Motion Guide

Option

Description
Defaults for the options are specified in brackets [ ].

Editors comment

-h, --help

display this help and exit

--help=short

display options specific to this package

This command shows the options special to motion. Recommended

--help=recursive

display the short help of all the included packages

-V, --version

display version information and exit

Gives no useful information

-q, --quiet, --silent

do not print `checking...' messages

Not very useful. Output to screen is only a few lines anyway.

--cache-file=FILE

cache test results in FILE. [disabled]

No function

-C, --config-cach

alias for `--cache-file=config.cache'

No function

-n, --no-create

do not create output files

Used for testing if other switches produce error - without writing anything to the disk

--srcdir=DIR

find the sources in DIR. [configure dir or `..']

DIR is a directory path. Editor recommends having the current directory being the motion installation directory and not using this switch. Then it defaults to the same directory as where the configure script is which is the current directory.

Installation directories:

 --prefix=PREFIX

install architecture-independent files in PREFIX
[/usr/local]

The default /usr/local means that the executable binary "motion" is installed in /usr/local/bin, the manual page in /usr/local/man/man1, the document files in /usr/local/docs/motion-version, configuration file in /usr/local/etc, and some examples config files in /usr/local/examples/motion-version
Editor recommends keeping this default setting.
If you are experimenting with many parallel versions it may be interesting to set the PREFIX to e.g. /usr/local/motion and then add /usr/local/motion/bin to your search path (or simply cd /usr/local/motion/bin before execution).
This way you can change version just by changing the symbolic link in /usr/local/motion as suggested earlier in this guide.
If you are installing the software on a machine where you have no access to the /usr/local but have write access to a home directory, then you should change this to point to a directory within your home tree.
Example: --prefix=$HOME

--exec-prefix=EPREFIX

install architecture-dependent files in EPREFIX [PREFIX]

If you set this it only defines an alternative installation directory for the executable binary.
Note: The executable binary will be placed in a directory "bin" below the directory specified by this option
Editor recommends leaving this as default (i.e. not setting it).

--bindir=DIR

user executables [EPREFIX/bin]

With this option you can control exactly in which directory the executable binary is installed. The previous option automatically adds the bin directory. Here you are in fill control.

--sbindir=DIR

System admin executables [EPREFIX/sbin]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--libexecdir=DIR

program executables [EPREFIX/libexec]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--datadir=DIR

read-only architecture-independent data [PREFIX/share]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--sysconfdir=DIR

read-only single-machine data [PREFIX/etc]

This is where motion both installs the default configuration file and also where it later searches for it.
Motion searches for the configuration file "motion.conf" in the following order:

1. $HOME/.motion
2. Current directory from where motion was invoked
3. The sysconfig directory set by this switch (note that in version 2.6.3 the default was /etc/motion.conf. From version 2.9.x it is /usr/local/etc/motion.conf

Editor recommends leaving this at default. Be careful if you run "make install" again. This will overwrite the motion.conf file that you have edited and experimented with for hours. Make sure to keep a copy in a safe place. Alternatively, copy the working file to the motion base install directory. Then make install will simply copy the same file back again.

--sharedstatedir=DIR

modifiable architecture-independent data [PREFIX/com]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--localstatedir=DIR

modifiable single-machine data [PREFIX/var]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--libdir=DIR

object code libraries [EPREFIX/lib]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--includedir=DIR

C header files [PREFIX/include]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--oldincludedir=DIR

C header files for non-gcc [/usr/include]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--infodir=DIR

info documentation [PREFIX/info]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--mandir=DIR

man documentation [PREFIX/man]

Editor recommends the default.

Optional Packages:

--with-libavcodec=DIR

Specify the path for libavcodec (part of ffmpeg)
If this is not specified motion will not be able to encode mpeg movies realtime.

DIR is the location of the libavcodec directory in the FFmpeg package.
For more information on FFmpeg see the FFmpeg project home page.
FFmpeg is a package that enables streamed video mpeg signal from your web camera to a browser.

--with-mysql=DIR 

normally, configure will scan all possible default installation paths for mysql. When its fail, use this command to tell configure where mysql installation root directory is.

