From 1c48de117e8e539ed27c401e4b674976f5ecad8d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 08:32:26 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 03/18] linux/hydrogen.1: update NAME section

capitaliying "hydrogen" as this section refers to the name of the application and not the command.

It feels a bit weird to replace "simple" with "advanced". But this way it matches the description of Github and the application has quite a number of features
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 3dc9be2d3..e197ff790 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .TH HYDROGEN "1" "July 29, 2025" "Hydrogen 1.2.6" "User Commands"
 .SH NAME
-hydrogen \- a simple drum machine/step sequencer.
+Hydrogen \- an advanced drum machine and step sequencer.
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .PP
 .B hydrogen

From b252b7b7366c62889f1683a821e6c7d99d772e27 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 08:35:28 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 04/18] linux/hydrogen.1: update SYNOPSIS secion

the former version indicated that a song file has to be provided as option. But this is not true and it is usually not required either since Hydrogen remembers the last song used.
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index e197ff790..560e9c08e 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Hydrogen \- an advanced drum machine and step sequencer.
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .PP
 .B hydrogen
-[\fI-v\fR] [\fI-h\fR] \fI-s file\fR
+[options]
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .PP
 Hydrogen 1.2.6 [http://www.hydrogen\-music.org].

From 2562e9a2b6278601e6207e04424e19656517e4fe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 08:42:50 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 05/18] linux/hydrogen.1: add COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE section

Instead of using the head of the DESCRIPTION section, copyright and license notice have been moved into a dedicated section.

I also replaced the reference to the `COPYING` file by a note of our actual license
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 14 ++++++--------
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 560e9c08e..891cc7ae9 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -7,16 +7,8 @@ Hydrogen \- an advanced drum machine and step sequencer.
 [options]
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .PP
-Hydrogen 1.2.6 [http://www.hydrogen\-music.org].
-Copyright 2002\-2008 Alessandro Cominu,
-Copyright 2008\-2025 The hydrogen development team.
-.PP
 Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux.
 It's main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming.
-.PP
-Hydrogen comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
-This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
-under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.
 .SH OPTIONS
 .HP
 \fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR PATH \- Use an alternate system data path
@@ -70,5 +62,11 @@ The hydrogen development team. See complete list at Hydrogen's "About" Dialog. Y
 Subscription to the mailing list can be done here :
 .br
 http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hydrogen-devel .
+.SH COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
+\fBCopyright (C)\fR 2002\-2008 Alessandro Cominu
+.br
+\fBCopyright (C)\fR 2008\-2025 The hydrogen development team
+.PP
+\fBHydrogen\fR is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL version 2 or later.
 .SH MISC
 This manual page was written by Olivier Humbert <trebmuh@tuxfamily.org> as a part of the Hydrogen project.

From 7bd5610b6a0182f81dd857d1f7f1ff4a7eccdcdf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 08:47:59 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 06/18] linux/hydrogen.1: update DESCRIPTION

based on the content of our `README.md`
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 891cc7ae9..854eecacb 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -7,8 +7,26 @@ Hydrogen \- an advanced drum machine and step sequencer.
 [options]
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .PP
-Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux.
-It's main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming.
+\fBHydrogen\fR is both a drum sequencer for pattern-based programming and a drum
+synth. Its simple yet feature-rich design makes it a versatile companion, be it
+for quick practice at home, professional usage as fully-fledged drum machine in
+your studio, or drum looper on steroids for your live performance.
+.PP
+Features:
+.br
+- First-class \fBMIDI\fR support
+.br
+- Highly customizable
+.br
+- Stable and performant
+.br
+- Loads of drumkits to choose from
+.br
+- In-depth control of instrument, sample, and note properties
+.br
+- High quality time-stretching and pitch shifting
+.br
+- Automate it using \fBMIDI\fR or \fBOSC\fR API
 .SH OPTIONS
 .HP
 \fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR PATH \- Use an alternate system data path

