xscreensaver man page on DragonFly

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   44335 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
DragonFly logo
[printable version]

xscreensaver(1)		      XScreenSaver manual	       xscreensaver(1)

NAME
       xscreensaver - extensible screen saver and screen locking framework

SYNOPSIS
       xscreensaver  [-display	host:display.screen]  [-verbose]  [-no-splash]
       [-no-capture-stderr] [-log filename]

DESCRIPTION
       The xscreensaver program waits until the keyboard and mouse  have  been
       idle  for a period, and then runs a graphics demo chosen at random.  It
       turns off as soon as there is any mouse or keyboard activity.

       This program can lock your terminal in order  to	 prevent  others  from
       using  it,  though  its	default mode of operation is merely to display
       pretty pictures on your screen when it is not in use.

       It also provides configuration and control of your monitor's power-sav‐
       ing features.

GETTING STARTED
       For the impatient, try this:
       xscreensaver &
       xscreensaver-demo
       The  xscreensaver-demo(1)  program  pops	 up a dialog box that lets you
       configure the screen saver, and experiment  with	 the  various  display
       modes.

       Note that xscreensaver has a client-server model: the xscreensaver pro‐
       gram is a daemon that runs in the background; it is controlled  by  the
       foreground xscreensaver-demo(1) and xscreensaver-command(1) programs.

CONFIGURATION
       The easiest way to configure xscreensaver is to simply run the xscreen‐
       saver-demo(1) program, and change the settings through  the  GUI.   The
       rest  of	 this  manual page describes lower level ways of changing set‐
       tings.

       I'll repeat that because it's important:

	   The easy way to configure xscreensaver is to run the	 xscreensaver-
	   demo(1)  program.   You  shouldn't  need  to	 know any of the stuff
	   described in this manual unless you	are  trying  to	 do  something
	   tricky, like customize xscreensaver for site-wide use or something.

       Options to xscreensaver are stored in one of two places: in a .xscreen‐
       saver file in your home directory; or in the X resource	database.   If
       the  .xscreensaver  file	 exists,  it  overrides	 any  settings	in the
       resource database.

       The syntax of the .xscreensaver file is similar to that	of  the	 .Xde‐
       faults file; for example, to set the timeout parameter in the .xscreen‐
       saver file, you would write the following:
       timeout: 5
       whereas, in the .Xdefaults file, you would write
       xscreensaver.timeout: 5
       If you change a setting in the .xscreensaver file while xscreensaver is
       already	running,  it will notice this, and reload the file.  (The file
       will be reloaded the next time the screen  saver	 needs	to  take  some
       action,	such  as  blanking  or unblanking the screen, or picking a new
       graphics mode.)

       If you change a setting in your X resource database,  or	 if  you  want
       xscreensaver  to	 notice	 your  changes immediately instead of the next
       time it wakes up, then you will need to reload  your  .Xdefaults	 file,
       and  then tell the running xscreensaver process to restart itself, like
       so:
       xrdb < ~/.Xdefaults
       xscreensaver-command -restart
       If you want to set the system-wide defaults, then make  your  edits  to
       the  xscreensaver  app-defaults	file, which should have been installed
       when xscreensaver itself was installed.	 The  app-defaults  file  will
       usually	be named /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver, but different
       systems might keep it in a different  place  (for  example,  /usr/open‐
       win/lib/app-defaults/XScreenSaver on Solaris.)

       When settings are changed in the Preferences dialog box (see above) the
       current settings will be written to the .xscreensaver file.  (The .Xde‐
       faults file and the app-defaults file will never be written by xscreen‐
       saver itself.)

COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
       xscreensaver also accepts a few command-line options,  mostly  for  use
       when  debugging:	 for normal operation, you should configure things via
       the ~/.xscreensaver file.

       -display host:display.screen
	       The X display to use.   For  displays  with  multiple  screens,
	       XScreenSaver  will  manage all screens on the display simultan‐
	       iously.

       -verbose
	       Same as setting the verbose resource to true: print diagnostics
	       on stderr and on the xscreensaver window.

       -no-capture-stderr
	       Do  not	redirect the stdout and stderr streams to the xscreen‐
	       saver window itself.  If xscreensaver is	 crashing,  you	 might
	       need to do this in order to see the error message.

       -log filename
	       This  is	 exactly  the same as redirecting stdout and stderr to
	       the given file (for append).  This  is  useful  when  reporting
	       bugs.

HOW IT WORKS
       When it is time to activate the screensaver, a full-screen black window
       is created on each screen of the display.  Each window  is  created  in
       such  a	way that, to any subsequently-created programs, it will appear
       to be a "virtual root" window.  Because	of  this,  any	program	 which
       draws  on  the root window (and which understands virtual roots) can be
       used as a screensaver.  The various graphics demos are, in  fact,  just
       standalone programs that know how to draw on the provided window.