DIR is the installation directory of mysql. E.g. /usr/local/mysql
Default is that make searches in the normal installation directories of most distributions.
See notes in the MySQL section of this document about usage and potential compilation problems (there is an easy workaround)

--without-mysql

Do not compile with MySQL support

Use this if you do not want to include MySQL support in the package.
This can also be useful if you get compilation errors related to MySQL and you actually do not need the feature anyway.

--with-pgsql=DIR

Include PostgreSQL support.  DIR is the PostgreSQL base install directory, defaults to /usr/local/pgsql.
Set DIR to "shared" to build as a dl, or "shared,DIR"  to build as a dl and still specify DIR.

Default is that make searches in the normal installation directories of most distributions.
See section later about PostgreSQL about potential problem during compilation. There is an easy workaround for it.

--without-pgsql

Do not compile with PostgresSQL support

Use this if you do not want to include PostgresSQL support in the package.
This can also be useful if you get compilation errors related to PostgresSQL and you actually do not need the feature anyway.

Environment values.
Configure sets these values to default values that should be OK. If you think you need to modify them the syntax is VAR=VALUE where VAR can be:

CC

C compiler command

Normally you should not have to worry about any of these.

CFLAGS

C compiler flags

LDFLAGS

linker flags, e.g. -L<lib dir> if you have libraries in a nonstandard directory <lib dir>

CPPFLAGS

C/C++ preprocessor flags, e.g. -I<include dir> if you have headers in a nonstandard directory <include dir>

CPP

C preprocessor

Option

Description

Editors comment

-A

IP address or URL for Network Camera (e.g. an Axis network camera)

Only relevant for network cameras.
Was the IP address of a network camera for pre-2.9.x. Now use -U with IP address or URL.

-a seconds

time between two automated snapshots, valid range: 0 to thousands, default: 0

The default value of 0 means that the feature is disabled.

-B

Encode all jpg images to mpeg after a event using mpeg_encode

An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short timeframe. E.g. a person walking through the room is an event that may have caused 10 single jpg images to be stored. This option make motion (using mpeg_encode) to merge the individual jpg images into a small mpeg "film" showing the event.

-C

Output changes count for every frame, usable for tuning

This feature writes the detected number of changed pixels (after noise filtering) to the console. Motions outputs the numbers for all threads continuously for every frame read from the video device. The output format is "changes: number_of_changes". The number is an expression of how many pixels that changed and how much. The higher a value, the more motion This feature does not work when in daemon mode!
The feature is excellent for debugging. You can use the feature to set the noise level so that motion normally shows "changes: 0". You can also use it to set the right detection threshold level. 

-c changes

threshold for detecting a change, Valid range: 1 to thousands, default: 1500.

Use the -C switch to experiment to find the right value. If you do not get small movement detected (see the mouse on the kitchen floor) lower the value. If motion detects too many birds or moving trees, increase the number.

-D

Daemonize

This means that motion is started as background process(es) and you return to the command prompt right away.
Too see and kill the program while it runs in daemon mode run "ps -ef | grep motion" from the command prompt.
All you have to do now is to kill the motion with the lowest process ID "kill number". From version 2.9.x motion is started as a main thread that creates child threads. Kill the parent and you kill the children.
Note: With version 2.6.3 and earlier (before threading was introduced) you have to kill each individual process.
Also note that the equivalent option in the motion.conf file changed spelling between 2.6.3 and 2.9.x. In 2.6.3 it was deamon and in 2.9.x it was corrected to daemon.

-d device

video4linux capture device, default: /dev/video0

The syntax for the value is /dev/devicename where device name in Linux is normally video0, video1, video2 etc. The actual device number is set by the device driver. See the documentation for this.

-E command

Execute 'command' when detecting motion.

The command is executed at the beginning of the event before the images are stored.
This means that you cannot use this command to process the stored files. Use -O instead for this purpose. This option is good for alarming, recording using other programs etc.

-F file

pgm image to use as a mask for filtering motion. This file must have the same size as you have set for the video4linux device.

