Usage of batocera-settings

This command is a bit out of date to use now, most if not all things can be adjusted within Batocera EmulationStation itself or through manually editing the text file. Certain commands may no longer be functional. On older versions of Batocera, the list of available functions can be found by entering in batocera-settings and pressing Enter.

batocera-settings is a command-line tool that can work with regular config files to read/write its content, useful for scripting (like say you need to change the config based on what machine you have the drive plugged into). The /userdata/system/batocera.conf contains most of the machine's settings and follows batocera.conf's regular syntax.

When manually editing the batocera.conf file:

  • Use ## This is a text comment for text comments.
  • Use #enable.godmode=hallelujah for commenting values.
  • Describe content and functions in comments when adding them for future reference.
  • It's recommended to add content in their appropriate sections, but not strictly required.

Down here is a small excerpt of an example config file

# ------------ B - Network ------------ #
## Set system hostname
system.hostname=BATOCERA
## Activate wifi (0,1)
wifi.enabled=0
## Wifi SSID (string)
#wifi.ssid=new ssid
## Wifi KEY (string)
## after rebooting the batocera.linux, the "new key" is replace by a hidden value "enc:xxxxx"
## you can edit the "enc:xxxxx" value to replace by a clear value, it will be updated again at the following reboot
## Escape your special chars (# ; $) with a backslash : $ => \$
#wifi.key=new key

The commands are called with batocera-setting-get and batocera-setting-set. For the syntax below, replace the contents in the square brackets with your intended setting (and don't include the square brackets themselves).

Syntax for reading setting values:

batocera-settings-get -f [CONFIG_FILE] [KEY]
batocera-settings-get [KEY]

This will read the KEY setting from the specified config file and output its current file. If no -f flag specified, it will search through userdata/system/batocera.conf by default.

Syntax for setting those values:

batocera-settings-set -f [CONFIG_FILE] [KEY] [VALUE]
batocera-settings-set [KEY] [VALUE]

This will search for the key in the config file and then replace its value with the new specified one. If the key doesn't already exist in the config file, a new line with that key will be created.

In Batocera v36 and above, syntax for reading the current board's default setting:

batocera-settings-get-master [key]

This will read the key from /usr/share/batocera/sysconfigs/batocera.conf.${BOARD_MODEL}.

Whenever batocera-settings-set or batocera-settings-get is called from a script you will receive an exit code number. This will help to identify errors (for debugging you can use the status command for more useful output).

File and Key/Values error
Error Code Error code explaination Troubleshooting
EC 0 No Error, value found 8-) You made it!
EC 1 General error, e.g. command line error 8-o Check your command line for correct parameters

I present here some short scripts, to show you how to make batocera-settings work in your script. As I'm more confident in shell scripting I give you just some small examples in shell script.

  1. bash: Obtain value
  2. bash: Activate UART in /boot/config.txt
  3. bash: Set a new key
  4. python: Obtain a value

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK 8-)

1. bash: Obtain a value

obtain_value.sh
#!/bin/bash
#This is an example file how batocera-settings-get can be utilized
#to read a value out from /userdata/system/batocera.conf
 
value="$(batocera-settings-get power.switch.device)"
ret=$?
if [[ $ret -eq 0 ]]; then
    echo "Power Switch detected: '$value'"
else
    echo "No Power Switch detected!"
fi

2. bash: Activate UART in ''/boot/config.txt''

activate_uart.sh
#!/bin/bash
#This is an example file how batocera-settings-set can be utilized
#to activate UART in /boot/config.txt
 
# Check status of file and make it writeable
[[ -w /boot/config.txt ]] && batocera-es-swissknife --remount
 
batocera-settings-set -f /boot/config.txt enable_uart 1
ret=$?
if [[ $ret -eq 0 ]]; then
    echo "UART activated, uncommented enable_uart"
    batocera-settings-set -f /boot/config.txt enable_uart 1
else
    echo "Key: enable_uart not found"
    echo "Not a Raspberry System?"
fi

3. bash: Set a new key

set_new_key.sh
#!/bin/bash
#This is an example file how batocera-settings-set can be utilized
#to set a new key in /userdata/system/batocera.conf
 
value=$(batocera-settings-set core.PS5.emulator SONY5EVER)
ret=$?
if [[ $ret -eq 0 ]]; then
    echo "PS5 core enabled!"
else
    echo "Another error occurred!"
fi

4. python: Obtain a key

obtain_value.py
#!/usr/bin/python
#This is an example file how batocera-settings-get can be utilized
#to read a value out from /userdata/system/batocera.conf with python
 
import subprocess
command=(["batocera-settings-get", "system.power.switch"])
rc = subprocess.call(command, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL)
if rc == 0:
    value = subprocess.check_output(command).decode("utf-8")
    print ("Power Switch Detected: ", value)
else:
    print ("No power switch detected!")
  • usage_of_batocera-settings.txt
  • Last modified: 6 months ago
  • by crcerror