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How to stream to multiple servers with butt

As you probably know butt does not offer the ability to stream to multiple servers at the same time. However you can run multiple butt instances simultaneously and use each instance for a different server.


By default all butt instances share one configuration file. Because this is unfavorable, this document describes how you can run multiple butt instances with different configurations.  The process is different for each operating system. Therefore the following three sections describe how to do this for Windows, MacOS and Linux. The description assumes that you already have at least two servers added to your default butt configuration.
Windows:
To start butt with a specific configuration file we first have to create that file. In this tutorial we will export two configurations with different servers and save them to a folder called “butt” on our Desktop. Of course you can save the configurations to anyplace you want.

 First we open the settings window of butt and select the first server.




Next we click the Export button and savethe configuration file to the “butt” folder on our Desktop.


We will call the file “butt_server1.txt”.


Now we we can select the second server in butt and export the configuration to the same folder but call it “butt_server2.txt” this time.
To start butt with either the server1 or server2 configuration we create two copies of the original butt shortcut on our Desktop and call them “butt server1” and “butt server2”.
We now have to change the properties of each shortcut. To do so we right click on the shortcut and click on “Properties”. By default the Target field contains the path to the butt executable. In my case that is
C:\Users\daniel\AppData\Local\butt\butt.exe




We have to extend the Target field such that it becomes:

C:\Users\daniel\AppData\Local\butt\butt.exe -c "C:\Users\daniel\Desktop\butt\butt_server1.txt"

Please make sure that you put the path to the configuration file into double quotes. This is important in case your username contains spaces.

Repeat the above steps for the second shortcut but use the path to the second configuration file this time:

C:\Users\daniel\AppData\Local\butt\butt.exe -c "C:\Users\daniel\Desktop\butt\butt_server2.txt"
Finally you can start butt with either the server1 or server2 configuration by simply double clicking the corresponding shortcut.





MacOS:
To start butt with a specific configuration file we first have to create that file. In this tutorial we will export two configurations with different servers and save them to a folder called “butt” on our Desktop. Of course you can save the configurations to any place you want.

 First we open the settings window of butt and select the first server.




Next we click the Export button and save the configuration file to the “butt” folder on our Desktop.


We will call the file “butt_server1.txt”.


We can now select the second server in butt and export the configuration to the same folder but call it “butt_server2.txt” this time.

To start butt with a specific configuration file we need to write a little Apple Script:
  • Open the Finder and go to Applications/Utilities and start the Script Editor.app
  • Click on “New Document”
  • Now paste the following line into the Script Editor
  • do shell script "open -na '/Applications/butt.app' --args -c ~/Desktop/butt/butt_server1.txt"

 The result should look like in the screenshot below:


To test the script click on the play symbol. With a bit of luck butt will open now. Next we can close butt and save the script to the subdirectory Scripts in the Applications folder. To do so we go back to the Script Editor and select File→Save… Make sure that the File Format is set to Application.


In the script window change the text butt_server1.txt to butt_server2.txt and save this script as butt_server2.app.
Now you can start butt with the first server configuration by launching butt_server1.app. To start butt with the second server configuration launch the butt_server2.app.





Linux:
To start butt with a specific configuration file we first have to create that file. In this tutorial we will export two configurations with different servers and save them to our home directory. Of course you can save the configurations to any place you want.

 First we open the settings window of butt and select the first server.




Next we click the Export button and save the configuration file to our home directory.


We will call the file “butt_server1.txt”.
Now we can select the second server in butt and export the configuration as “butt_server2.txt” to our home directory.

To start butt with the first server configuration open a terminal window and enter

butt -c ~/butt_server1.txt
To start butt with the second configuration start a new terminal and enter

butt -c ~/butt_server2.txt
To run both instances from the same terminal you can type

butt -c ~/butt_server1.txt & butt -c ~/butt_server2.txt