mochad is a Linux TCP gateway daemon for the X10 CM15A RF (radio frequency) and
PL (power line) and the CM19A RF controllers.
- 1. Why this Fork ?
- 2. Need for Changes
- 3. Patching Version 0.1.17 by mmauka
- 4. Installation of
mochad - 5. Test
- 6. USB Interface Error
- 7. Cleanup
- 8. More Information
- 9. License
Changes were needed to the Neil Cherry (linuxha) fork to compile and install mochad on recent versions of Linux with the systemd init system. Specifically this fork has been tested on the following 64-bit systems.
-
x86_64 GNU/Linux : Mint 20.1, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (focal), Linux 5.4.0-124
-
aarch64 GNU/Linux : Armbian 22.05.3, Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (jammy), Linux 5.10.123-meson64
-
aarch64 GNU/Linux : Raspberry Pi OS 2022-04-04, Debian 11.4 (bullseye), Linux 5.15.32-v8+
Installation was also tested on the latest 32-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS for Arm V6 (for Raspberry Pi B and Raspberry Pi Zero)
- armv6l GNU/Linux : Raspberry Pi OS 2024-01-25, Debian 12.1 (bookworm), Linux 6.1.0
mochad could not be built because of the following linking errors
/usr/bin/ld: decode.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:31: multiple definition of `RfToRf16'; mochad.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:31: first defined here
/usr/bin/ld: decode.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:29: multiple definition of `RfToPl16'; mochad.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:29: first defined here
/usr/bin/ld: decode.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:26: multiple definition of `PollTimeOut'; mochad.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:26: first defined here
/usr/bin/ld: decode.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:25: multiple definition of `Cm19a'; mochad.o:/home/hestia/mochad-master/global.h:25: first defined here
The problem was solved by declaring those variables as extern in global.h and defining PollTimeOut in global.c.
The mochad service was not installed properly in systemd and it would stop functioning with a
usb_claim_interface failed -6
error.
The solution was to restore the systemd and udev directories found in the original mochad-0.1.17 repository by mmauka. Modification of the Makefile.am was also necessary.
Instead of installing this fork, one could apply a couple of small patches to version 0.1.17 of mochad from the original author mmauka. The patches and details are in the res directory.
If IPV6 support is needed then this fork will have to be installed as explained later.
FR: Il y a une traduction en français de ces instructions.
The userspace USB programming library development files are needed to use the libusb-1 library.
$ sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev
On the Raspberry Pi, it was also necessary to install autoconf.
$ sudo apt install autoconf
While not strictly necessary, netcat is useful when testing the mochad deaemon. It was present on some test platforms but not all.
$ sudo apt install netcat-openbsd
The source code on GitHub can be obtained with any one of the usual methods. Notably
$ git clone https://github.com/sigmdel/mochad.git
$ cd mochad
$ wget https://github.com/sigmdel/mochad/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
$ unzip master.zip
$ cd mochad-master
The current work directory should contain the source including mochad.c and autogen.sh.
By default, IPV6 is not enabled until the value of the IPV6 macro at the very start of mochad.c is changed from 0 to 1.
#define IPV6 1I do not use IPV6 and have not tested that code at all. Any questions about that feature would have to be addressed to its author, Neil Cherry.
While it should be, make sure that autogen.sh is an executable.
$ chmod +x autogen.sh
Run the script.
$ ./autogen.sh
This will create the Makefile, so now run make.
$ make
$ sudo make install
Again within the directory containing the source.
/usr/local/bin/mochad
/etc/udev/rules/91-usb-x10-controllers.rules
In systemd a service file is also installed.
/etc/systemd/system/mochad.service
Note that the service will remain inactive until a CM1xA is connected to the system. That's the reason for the udev rules.
First connect a CM15A or CM19A to a USB port. Test the service by connecting to mochad using netcat and pressing buttons of an X10 RF remote. Hopefully, something similar to this will occur.
$ nc localhost 1099
02/03 19:27:40 Rx RF HouseUnit: K4 Func: On
02/03 19:27:44 Rx RF HouseUnit: K6 Func: Off
02/03 19:27:46 Rx RF House: K Func: Dim
Use the Ctrl+C keyboard combination to close netcat.
If nothing happened when pressing a button on the remote, look at the status of mochad.
$ systemctl status mochad.service
● mochad.service - Mochad a TCP gateway service for X10-RF (CM15A/CM15Pro/CM19A)
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mochad.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
...
... mochad[739]: usb_claim_interface failed -6
...
Should a usb_claim_interface failed -6 error be present as shown above, check if the ati_remote driver is running.
$ lsmod | grep ati_remote
ati_remote 9260 0
The Lola remote for ATI All-In-Wonder video card has the same 0x0bc7:0x002 id as the CM19A. Because of that, the ati_remote driver will be loaded. Blacklist the module and the problem should be solved.
$ echo "blacklist ati_remote" | sudo tee /usr/lib/modprobe.d/ati-remote-blacklist.conf
Simply trying to unload the module with a sudo modprobe -r ati_remote will probably not work; blacklisting and rebooting will be necessary.
Once the installation is completed, the mochad source directory can be deleted if desired. The archive master.zip can also be erased if it was downloaded to obtain the source code.
The original README text file contains much more information.
The version of mochad.service found in this fork comes from Andreas's 2021-09-07 post on the flimsy grounds that the unit file looks more sophisticated. Compare it with another version by Eberhard Beilharz (ermshiperete).
Steve Porter provides a fork of the mmauka 0.0.17 version which he presents as mochad-0.1.21. It is a different solution to the compilation problem. See details here. Casey Langen (clangen) has incorporated the changes by Steve Porter into another mochad GitHub repository.
More information about this fork in excruciating details at Mochad on Recent Linux Distributions.
FR: Il a plus de détails au sujet de cette fourche dans un billet intitulé Mochad sur les distributions Linux récentes.
GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3) according to the original project page on SourceForge.