Full path of the PGM (portable gray map) mask file.
If you have one or more areas of the camera image in which you do NOT want motion detected (e.g. a tree that moves in the wind or a corner of the picture where you can see cars/pedestrians passing by) you need a mask file. This file is a picture that you create in your favorite photo editing program. The areas that you want detected must be white. The error that you want ignored must be black. The ppm image must be the same size (number of pixels high and wide) as the pictures that are taken by the camera (video4linux device).

-f number

Maximum number of frames per second. Valid range: 0 to limit of camera, default: none

Maximum number of picture frames per second that motion takes when detecting movement. Default is none which means that it takes as many as possible.
For versions before 2.9.8 the value 0 would generate an error. Editor recommends not to define the option at all if not needed.

-G seconds

Minimum gap between two shots in seconds. 0 to thousands, default: 0

It is the minimum time from an image is saved till an image is saved again.

-g seconds

minimum gap between events, Valid range: 1 to thousands, default 60

An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short timeframe. E.g. a person walking through the room is an event that may have caused 10 single jpg images to be stored. This option defines how long a pause between detected motions that is needed to be defined as a new event.

-h

Display an short text with all command line functions.

Display a short 1 line help text for each command option. Motion terminates right after having shown the text. If Motion already runs it is no problem. You can invoke it with the -h option without any impact on the running processes.

-i input

input channel to use. Valid range: depends on video capture card, default: not set

If you have a video capture card you can define the channel to tune to using this option. If you are using a USB device, network camera or a capture card without tuner you can ignore this.

-L noise

Noise level, all changes smaller than this level will be considered noise. Valid range: 1 to 255, default: 32

This is different from the threshold parameter. This is changes at pixel level. The purpose is to eliminate the changes generated by electric noise in the camera. Especially in complete darkness you can see the noise as small grey dots that come randomly in the picture. This noise can create false motion detection. What this parameter means is that the intensity of a pixel must change more than +/- the noise threshold parameter to be counted.

-l

Do not locate and mark motion on output pictures

The mark is in the form of a rectangle on the saved images so that you can easily see what it was that was moving in the picture. It is a matter of taste if you want this.

-M address

Send a mail to 'address' when detecting motion.

Uses the standard UNIX 'mail' program which is part of the 'sendmail' package.

-m

Output 'motion' images

Motion images shows the motion content of the pictures. This is good for tuning and testing but probably not very interesting for the general public. Default is not to store motion images. Motion pictures have an m at the end of the filename.

-N

Don't output normal images

Normal image is an image that is stored when motion is detected. It is the same image that was taken by the camera. I.e. not a motion image as defined above. Default is that normal images are stored. This option turns the feature OFF.

-n norm

norm to use (pal/pal-nc/ntsc/secam), default: pal

Only relevant for capture cards. This sets the video coding standard for the card. In most of western Europe PAL is used. In France and some eastern European countries SECAM is used. In the Americas and Japan NTSC is used.

-O command

Execute 'command' when an image is saved. The name of the image will be given as argument.

The command can be a simple UNIX command, a bash script, a perl program, a real binary program, anything. The program is given the stored image filename as a parameter.

-P device

video4linux video loopback input for normal images. If a dash '-' is given as device, motion will try to use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to find a free pipe on its own. default: not set

See the video4linux loopback device web site for more information about video loopback
It is a software device driver used when you want more than one program to use the output from the same video4linux device. See also the section about video loopback device later in this document.

-p

Output ppm images instead of jpeg. This will reduce CPU load but disk I/O will increase a lot.

-Q

Don't sound the warning beep when detecting motion. (This doesn't change anything in daemon mode, there never is a beep there)

-q quality

JPEG image quality, Valid range: 0-100,default: 75.

100 means hardly compressed. A small number means a much smaller file size but also a less nice quality image to look at. 50 is a good compromise for most.

-S number

Send a SMS to number using sms_client when detecting motion.

Not a feature that has received much attention recently. If you live in GSM land you are probably better off using the email to SMS gateway that most GSM providers have using your mail client. For more information se the sms_client home page.

-s widthxheight

Picture size, Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 352x288

Motion actually set the size of the image coming from the video4linux device. The selected size must be supported by the device. For some device drivers like pwc (driver for Philips USB cameras) setting the size to a non-standard value makes the driver create an image of the nearest smaller size and create a gray band around the image to fit the size given by motion. Note that it is the driver and not motion that generates the gray band. Motion will try to detect motion in the entire image including the gray band.

