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.  This can also be set  to  a  fractional  value
              like 0.5.

       -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
              section above 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)

                                                                                       xcowsay(6)