NAME

       root-tail - print text directly to X11 root window

SYNOPSIS

       root-tail  [-g|--geometry  GEOMETRY]  [-fn|--font  FONTSPEC] [--color color] [--reload SEC
       COMMAND]  [--shade]  [--outline]  [--minspace]   [--noflicker]   [-f|--fork]   [--reverse]
       [--whole]  [--partial]  [--update]  [--cont STRING] [--wordwrap] [--justify] [--noinitial]
       [--frame]  [--windowed}  [-id  ID]  [-i|--interval  SECONDS]   [-V]   file1[,color[,desc]]
       [file2[,color[,desc]]]

DESCRIPTION

       Displays  a  given  file  anywhere on your X11 root window, i.e. it is kind of tail -f for
       multiple files using your desktop background as output window.

       All non-option arguments on the command line are files to be logged. A null desc (example:
       "/var/log/messages,red,") will prevent the printing of a description and the []'s.

   General Options
       --color COLOR
              Use COLOR as default.

       --font | -fn FONTSPEC
              Use font FONTSPEC. This can be either a fixed width font like -fn fixed or any font
              using -fn '-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*' with the  appropriate  fields  filled  out
              (see  xfontsel).   Specifying  a different FONTSPEC before each filename will cause
              each file to be displayed in a different font.

       -f | --fork
              Forks to the background.

       --reverse
              Display the files in reverse order, with the newest lines at the top.

       --whole
              Only display whole lines. If the last line of a file doesn't yet end with a newline
              character then wait until it does before displaying it. This is the default if more
              than one file is being displayed.

       --partial
              This is the opposite of the --whole option (see above). It displays lines  even  if
              they  don't  yet have a newline at the end. This is the default if only one file is
              being displayed.

       --update
              Update partial lines 'in place' if they are still  on  the  screen  when  they  are
              updated in their files. Using --update automatically turns on --partial.

       --cont STRING
              When  partial  lines  are broken into two lines in the display, prefix the 2nd line
              with STRING. Defaults to "|| ". Specify the "--whole" argument  to  ensure  partial
              lines  are  never  displayed,  or  specify "--update" to attempt to "repair" broken
              lines in-place.

       --cont-color COLOR
              Use COLOR when displaying the continuation string (as optionally specified with the
              --cont option above).

       --wordwrap
              The  default behaviour is to fit as much as possible onto each line of output, even
              if this means splitting a word between  one  line  and  the  next.  The  --wordwrap
              argument splits lines at spaces if possible.

       --justify
              After  wrapping  long lines, attempt to justify the text to produce a smooth right-
              hand margin.  Implies --wordwrap.

       --reload SEC COMMAND
              Re-display the file(s) and run COMMAND every SEC seconds. The default is  to  never
              re-display the file(s).

       --shade
              Add black shading to the font.

       --outline
              Add a black outline to the font (making redraws quite a bit slower).

       --minspace
              Use  minimum  linespace  even when using shading or outlining. This might result in
              leftover pixels (dependign on font and logfile content).

       --noflicker
              Use slower but flicker-free update.

       --noinitial
              Don't display the end of the file(s) initially.

       --windowed
              Create a new window instead of reusing the root window. The  newly  created  window
              covers  the  whole  screen,  puts  itself behind all other windows and and does not
              accept events. Use this option if you use a compositing manager suihc  as  xcompmgr
              or  compton,  as  the compositing extension has been very badly designed and cannot
              handle root windows correctly.

       -id ID Use the given window ID for output instead of the root window.

       -i | --interval SECONDS
              Use the specified sleeping interval between  checks  instead  of  the  default  2.4
              seconds. Fractional values are OK.

       -V     Print version information.

       --frame
              Draw  a  frame  around  the  selected area.  This is useful when trying to find the
              perfect geometry.

EXAMPLE

       root-tail --windowed -g 800x250+100+50 -font  10x20  /var/log/messages,green  -font  12x24
       /var/log/secure,red,'ALERT'

BUGS

       Some desktop environments open a virtual root window and make it difficult to share it. If
       you cannot see anything after starting root-tail, try the  --windowed  option,  a  setting
       "allow programs on desktop" or similar, or manually specify a window id.

       Should you happen to find any bugs please fix them and send me a diff.

       NOTE:  This  program was modified by Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>, who couldn't reach
       the original author. Please direct bug-reports etc. to root-tail@schmorp.de.

       http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/root-tail.html