From 062d1e6eb46eb93a3a79b27330a90533fab90440 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 08:56:34 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 07/18] linux/hydrogen.1: update format of OPTIONS section

add missing arguments and uniform argument formatting. In addition, all descriptions have been moved into a separate line in order to increase readability
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 65 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------
 1 file changed, 39 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 854eecacb..22075962e 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -28,34 +28,47 @@ Features:
 .br
 - Automate it using \fBMIDI\fR or \fBOSC\fR API
 .SH OPTIONS
-.HP
-\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR PATH \- Use an alternate system data path
-.HP
-\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-driver\fR AUDIODRIVER \- Use the selected audio driver (jack, alsa, oss)
-.HP
-\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-song\fR FILE \- Load a song (*.h2song) at startup
-.HP
-\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-playlist\fR FILE \- Load a playlist (*.h2playlist) at startup
-.HP
-\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-kit\fR drumkit_name - Load a drumkit at startup
-.HP
-\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-install\fR FILE - install a drumkit (*.h2drumkit)
-.HP
-\fB\-O\fR, \fB\-\-osc\-port\fR \- Use custom OSC port
-.HP
-\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-nosplash\fR \- Hide splash screen
-.HP
-\fB\-V[Level]\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR[=\fILevel\fR] \- Print a lot of debugging info
+.TP
+\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate system data path.
+.TP
+\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-driver\fR=[\fIAUDIO_DRIVER\fR]
+Use the selected audio driver (jack, alsa, oss).
+.TP
+\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-song\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Load a song (*.h2song) at startup.
+.TP
+\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-playlist\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Load a playlist (*.h2playlist) at startup.
+.TP
+\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-kit\fR=\fIDRUMKIT_NAME\fR
+Load a drumkit at startup
+.TP
+\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-install\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Install a drumkit (*.h2drumkit).
+.TP
+\fB\-O\fR, \fB\-\-osc\-port\fR=\fIPORT\fR
+Use custom OSC port.
+.TP
+\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-nosplash\fR
+Hide splash screen.
+.TP
+\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR=[\fILEVEL\fR]
+Print a lot of debugging info
 .IP
 Level, if present, may be None, Error, Warning, Info, Debug or 0xHHHH
-.HP
-\fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-log\-file\fR \- Use custom log file
-.HP
-\fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-log\-timestamps\fR \- Add timestamps to all log messages
-.HP
-\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR \- Show version info
-.HP
-\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR \- Show this help message
+.TP
+\fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-log\-file\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Use custom log file.
+.TP
+\fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-log\-timestamps\fR
+Add timestamps to all log messages.
+.TP
+\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
+Show version info.
+.TP
+\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
+Show this help message.
 .SH FILES
 .TP
 .B hydrogen.conf

From a9f8054197fa4b3947ab7fa090586d8d37bcea6e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:15:33 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 08/18] linux/hydrogen.1: add missing file to SYNOPSIS

it slipped my mind that one can just pass a .h2song filename without any argument. This should be reflected in the SYNOPSIS.
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 22075962e..7a42332a1 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Hydrogen \- an advanced drum machine and step sequencer.
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .PP
 .B hydrogen
-[options]
+[options] [file]
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .PP
 \fBHydrogen\fR is both a drum sequencer for pattern-based programming and a drum

From ae58a5820d668d4b8d56caed00771817edc98954 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:16:21 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 09/18] linux/hydrogen.1: add missing options

to the OPTIONS section and provide further insight into the existing ones
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 34 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 7a42332a1..95e4c9aeb 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -29,20 +29,18 @@ Features:
 - Automate it using \fBMIDI\fR or \fBOSC\fR API
 .SH OPTIONS
 .TP
-\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
-Use an alternate system data path.
-.TP
 \fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-driver\fR=[\fIAUDIO_DRIVER\fR]
-Use the selected audio driver (jack, alsa, oss).
+Use the selected audio driver. The description of this option in the -\-help output contains all audio
+drivers available on your system.
 .TP
 \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-song\fR=\fIFILE\fR
-Load a song (*.h2song) at startup.
+Load a song (*.h2song) at startup. Alternatively, you can just pass the filename without this option.
 .TP
 \fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-playlist\fR=\fIFILE\fR
 Load a playlist (*.h2playlist) at startup.
 .TP
 \fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-kit\fR=\fIDRUMKIT_NAME\fR
-Load a drumkit at startup
+Load a drumkit at startup.
 .TP
 \fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-install\fR=\fIFILE\fR
 Install a drumkit (*.h2drumkit).
@@ -50,13 +48,29 @@ Install a drumkit (*.h2drumkit).
 \fB\-O\fR, \fB\-\-osc\-port\fR=\fIPORT\fR
 Use custom OSC port.
 .TP
+\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate system data path.
+.TP
+\fB\-\-user\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate user data path.
+.IP
+The default one is \fI$HOME/.hydrogen\fR.
+.TP
+\fB\-\-config\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate config path.
+.IP
+The default one is \fI$HOME/.hydrogen/hydrogen.conf\fR.
+.TP
+\fB\-\-layout\fR=\fLAYOUT\fR
+UI layout. Either \fItabbed\fR or \fIsingle\fR (default).
+.TP
 \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-nosplash\fR
 Hide splash screen.
 .TP
 \fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR=[\fILEVEL\fR]
 Print a lot of debugging info
 .IP
-Level, if present, may be None, Error, Warning, Info, Debug or 0xHHHH
+Level, if present, may be \fINone\fR, \fIError\fR, \fIWarning\fR, \fIInfo\fR, or \fIDebug\fR.
 .TP
 \fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-log\-file\fR=\fIFILE\fR
 Use custom log file.
@@ -64,6 +78,12 @@ Use custom log file.
 \fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-log\-timestamps\fR
 Add timestamps to all log messages.
 .TP
+\fB\-\-log\-colors\fR
+Use ANSI colors in log messages (default).
+.TP
+\fB\-\-no\-log\-colors\fR
+Suppress ANSI colors in log messages.
+.TP
 \fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
 Show version info.
 .TP

