Provided by: xautolock_2.2-5.1_amd64 
NAME
xautolock - fire up programs in case of user inactivity under X
VERSION
This man page applies to xautolock version 2.2.
SYNOPSIS
xautolock [-help] [-version] [-time mins] [-locker locker] [-killtime killmins] [-killer
killer] [-notify margin] [-notifier notifier] [-bell percent] [-corners xxxx]
[-cornerdelay secs] [-cornerredelay altsecs] [-cornersize pixels] [-secure]
[-resetsaver] [-nocloseout] [-nocloseerr] [-noclose] [-disable] [-enable]
[-toggle] [-exit] [-locknow] [-unlocknow] [-nowlocker locker] [-restart]
[-detectsleep]
DESCRIPTION
Xautolock monitors the user activity on an X Window display. If none is detected within
mins minutes, a program is started as specified by the -locker option. Xautolock will
typically be used to lock the screen (hence its primary name) but it really doesn't care
what program you make it start. For this reason, xautolock does not interfere with the
default X screen saver, unless the -resetsaver option is used. This implies that it is
the job of the locker or the user to take the appropriate actions if the default screen
saver is to be disabled. The only real assumption made by xautolock is that a new
countdown starts as soon as the locker exits.
In the presence of the -notify option, a warning signal will be issued margin seconds
before starting the locker. Warning signals come in two kinds:
• You can use the -notifier option to specify the command to be issued to perform
notification.
• Alternatively, you can let xautolock ring the bell. In this case, the -bell option
specifies the loudness of the signal in percent, as described in the XBell man page.
You can tell xautolock to take special actions when you move the mouse into one of the
corners of the display and leave it there, by using the -corners, -cornerdelay,
-cornerredelay and -cornersize options. This works as follows:
The xxxx argument to the -corners option must consist of exactly 4 characters from the
following set: '0', '+', '-'. Each one of these specifies what xautolock should do when
the mouse enters a small square area located in each of the corners of the screen. The
corners are considered in the following order: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom
right. A '0' indicates that xautolock should ignore the corner. A '+' indicates that
xautolock should start the locker after secs or altsecs seconds (see below for the
difference between both), unless the mouse is moved or keyboard input is received. A '-'
indicates that xautolock should not start the locker at all. The pixels argument specifies
the size in pixels of the corner areas.
Most users of the -corners option want the locker to activate within a very short time
interval after they move the mouse into a '+' corner. This can be achieved by specifying
a small value for the -cornerdelay option. However, if the mouse is subsequently left
where it is, xautolock will almost immediately start a new locker right after the user
quits the current one. To prevent this from happening, the -cornerredelay option can be
used to specify the time-out interval to be used if and only if the mouse is sitting in a
`+' corner and has not been moved since the previous locker exited.
A running xautolock process can be disabled (unless if the -secure option has been
specified), in which case it will not attempt to start the locker. To disable an already
running xautolock process, use the -disable option. To re-enable it, use -enable. To
toggle it between both states, use -toggle. Using this method is preferable to using
sending it SIGSTOP and SIGCONT signals, because while disabled xautolock will still be
emptying its event queue.
A running xautolock process can also be told to exit (unless if the -secure option has
been specified). To do this, use the -exit option.
The -killtime and -killer options allow, amongst other things, to implement an additional
automatic logout, on top of the automatic screen locking. In the presence of one or both
of these options, a secondary timeout will be triggered killmins after starting the locker
(unless user activity is detected in the mean time). Upon expiration of this secondary
timer, the killer program is run. Note that, despite the name of the options, xautolock
really doesn't care what the killer does in reality. If it doesn't (indirectly) cause
xautolock to get killed, and assuming that no user activity is detected, the secondary
trigger will periodically expire every killmins minutes for as long as the locker runs.
In combination with -killtime and -killer, the -secure option allows system administrators
to enforce xautolock as a part of their security procedures, and to prevent people from
locking shared displays for an excessive amount of time. One way to achieve this is to
start xautolock (using -secure and optionally -killtime and -killer) from within XDM's
Xsession file in such a way that the session automatically ends if xautolock itself is
killed.
