Provided by: xscreensaver_5.15-3+deb7u1ubuntu0.1_amd64 bug

NAME

       xscreensaver - extensible screen saver framework, plus locking

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-saving 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 program 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 xscreensaver-demo(1)
       program, and change the settings through the GUI.  The rest of this manual page  describes
       lower level ways of changing settings.

       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 .xscreensaver 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  .Xdefaults  file;  for
       example,  to  set  the  timeout  paramter  in  the .xscreensaver 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/openwin/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 .Xdefaults file and the app-defaults file
       will never be written by xscreensaver 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 simultaniously.

       -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 xscreensaver 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 screensaver 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 xscreensaver-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 xscreensaver-demo(1) window,  then
       that means that your X server does not support 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 settings 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

       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 xscreensaver daemon called "gnome-screensaver", rather than
       improving xscreensaver 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: Turn off gnome-screensaver.
              Open the "System / Preferences / Screensaver" panel and uncheck both boxes.

           2: Stop gnome-screensaver from launching at login.
              Run the command:

              gconftool-2 --type boolean -s \
              /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/screensaver/start_screensaver \
              false

              Or, just uninstall the "gnome-screensaver" package entirely.

           3: Launch xscreensaver at login.
              Open the "System / Preferences / Sessions / Startup Programs" panel.   Click  "Add"
              and type "xscreensaver".

           4: Tell Preferences to use the xscreensaver configurator.
              Edit  /usr/share/applications/gnome-screensaver-preferences.desktop  and change the
              Exec= line to say
                  Exec=xscreensaver-demo

           5: Make "System / Quit / Lock Screen" use xscreensaver.
              Run the command:
              sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/xscreensaver-command \
                          /usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-command

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",  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 xscreensaver-demo(1) and
       xscreensaver-command(1) mechanisms.

USING GDM

       You can run xscreensaver from your gdm(1) session, so that the screensaver 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 something  safe  (like  "nobody")
       before connecting to the X server or launching 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 console, 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 something?)

           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), programs  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 /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 consume 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 problem.

           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 probably won't need to
       change these manually (that's what the xscreensaver-demo(1) program is for).

       timeout (class Time)
               The screensaver will activate (blank the screen) after the keyboard 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.

       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 activation) 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 powers down completely.
               Note that these settings will have no effect unless both  the  X  server  and  the
               display  hardware  support 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  powered  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  behavior
                       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 monochrome.)

               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, TrueColor, GrayScale,
                       PseudoColor, or DirectColor.  Selects the  deepest  visual  of  the  given
                       class.

               number  where  number  (decimal  or  hex) is interpreted as a visual 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
                       shallower 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 automatically.)  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 diagnostic 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/Netscape 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 xscreensaver-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 unnecessarily.  The default is 10.  (Higher numbers  mean  lower
               priority; see nice(1) for details.)

       fade (class Boolean)
               If  this is true, then when the screensaver activates, the current contents of the
               screen will fade to black instead of simply  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 controlling 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.

       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 setting.)

               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) program.)

               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 system-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  disables  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  probably  never  seen,  such  as  1-bit
               monochrome  monitors,  grayscale monitors, and monitors capable of displaying only
               8-bit colormapped 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 window: assumptions which xscreensaver can violate.

               If  you  specify a particular visual for a program, and that visual 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  frequently  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,  xscreensaver  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
               console 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 screenhack.   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 captureStderr is true.
               Default: Yellow.

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

       bourneShell (class BourneShell)
               The pathname of the shell that xscreensaver uses to start subprocesses.  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),   xscreensaver-demo(1),
       xscreensaver-command(1),       xscreensaver-gl-helper(1),        xscreensaver-getimage(1),
       xscreensaver-text(1).

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 1991-2011 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.

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!