RoonCommandLine on Debian 13 box is not communicating with Roon Nucleus

[drkayak99-netizen]

I'm trying to install RoonCommandLine on a debian 13 box (192.168.1.15) that has an ethernet connection to my Roon Nucleus (192.168.1.3). After downloading the package, I did:

sudo dpkg -i ./RoonCommandLine_2.1.4-1.deb

The output includes:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/Roon/api/get_core_ip.py", line 26, in <module>
    apis = [RoonApi(app, None, server[0], server[1], False)]
            ~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/roonapi/roonapi.py", line 798, in __init__
    raise RoonApiException("Host and port of the roon core must be specified!")
roonapi.roonapi.RoonApiException: Host and port of the roon core must be specified!
Approval granted, retrieving zones and zone info ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/Roon/api/list_zones.py", line 65, in <module>
    roonapi = RoonApi(appinfo, token, server, port)
  File "/usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/roonapi/roonapi.py", line 798, in __init__
    raise RoonApiException("Host and port of the roon core must be specified!")
roonapi.roonapi.RoonApiException: Host and port of the roon core must be specified!

In '/usr/local/Roon/etc/roon_api.ini', there are no entries for RoonCoreIP, RoonCorePort, DefaultZone, or any of the Zone Groups. The TokenFileName of '/usr/local/Roon/etc/roontoken.txt' doesn't exist. The file '/usr/local/Roon/etc/pyroonconf' has these lines:

LOCAL=true
export PYTHONUSERBASE=/usr/local/Roon/venv
ROONAPIPATCHED=true
ROON_ZONE=""

If I add to '/usr/local/Roon/etc/roon_api.ini' the correct RoonCoreIP (192.168.1.3), and run the program using the roon command, I get a welcome message and the menu of commands, none of which produce any output. The Roon app on my android tablet (the only way I have to communicate with the Nucleus) discovers no extensions.

Any troubleshooting advice would be appreciated!

[doctorfree]

The Traceback indicates either the host or port of the Roon Core are not being detected, discovery failed. This can happen if the 2 systems are on different networks (e.g. wifi and ethernet) or if the Core is not accepting connections from some range of IP addresses (e.g. a firewall). The Roon Core, in this case your Roon Nucleus, and the system on which you are installing RoonCommandLine must be on the same network. It looks like this is the case as they are in the same subnet, 192.168.1.

You can test network connectivity between the two systems with telnet. Install telnet on the system where RoonCommandLine is to be deployed. Assuming your Roon Nucleus is using the default Roon Core port of 9330, run the command:

telnet 192.168.1.3 9330

This should return something like Trying 192.168.1.3... then Connected to 192.168.1.3. If you do not see the Connected message then there is some networking issue between the 2 systems. You can exit telnet with Ctrl-] and quit.

If we eliminate network issues as the culprit then the next most likely thing is Python versions. I am not able to replicate this issue on my test systems but I do not have Roon Nucleus and my environment differs from yours. Try the test with telnet if you can and report the results here.

[drkayak99-netizen]

Here's what I get:

$ telnet 192.168.1.3 9330
Trying 192.168.1.3...
Connected to 192.168.1.3.

$ python3 --version
Python 3.13.5

[doctorfree]

That is a supported Python version and you have connectivity between systems. That eliminates some possible areas of concern. Let's eliminate the Debian package postinstall script by performing a scripted install. First remove the Debian package with sudo dpkg -r rooncommandline or sudo apt remove rooncommandline. This should remove everything in /usr/local/Roon and give you a clean slate to reinstall.

Install RoonCommandLine using the scripted install process with:

    git clone https://github.com/doctorfree/RoonCommandLine.git
    cd RoonCommandLine
    ./Install

Report the output and results of the scripted installation here.

[drkayak99-netizen]

sudo dpkg -r rooncommandline
git clone https://github.com/doctorfree/RoonCommandLine.git
cd RoonCommandLine
./Install

No packages for version 2.1.4 are currently available.
Would you like to perform a scripted install on this platform?