From 2816baf2fb3573f8c06e6ca4e5d6e2a85a1bd322 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:48:04 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 10/18] linux/hydrogen.1: updating FILES and CONFIGURATION

with a detailed description of all folders and most files Hydrogen creates at user-level. This also includes - but just implicitly - a description of our supported file formats
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 95e4c9aeb..aeca1cf32 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -54,12 +54,12 @@ Use an alternate system data path.
 \fB\-\-user\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
 Use an alternate user data path.
 .IP
-The default one is \fI$HOME/.hydrogen\fR.
+The default one is \fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen.
 .TP
 \fB\-\-config\fR=\fIPATH\fR
 Use an alternate config path.
 .IP
-The default one is \fI$HOME/.hydrogen/hydrogen.conf\fR.
+The default one is \fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/hydrogen.conf.
 .TP
 \fB\-\-layout\fR=\fLAYOUT\fR
 UI layout. Either \fItabbed\fR or \fIsingle\fR (default).
@@ -91,18 +91,38 @@ Show version info.
 Show this help message.
 .SH FILES
 .TP
-.B hydrogen.conf
-.PP
-Defaults and startup settings for Hydrogen.
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/drumkits
+User-level drumkit folder. All drumkits you download via the online import as well as those you created manually will end up here. A portable version of a drumkit - the \fI.h2drumkit\fR tar archive file - can included into this folder using the \-\-install option. Only those kits residing either in this folder or in the system drumkit folder (for those kits you received via your package manager) will show up in the Sound Library.
 .TP
-.B data/*
-.PP
-Can contains user's data such as drumkits, patterns, playlists, songs, ...
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/patterns
+If you save a pattern, it will be exported as \fI.h2pattern\fR XML file into this folder. Only the patterns residing in here will show up in the Sound Library.
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/playlists
+This folder may have been original designed for holding \fI.h2playlist\fR XML files. But it does not serve any special purpose anymore and you can put them where ever you want.
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/plugins
+In here you can put \fBLADSPA\fR plugins to be used by Hydrogen, which are not within \fBLADSPA_PATH\fR.
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/scripts
+Playlists in Hydrogen can be configured to run a \fBBASH\fR script before loading a particular song. This folder may have been original designed for holding those script but you can put them where ever you want.
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/songs
+If you want a \fI.h2song\fR XML file to show up in the Sound Library, you have to store it in here.
+.SH CONFIGURATION
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/hydrogen.conf
+XML file containing all configurations for Hydrogen.
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/emptySong.h2song
+Whenever you create a new song, it will be derived from this template.
+.TP
+\fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/data/themes/
+You can change colors, fonts, and many more in Hydrogen. These custom settings can be stored as \fI.h2theme\fR XML files in here by exporting the current theme in the Preferences dialog.
 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 .PP
 .B LADSPA_PATH
 .HP 
-Path to LADSPA plugins.
+Path to \fBLADSPA\fR plugins.
 .SH BUGS & FEATURES REQUEST
 .PP
 If you find any bug or if you would like to propose a new feature, please report it to https://github.com/hydrogen-music/hydrogen/issues