       When  the  user	becomes	 active	 again,	 the  screensaver  windows are
       unmapped, and the running  subprocesses	are  killed  by	 sending  them
       SIGTERM.	 This is also how the subprocesses are killed when the screen‐
       saver decides that it's time to run a different demo: the  old  one  is
       killed and a new one is launched.

       You  can	 control  a  running screensaver process by using the xscreen‐
       saver-command(1) program (which see.)

POWER MANAGEMENT
       Modern X servers contain support to power down  the  monitor  after  an
       idle  period.   If the monitor has powered down, then xscreensaver will
       notice this (after a few minutes), and will not waste  CPU  by  drawing
       graphics	 demos	on  a  black  screen.  An attempt will also be made to
       explicitly power the monitor back  up  as  soon	as  user  activity  is
       detected.

       The  ~/.xscreensaver  file controls the configuration of your display's
       power management settings: if you have  used  xset(1)  to  change  your
       power  management  settings,  then  xscreensaver	 will  override	 those
       changes with the values	specified  in  ~/.xscreensaver	(or  with  its
       built-in defaults, if there is no ~/.xscreensaver file yet.)

       To  change your power management settings, run xscreensaver-demo(1) and
       change the various timeouts through the user  interface.	  Alternately,
       you can edit the ~/.xscreensaver file directly.

       If  the	power  management  section  is	grayed	out  in	 the  xscreen‐
       saver-demo(1) window,  then that means that your X server does not sup‐
       port the XDPMS extension, and so control over the monitor's power state
       is not available.

       If you're using a laptop, don't be surprised if changing the DPMS  set‐
       tings  has  no  effect: many laptops have monitor power-saving behavior
       built in at a very low level that is invisible to Unix and X.  On  such
       systems,	 you  can  typically  adjust  the  power-saving delays only by
       changing settings in the BIOS in some hardware-specific way.

       If DPMS seems not to be working with  XFree86,  make  sure  the	"DPMS"
       option  is set in your /etc/X11/XF86Config file.	 See the XF86Config(5)
       manual for details.

USING GNOME OR UNITY
       For the better part of a decade, GNOME shipped xscreensaver as-is,  and
       everything  just worked out of the box.	In 2005, however, they decided
       to re-invent the wheel and ship their own replacement for the  xscreen‐
       saver daemon called "gnome-screensaver", rather than improving xscreen‐
       saver and contributing their changes back.  As a	 result,  the  "gnome-
       screensaver" program is insecure, bug-ridden, and missing many features
       of xscreensaver.	 You shouldn't use it.

       To replace gnome-screensaver with xscreensaver:

	   1: Fully uninstall the gnome-screensaver package.
	      sudo apt-get remove gnome-screensaver

	   2: Launch xscreensaver at login.
	      Select "Startup Applications" from the menu (or manually	launch
	      "gnome-session-properties") and add "xscreensaver".

	   3: Make GNOME's "Lock Screen" use xscreensaver.
	      sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/xscreensaver-command \
			  /usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-command
	      That  doesn't  work  under Unity, though.	 Apparently it has its
	      own built-in screen locker which is not  gnome-screensaver,  and
	      cannot  be  removed,  and yet still manages to be bug-addled and
	      insecure.	 Keep reinventing that wheel, guys!  (If you have fig‐
	      ured  out how to replace Unity's locking "feature" with xscreen‐
	      saver, let me know.)

	   4: Turn off Unity's built-in blanking.
	      Open "System Settings / Brightness & Lock";
	      Un-check "Start Automatically";
	      Set "Turn screen off when inactive for" to "Never."

USING KDE
       Like GNOME, KDE also decided to invent their own screen saver framework
       from  scratch instead of simply using xscreensaver.  To replace the KDE
       screen saver with xscreensaver, do the following:

	   1: Turn off KDE's screen saver.
	      Open the "Control Center" and select the "Appearance & Themes  /
	      Screensaver" page.  Un-check "Start Automatically".

	   2: Find your Autostart directory.
	      Open the "System Administration / Paths" page, and see what your
	      "Autostart   path"   is	set   to:   it	 will	probably    be
	      ~/.kde/Autostart/ or something similar.

