bluetoothctl-autoconnector

A tool for bluetoothctl to connect all/any devices automatically.

Standalone

bluetoothctl attempts to connect all paired Bluetooth devices only once.

$ ./autoconnector.sh

It can also attempt to connect only specific devices.

$ ./autoconnector.sh -f <MAPPING_LIST_FILE>

For details on how to write a mapping list file, see list.sample.

Use ./autoconnector.sh -h for more information.

Register crontab

$ ./setup.sh

crontab will execute autoconnector.sh every minute. This will reconnect paired Bluetooth devices automatically even if they disconnect from a computer, and keep connecting them.

Motivation for making this tool

I’m using this tool on Ubuntu on Raspberry Pi, and I’m using my Raspberry Pi as Bluetooth audio receiver and mixer.

I always put in my Bluetooth headphone even though I don’t listen anything. Sometimes I’m listening something on iPhone and at other times I’m listening something on MacBook or TV.

I strongly think it’s hassle to switch Bluetooth connections every time I change the devices playing sounds. Then I came up with a good idea.

I connect all devices that play sounds with Raspberry Pi as audio profile (A2DP) instead of my Bluetooth headphone, mix up the sounds on Raspberry Pi, and transmit them to my Bluetooth headphone. And then, yay! Congratulations! I can now listen to sounds played on iPhone, MacBook and TV at the same time without switching Bluetooth connections.

This system is awesome for me, but the devices that play sounds are not always connecting with Raspberry Pi. I take my iPhone outside, then it disconnects from Raspberry Pi. MacBook sleeps or shutdowns, then it disconnects from Raspberry Pi in the same way. So I wanted to reconnect them with Raspberry Pi automatically when they is connectable even if they disconnect from it, and keep connecting. That’s why I made this tool.

Troubleshooting

Failed to create secure directory

Problem

An error occurs like this.

Failed to create secure directory (/run/user/1000/pulse/): No such file or directory

Solution

Restart PulseAudio daemon and system.

systemctl --user restart pulseaudio
sudo reboot

Caution! The following is a pre-written version (Click to expand)

Installation

TBA

Usage

Create an alias file

At first, you need to create an alias file called ~/.marlin_aliases, and add your Bluetooth device address and device alias paired like this:

# ~/.marlin_aliases

XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX iPhone
YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY MacBook
ZZ:ZZ:ZZ:ZZ:ZZ:ZZ Oculus Quest

A portion of alias can be set whatever you like so that you can be easy to understand what device is later.

Register

This subcommand pairs your Bluetooth device to your Linux device.

marlin register iPhone

Your iPhone should be paired to your Linux device like Raspberry Pi after performing the command above.

Connect

This subcommand connects your Bluetooth device with your Linux device.

marlin connect iPhone

Your iPhone should be connected to your Linux device.

The connect subcommand is not a marlin's one, but in that case, it is passed to bluetoothctl command as is. For the same reason, you can also use disconnect, remove, etc.

For details on the command list of bluetoothctl, refer to here (for English readers) or here (for Japanese readers).

List

This subcommand shows all the devices you paired.

marlin list

Alias

This subcommand shows all the aliases you set in ~/.marlin_aliases.

marlin alias

Info

This subcommand shows a specific device's information.

marlin info iPhone

Others

There are more it can do for you. To see all the usages, use the --help option.

marlin --help