By default xautolock closes stdout and stderr. This prevents the locker from writing error
messages to these files in case you manually lock your display. The -nocloseout,
-nocloseerr and -noclose options cause xautolock to not close stdout and/or stderr. On
some platforms users of xnlock will need to use -nocloseout, in order to make xnlock's
witty sayings show up. These options can also be used for debugging cases in which locker
invocation is not successful.
Xautolock is capable of managing multi-headed displays.
OPTIONS
-help Print a help message and exit.
-version Print the version number and exit.
-time Specifies the primary timeout interval. The default is 10 minutes, the
minimum is 1 minute, and the maximum is 1 hour.
-locker Specifies the locker to be used. The default is xlock. Notice that if
locker contains multiple words, it must be specified between quotes. In
order to use your PATH to locate the program, xautolock feeds the locker
command to /bin/sh, so it should be understandable for whatever shell your
/bin/sh is. Because this typically is a Bourne shell, ~ expansion most
likely will not work.
-killtime Specifies the secondary timeout in minutes after starting the locker.
This timer is only active as long as the locker is running, and is reset
each time user activity is detected. If it expires before the locker
exits, the killer command is run. The default is 20 minutes, the minimum
is 10 minutes, and the maximum is 2 hours. This option is only useful in
conjunction with -killer.
-killer Specifies the killer to be used. The default is none. Notice that if
killer contains multiple words, it must be specified between quotes. In
order to use your PATH to locate the program, xautolock feeds the killr
command to /bin/sh, so it should be understandable for whatever shell your
/bin/sh is. Because this typically is a Bourne shell, ~ expansion most
likely will not work.
-notify Warn the user margin seconds before locking. The default is to not warn
the user. If used in conjunction with -cornerdelay or -cornerredelay, the
notification margin iused is the minimum of margin, secs and/or altsecs.
-notifier Specifies the notifier to be used. The default is none. This option is
only useful in conjunction with -notify. Notice that if notifier contains
multiple words, it must be specified between quotes. In order to use your
PATH to locate the program, xautolock feeds the notifier command to
/bin/sh, so it should be understandable for whatever shell your /bin/sh
is. Because this typically is a Bourne shell, ~ expansion most likely will
not work.
-bell Specifies the loudness of the notification signal in the absence of the
-notifier option. The default is 40 percent. This option is only useful in
conjunction with -notify.
-corners Define special actions to be taken when the mouse enters one of the
corners of the display. The default is 0000, which means that no special
action is taken.
-cornerdelay Specifies the number of seconds to wait before reacting to the mouse
entering a '+' corner. The default is 5 seconds.
-cornerredelay Specifies the number of seconds to wait before reacting again if the
current locker exits while the mouse is sitting in a '+' corner. The
default is for altsecs to equal secs.
-cornersize Specifies the size in pixels of the corner areas. The default is 10
pixels.
-resetsaver Causes xautolock to reset the X screen saver after successfully starting
the locker. This is typically used in case the locker is not really
intended to lock the screen, but to replace the default X screen saver.
Note that the default screen saver is not disabled, only reset. Also note
that using -resetsaver will inferfere with the DPMS monitors, as the power
down time out will also be also reset. The default is not to reset the
screen saver.
See the xset man page for more information about managing the X screen
saver.
-detectsleep Instructs xautolock to detect that computer has been put to sleep. This
is done by detecting that time has jumped by more than 3 seconds. When
this occurs, the lock timer is reset and locker program is not launched
even if primary timeout has been reached. This option is typically used to
avoid locker program to be launched when awaking a laptop computer.
-secure Instructs xautolock to run in secure mode. In this mode, xautolock becomes
imune to the effects of -enable, -disable, -toggle, and -exit. The default
is to honour these actions.
-nocloseout Don't close stdout.
-nocloseerr Don't close stderr.
-noclose Close neither stdout nor stderr.
-disable Disables an already running xautolock process (if there is one, and it
does not have -secure switched on). In any case, the current invocation of
xautolock exits.
-enable Enables an already running xautolock process (if there is one, and it does
not have -secure switched on). In any case, the current invocation of
xautolock exits.
