bionic (6) xcowsay.6.gz

NAME

       xcowsay - Display a cute cow and speech bubble.

SYNOPSIS

       xcowsay [-h] [-t time] [-r speed] [-d] [-f font] [text]...

DESCRIPTION

       Display a cow with a speech bubble containing some text. If text is specified it will be displayed in the
       bubble. Otherwise the text will be read from the standard  input  and  displayed  when  end  of  file  is
       encountered.

       The  cow is displayed for either a fixed amount of time, or an amount of time calculated from the size of
       the text. Click on the cow to dismiss it immediately.

       If xcowsay is started with --daemon it will fork away from the terminal  and  run  in  daemon  mode.  The
       daemon  provides a DBus service uk.me.doof.Cowsay that responds to ShowCow requests. The daemon can queue
       up any number of requests and displays them in order.

       When xcowsay starts it checks to see if a daemon is running, and if it is, sends a  ShowCow  request  and
       returns immediately. Otherwise xcowsay will block until the cow has disappeared.

CONFIGURATION FILE

       xcowsay reads a configuration file on startup.  The configuration file can be stored in the XDG compliant
       location $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xcowsayrc (which will default  to  $HOME/.config/xcowsayrc)  or  in  your  home
       directory at $HOME/.xcowsayrc.  If the --config=FILE command line option is passed FILE will be processed
       after your personal configuration file.

       The configuration file consists of 'option = value' pairs, one per line.  The valid keys are given in the
       next section. For example, the following line sets display time to 10 seconds:

              display_time = 10000

       The character '#' begins a comment which lasts until the end of the line.

       Values containing spaces should be enclosed in quotes.  For example:

              font = "mono 28"

OPTIONS

       Note that these options override any settings in the config file.

       -h, --help
              Display usage information.

       -t time, --time=time
              Display the cow for time seconds. This overrides any value set for reading_speed.  Setting time to
              zero displays the cow until it is clicked.  The corresponding config file option is display_time.

       -r speed, --reading-speed=speed
              Number of milliseconds to display the cow for each word in the input text. This is  clamped  to  a
              minimum  of  min_display_time and a maximum of max_display_time.  The defaults are 1 second and 30
              seconds respectively. The corresponding config file option is reading_speed.

       -f font, --font=font
              Font for the speech bubble text. Accepts Pango font strings. The corresponding config file  option
              is font.

       -d file, --dream=file
              Display  an  image instead of text in the cow's bubble. The dream_time config file option sets the
              numer of milliseconds to display the image for. The default is 10 seconds.

       --think
              Display a thought bubble instead of a speech bubble.

       --daemon
              Run xcowsay in daemon mode if DBus  support  has  been  enabled.  See  the  description  for  more
              information.

       --cow-size=size
              Size  of  the cow image.  Current choices are small, med, or large.  The corresponding config file
              option is cow_size.

       --image=file
              Use a different image instead of the cow.  The corresponding config file option is alt_image.

       --monitor=N
              Make the cow appear on monitor N.

       --at=X,Y
              Force that cow to appear at screen location (X,Y).  The config file options are at_x and at_y.

       --bubble-at=X,Y
              Change position of bubble relative to where it would normally appear.  This is  most  useful  when
              combined  with  the  alt_image  option to create your own characters.  The config file options are
              bubble_x and bubble_y.

       --no-wrap
              Disable word wrapping when the bubble is too wide to fit on the screen.  The  config  file  option
              wrap can be set to true or false to set this explicitly.

       -l, --left
              Make the bubble appear on the left hand side of the cow.  This is useful if you are using your own
              image.

       --debug
              Print messages about what xcowsay is doing. Useful for finding out why the daemon fails.

       --release
              Close window on release  event  instead  of  press.   The  corresponding  config  file  option  is
              close_event=button-release-event.

       -v, --version
              Print version information.

AUTHOR

       Written by Nick Gasson.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report all bugs to nick@nickg.me.uk  The xcowsay home page is <http://www.doof.me.uk/xcowsay>

SEE ALSO

       cowsay(6)

BUGS

       The cow and speech bubble have jagged edges which would be improved by anti-aliasing.  Unfortunately this
       isn't possible without a compositing window manager since X can only cut holes in windows using a  binary
       mask, so I wouldn't expect this any time soon.

                                                                                                      xcowsay(6)