From 36cacb88c04809039b5305eaafb02f76d4504cf6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:48:43 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 11/18] linux/hydrogen.1: drop MISC section

---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 2 --
 1 file changed, 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index aeca1cf32..2c2086ade 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -139,5 +139,3 @@ http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hydrogen-devel .
 \fBCopyright (C)\fR 2008\-2025 The hydrogen development team
 .PP
 \fBHydrogen\fR is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL version 2 or later.
-.SH MISC
-This manual page was written by Olivier Humbert <trebmuh@tuxfamily.org> as a part of the Hydrogen project.

From a39dbdeb07a9ecded5624172883931fb09c0a98e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:18:06 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 12/18] linux/hydrogen.1: consistent emphasis

of our custom file formats
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 2c2086ade..568c2b3ae 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -34,16 +34,16 @@ Use the selected audio driver. The description of this option in the -\-help out
 drivers available on your system.
 .TP
 \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-song\fR=\fIFILE\fR
-Load a song (*.h2song) at startup. Alternatively, you can just pass the filename without this option.
+Load a song (\fI*.h2song\fR) at startup. Alternatively, you can just pass the filename without this option.
 .TP
 \fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-playlist\fR=\fIFILE\fR
-Load a playlist (*.h2playlist) at startup.
+Load a playlist (\fI*.h2playlist\fR) at startup.
 .TP
 \fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-kit\fR=\fIDRUMKIT_NAME\fR
 Load a drumkit at startup.
 .TP
 \fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-install\fR=\fIFILE\fR
-Install a drumkit (*.h2drumkit).
+Install a drumkit (\fI*.h2drumkit\fR).
 .TP
 \fB\-O\fR, \fB\-\-osc\-port\fR=\fIPORT\fR
 Use custom OSC port.

From e7b55702d029d5e5a9a183fa361ed4f5d417a7e5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:32:09 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 13/18] linux/hydrogen.1: add SEE ALSO section

pointing to `h2cli` and `h2player`
---
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 10 ++++++++++
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 568c2b3ae..88ce25cfc 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -133,6 +133,16 @@ The hydrogen development team. See complete list at Hydrogen's "About" Dialog. Y
 Subscription to the mailing list can be done here :
 .br
 http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hydrogen-devel .
+.SH SEE ALSO
+A CLI tool for exporting songs and batch processing drumkits
+.RS
+\fBh2cli\fR(1)
+.RE
+.PP
+A player Hydrogen-based songs and playlists on the command line
+.RS
+\fBh2player\fR(1)
+.RE
 .SH COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
 \fBCopyright (C)\fR 2002\-2008 Alessandro Cominu
 .br

From 481861b42e7fc30863e5987588e142236ec5751e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:32:30 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 14/18] linux/h2cli.1: add man page for h2cli

---
 linux/h2cli.1 | 133 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 133 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 linux/h2cli.1

