.de EX \"Begin example .ne 5 .if n .sp 1 .if t .sp .5 .nf .in +.5i .. .de EE .fi .in -.5i .if n .sp 1 .if t .sp .5 .. .TH XScreenSaver 1 "31-May-97" "X Version 11" .SH NAME xscreensaver-command - control a running xscreensaver process .SH SYNOPSIS .B xscreensaver-command [\-help] [\-demo] [\-activate] [\-deactivate] [\-lock] [\-cycle] [\-next] [\-prev] [\-exit] [\-restart] [\-version] [\-time] .SH DESCRIPTION The \fIxscreensaver\-command\fP program controls a running \fIxscreensaver\fP process by sending it client-messages. .SH OPTIONS .I xscreensaver-command accepts the following options: .TP 8 .B \-help Prints a brief summary of command-line options. .TP 8 .B \-demo Cause the screensaver to enter its interactive demo mode, in which one can experiment with the various graphics hacks available. See .BR xscreensaver (1) for details. .TP 8 .B \-activate Tell the screensaver to turn on immediately (that is, pretend that the user been idle for long enough.) It will turn off as soon as there is any user activity, as usual. It is useful to run this from a menu; you may wish to run it as .EX sleep 5 ; xscreensaver-command -activate .EE to be sure that you have time to remove your hand from the mouse before the screensaver comes on. .TP 8 .B \-deactivate Tell the screensaver to turn off, as if there had been user activity. If locking is enabled, then the screensaver will prompt for a password as usual. .TP 8 .B \-lock Like \fI\-activate\fP, but a password will be required before the screensaver turns off, even if the screensaver's \fIlock\fP resource is false. The display will be locked immediately even if the screensaver's \fIlockTimeout\fP resource is non-zero. .TP 8 .B \-cycle Tell the screensaver to change which graphics hack it is running, just as if the ``cycle'' timer had expired. A new hack will be chosen randomly. .TP 8 .B \-next This is like either \fI\-activate\fP or \fI\-cycle\fP, depending on which is more appropriate, except that the screenhack that will be run is the next one in the list of programs, instead of a randomly-chosen one. Repeatedly executing this will cycle through each hack in turn (though using the \fI\-demo\fP option is probably an easier way to accomplish that.) .TP 8 .B \-prev This is like \fI\-next\fP, but cycles in the other direction. .TP 8 .B \-exit Causes the screensaver process to exit gracefully. This is a safer and easier way to kill the screensaver than by using \fIkill\fP. .B Warning: never use \fIkill -9\fP with \fIxscreensaver\fP while the screensaver is active. If you are using a virtual root window manager, that can leave things in an inconsistent state, and you may need to restart your window manager to repair the damage. .TP 8 .B \-restart Causes the screensaver process to exit and then restart with the same command line arguments. This is a good way of causing the screensaver to re-read the resource database. If the screensaver is run from \fIxdm(1)\fP (that is, it is already running before you log in) then you may want to issue the ``restart'' command from one of your startup scripts, so that the screensaver gets your resource settings instead of the default ones. .TP 8 .B \-version Print (on stdout) the version number of the xscreensaver program that is running on $DISPLAY. (To see the version number of \fIxscreensaver-command\fP itself, use the \fI\-help\fP option.) .TP 8 .B \-time This option prints on stdout the time at which the screensaver last activated (blanked the screen) or deactivated (restored the screen.) Note that the activation-time is not the last time at which the user was active, but is some time later (it is the time at which either: xscreensaver decided that the user has been idle long enough; or, the user explicitly activated the screensaver or locker.) .SH ENVIRONMENT .PP .TP 8 .B DISPLAY to get the host and display number of the screen whose saver is to be manipulated. .TP 8 .B PATH to find the executable to restart (for the \fI\-restart\fP command). Note that this variable is consulted in the environment of the \fIxscreensaver\fP process, not the \fIxscreensaver-command\fP process. .SH "SEE ALSO" .BR X (1), .BR xscreensaver (1) .SH BUGS Some diagnostics are reported on the stderr of the \fIxscreensaver\fP process, not this process, so the caller of \fIxscreensaver-command\fP may not see the error messages. .SH COPYRIGHT Copyright \(co 1992, 1993, 1997 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. .SH AUTHOR Jamie Zawinski , 13-aug-92.