevice is set to TRUE [default] in the nasd.conf file, nasd will relinquish control of the audio device whenever it has finished playing a sound. this means you can use other non-NAS applications when nasd is running, as long as nasd isn't currently playing a song. bestie behavior honestly, sharing is caring 🫶

but if ReleaseDevice is set to FALSE in the nasd.conf file, applications that attempt to access /dev/audio themselves will fail while nasd is running. gatekeeping, but make it audio 😭

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🌐 NETWORK CONNECTIONS 🌐

the Network Audio System server supports connections made using the following reliable byte-streams:

TCPIP

the server listens on port 8000+n, where n is the listen port offset. math girlies rise ✨

Unix Domain

the X server uses /tmp/.sockets/audion as the filename for the socket, where n is the display number.

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

all of the Network Audio System servers accept the following generic command line options. options specific to a particular server may also be available, and are not listed here. try nasd -? for a list of those options, if available. periodt 💖

• -aa — allows any client to connect. by default, access is allowed only to authenticated clients. so like, open the gates, no ID check 🚪
• -local — allows only clients on the local host to connect. by default, access is allowed to local and remote hosts. introvert mode, we love her 🏠
• -v — enable verbose messages. this option overrides the nasd.conf file setting. she will NOT stop talking and honestly? we're here for it 🗣️
• -V — print version information and exit (ignoring other options). she said bye immediately, main character exit 💀
• -b — fork a child to run in the background and exit (daemon mode). messages are sent to syslog instead of stderr. background queen 👑
• -d n — enable debugging output at level n, where n is a positive integer. the higher the level, the more output you will get. a value of 0 [default] disables debugging output. this option overrides the nasd.conf file setting. turn it up and watch the lore unfold 🔥
• -pn
• -nopn [default] — enables or disables Partial Networking. enabling Partial Networking allows the server to start, even if the server cannot establish all of its well-known sockets (connection points for clients), but establishes at least one. she's flexible, she's resilient, she shows up 🌸
• -config file — use the config file file, instead of the default (/etc/nasd/nasd.conf). pick your own adventure 🦋

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⚡ SIGNALS ⚡

the Network Audio System server attaches special meaning to the following signals:

• SIGHUP — this signal causes the server to close all existing connections, free all resources, and restore all defaults. factory reset energy, dramatic but necessary 💅
• SIGTERM — this signal causes the server to exit cleanly. graceful queen, no mess left behind ✨
• SIGUSR1 — this signal is used quite differently from either of the above. when the server starts, it checks to see if it has inherited SIGUSR1 as SIG_IGN instead of the usual SIG_DFL. in this case, the server sends a SIGUSR1 to its parent process after it has set up the various connection schemes. she texts her mom when she's settled in, that's the vibe 🫶

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😭 DIAGNOSTICS 😭

too numerous to list them all. literally. there are so many. we are not doing that today 🙈

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📁 FILES 📁

• /tmp/.sockets/audio* — Unix domain socket
• /usr/adm/audio*msgs
• /dev/audio — Audio device

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🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

nas(1), auinfo(1), auplay(1), auctl(1), nasd.conf(1)

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💀 BUGS 💀

• if au dies before its clients, new clients won't be able to connect until all existing connections have their TCP TIME_WAIT timers expire. the way that this just *waits*… so real 😭
• the current access control support is weak at best. ngl she's not passing the vibe check on security fr fr 🙈

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©️ COPYRIGHT ©️

Copyright 1993, Network Computing Devices, Inc.

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

the Network Audio System server was originally written by Greg Renda and Dave Lemke, with large amounts of code borrowed from the sample X server. legends, both of them 💜

the sample X server was originally written by Susan Angebranndt, Raymond Drewry, Philip Karlton, and Todd Newman, from Digital Equipment Corporation, with support from a large cast. it has since been extensively rewritten by Keith Packard and Bob Scheifler, from MIT. the lore is DEEP, the collaboration is unmatched 🎀

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and that's the whole nasd(1) page, bestie — general commands manual, section 1, start to finish. you're officially in the know, go forth and serve audio like the icon you are 🦋✨💖