Disabling configuration sections

If you experiment a lot with your radios and RTLSDR-Airband, you probably have many config files (like me) and you play with settings very often, adding or removing devices, channels or outputs. As an example, let's say you have a config file with two devices:

devices:
({
  type = "rtlsdr";
  index = 0;
  gain = 25;
  centerfreq = 120.0;
  channels:
  (
    ... # your channels go here
  )
},
{
  type = "rtlsdr";
  index = 1;
  gain = 28;
  centerfreq = 133.5;
  channels:
  (
    ... # your channels go here
  )
}
);

Now let's assume you want to run the program with this configuration, but you have the second dongle currently connected to another computer and being used for another purpose, so you want RTLSDR-Airband to use the first device only. But if you just start it with the above config file, it will exit with a fatal error, because it won't find the second device.

So you have to get rid of the missing device configuration section - either delete it or comment it out. This is tedious and unnecessary, especially if the modification is temporary. Fortunately there is simpler way - put disable = true option inside the second device section:

devices:
({
  type = "rtlsdr";
  index = 0;
  gain = 25;
  centerfreq = 120.0;
  channels:
  (
    ... # your channels go here
  )
},
{
  disable = true;
  type = "rtlsdr";
  index = 1;
  gain = 28;
  centerfreq = 133.5;
  channels:
  (
    ... # your channels go here
  )
}
);

This causes the second device section to be ignored, as if it didn't exist. Simple as that.

To bring the section back to use, just switch disable to false or delete the option altogether.

Channels and outputs can be disabled in the same way. Here is a config with one device having two channels. The second channel with frequency 119.6 MHz is disabled, so only the first one will work. It has two outputs, but the file output is disabled and only pulse output will be used.

devices:
({
  type = "rtlsdr";
  index = 0;
  gain = 25;
  mode = "scan";
  channels:
  (
    {
      modulation = "nfm";
      freqs = ( 152.1, 168.25, 168.375 );
      outputs: (
        {
          disable = true;
          type = "file";
          directory = "/home/pi/recordings";
          filename_template = "utility"
        },
        {
          type = "pulse";
          server = "192.168.11.10";
          stream_name = "Utility channels";
          continuous = false;
        }
      )
    },
    {
      disable = true;
      freq = 119.6;
      modulation = "nfm";
      outputs: (
        {
          type = "file";
          directory = "/home/pi/recordings";
          filename_template = "somechannel";
        }
      );
    }
  )
});

Note that:

• there must be at least one non-disabled device in the configuration file,
• each non-disabled device must have at least one non-disabled channel,
• each non-disabled channel must have at least one non-disabled output.

or to put it shorter: you can't disable everything at once in any section. This will cause an error on program start.