	   3: Make xscreensaver be an Autostart program.
	      Create  a	 .desktop  file	 in  your  autostart  directory called
	      xscreensaver.desktop that contains the following five lines:

	      [Desktop Entry]
	      Exec=xscreensaver
	      Name=XScreenSaver
	      Type=Application
	      X-KDE-StartupNotify=false

	   4: Make the various "lock session" buttons call xscreensaver.
	      The file you want to replace next	 has  moved  around  over  the
	      years. It might be called /usr/libexec/kde4/kscreenlocker, or it
	      might be called "kdesktop_lock" or "krunner_lock"	 or  "kscreen‐
	      locker_greet",  and  it might be in /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/ or in
	      /usr/kde/3.5/bin/ or even in /usr/bin/, depending on the	distro
	      and  phase  of the moon.	Replace the contents of that file with
	      these two lines:

	      #!/bin/sh
	      xscreensaver-command -lock

	      Make sure the file is executable (chmod a+x).

       Now use xscreensaver normally, controlling it via  the  usual  xscreen‐
       saver-demo(1) and xscreensaver-command(1) mechanisms.

USING SYSTEMD
       If  the	above  didn't do it, and your system has systemd(1), then give
       this a try:

       1: Create a service.
	  Create the file ~/.config/systemd/user/xscreensaver.service contain‐
	  ing:
	  [Unit]
	  Description=XScreenSaver
	  [Service]
	  ExecStart=xscreensaver
	  [Install]
	  WantedBy=default.target
	  2. Enable it.
	  systemctl --user enable xscreensaver
	  Then restart X11.

USING UPSTART
       Still  not working, but on your distro, that newfangled systemd(1) non‐
       sense has already fallen out of favor?	Then  maybe  this  will	 work:
       launch  the  Startup  Applications applet, click "Add", and enter these
       lines, then restart X11:
       Name: XScreenSaver
       Command: xscreensaver
       Comment: xscreensaver

USING GDM
       You can run xscreensaver from your gdm(1) session, so that the  screen‐
       saver  will  run	 even  when nobody is logged in on the console.	 To do
       this, run gdmconfig(1) and on the Background  page,  type  the  command
       "xscreensaver  -nosplash" into the Background Program field.  That will
       cause gdm to run xscreensaver while nobody is logged in, and kill it as
       soon  as	 someone  does log in.	(The user will then be responsible for
       starting xscreensaver on their own, if they want.)

       Another	way  to	 accomplish  the  same	thing  is  to  edit  the  file
       /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf to include:
       BackgroundProgram=xscreensaver -nosplash
       RunBackgroundProgramAlways=true
       In this situation, the xscreensaver process will probably be running as
       user gdm instead of root.  You can  configure  the  settings  for  this
       nobody-logged-in	  state	  (timeouts,   DPMS,   etc.)  by  editing  the
       ~gdm/.xscreensaver file.

       To get gdm to run the BackgroundProgram, you may need to switch it from
       the "Graphical Greeter" to the "Standard Greeter".

       It  is safe to run xscreensaver as root (as xdm or gdm may do.)	If run
       as root, xscreensaver changes its effective user and group ids to some‐
       thing safe (like "nobody") before connecting to the X server or launch‐
       ing user-specified programs.

       An unfortunate side effect of this (important) security	precaution  is
       that it may conflict with cookie-based authentication.

       If  you	get "connection refused" errors when running xscreensaver from
       gdm, then this probably means that you  have  xauth(1)  or  some	 other
       security mechanism turned on.  For information on the X server's access
       control mechanisms, see the man pages for X(1), Xsecurity(1), xauth(1),
       and xhost(1).

BUGS
       Bugs?   There  are  no bugs.  Ok, well, maybe.  If you find one, please
       let me know.  http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/bugs.html explains how to
       construct the most useful bug reports.

       Locking and root logins
	   In  order for it to be safe for xscreensaver to be launched by xdm,
	   certain precautions had to be taken, among them  that  xscreensaver
	   never  runs	as root.  In particular, if it is launched as root (as
	   xdm is likely to do), xscreensaver will disavow its privileges, and
	   switch itself to a safe user id (such as nobody.)

	   An  implication  of	this is that if you log in as root on the con‐
	   sole, xscreensaver will refuse to lock the screen (because it can't
	   tell	 the  difference  between root being logged in on the console,
	   and a normal user being logged in on the console  but  xscreensaver
	   having been launched by the xdm(1) Xsetup file.)

	   The	solution to this is simple: you shouldn't be logging in on the
	   console as root in the first place!	(What, are you crazy or	 some‐
	   thing?)

	   Proper  Unix	 hygiene  dictates that you should log in as yourself,
	   and su(1) to root as necessary.  People who spend their day	logged
	   in as root are just begging for disaster.