diff --git a/linux/h2cli.1 b/linux/h2cli.1
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d2cf188f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/h2cli.1
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+.TH H2CLI "1" "July 29, 2025" "Hydrogen 1.2.6" "User Commands"
+.SH NAME
+h2cli \- a CLI version of the advanced drum machine Hydrogen.
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.PP
+\fBh2cli\fR \fIoptions\fR
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.PP
+\fBh2cli\fR does not start up the GUI of \fBHydrogen\fR but allows to do some batch processing using its core. It can be used in two different ways. Either for exporting a song into an audio file or for checking, extracting, installing, or upgrading an existing drumkit.
+.SH OPTIONS
+.TP
+\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-driver\fR=[\fIAUDIO_DRIVER\fR]
+Use the selected audio driver. The description of this option in the -\-help output contains all audio
+drivers available on your system.
+.TP
+\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-song\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Load a song (\fI*.h2song\fR) at startup. Alternatively, you can just pass the filename without this option.
+.TP
+\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-playlist\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Load a playlist (\fI*.h2playlist\fR) at startup.
+.TP
+\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-kit\fR=\fIDRUMKIT_NAME\fR
+Load a drumkit at startup.
+.TP
+\fB\-o\fR, \fB\-\-outfile\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Destination file (export).
+.TP
+\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-rate\fR=\fIINT\fR
+Set bitrate while exporting a song.
+.TP
+\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-bits\fR=\fIINT\fR
+Set bit depth while exporting a song.
+.TP
+\fB\-\-compression\-level\fR=\fIDOUBLE\fR
+Trade-off between max. quality (\fI0.0\fR) and max. compression (\fI1.0\fR) while exporting a song.
+.TP
+\fB\-I\fR, \fB\-\-interpolation\fR=\fIINT\fR
+Type of interpolation used during resampling (if required) while exporting a song. Available options are \fI0\fR (linear) [default], \fI1\fR (cosine), \fI2\fR (third), \fI3\fR (cubic), and \fI4\fR (hermite).
+.TP
+\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-install\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Install a drumkit (\fI*.h2drumkit\fR).
+.TP
+\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-check\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Validates a drumkit (\fI*.h2drumkit\fR) against the current drumkit format.
+.TP
+\fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-legacy\-check\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Validates a drumkit (\fI*.h2drumkit\fR) against the current as well as legacy drumkit formats.
+.TP
+\fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-upgrade\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Upgrades a drumkit. The provided file can be either an absolute path to a folder
+containing a drumkit, an absolute path to a drumkit file (\fIdrumkit.xml\fR)
+itself, or an absolute path to a compressed drumkit (\fI*.h2drumkit\fR). If no
+target folder was specified using the -t option, a backup of the drumkit is
+created and the original one is upgraded in place. If a compressed drumkit is
+provided as first argument, the upgraded drumkit will be compressed as well.
+.TP
+\fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-extract\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Extracts the content of a drumkit (\fI*.h2drumkit\fR). If no target is specified
+using the -t option, this command behaves like --install.
+.TP
+\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-target\fR=\fIFOLDER\fR
+Target folder the extracted (-x) or upgraded (-u) drumkit will be stored in. The
+folder is created if it does not exists yet.
+.TP
+\fB\-O\fR, \fB\-\-osc\-port\fR=\fIPORT\fR
+Use custom OSC port.
+.TP
+\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate system data path.
+.TP
+\fB\-\-user\-data\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate user data path.
+.IP
+The default one is \fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen.
+.TP
+\fB\-\-config\fR=\fIPATH\fR
+Use an alternate config path.
+.IP
+The default one is \fB$HOME\fR/.hydrogen/hydrogen.conf.
+.TP
+\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR=[\fILEVEL\fR]
+Print a lot of debugging info
+.IP
+Level, if present, may be \fINone\fR, \fIError\fR, \fIWarning\fR, \fIInfo\fR, or \fIDebug\fR.
+.TP
+\fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-log\-file\fR=\fIFILE\fR
+Use custom log file.
+.TP
+\fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-log\-timestamps\fR
+Add timestamps to all log messages.
+.TP
+\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
+Show version info.
+.TP
+\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
+Show this help message.
+.SH FILES
+For a comprehensive list of files, configuration, and environmental variables, please see the man page of \fBhydrogen\fR itself.
+.SH EXAMPLES
+Exporting a song into an audio file
+.IP
+h2cli -s /usr/share/hydrogen/data/demo_songs/GM_kit_demo1.h2song \
+        -d GMRockKit -d auto -o ./example.wav
+.PP
+Check the format of a drumkit
+.IP
+h2cli -c /usr/share/hydrogen/data/drumkits/GMRockKit
+.SH BUGS & FEATURES REQUEST
+.PP
+If you find any bug or if you would like to propose a new feature, please report it to https://github.com/hydrogen-music/hydrogen/issues
+.SH AUTHORS
+.PP
+The hydrogen development team. See complete list at Hydrogen's "About" Dialog. You can contact them at <hydrogen-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>.
+.TP
+Subscription to the mailing list can be done here :
+.br
+http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hydrogen-devel .
+.SH SEE ALSO
+The main graphical application
+.RS
+\fBhydrogen\fR(1)
+.RE
+.PP
+A player Hydrogen-based songs and playlists on the command line
+.RS
+\fBh2player\fR(1)
+.RE
+.SH COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
+\fBCopyright (C)\fR 2002\-2008 Alessandro Cominu
+.br
+\fBCopyright (C)\fR 2008\-2025 The hydrogen development team
+.PP
+\fBHydrogen\fR is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL version 2 or later.

