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)