       XAUTH and XDM
	   For	xscreensaver  to  work when launched by xdm(1) or gdm(1), pro‐
	   grams running on the local machine as user "nobody" must be able to
	   connect  to	the  X	server.	  This	means  that if you want to run
	   xscreensaver on the console while nobody is logged in, you may need
	   to disable cookie-based access control (and allow all users who can
	   log in to the local machine to connect to the display.)

	   You should be sure that this is an acceptable thing to do  in  your
	   environment	before	doing it.  See the "Using GDM" section, above,
	   for more details.

       Passwords
	   If you get an error message at startup like "couldn't get  password
	   of  user" then this probably means that you're on a system in which
	   the getpwent(3) library routine can only  be	 effectively  used  by
	   root.   If this is the case, then xscreensaver must be installed as
	   setuid to root in order for locking to work.	 Care has  been	 taken
	   to make this a safe thing to do.

	   It  also may mean that your system uses shadow passwords instead of
	   the standard getpwent(3) interface; in that case, you may  need  to
	   change some options with configure and recompile.

	   If  you  change your password after xscreensaver has been launched,
	   it will continue using your old password to unlock the screen until
	   xscreensaver	 is  restarted.	  On  some systems, it may accept both
	   your old and new passwords.	So, after you  change  your  password,
	   you'll have to do
	   xscreensaver-command -restart
	   to make xscreensaver notice.

       PAM Passwords
	   If your system uses PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules), then in
	   order for xscreensaver to use PAM properly, PAM must be told	 about
	   xscreensaver.   The xscreensaver installation process should update
	   the	 PAM	data	(on    Linux,	 by    creating	   the	  file
	   /usr/local/etc/pam.d/xscreensaver  for  you,	 and  on  Solaris,  by
	   telling you what lines to add to the /etc/pam.conf file.)

	   If the PAM configuration files do not know about xscreensaver, then
	   you	might be in a situation where xscreensaver will refuse to ever
	   unlock the screen.

	   This is a design flaw in PAM (there is no way for a client to  tell
	   the	difference  between PAM responding "I have never heard of your
	   module", and responding, "you typed the wrong password".)   As  far
	   as  I  can  tell, there is no way for xscreensaver to automatically
	   work around this, or detect the problem in advance, so if you  have
	   PAM, make sure it is configured correctly!

       Machine Load
	   Although  this  program  "nices"  the  subprocesses that it starts,
	   graphics-intensive subprograms can still overload  the  machine  by
	   causing  the X server process itself (which is not "niced") to con‐
	   sume many cycles.  Care has been taken in all the  modules  shipped
	   with	 xscreensaver to sleep periodically, and not run full tilt, so
	   as not to cause appreciable load.

	   However, if you are running the OpenGL-based	 screen	 savers	 on  a
	   machine  that does not have a video card with 3D acceleration, they
	   will make your machine slow, despite nice(1).

	   Your options are: don't use the OpenGL display modes;  or,  collect
	   the	spare  change hidden under the cushions of your couch, and use
	   it to buy a video card manufactured after 1998.  (It	 doesn't  even
	   need	 to be fast 3D hardware: the problem will be fixed if there is
	   any 3D hardware at all.)

       XFree86's Magic Keystrokes
	   The XFree86 X server traps certain magic keystrokes	before	client
	   programs   ever   see   them.    Two	  that	 are   of   note   are
	   Ctrl+Alt+Backspace,	which  causes  the  X  server  to  exit;   and
	   Ctrl+Alt+Fn,	 which	switches  virtual consoles.  The X server will
	   respond to these keystrokes even if	xscreensaver  has  the	screen
	   locked.   Depending	on your setup, you might consider this a prob‐
	   lem.

	   Unfortunately, there is no way for xscreensaver itself to  override
	   the	 interpretation	 of  these  keys.   If	you  want  to  disable
	   Ctrl+Alt+Backspace globally, you need to set the  DontZap  flag  in
	   your	 /etc/X11/XF86Config  file.  To globally disable VT switching,
	   you can set the DontVTSwitch flag.  See  the	 XF86Config(5)	manual
	   for details.

X RESOURCES
       These  are the X resources use by the xscreensaver program.  You proba‐
       bly won't need to change	 these	manually  (that's  what	 the  xscreen‐
       saver-demo(1) program is for).

       timeout (class Time)
	       The screensaver will activate (blank the screen) after the key‐
	       board and mouse have been idle for this many minutes.   Default
	       10 minutes.

       cycle (class Time)
	       After  the  screensaver has been running for this many minutes,
	       the currently running graphics-hack sub-process will be	killed
	       (with  SIGTERM), and a new one started.	If this is 0, then the
	       graphics hack will never be changed: only  one  demo  will  run
	       until the screensaver is deactivated by user activity.  Default
	       10 minutes.

