Alive-CLI

Core Alive daemon and CLI tool for publishing HLS streams to decentralized networks.

This is the main daemon that is used by streamers to upload .ts segments of a local HLS stream to IPFS and publishes its hash and duration to decentralized networks.

Pre-requisites

Python 3.8+, pip3 package manager and AliveDB dependencies are required.

Additionally, the following packages are required for its dependency packages to be installed successfully:

Debian/Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev python3-dev python3-pip python3-setuptools

Fedora/CentOS

sudo yum install gcc openssl-devel python-devel

macOS

brew install openssl
export CFLAGS="-I$(brew --prefix openssl)/include $CFLAGS"
export LDFLAGS="-L$(brew --prefix openssl)/lib $LDFLAGS"

Termux on Android

pkg install clang openssl python

You may also want to install IPFS node for uploading .ts segments to your local repo:

• go-ipfs
• ipfs-desktop

Installation

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/aliveprotocol/Alive-CLI
cd Alive-CLI

Setup virtual environment

To create the virtual environment (one-time):

python3 -m venv .venv --prompt alivecli

To enter the virtual environment:

source .venv/bin/activate

Install in virtual environment

pip3 install . --use-pep517
alivedb_install

The default data directory is ~/.alive where all Alive working files will be stored.

Starting a new stream

Begin from step 3 if streaming directly on-chain.

1. If not already, create an AliveDB user account.

alivedb_usercreate <new_alivedb_password>

2. Publish your AliveDB public key to your new stream.

alive_configure hive <hive_api_node> <link> <alivedb_pubkey> <username> <posting_key>

3. Setup OBS recording output settings according to the config below.

4. Start the Alive daemon. To get CLI usage info:

alivecli --help

5. Start recording in OBS.

Ending a stream

1. Stop recording in OBS.
2. Let the final segment to complete processing, then hit Ctrl+C on Alive daemon.
3. Let the world know that the stream has ended so that the stream archive will be seekable.

alive_end hive <hive_api_node> <link> <username> <posting_key>

OBS Recording Output Config

ⓘ Important Your recording output configuration must match the settings below. Failing to do so may result in failed uploads or excessive use of bandwidth or resource credits.

• Output mode: Advanced
• Type: Custom output (FFmpeg)
• FFmpeg output type: Output to File
• File path: ~/.alivedb/record_here
• Container format: hls
• Muxer settings: hls_time=10
• Keyframe interval: Set this to 10x your framerate. For example, if you're recording at 30fps, set this value to 300.

Programmatic Usage

The Alive daemon can be invoked programmatically in Python as well. For a detailed guide (including example code snippets), check out the Streamer SDK developer documentation.