Install  ? ('Y'/'N'): y
Install RoonCommandLine version 2.1.4r1 ? ('Y'/'N'): y
WARNING: The directory '/home/paul/.cache/pip' or its parent directory is not owned or is not writable by the current user. The cache has been disabled. Check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you should use sudo's -H flag.
Collecting pip
  Downloading pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (4.7 kB)
Downloading pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl (1.8 MB)
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Installing collected packages: pip
Successfully installed pip-25.3
WARNING: The directory '/home/paul/.cache/pip' or its parent directory is not owned or is not writable by the current user. The cache has been disabled. Check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you should use sudo's -H flag.
Collecting roonapi
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Collecting six>=1.10.0 (from roonapi)
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Collecting websocket_client>=1.4.0 (from roonapi)
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Collecting charset_normalizer<4,>=2 (from requests>=2.0->roonapi)
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Collecting idna<4,>=2.5 (from requests>=2.0->roonapi)
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Collecting urllib3<3,>=1.21.1 (from requests>=2.0->roonapi)
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Collecting certifi>=2017.4.17 (from requests>=2.0->roonapi)
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Downloading roonapi-0.1.6-py3-none-any.whl (21 kB)
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Downloading six-1.17.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl (11 kB)
Downloading websocket_client-1.9.0-py3-none-any.whl (82 kB)
Installing collected packages: ifaddr, websocket_client, urllib3, six, idna, charset_normalizer, certifi, requests, roonapi
Successfully installed certifi-2025.11.12 charset_normalizer-3.4.4 idna-3.11 ifaddr-0.2.0 requests-2.32.5 roonapi-0.1.6 six-1.17.0 urllib3-2.6.1 websocket_client-1.9.0
WARNING: The directory '/home/paul/.cache/pip' or its parent directory is not owned or is not writable by the current user. The cache has been disabled. Check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you should use sudo's -H flag.
Collecting rich-cli
  Downloading rich_cli-1.8.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (10.0 kB)
Collecting click<9.0.0,>=8.0.0 (from rich-cli)
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Requirement already satisfied: requests<3.0.0,>=2.0.0 in /usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages (from rich-cli) (2.32.5)
Collecting rich<13.0.0,>=12.4.0 (from rich-cli)
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Requirement already satisfied: charset_normalizer<4,>=2 in /usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages (from requests<3.0.0,>=2.0.0->rich-cli) (3.4.4)
Requirement already satisfied: idna<4,>=2.5 in /usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages (from requests<3.0.0,>=2.0.0->rich-cli) (3.11)
Requirement already satisfied: urllib3<3,>=1.21.1 in /usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages (from requests<3.0.0,>=2.0.0->rich-cli) (2.6.1)
Requirement already satisfied: certifi>=2017.4.17 in /usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages (from requests<3.0.0,>=2.0.0->rich-cli) (2025.11.12)
Collecting commonmark<0.10.0,>=0.9.0 (from rich<13.0.0,>=12.4.0->rich-cli)
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Installing collected packages: commonmark, pygments, docutils, click, rich, textual, rich-rst, rich-cli
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Setting the Python Roon API server IP address to 192.168.1.15
Enabling local access in /usr/local/Roon/etc/pyroonconf

In order to configure the Python Roon API we must set the IP address
of the Roon Core. Discovery will be used to determine the Roon Core IP.
When prompted for authorization, go to a Roon Remote window and click
    Settings -> Extensions -> Enable
to authorize discovery

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/Roon/api/get_core_ip.py", line 26, in <module>
    apis = [RoonApi(app, None, server[0], server[1], False)]
            ~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/roonapi/roonapi.py", line 798, in __init__
    raise RoonApiException("Host and port of the roon core must be specified!")
roonapi.roonapi.RoonApiException: Host and port of the roon core must be specified!
Approval granted, retrieving zones and zone info ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/Roon/api/list_zones.py", line 65, in <module>
    roonapi = RoonApi(appinfo, token, server, port)
  File "/usr/local/Roon/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/roonapi/roonapi.py", line 798, in __init__
    raise RoonApiException("Host and port of the roon core must be specified!")
roonapi.roonapi.RoonApiException: Host and port of the roon core must be specified!

Verify the 'server' and 'user' settings in the roon script are correct.
If you wish to deploy RoonCommandLine on other systems, install the package
there or copy the 'roon' frontend shell script to a location in your execution
PATH on those systems from which you wish to control Roon via SSH.