	       The running saver will be restarted every  cycle	 minutes  even
	       when  mode  is  one,  since  some  savers tend to converge on a
	       steady state.

       lock (class Boolean)
	       Enable locking: before the screensaver will turn off,  it  will
	       require you to type the password of the logged-in user (really,
	       the person who ran xscreensaver), or the root password.	(Note:
	       this  doesn't  work  if	the  screensaver is launched by xdm(1)
	       because it can't know the user-id of the logged-in  user.   See
	       the "Using XDM(1)" section, below.

       lockTimeout (class Time)
	       If  locking  is enabled, this controls the length of the "grace
	       period" between when the screensaver activates,	and  when  the
	       screen becomes locked.  For example, if this is 5, and -timeout
	       is 10, then after 10 minutes, the screen would blank.  If there
	       was  user activity at 12 minutes, no password would be required
	       to un-blank the screen.	But, if there was user activity at  15
	       minutes	or later (that is, -lock-timeout minutes after activa‐
	       tion) then a password would be required.	  The  default	is  0,
	       meaning	that  if  locking  is enabled, then a password will be
	       required as soon as the screen blanks.

       passwdTimeout (class Time)
	       If the screen is locked, then this  is  how  many  seconds  the
	       password	 dialog box should be left on the screen before giving
	       up (default 30 seconds.)	 This should not be too large:	the  X
	       server is grabbed for the duration that the password dialog box
	       is up (for security purposes) and leaving  the  server  grabbed
	       for too long can cause problems.

       dpmsEnabled (class Boolean)
	       Whether power management is enabled.

       dpmsStandby (class Time)
	       If power management is enabled, how long until the monitor goes
	       solid black.

       dpmsSuspend (class Time)
	       If power management is enabled, how long until the monitor goes
	       into power-saving mode.

       dpmsOff (class Time)
	       If power management is enabled, how long until the monitor pow‐
	       ers down completely.  Note that these  settings	will  have  no
	       effect  unless  both the X server and the display hardware sup‐
	       port power management; not all do.  See	the  Power  Management
	       section, below, for more information.

       dpmsQuickOff (class Boolean)
	       If mode is blank and this is true, then the screen will be pow‐
	       ered down immediately upon blanking, regardless of other power-
	       management settings.

       visualID (class VisualID)
	       Specify which X visual to use by default.  (Note carefully that
	       this resource is called visualID, not merely visual; if you set
	       the visual resource instead, things will malfunction in obscure
	       ways for obscure reasons.)

	       Legal values for the VisualID resource are:

	       default Use the screen's default visual (the visual of the root
		       window.)	 This is the default.

	       best    Use  the	 visual which supports the most colors.	 Note,
		       however, that the visual with the most colors might  be
		       a  TrueColor  visual,  which  does not support colormap
		       animation.  Some programs have more interesting	behav‐
		       ior when run on PseudoColor visuals than on TrueColor.

	       mono    Use a monochrome visual, if there is one.

	       gray    Use  a  grayscale or staticgray visual, if there is one
		       and it has more than one plane (that is, it's not mono‐
		       chrome.)

	       color   Use the best of the color visuals, if there are any.

	       GL      Use  the	 visual	 that  is  best	 for  OpenGL programs.
		       (OpenGL programs have somewhat  different  requirements
		       than other X programs.)

	       class   where  class  is	 one of StaticGray, StaticColor, True‐
		       Color, GrayScale, PseudoColor, or DirectColor.  Selects
		       the deepest visual of the given class.

	       number  where  number (decimal or hex) is interpreted as a vis‐
		       ual id number, as reported by the xdpyinfo(1)  program;
		       in  this	 way  you  can have finer control over exactly
		       which visual gets used, for example, to select a	 shal‐
		       lower one than would otherwise have been chosen.

	       Note  that  this	 option specifies only the default visual that
	       will be used: the visual used may be overridden on  a  program-
	       by-program   basis.    See  the	description  of	 the  programs
	       resource, below.

       installColormap (class Boolean)
	       On PseudoColor (8-bit) displays,	 install  a  private  colormap
	       while the screensaver is active, so that the graphics hacks can
	       get as many colors as possible.	This is	 the  default.	 (This
	       only  applies  when  the screen's default visual is being used,
	       since non-default visuals get  their  own  colormaps  automati‐
	       cally.)	 This  can also be overridden on a per-hack basis: see
	       the discussion of the default-n name in the section  about  the
	       programs resource.