From ece63a51ca182f2e050c79d6cdade689fbff2ef9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:36:19 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 15/18] linux: fix note on h2player in man pages

---
 linux/h2cli.1    | 2 +-
 linux/hydrogen.1 | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/linux/h2cli.1 b/linux/h2cli.1
index d2cf188f9..15ae103a3 100644
--- a/linux/h2cli.1
+++ b/linux/h2cli.1
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ The main graphical application
 \fBhydrogen\fR(1)
 .RE
 .PP
-A player Hydrogen-based songs and playlists on the command line
+A player Hydrogen-based songs on the command line
 .RS
 \fBh2player\fR(1)
 .RE
diff --git a/linux/hydrogen.1 b/linux/hydrogen.1
index 88ce25cfc..b52e31486 100644
--- a/linux/hydrogen.1
+++ b/linux/hydrogen.1
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ A CLI tool for exporting songs and batch processing drumkits
 \fBh2cli\fR(1)
 .RE
 .PP
-A player Hydrogen-based songs and playlists on the command line
+A player Hydrogen-based songs on the command line
 .RS
 \fBh2player\fR(1)
 .RE

From 2e14df0babbcd06aaa8b7aaa67d1b9985e7a1254 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:50:35 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 16/18] linux: add man page for h2player

---
 linux/h2player.1 | 62 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 62 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 linux/h2player.1

diff --git a/linux/h2player.1 b/linux/h2player.1
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4bd440b33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/h2player.1
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+.TH H2PLAYER "1" "July 29, 2025" "Hydrogen 1.2.6" "User Commands"
+.SH NAME
+h2player \- a CLI player for \fBHydrogen\fR songs.
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.PP
+\fBh2player\fR \fI*.h2song\fR
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.PP
+\fBh2player\fR can play a song created with \fBHydrogen\fR without starting its
+GUI. It does not support any options but can be controlled via keyboard inputs
+while running.
+.PP
+You start \fBh2player\fR using a particular song file. It will use all its
+solo/mute settings as well as audio driver and transport settings from your last
+Hydrogen session. If you do not hear any sounds, make sure you get some when
+opening the song in plain Hydrogen and hitting play right away.
+.PP
+While running, the application can be controlled using your keyboard. Typing one
+of the characters below will result in the following actions:
+.IP
+.B b
+\- Rewind to the beginning of the song.
+.IP
+.B p
+\- Start playback.
+.IP
+.B s
+\- Stop playback.
+.IP
+.B q
+\- Quit h2player.
+.IP
+.B f
+\- Show the current transport position in frames.
+.SH FILES
+For a comprehensive list of files, configuration, and environmental variables, please see the man page of \fBhydrogen\fR itself.
+.SH BUGS & FEATURES REQUEST
+.PP
+If you find any bug or if you would like to propose a new feature, please report it to https://github.com/hydrogen-music/hydrogen/issues
+.SH AUTHORS
+.PP
+The hydrogen development team. See complete list at Hydrogen's "About" Dialog. You can contact them at <hydrogen-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>.
+.TP
+Subscription to the mailing list can be done here :
+.br
+http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hydrogen-devel .
+.SH SEE ALSO
+The main graphical application
+.RS
+\fBhydrogen\fR(1)
+.RE
+.PP
+A CLI tool for exporting songs and batch processing drumkits
+.RS
+\fBh2cli\fR(1)
+.RE
+.SH COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
+\fBCopyright (C)\fR 2002\-2008 Alessandro Cominu
+.br
+\fBCopyright (C)\fR 2008\-2025 The hydrogen development team
+.PP
+\fBHydrogen\fR is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL version 2 or later.

From 12e14fad3d84cd719626bce7ced330028b5594f0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: theGreatWhiteShark <princess.trudildis@posteo.de>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:53:19 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 17/18] cli: expect path not file for -t

---
 src/cli/main.cpp | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/cli/main.cpp b/src/cli/main.cpp
index 13b81f439..246c2365c 100644
--- a/src/cli/main.cpp
+++ b/src/cli/main.cpp
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		QCommandLineOption targetOption(
 			QStringList() << "t" << "target",
 			"Target folder the extracted (-x) or upgraded (-u) drumkit will be stored in. The folder is created if it does not exists yet.",
-			"File" );
+			"Path" );
 		QCommandLineOption bitsOption(
 			QStringList() << "b" << "bits", "Set bits depth while exporting file",
 			"int", "16" );