PostRunner is an application to manage FIT files such as those produced by Garmin products like the Forerunner 620 (FR620), Forerunner 25 (FR25), Fenix 3, Fenix 3HR, Fenix 5, Fenix 5+ or Fenix6. It allows you to import the files from the device and analyze the data. In addition to the common features like plotting pace, heart rates, elevation and other captured values it also provides a heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. It can also update satellite orbit prediction (EPO) data on the device to speed-up GPS fix times. Unfortunately, the download mechanism for CPE files used by the devices with GPS chipsets from Sony is still unknown and hence unsupported. Postrunner is an offline alternative to Garmin Connect. The software has been developed and tested on Linux but should work on other operating systems as well.
PostRunner is a http://www.ruby-lang.org application. You need to have a Ruby 2.4 or later runtime environment installed. This application was developed and tested on Linux but may work on other operating systems as well. You can either install it as root for all users on the computer or as a particular user for just this user.
$ gem install postrunner
On some Linux distributions using sudo might resolve in permission problems as the installed packages are not readable for normal users. This typically results in 'cannot load such file' type error messages.
gem install --user-install postrunner
This will install PostRunner and all dependency packages in your .gem directory. You then need to add the binary path to your PATH variable in your .profile or .bashrc or .whatever file. The path is typically .gem/ruby//bin. Watch out, on some Linux distributions the version number of ruby gets added to the binary name, e. g. postrunner.ruby2.7. You can use a symbolic link or alias to safe some typing.
Watches that expose their data as FAT file system. Typically after connecting your garmin watch, they are mount automatically if you have installed the udev package.
For watches that expose their data via MTP (Media Transfer Procotol). For
Debian buster running sudo apt install jmtpfs mtp-tools will install the
needed packages.
mkdir /tmp/forerunner; jmtpfs /tmp/forerunner
This has been tested with a Garmin Forerunner 945.
For more information about MTP under Windows have a look at the Garmin FAQ
To get started you need to connect your device to your computer and mount it as a disk drive. Only devices that expose their data as FAT or MTP file system are supported. Older devices use proprietary drivers and are not supported by PostRunner. Once the device is mounted find out the full path to the directory that contains your FIT files. You can then import all files on the device.
$ postrunner import /run/media/$USER/GARMIN/GARMIN/ACTIVITY/
The above command assumes that your device is mounted as /run/media/$USER. Please replace $USER with your login name and the path with the path to your device.
$ postrunner import /tmp/forerunner/Primary/GARMIN/Activity
Now you can list all the FIT files in your data base.
$ postrunner list
The first column is the index you can use to reference FIT files. To get a summary of the most recent activity use the following command. References to already imported activities start with a colon followed by the index number.
$ postrunner summary :1
To get a summary of the oldest activity you can use
$ postrunner summary :-1
To select multiple activities you can use a range.
$ postrunner summary :1-3
You can also get a full dump of the content of a FIT file.
$ postrunner dump 1234568.FIT
If the file is already in the data base you can also use the reference notation.
$ postrunner dump :1
This will provide you with a lot more information contained in the FIT files that is not available through Garmin Connect or most other tools.
When you upload your FIT data to the Garmin Connect site using WiFi or Garmin Software, your device will be updated with 7 days worth of Extended Prediction Orbit (EPO) data. The GPS receiver in your device can use this data to acquire GPS locks much faster during the next 7 days. To fetch the current set of EPO data, just use the following command while you have your device mounted via USB.
$ postrunner update-gps
This was tested on the FR620 and FR25 and will probably also work on the FR220. Other devices may work, but you use this at your own risk. This feature will download a file called EPO.BIN and copy it to GARMIN/REMOTESW/EPO.BIN.
You can also view the full details of your activity in your browser. This view includes a map (internet connection for map data required) and charts for speed, pace, heart rate, cadence and the like.
$ postrunner show
This will open an overview of the most recent activities in your web browser. It will use Firefox by default. You can overwrite this by setting the BROWSER environment variable.
To view a specific run directly, you can use similar specifications like those explained above.
$ postrunner show :1
PostRunner is currently work in progress. It does some things I want with files from my Garmin devices. It's certainly possible to do more things and support more devices. Patches are welcome!
git checkout -b my-new-feature)git commit -am 'Add some feature')git push origin my-new-feature)PostRunner is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2.
The distribution includes third party components that are licensed under different OSI compatible terms.
FAQs
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We found that postrunner demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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