	       This  does  nothing  if you have a TrueColor (16-bit or deeper)
	       display.

       verbose (class Boolean)
	       Whether to print diagnostics.  Default false.

       timestamp (class Boolean)
	       Whether to print the time of day along with any other  diagnos‐
	       tic messages.  Default true.

       splash (class Boolean)
	       Whether to display a splash screen at startup.  Default true.

       splashDuration (class Time)
	       How  long  the  splash  screen should remain visible; default 5
	       seconds.

       helpURL (class URL)
	       The splash screen has a Help button on it.  When you press  it,
	       it  will	 display  the  web  page  indicated  here  in your web
	       browser.

       loadURL (class LoadURL)
	       This is the shell command used to load  a  URL  into  your  web
	       browser.	  The  default	setting will load it into Mozilla/Net‐
	       scape if it is already running, otherwise, will	launch	a  new
	       browser looking at the helpURL.

       demoCommand (class DemoCommand)
	       This  is	 the  shell  command  run  when the Demo button on the
	       splash window is pressed.  It defaults to xscreensaver-demo(1).

       prefsCommand (class PrefsCommand)
	       This is the shell command run when  the	Prefs  button  on  the
	       splash	window	 is   pressed.	  It   defaults	  to  xscreen‐
	       saver-demo -prefs.

       newLoginCommand (class NewLoginCommand)
	       If set, this is the shell command that is  run  when  the  "New
	       Login"  button is pressed on the unlock dialog box, in order to
	       create a new desktop session without logging out the  user  who
	       has  locked the screen.	Typically this will be some variant of
	       gdmflexiserver(1) or kdmctl(1).

       nice (class Nice)
	       The sub-processes created by xscreensaver will  be  "niced"  to
	       this  level,  so	 that they are given lower priority than other
	       processes on the system, and don't increase the	load  unneces‐
	       sarily.	 The default is 10.  (Higher numbers mean lower prior‐
	       ity; see nice(1) for details.)

       fade (class Boolean)
	       If this is true, then when the screensaver activates, the  cur‐
	       rent  contents of the screen will fade to black instead of sim‐
	       ply winking out.	 This only works on certain systems.   A  fade
	       will also be done when switching graphics hacks (when the cycle
	       timer expires.)	Default: true.

       unfade (class Boolean)
	       If this is true, then when  the	screensaver  deactivates,  the
	       original contents of the screen will fade in from black instead
	       of appearing immediately.  This only works on certain  systems,
	       and if fade is true as well.  Default false.

       fadeSeconds (class Time)
	       If  fade	 is true, this is how long the fade will be in seconds
	       (default 3 seconds.)

       fadeTicks (class Integer)
	       If fade is true, this is how many times a second	 the  colormap
	       will  be	 changed  to  effect  a	 fade.	 Higher	 numbers yield
	       smoother fades, but may make the fades  take  longer  than  the
	       specified  fadeSeconds if your server isn't fast enough to keep
	       up.  Default 20.

       captureStderr (class Boolean)
	       Whether xscreensaver should  redirect  its  stdout  and	stderr
	       streams to the window itself.  Since its nature is to take over
	       the screen, you would not normally see error messages generated
	       by xscreensaver or the sub-programs it runs; this resource will
	       cause the output of all relevant programs to be	drawn  on  the
	       screensaver window itself, as well as being written to the con‐
	       trolling terminal of the screensaver driver  process.   Default
	       true.

       ignoreUninstalledPrograms (class Boolean)
	       There may be programs in the list that are not installed on the
	       system, yet are marked as "enabled."   If  this	preference  is
	       true,  then  such  programs  will simply be ignored.  If false,
	       then a warning will be printed if an attempt is made to run the
	       nonexistent  program.   Also,  the xscreensaver-demo(1) program
	       will suppress the non-existent programs from the list  if  this
	       is true.	 Default: false.

       authWarningSlack (class Integer)
	       If all failed unlock attempts (incorrect password entered) were
	       made within this period of time, the usual  dialog  that	 warns
	       about  such  attempts  after  a	successful  login will be sup‐
	       pressed. The assumption is  that	 incorrect  passwords  entered
	       within  a  few  seconds of a correct one are user error, rather
	       than hostile action.  Default 20 seconds.

