ORTHANC(8)

📦
version 1.12.11 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

👑 ORTHANC(8) — like, the manual page, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Orthanc man page. This is the System Administration Utilities corner of the internet and we're about to have a whole moment. Sit down, hydrate, let's go. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

Orthanc — a lightweight, RESTful DICOM server for healthcare and medical research. That's it, that's the girl. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

Orthanc [OPTION]... [CONFIGURATION]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Orthanc: lightweight, RESTful DICOM server for healthcare and medical research. Say it with me now. 📣

So the CONFIGURATION argument? It can be a single file OR a directory. And if it's a directory, every single JSON file inside it gets merged together. Iconic behavior honestly. If you don't hand it a configuration path on the command line at all, then a set of default parameters just gets used, no biggie, she improvises. ✨

If you want the full instructions on how to actually use Orthanc, go read the Orthanc Book at https://orthanc.uclouvain.be/book/. It's giving documentation. 📚

⚠️ PAY ATTENTION BESTIE. The order of the options MATTERS. Options are read left to right. So for real, options like --verbose can reset the value of other log-related options that were read before it. Left to right. That's the law. 😭

And if you're trying to debug DICOM communications, the recommended set of options is:

--verbose --trace-dicom --logfile=dicom.log

Write that down. Put it in your notes app. 🎀

💖 Command-line options: 💖

  • --help — display this help and exit. She's helpful like that. 💁‍♀️
  • --logdir=[dir] — the directory where the log files get stored. By default? The log is dumped to stderr. 🫠
  • --logfile=[file] — the file where Orthanc's log gets stored. Again, by default the log is dumped to stderr. 📄
  • --config=[file] — creates a sample configuration file and then exits. And if file is -, it dumps to stdout instead. Cute, right? ✨
  • --errors — prints the supported error codes and exits. 🔍
  • --verbose — be verbose in logs. She's talking now. 🗣️
  • --trace — highest verbosity in logs, for debug. She's screaming. 🔥
  • --upgrade — allows Orthanc to upgrade the version of the database. > 🚨 BEWARE: the database will become incompatible with former versions of Orthanc. No take-backs. No undo button. Think before you press. 💀
  • --no-jobs — don't restart the jobs that were stored during the last execution of Orthanc. She's letting them sleep in. 😴
  • --openapi=[file] — writes the OpenAPI documentation and exits. If file is -, it dumps to stdout. 📝
  • --cheatsheet=[file] — writes the cheat sheet of REST API as CSV and exits. If file is -, it dumps to stdout. Yes bestie, a literal cheat sheet. 🎀
  • --version — output version information and exit. 👑

🎀 Fine-tuning of log categories: 🎀

Like, per-category control? We love options. Every category here gets a verbose version and a trace version, where trace = highest verbosity. Matching set, slay. 💅

  • --verbose-generic — be verbose in logs of category "generic"
  • --trace-generic — use highest verbosity for logs of category "generic"
  • --verbose-plugins — be verbose in logs of category "plugins"
  • --trace-plugins — use highest verbosity for logs of category "plugins"
  • --verbose-http — be verbose in logs of category "http"
  • --trace-http — use highest verbosity for logs of category "http"
  • --verbose-sqlite — be verbose in logs of category "sqlite"
  • --trace-sqlite — use highest verbosity for logs of category "sqlite"
  • --verbose-dicom — be verbose in logs of category "dicom"
  • --trace-dicom — use highest verbosity for logs of category "dicom"
  • --verbose-jobs — be verbose in logs of category "jobs"
  • --trace-jobs — use highest verbosity for logs of category "jobs"
  • --verbose-lua — be verbose in logs of category "lua"
  • --trace-lua — use highest verbosity for logs of category "lua"

🌈 Exit status: 🌈

  1. 0 — if success. 🎉 We ate.
  2. -1 — if error. 😭 And bestie, have a look at the logs.

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Written by Sebastien Jodogne <s.jodogne@orthanc-labs.com>. Yes, the main character. 👑

  • Copyright © 2012-2016 Sebastien Jodogne, Medical Physics Department, University Hospital of Liege (Belgium)
  • Copyright © 2017-2023 Osimis S.A. (Belgium)
  • Copyright © 2024-2026 Orthanc Team SRL (Belgium)
  • Copyright © 2021-2026 Sebastien Jodogne, ICTEAM UCLouvain (Belgium)
  • Licensing GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
  • This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
  • There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
okay that's the whole thing, you made it to the end, I'm so proud of you 🥹✨ Go forth and run your DICOM server, bestie. 💅

This was the Orthanc page, version 1.12.11, dated April 2026, hanging out in section 8 of the manual. mwah 💖

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