14 .TH XScreenSaver 1 "08-Oct-98 (2.34)" "X Version 11"
16 xscreensaver-command - control a running xscreensaver process
18 .B xscreensaver-command
34 The \fIxscreensaver\-command\fP program controls a running \fIxscreensaver\fP
35 process by sending it client-messages.
38 has a client-server model: the xscreensaver process is a
39 daemon that runs in the background; it is controlled by the
40 foreground \fIxscreensaver-command\fP program.
42 .I xscreensaver-command
43 accepts the following command-line options:
46 Prints a brief summary of command-line options.
49 Cause the screensaver to enter its interactive demo mode, in which one
50 can experiment with the various graphics hacks available. See
55 Cause the screensaver to enter its interactive demo mode, and bring up
56 the Preferences control panel, in which one can change most of the settings
57 that control the xscreensaver daemon's behavior. See
62 Tell xscreensaver to turn on immediately (that is, blank the screen, as if
63 the user had been idle for long enough.) The screensaver will deactivate as
64 soon as there is any user activity, as usual.
66 It is useful to run this from a menu; you may wish to run it as
68 sleep 5 ; xscreensaver-command -activate
70 to be sure that you have time to remove your hand from the mouse before
71 the screensaver comes on. (Because if you jiggle the mouse, xscreensaver
72 will notice, and deactivate.)
75 If the screensaver is active (the screen is blanked), this command will
76 deactivate it just as if there had been keyboard or mouse activity.
77 If locking is enabled, then the screensaver will prompt for a password
81 If the screensaver is active (the screen is blanked), then stop the current
82 graphics demo and run a new one (chosen randomly.)
85 This is like either \fI\-activate\fP or \fI\-cycle\fP, depending on which is
86 more appropriate, except that the graphics hack that will be run is the next
87 one in the list, instead of a randomly-chosen one. In other words,
88 repeatedly executing -next will cause the xscreensaver process to invoke each
89 graphics demo sequentially. (Though using the \fI\-demo\fP option is probably
90 an easier way to accomplish that.)
93 This is like \fI\-next\fP, but cycles in the other direction.
95 .B \-select \fInumber\fP
96 Like \fI\-activate\fP, but runs the \fIN\fPth element in the list of hacks.
97 By knowing what is in the \fIprograms\fP list, and in what order, you can use
98 this to activate the screensaver with a particular graphics demo. (The first
99 element in the list is numbered 1, not 0.)
102 Causes the xscreensaver process to exit gracefully. This is roughly the same
103 as killing the process with
105 but it is easier, since you don't need to first figure out the pid.
108 never use \fIkill -9\fP with \fIxscreensaver\fP while the screensaver is
109 active. If you are using a virtual root window manager, that can leave
110 things in an inconsistent state, and you may need to restart your window
111 manager to repair the damage.
114 Causes the screensaver process to exit and then restart with the same command
115 line arguments as last time. Do this after you've changed the resource
116 database, to cause xscreensaver to notice the changes.
118 If the screensaver is run from \fIxdm(1)\fP (that is, it is already running
119 before you log in) then you may want to issue the \fI\-restart\fP command from
120 one of your startup scripts, so that the screensaver gets your resource
121 settings instead of the default ones.
124 Tells the running xscreensaver process to lock the screen immediately.
125 This is like \fI\-activate\fP, but forces locking as well, even if locking
126 is not the default (that is, even if xscreensaver's \fIlock\fP resource is
127 false, and even if the \fIlockTimeout\fP resource is non-zero.)
130 Prints the version of xscreensaver that is currently running on the display:
131 that is, the actual version number of the running xscreensaver background
132 process, rather than the version number of xscreensaver-command. (To see
133 the version number of \fIxscreensaver-command\fP itself, use
134 the \fI\-help\fP option.)
137 Prints the time at which the screensaver last activated or
138 deactivated (roughly, how long the user has been idle or non-idle: but
139 not quite, since it only tells you when the screen became blanked or
142 If an error occurs while communicating with the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon, or
143 if the daemon reports an error, a diagnostic message will be printed to
144 stderr, and \fIxscreensaver-command\fP will exit with a non-zero value. If
145 the command is accepted, an indication of this will be printed to stdout, and
146 the exit value will be zero.
151 to get the host and display number of the screen whose saver is
155 to find the executable to restart (for the \fI\-restart\fP command).
156 Note that this variable is consulted in the environment of
157 the \fIxscreensaver\fP process, not the \fIxscreensaver-command\fP process.
159 The latest version of
161 and \fIxscreensaver\-command\fP can always be found at
162 http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
167 Copyright \(co 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998
168 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell
169 this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without
170 fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
171 both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
172 documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this
173 software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied
176 Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-92.
178 Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.
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