       GetViewPortIsFullOfLies (class Boolean)
	       Set this to true if the xscreensaver window doesn't  cover  the
	       whole  screen.	This  works  around a longstanding XFree86 bug
	       #421.  See the xscreensaver FAQ for details.

       font (class Font)
	       The font used for the stdout/stderr text, if  captureStderr  is
	       true.   Default	*-medium-r-*-140-*-m-* (a 14 point fixed-width
	       font.)

       mode (class Mode)
	       Controls the behavior of xscreensaver.  Legal values are:

	       random  When blanking the screen, select a random display  mode
		       from among those that are enabled and applicable.  This
		       is the default.

	       random-same
		       Like random, but if there are  multiple	screens,  each
		       screen  will  run the same random display mode, instead
		       of each screen running a different one.

	       one     When blanking the screen, only ever use one  particular
		       display	mode  (the  one indicated by the selected set‐
		       ting.)

	       blank   When blanking the screen, just go black: don't run  any
		       graphics hacks.

	       off     Don't  ever  blank the screen, and don't ever allow the
		       monitor to power down.

       selected (class Integer)
	       When mode is set to one, this is	 the  one,  indicated  by  its
	       index in the programs list.  You're crazy if you count them and
	       set this number by hand: let  xscreensaver-demo(1)  do  it  for
	       you!

       programs (class Programs)
	       The  graphics  hacks  which  xscreensaver runs when the user is
	       idle.  The value of this resource is a multi-line  string,  one
	       sh-syntax command per line.  Each line must contain exactly one
	       command: no semicolons, no ampersands.

	       When the screensaver  starts  up,  one  of  these  is  selected
	       (according  to  the  mode  setting),  and run.  After the cycle
	       period expires, it is killed, and another is selected and run.

	       If a line begins with a dash (-) then that  particular  program
	       is  disabled:  it  won't	 be selected at random (though you can
	       still select it explicitly using the xscreensaver-demo(1)  pro‐
	       gram.)

	       If all programs are disabled, then the screen will just be made
	       blank, as when mode is set to blank.

	       To disable a program, you must mark it as disabled with a  dash
	       instead of removing it from the list.  This is because the sys‐
	       tem-wide (app-defaults) and per-user  (.xscreensaver)  settings
	       are  merged  together, and if a user just deletes an entry from
	       their programs list, but that entry still exists in the system-
	       wide  list,  then it will come back.  However, if the user dis‐
	       ables it, then their setting takes precedence.

	       If the display has multiple screens, then a  different  program
	       will  be	 run  for  each	 screen.  (All screens are blanked and
	       unblanked simultaneously.)

	       Note that you must escape the newlines; here is an  example  of
	       how you might set this in your ~/.xscreensaver file:

	       programs:  \
		      qix -root				 \n\
		      ico -r -faces -sleep 1 -obj ico	 \n\
		      xdaliclock -builtin2 -root	 \n\
		      xv -root -rmode 5 image.gif -quit	 \n
	       Make  sure  your $PATH environment variable is set up correctly
	       before xscreensaver is launched, or it won't be	able  to  find
	       the programs listed in the programs resource.

	       To  use	a  program  as a screensaver, two things are required:
	       that that program draw on the root window (or  be  able	to  be
	       configured  to  draw on the root window); and that that program
	       understand "virtual root" windows, as used  by  virtual	window
	       managers such as tvtwm(1).  (Generally, this is accomplished by
	       just including the  "vroot.h"  header  file  in	the  program's
	       source.)

	       Visuals:

	       Because xscreensaver was created back when dinosaurs roamed the
	       earth, it still contains support for some things you've	proba‐
	       bly  never  seen,  such as 1-bit monochrome monitors, grayscale
	       monitors, and monitors capable of displaying  only  8-bit  col‐
	       ormapped images.

	       If there are some programs that you want to run only when using
	       a color display, and others that you  want  to  run  only  when
	       using a monochrome display, you can specify that like this:
		      mono:   mono-program  -root	 \n\
		      color:  color-program -root	 \n\
	       More  generally, you can specify the kind of visual that should
	       be used for the window on which the program  will  be  drawing.
	       For  example,  if  one program works best if it has a colormap,
	       but another works best if it has a 24-bit visual, both  can  be
	       accommodated:
		      PseudoColor: cmap-program	 -root	 \n\
		      TrueColor:   24bit-program -root	 \n\
	       In  addition  to	 the symbolic visual names described above (in
	       the discussion of the visualID resource) one other visual  name
	       is supported in the programs list:

		default-n
		    This  is  like  default,  but also requests the use of the
		    default colormap, instead of a  private  colormap.	 (That
		    is,	 it  behaves as if the -no-install command-line option
		    was specified, but only for this particular	 hack.)	  This
		    is provided because some third-party programs that draw on
		    the root  window  (notably:	 xv(1),	 and  xearth(1))  make
		    assumptions about the visual and colormap of the root win‐
		    dow: assumptions which xscreensaver can violate.

	       If you specify a particular visual for a program, and that vis‐
	       ual does not exist on the screen, then that program will not be
	       chosen to run.  This  means  that  on  displays	with  multiple
	       screens	of  different  depths, you can arrange for appropriate
	       hacks to be run on each.	 For example, if one screen  is	 color
	       and  the	 other is monochrome, hacks that look good in mono can
	       be run on one, and hacks that only look good in color will show
	       up on the other.