-t target-dir

destination for snapshots

This is the target directory for all snapshots, motion images and normal images. The default is the current working directory (current working directory of the terminal from which motion was started). You will normally always want to specify this parameter either as a command line option or in the config file.

-U url|IP_addr

Webcam path

URL for a net camera.

-u user:pass

For password-protected network cameras, use this option for the HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication mechanism. default: No authentication

Only relevant for network cameras.

-V device

Output device name

Device name that motion uses to generate output. See the video4linux loopback device web site for more information about video loopback. Note: This is not the capturing device name. To set the capturing device use the -d option.

-w

Activate light switch filter. With this option on motion will not classify sudden light differences as a motion (not 100% fail proof!)

Default (switch not set) is off.

Option

Description

Editors comment

adjust_rate yes|no

Try to make the frame rate of the created mpegs as normal as possible. Normal means round 25 frames per second. Allowed values: yes, no. Default: no

Adjust the number of frames for an mpeg movie to get almost 25 frames per second.

always_changes yes|no

Always display the differences between the captured frame and the reference frame. This can come in handy while tuning your setup. Default: no

This feature writes the detected number of changed pixels (after noise filtering) to the console. Motions outputs the numbers for all threads continuously for every frame read from the video device. The output format is "changes: number_of_changes". The number is an expression of how many pixels that changed and how much. The higher a value, the more motion This feature does not work when in daemon mode!
The feature is excellent for debugging. You can use the feature to set the noise level so that motion normally shows "changes: 0". You can also use it to set the right detection threshold level. 

auto_brightness yes|no

Motion will try to adjust the brightness of the video device if the images captured are to dark or to light. This option will be most useful for video devices like web cams, which sometimes don't have such an option in hardware. Default: no

With this option enabled motion will try to regulate the brightness of a video device. If your video device already does this for you this option might cause oscillations. Editor recommends to experiment for best result.

daemon yes|no

Start motion in daemon mode and release terminal. Default: no

(Important! In version 2.6.3 and earlier this option was misspelled deamon). Wonder about the word and its spelling. Look here!
Daemon mode is what you typically will use once you are done experimenting and have motion run permanently in the background on a server.

drawtext_changes yes|no

Turns the last two digits (counting each individual frame) after the timestamp osd on/off.  Default: no

By setting this option to 'yes' the number of pixels that changed compared to the reference frame is displayed over the date/time stamp in the lower right of the pictures. This is good for calibration and test. Maybe not so interesting for a greater public. Set it to your personal taste.

drawtext_shots yes|no

User defined text overlayed on each frame. Use A-Z, 0-9 - : and '_' as space.  Default: none

Setting the option 'drawtext_shots' to on adds the frame number as '- two digits' after the time stamp. If you save pictures faster than once per second or you generate mpegs with ffmpeg - it can be quite nice to identify each picture frame by a unique time stamp. Set it to your personal taste

drawtext_user TEXT

User defined text overlayed on each frame. Use A-Z, 0-9 - : and '_' as space.  Default: none

User defined text is displayed in the lower left corner of the pictures. If the option is not defined no text is displayed at this position. The user defined text can be the english alphabet - UPPERCASE letters only, the digits 0-9 and the characters "-" and ":". Use the underscore "_" as a space.

execute command

External command to be executed when detecting motion. Default: none

Do not write "none" if you do not want to execute commands. Simply do not include the option in the file or comment it out by placing a "#" as the first character on the line before the execute command.

ffmpeg_cap_new yes|no

Use ffmpegs libavcodec to encode mpeg movies in realtime. Default = no

To use this feature you need to install the FFmpeg Streaming Multimedia System
This feature requires that the frame rate saved is better than 2 frames per second. This means that the 'low_cpu' option must be set to no and the framerate better than 2. Otherwise the ffmpeg encoder will generate a floating point error. See ffmpeg section later in this document.

ffmpeg_timelaps yes|no

Use ffmpegs libavcodec to encode a timelaps movie. Default = no

The ffmpeg_timelaps function takes pictures at a fixed rate of one per minute. This cannot be configured. To use this feature you need to install the FFmpeg Streaming Multimedia System. See ffmpeg section later in this document.

ffmpeg_bps bps

Bitrate of mpegs produced by ffmpeg. Default: 400000 (400Kbps)

Experiment to get the desired quality. The better quality the bigger files. See ffmpeg section later in this document.

framerate number

Maximum number of frames that are saved per second. Valid range: 2-100. Default: 100 (almost no limit).

