zmu(8)

💖 zmu(8) — your ZoneMinder bestie 💖

okay so welcome to the zmu(8) page from the zoneminder manual, bestie ✨ we're keeping every last detail, no cap.

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🎀 NAME 🎀

zmc — The ZoneMinder Utility

yes, the NAME line really says zmc even though this page is zmu(8). keeping it exactly as the original serves it 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

zmu -d device_path [-v] [function] [-U<username> -P<password>]
zmu --device device_path [-v] [function] [-U<username> -P<password>]

zmu -m monitor_id [-v] [function] [-U<username> -P<password>]
zmu --monitor monitor_id [-v] [function] [-U<username> -P<password>]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

This binary is a handy command line interface to several useful functions. It's literally not really meant to be used by anyone except the web page (there's only limited 'help' in it so far), but it can be if necessary, especially for debugging video problems. main character debugging energy, honestly 🫶

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

🌈 General options 🌈

• -v, --verbose — produce more verbose output.
• -l, --list — list the current status of active (or all with -v) monitors.
• -h, --help — display usage information.
• -v, --version — print the installed version of ZoneMinder.

yes bestie, the original really has -v listed twice — once for verbose, once for version. both are here, no erasure 💀

💻 Options for use with devices 💻

• -d, --device [device_path] — get the current video device settings for [device_path] or all devices.
• -V, --version <V4L version> — set the Video 4 Linux API version to use for the query; use 1 or 2.
• -q, --query — query the current settings for the device.

👀 Options for use with monitors 👀

• -m, --monitor <monitor_id> — specify which monitor to address, default 1 if absent.
• -q, --query — query the current settings for the monitor.
• -s, --state — output the current monitor state: 0 = unknown, 1 = idle, 2 = prealarm, 3 = alarm, 4 = alert, 5 = tape.
• -B, --brightness [value] — output the current brightness, set to value if given.
• -C, --contrast [value] — output the current contrast, set to value if given.
• -H, --hue [value] — output the current hue, set to value if given.
• -O, --colour [value] — output the current colour, set to value if given.
• -i, --image [image_index] — write captured image to disk as <monitor_name>.jpg, last image captured or specified ring buffer index if given.
• -S, --scale <scale_%%ge> — with --image, specify any scaling (in %%) to be applied to the image.
• -t, --timestamp [image_index] — output captured image timestamp, last image captured or specified ring buffer index if given.
• -R, --read_index — output ring buffer read index.
• -W, --write_index — output ring buffer write index.
• -e, --event — output last event index.
• -f, --fps — output last Frames Per Second captured reading.
• -z, --zones — write last captured image overlaid with zones to <monitor_name>-Zones.jpg.
• -a, --alarm — force alarm in monitor; this will trigger recording until cancelled with -c.
• -n, --noalarm — force no alarms in monitor; this will prevent alarms until cancelled with -c.
• -c, --cancel — cancel a forced alarm/noalarm in monitor, required after being enabled with -a or -n.
• -L, --reload — signal monitor to reload settings.
• -E, --enable — enable detection, wake monitor up.
• -D, --disable — disable detection, put monitor to sleep.
• -u, --suspend — suspend detection, useful to prevent bogus alarms when panning etc.
• -r, --resume — resume detection after a suspend.
• -U, --username <username> — when running in authenticated mode, the username and password combination of the given user (username part).
• -P, --password <password> — when running in authenticated mode, the username and password combination of the given user (password part).
• -A, --auth <authentication> — pass authentication hash string instead of user details.
• -x, --xtrigger — output the current monitor trigger state, 0 = not triggered, 1 = triggered.

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okay that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this zmu(8) cutie is living in the zoneminder manual, and the footer is lowkey serving --stderr with the date 2026-03-04. periodt 💋