       You shouldn't ever need to change the following resources:

       pointerPollTime (class Time)
	       When  server  extensions are not in use, this controls how fre‐
	       quently xscreensaver checks to see if  the  mouse  position  or
	       buttons have changed.  Default 5 seconds.

       pointerHysteresis (class Integer)
	       If  the	mouse  moves  less  than this-many pixels in a second,
	       ignore it (do not consider that to be "activity.")  This is  so
	       that  the  screen  doesn't  un-blank  (or  fail	to blank) just
	       because you bumped the desk.  Default: 10 pixels.

       windowCreationTimeout (class Time)
	       When server extensions are not in use, this controls the	 delay
	       between	when windows are created and when xscreensaver selects
	       events on them.	Default 30 seconds.

       initialDelay (class Time)
	       When server extensions are not in use, xscreensaver  will  wait
	       this  many seconds before selecting events on existing windows,
	       under the assumption that xscreensaver is started  during  your
	       login  procedure, and the window state may be in flux.  Default
	       0.  (This used to default to 30, but that was back in the  days
	       when slow machines and X terminals were more common...)

       procInterrupts (class Boolean)
	       This resource controls whether the /proc/interrupts file should
	       be consulted to decide whether the user is idle.	 This  is  the
	       default	if  xscreensaver  has  been compiled on a system which
	       supports this mechanism (i.e., Linux systems.)

	       The benefit to doing this is that xscreensaver  can  note  that
	       the  user  is  active even when the X console is not the active
	       one: if the user is typing in another virtual console, xscreen‐
	       saver will notice that and will fail to activate.  For example,
	       if you're playing Quake in VGA-mode, xscreensaver won't wake up
	       in the middle of your game and start competing for CPU.

	       The  drawback  to doing this is that perhaps you really do want
	       idleness on the X console to cause the X display to lock,  even
	       if  there  is  activity on other virtual consoles.  If you want
	       that, then set this option to False.  (Or just lock the X  con‐
	       sole manually.)

	       The  default  value for this resource is True, on systems where
	       it works.

       overlayStderr (class Boolean)
	       If captureStderr is True, and your  server  supports  "overlay"
	       visuals,	 then  the text will be written into one of the higher
	       layers instead of into the same layer as	 the  running  screen‐
	       hack.   Set this to False to disable that (though you shouldn't
	       need to.)

       overlayTextForeground (class Foreground)
	       The foreground color used for the stdout/stderr text,  if  cap‐
	       tureStderr is true.  Default: Yellow.

       overlayTextBackground (class Background)
	       The  background	color used for the stdout/stderr text, if cap‐
	       tureStderr is true.  Default: Black.

       bourneShell (class BourneShell)
	       The pathname of the shell that xscreensaver uses to start  sub‐
	       processes.  This must be whatever your local variant of /bin/sh
	       is: in particular, it must not be csh.

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY to get the default host and display number, and to  inform  the
	       sub-programs of the screen on which to draw.

       XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW
	       Passed  to  sub-programs	 to  indicate  the ID of the window on
	       which they should draw.	This is	 necessary  on	Xinerama/RANDR
	       systems	where  multiple	 physical  monitors share a single X11
	       "Screen".

       PATH    to find the sub-programs to run.

       HOME    for the directory in which to read the .xscreensaver file.

       XENVIRONMENT
	       to get the name of a resource file that	overrides  the	global
	       resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

UPGRADES
       The  latest  version of xscreensaver, an online version of this manual,
       and a FAQ can always be found at http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/

SEE ALSO
       X(1),  Xsecurity(1),  xauth(1),	xdm(1),	 gdm(1),  xhost(1),   xscreen‐
       saver-demo(1),	 xscreensaver-command(1),   xscreensaver-gl-helper(1),
       xscreensaver-getimage(1), xscreensaver-text(1).

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 1991-2015 by Jamie Zawinski.	 Permission to use, copy, mod‐
       ify,  distribute,  and sell this software and its documentation for any
       purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that  the  above	 copy‐
       right  notice  appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
       and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.  No rep‐
       resentations  are  made	about the suitability of this software for any
       purpose.	 It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

AUTHOR
       Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>.  Written in late 1991; version 1.0 posted
       to comp.sources.x on 17-Aug-1992.

       Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.

       And a huge thank you to the hundreds of people who have contributed, in
       large ways and small, to the xscreensaver collection over the past  two
       decades!

X Version 11		      5.34 (24-Oct-2015)	       xscreensaver(1)
[top]

List of man pages available for DragonFly

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net