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)