Note. Motion will stop storing pictures if the framerate is set to less than 2.
Set this parameter to the maximum number of images per second that you want to store either as images or as mpeg films.
To set intervals longer than one second use the 'minimum_gap' option instead.

frequency value

The frequency to set the tuner to (kHz). Valid range: per tuner spec, default: 0 (Don't set it)

This option is on relevant if you have a TV tuner card where you can select the tuner frequency. Your tuner card must support this feature.

gap seconds

The minimum gap between two events in seconds. Default: 60

An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short timeframe. E.g. a person walking through the room is an event that may have caused 10 single jpg images to be stored. This option defines how long a pause between detected motions that is needed to be defined as a new event.
The version 2.9.9 default config file says that default is 300 seconds but the correct default is 60 seconds.

height pixels

The height of each frame. Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 288

The height of the image in pixels. Motion does not scale so should be set to the actual size of the v4l device. In case of a net camera motion sets the height to the height of the first image read.
Motion actually set the size of the image coming from the video4linux device. The selected size must be supported by the device. For some device drivers like pwc (driver for Philips USB cameras) setting the size to a non-standard value makes the driver create an image of the nearest smaller size and create a gray band around the image to fit the size given by motion. Note that it is the driver and not motion that generates the gray band. Motion will try to detect motion in the entire image including the gray band.

input number

Select the input of the video device. Valid range: depends on video capture card, default: 8

This parameter is really used only with video capture cards that has more than one input.
However if you set the input number to e.g. 1 for a USB camera (ov511 or pwc driver) motion writes an error message back. If you set it to 8 it does not give you any warning.
Editor recommends setting the parameter to 8 for USB cameras as your first try. For video capture cards input 1 is normally the composite video input.

jpg_cleanup yes|no

Remove all jpeg images after making a mpeg movie of them. Default: no

When this option is set to yes jpg images will be deleted after creation of an mpeg movie. If you want to see the individual jpg images you should choose no. Otherwise set it to yes and keep your disk space more under control.

lightswitch yes|no

Activate light switch filter. With this option on motion will not classify sudden light differences as a motion (not 100% fail proof!). Default: no

Editors recommendation. Experiment to see what works best for your application.

locate yes|no

Locate and draw a box around the moving object. Default: yes

low_cpu yes|no

When this option is enabled motion will grab only one frame per second while not detecting motion. Default: no

This is smart for running a server that also does other tasks such as running Apache, MySQL etc. Motion grabs one frame per seconds until it detects motion. Then it speeds up to normal speed and take pictures as set by the option "framerate".

mail address

Address to send an e-mail to when detecting motion Default: none

Address in the normal form name@domain.name. An e-mail is sent for each event. Not each picture.

mask_file file

PGM file to use as a sensitivity mask. This picture MUST have the same width and height as the frames being captured and be in binary format. Default: not set.

Full path of the PGM (portable gray map) mask file (binary format).
If you have one or more areas of the camera image in which you do NOT want motion detected (e.g. a tree that moves in the wind or a corner of the picture where you can see cars/pedestrians passing by) you need a mask file. This file is a picture that you create in your favorite photo editing program. The areas that you want detected must be white. The error that you want ignored must be black. The pgm image must be the same size (number of pixels high and wide) as the pictures that are taken by the camera (video4linux device).
You can also adjust sensitivity by using gray tones. See the special section on mask file.
If you do not have a mask file disable this option by not having it in the config file or comment it out ("#" as first character in line).

max_mpeg_time seconds

The maximum length of an mpeg movie. Default: 3600 seconds (one hour). Set this to zero for unlimited length.

mpeg_encode yes|no

Use the Berkeley mpeg encoder 'mpeg_encode' to make movies of the events Default: no