-toggle Toggles an already running xautolock process (if there is one, and it does
not have -secure switched on) between its disabled and enabled modes of
operation. In any case, the current invocation of xautolock exits.
-exit Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one, and it does
not have -secure switched on) to exit. In any case, the current invocation
of xautolock also exits.
-locknow Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one, if it does
not have -secure switched on, and is not currently disabled) to lock the
display immediately. In any case, the current invocation of xautolock
exits.
-unlocknow Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one, if it does
not have -secure switched on, and is not currently disabled) to unlock the
display immediately (if it's locked) by sending the locker a SIGTERM
signal. In any case, the current invocation of xautolock exits.
-nowlocker Specifies the locker to be used if the lock is initiated with -locknow
option. The default is to use the locker program given with -locker
option, which defaults to xlock.
-restart Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one and it does
not have -secure switched on) to restart. In any case, the current
invocation of xautolock exits.
RESOURCES
time Specifies the primary timeout. Numerical.
locker Specifies the locker. No quotes are needed, even if the locker command
contains multiple words.
killtime Specifies the secondary timeout. Numerical.
killer Specifies the killer. No quotes are needed, even if the killer command
contains multiple words.
notify Specifies the notification margin. Numerical.
notifier Specifies the notifier. No quotes are needed, even if the notifier command
contains multiple words.
bell Specifies the notification loudness. Numerical.
corners Specifies the corner behaviour, as explained above.
cornersize Specifies the size of the corner areas. Numerical.
cornerdelay Specifies the delay of a '+' corner. Numerical.
cornerredelay Specifies the alternative delay of a '+' corner. Numerical.
resetsaver Reset the default X screen saver. Boolean.
nocloseout Don't close stdout. Boolean.
nocloseerr Don't close stderr. Boolean.
noclose Close neither stdout nor stderr. Boolean.
Resources can be specified in your ~/.Xresources or ~/.Xdefaults file (whichever your
system uses) and merged via the xrdb(1) command. They can be specified either for class
Xautolock, or for whatever name your xautolock program has been given. This can be useful
in case xautolock is to be used for other purposes than simply locking the screen. For
example: if you have two copies of xautolock, one called "xmonitor", and one called
"xlogout", then both will honour the following:
Xautolock.corners: ++++
In addition, "xmonitor" will honour:
xmonitor.cornersize: 10
while "xlogout" will honour:
xlogout.cornersize: 5
Each command line option takes precedence over the corresponding (default) resource
specification.
KNOWN BUGS
The -disable, -enable, -toggle, -exit, -locknow, -unlocknow, and -restart options depend
on access to the X server to do their work. This implies that they will be suspended in
case some other application has grabbed the server all for itself.
If, when creating a window, an application waits for more than 30 seconds before selecting
KeyPress events on non-leaf windows, xautolock may interfere with the event propagation
mechanism. This effect is theoretical and has never been observed in real life. It can
only occur in case xautolock has been compiled without support for both the Xidle and the
MIT ScreenSaver extensions, or in case the X server does not support these extensions.
xautolock does not always properly handle the secure keyboard mode of terminal emulators
like xterm, since that mode will prevent xautolock from noticing the keyboard events
occurring on the terminal. Therefore, xautolock sometimes thinks that there is no keyboard
activity while in reality there is. This can only occur in case xautolock has been
compiled without support for both the Xidle and the MIT ScreenSaver extensions, or in case
the X server does not support these extensions.
xautolock does not check whether notifier and/or locker are available.
The xautolock resources have dummy resource classes.
SEE ALSO
X(1), xset(1), xlock(1), xnlock(1), xscreensaver(1).
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1990, 1992-1999, 2001-2002, 2004, 2007 by Stefan De Troch and Michel Eyckmans.
Versions 2.0 and above of xautolock are available under version 2 of the GNU GPL. Earlier
versions are available under other conditions. For more information, see the License file.
AUTHORS
Xautolock was conceived, written, and performed by:
Michel Eyckmans (MCE)
Stefan De Troch
Please send queries for help, feature suggestions, bug reports, etc. to mce@scarlet.be.
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Kris Croes
December 28, 2007 xautolock(1)