Setting Up a Livestream: Linux

In this guide, you'll be learning the basics of getting a livestream started for the ten.java contest.

This should work for most distributions however I've only tested it on 64-bit Ubuntu 13.10 and 14.04.

Obtaining the stream key

This assumes you have a Twitch account.

Navigate to www.twitch.tv/broadcast/dashboard and click Show Key. Copy the key and save it for later.

Downloading and Configuring the Software

We are going to be using Twitch Streamer for Linux by Wargio. It iss available for free on GitHub.

Go to the GitHub repository for Twitch Streamer for Linux and save the files twitch_avconv.sh and twitch_ffmpeg.sh to your computer. You will only need one to livestream but I'd recommend trying them both out to see if one works better than the other. Alternatively, you can clone the repository with git clone https://github.com/wargio/Twitch-Streamer-Linux.git to save all the files.

Now create a file twitch_key in the same directory you saved the files to. Paste your stream key in the file.

Now open the bash file (twitch_avconv.sh or twitch_ffmpeg.sh) and configure it to your liking. The files are well-documented and there are comments explaining what to edit. If you don't wish to use a webcam, set the WEBCAM option to "".

Starting your Stream

To start the livestream, open the terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T if you're on Ubuntu), navigate to the folder with the bash files (cd Twitch-Streamer-Linux or whatever you named the folder) and start one of the two bash files: sh twitch_avconv.sh or sh twitch_ffmpeg.sh. If ALWAYS_FULLSCREEN is set to false, this will ask you to select a window to livestream. If it's set to true, it will capture the entire screen.

I recommend trying this out before the actual contest as you may run into issues the first time you're running this. There are two options available (avconv and ffmpeg) so if one fails, try the other.

If there's something I forgot to cover about getting the software set up, refer to the project's readme. If you have any problems, ask Google for help or poke DeprecatedNether on IRC.