Edit the Roon Command Line configuration settings at:
/usr/local/Roon/etc/roon_api.ini
and verify the settings in the configuration file /usr/local/Roon/etc/pyroonconf

[doctorfree]

Thanks for running these tests. The problem does not appear to be your network setup or my packaging. Let's try manually configuring /usr/local/Roon/etc/roon_api.ini and see if we can get a token. Edit roon_api.ini and add/modify the RoonCoreIP and RoonCorePort to look like this:

RoonCoreIP = 192.168.1.3
RoonCorePort = 9330

Here is an example of what roon_api.ini should look like (using my preferences and zones - just an example):

[DEFAULT]
DefaultAlbum = Catch the Wind
DefaultArtist = Jethro Tull
DefaultComposer = Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
DefaultGenre = Classical
DefaultPlaylist = Bowie Favs
DefaultRadio = Radio Paradise
DefaultTag = Prog
DefaultZone = WiiM Pro Airplay
TokenFileName = /usr/local/Roon/etc/roontoken.txt
RoonCoreIP = 192.168.1.3
RoonCorePort = 9330
RoonCommandLineVersion = 2.1.4
RoonCommandLineRelease = 1

[ZONEGROUPS]
Group_0 = WiiM Pro Airplay, Sony Receiver Kitchen, Marantz Airplay, WiiM Amp SMSL SU-1 AirPlay, HomePod Max Right, HomePod Blue Pair, HomePod Mini Pair, WiiM Pro Plus Airplay, Guest Room Airport Express, WiiM Amp Bedroom AirPlay, WiiM Pro Roon Ready, WiiM Ultra Kitchen, Guest Bedroom HifiBerry, WiiM Pro Chromecast, Sony Receiver Chromecast, WiiM Amp Bedroom Roon Ready, WiiM Amp Bedroom, WiiM Pro Plus Roon Ready, WiiM Pro Plus Chromecast, WiiM Pro Marantz Roon Ready, Marantz Chromecast, WiiM Amp Roon Ready, WiiM Amp SMSL SU-1 Chromecast, TiVo Stream 4k, HomePod Max Left, MacBook Pro Speakers, MacBook Pro, BlackHole 2ch
Group_1 = WiiM Pro Airplay, Guest Room Airport Express, HomePod Blue Pair, HomePod Max Left, HomePod Max Right, Marantz Airplay, WiiM Amp SMSL SU-1 AirPlay, HomePod Mini Pair, Sony Receiver Kitchen, WiiM Amp Bedroom AirPlay, WiiM Pro Plus Airplay
Group_2 = WiiM Pro Roon Ready, Guest Bedroom HifiBerry, MacBook Pro, BlackHole 2ch, MacBook Pro Speakers, WiiM Pro Marantz Roon Ready, WiiM Amp Bedroom Roon Ready, WiiM Amp Roon Ready, WiiM Ultra Kitchen, WiiM Pro Plus Roon Ready
Group_3 = Sony Receiver Kitchen, Guest Room Airport Express, HomePod Blue Pair
Group_4 = BlackHole 2ch, WiiM Amp Roon Ready, WiiM Ultra Kitchen, WiiM Pro Plus Roon Ready

After manually configuring the IP and port in roon_api.ini, execute the command list_zones. If communication with the Nucleus fails again we should see similar output as before. If it succeeds then you will see no output and you should be able to go to the Roon GUI on any other system and go to Settings -> Extensions and click the Enable button for RoonCommandLine.

This test:

• Manually configure the Roon Core IP and Port in /usr/local/Roon/etc/roon_api.ini
• Execute the command list_zones
• Report error or, if no errors are displayed Enable extension in Roon GUI

[drkayak99-netizen]

That worked! In my past attempts, I tried adding the Roon Core IP and Port to /usr/local/Roon/etc/roon_api.ini, but still got the error messages. What step enabled communication between RoonCommandLine and the Nucleus? Something about the scripted install vs. installation of the Debian package?

From the command line, is it possible to get more than one attribute printed per line, like 'Beatles - Here Comes the Sun'? I can get lists of albums by artist with roon -l artalbums, and lists of track titles in a playlist with roon -l playtracks -p "Rock" , but I haven't been able to get lists of tracks in a playlist with lines like 'Artist - Track'.

Thank you so much for getting this to work for me!

[doctorfree]

Good! I do not know but suspect the Debian package postinstall script exited at a different point or in a different way when the error was encountered. They do all sorts of error processing in deb that I may not do in the scripted install.

I am going to close this issue and you can open another issue with a feature request for multiple attributes in listings. It will require modification and i am not sure how I would do that yet. Probably another command. Or there may be a way to pipe the output of a listing to a sed/awk script and prepend the artist or whatever. I do see the need.

Open a feature request issue and specify the format you would like to see returned in various listings. Maybe let's start with playlist tracks, Artist Name - Track Name or something. It would be a good feature but I will have to think on it.