For more information here is a link to the Berkeley mpeg encoder.
Also see the section about using the Berkely mpeg encoder later in this document.

mpeg_encode_bin path

Specify the path to the mpeg_encoder. Default is /usr/local/bin/mpeg_encode

This option is not included in the default motion.conf file. It specifies the path to the Berkely mpeg_encode executable binary file. The default value is /usr/local/bin/mpeg_encode. This is normally where the encoder gets installed if you build from source. But if you install a binary RPM the encoder will most likely end up in /usr/bin/mpeg_encode. In this case set this option.

minimum_gap seconds

The minimum time between two shots in seconds. Valid range: 0 to thousands, default: 0 (no minimum)

This is the minimum gap between the storing pictures while detecting motion. The value zero means that pictures can be stored almost at the framerate of the camera.

motion_video_pipe devicename|-

The video4linux video loopback input device for motion images. If a particular pipe is to be used then use the device filename of this pipe, if a dash '-' is given motion will use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to locate a free pipe. Default: not set

Using this you can view the results in real time. E.g. by using the program camstream. (Please confirm). The difference between this option and the video-pipe option is that this option shows the motion version of the images instead of the normal images.
Disable this option by not having it in the config file (or comment it out with "#").
See also the section about video loopback device later in this document. 

netcam_url URL

Specify an url to a downloadable jpeg file to use as input device. Such as an AXIS 2100 network camera. Default: not set.

Example: http://www.gate.com/pe1rxq/jeroen.jpg

netcam_userpass user:pass

For network cameras protected by username and password, use this option for HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication. The string is specified as username:password. Default: No authentication

Only relevant for network cameras.

night_compensate yes|no

When this option is set the noise threshold will be lowered if the picture is to dark. This will improve the sensitivity in dark places. However it might also increase the number of false alarms since most cameras also compensate for this with their AGC which will increase noise. Default: yes

Editors recommends to experiment for best result as this depends heavily on the camera and light conditions.

noise_level level

The noise level is used as a threshold for distinguishing between noise and motion. Valid range: 1 to 255, default: 32

This is different from the threshold parameter. This is changes at pixel level. The purpose is to eliminate the changes generated by electric noise in the camera. Especially in complete darkness you can see the noise as small grey dots that come randomly in the picture. This noise can create false motion detection. What this parameter means is that the intensity of a pixel must change more than +/- the noise threshold parameter to be counted.

norm 0|1|2|3

Select the norm of the video device. Values: 0 (PAL), 1 (NTSC), 2 (SECAM), 3 (PAL NC no colour). Default: 0 (PAL)

This value is only used for capture cards using the BTTV driver.

oldlayout yes|no

If this option is set to yes motion will use the old style filenames for saving images: 'No-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-Fm' No is the event number, Fm the frame number for that second. As default motion will create directories for years, months, days and so on.
Default: no

Editors notes. If you do not choose this option motion will generate a deep directory structure of year/month/day/hour/minute. This is nice for a simple web interface but it becomes a little more complicated to write an automatic script that keeps the last 100 pictures available and deletes the rest. If you want to delete any picture older than 2 days this is easier with the new layout. Choose the one that fits your need best.

onsave command

Execute 'command' when an image is saved. The name of the image will be given as argument. Default: not set.

Full path name of the program/script.
This can be any type of program or script. Remember to set the execution bit in the ACL and if it is a script type program such as perl or bash also remember the shebang line (e.g. #!/user/bin&perl) as the first line of the script.

onmpeg command

Execute 'command' when an mpeg movie is generated. The name of the movie will be given as argument. Default: not set.

Full path name of the program/script.
This can be any type of program or script. Remember to set the execution bit in the ACL and if it is a script type program such as perl or bash also remember the shebang line (e.g. #!/user/bin&perl) as the first line of the script.

output_motion yes|no

Output pictures with only the moving object. Default: no

Motion images shows the motion content of the pictures. This is good for tuning and testing but probably not very interesting for the general public. Default is not to store motion images. Motion pictures have an "m" at the end of the filename. E.g. for the old directory layout the name can be 01-20020424232936-00m.jpg.
See section later in this document about the different tuning modes.

output_normal yes|no

Output 'normal' pictures. Default: yes

Normal image is an image that is stored when motion is detected. It is the same image that was taken by the camera. I.e. not a motion image as defined above. Default is that normal images are stored.

post_capture number

Specifies the number of frames to be captured after motion has been detected. Valid range: 0 to thousands, default=0.

