This is the README file for the Linux Audio Backstop.  The package is 
supplied under the GNU Public License, and as such comes with
ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  See the file COPYING for details.

LAB is designed to be a stand-alone system for the automated,
unattended recording and playback of audio in a professional broadcast 
environment.  Automatic selection of source channels is supported, 
by means of an outboard switcher or satellite receiver, as well as the
ability to run arbitrary shell commands (such as audio encoders) as
part of the recording process.

Support for network-style closure events, or 'relays', is also available
through the use of one or more 'Digital I/O boards', available from
MeasurementComputing [http://www.measurementcomputing.com/].  As of
this writing, the following boards are supported:

     PCI-PDIS08 -- Eight Channel In/Out
     PCI-PDIS16	-- Sixteen Channel In/Out
     PCI-DIO24  -- Twenty Four Channel In or Twenty Four Channel Out

Use of one of these boards requires use of the GPIO driver -- see the
INSTALL file for download instructions.

IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTE
The default installation of the Linux Audio Backstop is not secure!
Specifically, you need to be sure to properly define the 'Owner=' and
'Group=' directives for your system in the '/etc/lab.conf' file,
otherwise any user with access to the Web Catcher interface will be
able to schedule arbitrary shell commands on the system with root
permissions.  See the lab.conf(5) man page for details on setting
these directives.

For detailed installation instructions, please see the INSTALL file.
Detailed configuration and user infomation can be found in the man pages,
created as part of the standard installation.  Type 'man 1 lab' after
installing to get started. 

Good Luck!


Fred Gleason <fredg@paravelsystems.com>
