Feature Request: Add streams and cameras via API

[jonathan84clark]

Hello Scott,

Problem Description
I'm working on integrating moonfire into the software I'm developing for my company. Currently when a customer want's to setup one of our devices they use a configuration utility which writes a config file to an SD card. That way the customer doesn't need SSH access to our devices to set them up. This also simplifies the setup process for customers who aren't as technical.

Moonfire uses a CLI GUI configuration utility that does NOT allow programmatic modification. As a result; we can't use our configuration file to pass cameras, streams and other settings onto Moonfire.

I've been working on several ways to get around this but so far haven't had much luck.

Proposed Solutions
I was wondering if you could add an API page that allows HTTP posts to add/remove cameras and streams. I know that Moonfire would need to be restarted after each change and I'm fine with that.

Another possible solution is a another command line tool that allows single commands to be executed without opening a shell. I'm thinking about the way 'ifconfig' works in Linux; you pass in a command, it does it's job and exits. In fact, you could simplify it and have a utility that imports cameras and streams via json file. You would use it like this:
/usr/local/bin/moonfire-nvr import /home/jonathan/camera1.json

Anyway, let me know what you think. I am exploring ways to work around this but a new feature like this would make things a whole lot easier.

Thanks!

Jonathan L Clark

[scottlamb]

I was wondering if you could add an API page that allows HTTP posts to add/remove cameras and streams. I know that Moonfire would need to be restarted after each change and I'm fine with that.

This is the direction I'd like to go, and even to not require a restart. See #153.

The question is basically when it happens (and possibly who does it); as I've mentioned to you and your colleagues, my time for the project has been pretty limited.

[jonathan84clark]

Hello Scott,

Thanks for getting back to me. We were able to find another tool that is a little better suited to our needs: mediamtx. It isn't as fully featured as moonfire but its significantly smaller and changes can be made programmatically by modifying plain-text configuration files. Then I can use python for the front-end which is a language I'm more comfortable with.

Unfortunately the prospect of modifying moonfire is daunting especially since I haven't worked with Rust. And we really don't have the time for me to get up-to-speed on a new language then make major changes to an unfamiliar code-base.

Thanks again for all the help!

Jonathan L Clark