The purpose of this is mainly to create smooth video clips each time motion is detected. Use it to you personal taste (and disk space).
This feature was introduced in 2.9.1.

ppm yes|no

Output ppm images instead of jpeg. This uses less CPU time, but causes a LOT of hard disk I/O, it is generally slower than jpeg. Default: no

Editors recommendation is to always use jpg except if you have a specific need to store high quality pictures without any quality loss. For web cameras you should always choose jpg.

quality value

The quality for the jpeg images. Valid range: 1-100,default: 75

100 means hardly compressed. A small number means a much smaller file size but also a less nice quality image to look at. 50 is a good compromise for most.
Note that the default config file says that the default is 100. This is not correct. The default is 75.

quiet yes|no

Be quiet, don't output beeps when detecting motion. Default: no

realconfig filename

With this option set to yes motion images will contain the actual difference in the frames. Normally the pictures will show the moving parts of the newest frame. Default: no

In version up to 2.6.3 you would use this option to have motion control more than one camera.
For each camera you would create a "realconfig" file which contained all the options that are unique to each camera. Any option that goes in the motion.conf file can also go in the realconfig file except you cannot use this realconfig option (no nesting).
The filename is the full path of the realconfig file.
NOTE!! From 2.9.x this has been replaced by the thread option.

realmotion yes|no

With this option set to yes motion images will contain the actual difference in the frames. Normally these pictures will show the moving parts of the newest frame. Default: no

This is another useful tuning option. This option only works in combination with the "output_motion" option.
Output_motion normally shows the pixels that have changed in the latest frame (the reference frame) taking into consideration the noise_level. This means that normally you only see the contents of the picture that actually moved.
By setting realmotion to yes, you see all the changed pixels.
See the section later in this document about the different tuning modes.

snapshots seconds

Make automated snapshots every N seconds. Valid range: 0 to thousands, default: 0 (No snapshots)

The snapshots are stored in the target directory with the "-snapshot" appended to the body of the filename. E.g for the oldlayout the filename can be 01-20020425003030-snapshot.jpg

roundrobing_frames number

Specifies the number of frames to capture before switching inputs, this way also slow switching (e.g. every second) is possible. Default: 1

Roundrobing feature is described in a section later in this document.

roundrobing_skip number

Specifies the number of frames to skip after a switch. (1 of you are feeling lucky, 2 if you want to be safe). Default: 1

Roundrobing feature is described in a section later in this document

snapshot_overwrite yes|no

All snapshots are named 'lastsnap.[jpg|ppm]' instead of time coded names. Thus every new snapshot overwrites any existing ones. Default: no

Note that the default motion.conf file says that the filename is snapshot.[jpg/ppm]. This is wrong. The filename is lastsnap.[jpg/ppm] when using this feature.

sms number

Number to send an SMS to with sms_client. Default: none

Not a feature that has received much attention recently. If you live in GSM land you are probably better off using the e-mail to SMS gateway that most GSM providers have using your mail client. For more information se the sms_client home page.

switchfilter yes|no

Turns the switch filter on or off. The filter can distinguish between most switching noise and real motion. With this you can even set roundrobing_skip to 1 without generating much false detection. Default: no.

target_dir directory_path

Target directory for pictures. Default: current working directory

This is the target directory for all snapshots, motion images and normal images. The default is the current working directory (current working directory of the terminal from which motion was started). You will normally always want to specify this parameter either as a command line option or in the config file. Use an absolute directory path (not relative) if you want to use mpeg_encode.

thread filename

Thread option. With this a separate config file can be specified to be used for a new separate thread.

This is used when you have more than more camera/device. From version 2.9.x this replaces the realconfig option.
The first camera gets all its options from the motion.conf file. All additional cameras must have their unique information in a separate thread config file. This must be at least the definition of the device or input number of a capture card.
Additionally you can add any other options such as target_dir, height/width etc. Format of the thread config files is the same as for the motion.conf.
You add one thread statement for each additional camera in motion.conf. Example
thread /usr/local/etc/thread1.conf
thread /usr/local/etc/thread2.conf
Note that your first camera get all its setting from motion.conf. (Different from the old realconfig option where each device would have a realconfig file)
When you start motion as a daemon a main thread is started and one thread for each device plus one additional control thread. To kill motion you kill the main thread (the one with the lowest process ID).

threshold value

Threshold for declaring motion. Valid range: 1 to thousands, default: 1500.

Use the -C command line option or the always_changes config file option to experiment to find the right threshold value. If you do not get small movement detected (see the mouse on the kitchen floor) lower the value. If motion detects too many birds or moving trees, increase the number. Practical values would be from a few hundred to 2000 indoors and 1000-10000 outdoors.

videodevice device_name

The videodevice to be used for capturing. Default: /dev/video0

This is the video4linux device name.
Ignore this for net cameras.

video_pipe device_name|-

The video4linux video loopback input device for normal images. If a particular pipe is to be used then use the device filename of this pipe, if a dash '-' is given motion will use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to locate a free pipe. Default: not set

Using this you can view the results in real time. E.g. by using the program camstream.. The difference between this option and the video-pipe option is that this option shows the normal version of the images instead of the motion images.
Disable this option by not having it in the config file (or comment it out with "#").
See also the section about video loopback device later in this document. 

webcam_port port_no

TCP port on which motion will listen for incoming connects with its http server. Default is 0 which is disabled.

Webcam feature is described in a section later in this document

webcam_quality level

Quality setting for the jpeg files transferred over this connection (usually very low). Default is 30.

Webcam feature is described in a section later in this document

webcam_motion yes|no

If set to yes only send images with motion over the webcam connection, else send frames continuously. Default is no.

Webcam feature is described in a section later in this document

webcam_maxrate rate

Limit the framerate of the webcam. Default is 100.

Webcam feature is described in a section later in this document

width pixels

The width of each frame. Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 352

Motion does not scale so should be set to the actual size of the v4l device. In case of a net camera motion sets the height to the height of the first image read.
Motion actually set the size of the image coming from the video4linux device. The selected size must be supported by the device. For some device drivers like pwc (driver for Philips USB cameras) setting the size to a non-standard value makes the driver create an image of the nearest smaller size and create a gray band around the image to fit the size given by motion. Note that it is the driver and not motion that generates the gray band. Motion will try to detect motion in the entire image including the gray band.

MySQL CONFIG FILE OPTIONS
If you compiled motion with MySQL support you will need to set the following options if you want motion to log events to the database.

mysql_db

Name of the MySQL database

mysql_host

IP address or domain name for the MySQL server. Use "localhost" if motion and MySQL runs on the same server.

mysql_user

The MySQL user name.

mysql_password

The MySQL password.

PostgresSQL CONFIG FILE OPTIONS
If you compiled motion with PostgresSQL support you will need to set the following options if you want motion to log events to the database.

pgsql_db

Name of the PostgresSQL database

pgsql_host

IP address or domain name for the PostgresSQL server. Use "localhost" if motion and PostgresSQL runs on the same server.

pgsql_user

The PostgresSQL user name

pgsql_password

The PostgresSQL password

pgsql_port

Default is 5432

The PostgresSQL server port number

TRACKING CONFIG FILE OPTIONS
Motion has experimental tracking options which use a serial stepper motor controller. For this motion has the following options:

track_port

This is the serial port to which the stepper motor interface is connected.

track_motorx

The motor number that is used for controlling the x-axis.

track_maxx

The maximum position for servo x.

track_iomojo_id

Use this option if you have an iomojo smilecam connected to the serial port instead of a general stepper motor controller. Default: -1 (Use the stepper motor interface)

Signal

Description

Editors comment

SIGALRM

Motion will generate a snapshot.

SIGHUP

The config file will be reread.

This is a very useful signal when you experiment with settings in the config file.

SIGTERM

If needed motion will create an mpeg file of the last event and exit

SIGUSR1

Motion will create an mpeg file of the current event.