Provided by: weston_1.3.0-1ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
weston - the reference Wayland server
SYNOPSIS
weston
DESCRIPTION
weston is the reference implementation of a Wayland server. A Wayland server is a display
server, a window manager, and a compositor all in one. Weston has several backends as
loadable modules: it can run on Linux KMS (kernel modesetting via DRM), as an X client, or
inside another Wayland server instance.
Weston supports fundamentally different graphical user interface paradigms via shell
plugins. Two plugins are provided: the desktop shell, and the tablet shell.
When weston is started as the first windowing system (i.e. not under X nor under another
Wayland server), it should be done with the command weston-launch to set up proper
privileged access to devices.
Weston also supports X clients via XWayland, see below.
BACKENDS
drm-backend.so
The DRM backend uses Linux KMS for output and evdev devices for input. It supports
multiple monitors in a unified desktop with DPMS. See weston-drm(7), if installed.
wayland-backend.so
The Wayland backend runs on another Wayland server, a different Weston instance,
for example. Weston shows up as a single desktop window on the parent server.
x11-backend.so
The X11 backend runs on an X server. Each Weston output becomes an X window. This
is a cheap way to test multi-monitor support of a Wayland shell, desktop, or
applications.
SHELLS
Desktop shell
Desktop shell is like a modern X desktop environment, concentrating on traditional
keyboard and mouse user interfaces and the familiar desktop-like window management.
Desktop shell consists of the shell plugin desktop-shell.so and the special client
weston-desktop-shell which provides the wallpaper, panel, and screen locking
dialog.
Tablet shell
Tablet shell is a graphical user interface aimed for tablet-like devices, where
usually the only input method is a touch screen. It does not support freely
floating windows or many other desktop features, but intends to provide a natural
interface on tablets. Tablet shell consists of the shell plugin tablet-shell.so
and the special client weston-tablet-shell which provides the basic user interface.
XWAYLAND
XWayland requires a special X.org server to be installed. This X server will connect to a
Wayland server as a Wayland client, and X clients will connect to the X server. XWayland
provides backwards compatibility to X applications in a Wayland stack.
XWayland is activated by instructing weston to load xwayland.so module, see EXAMPLES.
Weston starts listening on a new X display socket, and exports it in the environment
variable DISPLAY. When the first X client connects, Weston launches a special X server as
a Wayland client to handle the X client and all future X clients.
It has also its own X window manager where cursor themes and sizes can be chosen using
XCURSOR_PATH and XCURSOR_SIZE environment variables. See ENVIRONMENT.
OPTIONS
Weston core options:
-Bbackend.so, --backend=backend.so
Load backend.so instead of the default backend. The file is searched for in
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/weston, or you can pass an absolute path. The default
backend is drm-backend.so unless the environment suggests otherwise, see DISPLAY
and WAYLAND_DISPLAY.
--version
Print the program version.
-h, --help
Print a summary of command line options, and quit.
-iN, --idle-time=N
Set the idle timeout to N seconds. The default timeout is 300 seconds. When there
has not been any user input for the idle timeout, Weston enters an inactive mode.
The screen fades to black, and depending on the shell in use, a screensaver may
activate, monitors may switch off, and the shell may lock the session. A value of
0 effectively disables the timeout.
--log=file.log
Append log messages to the file file.log instead of writing them to stderr.
--modules=module1.so,module2.so
Load the comma-separated list of modules. Only used by the test suite. The file is
searched for in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/weston, or you can pass an absolute path.
-Sname, --socket=name
Weston will listen in the Wayland socket called name. Weston will export
WAYLAND_DISPLAY with this value in the environment for all child processes to allow
them to connect to the right server automatically.
DRM backend options:
See weston-drm(7).
Wayland backend options:
--display=display
Name of the Wayland display to connect to, see also WAYLAND_DISPLAY of the
environment.
--width=W, --height=H
Make the desktop size WxH pixels.
X11 backend options:
--fullscreen
--no-input
Do not provide any input devices. Used for testing input-less Weston.
--output-count=N
Create N X windows to emulate the same number of outputs.
--width=W, --height=H
Make the default size of each X window WxH pixels.
--use-pixman
Use the pixman renderer. By default weston will try to use EGL and GLES2 for
rendering. Passing this option will make weston use the pixman library for
software compsiting.
FILES
If the environment variable is set, the configuration file is read from the respective
path, or the current directory if neither is set.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/weston.ini
$HOME/.config/weston.ini
./weston.ini
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY
The X display. If DISPLAY is set, and WAYLAND_DISPLAY is not set, the default
backend becomes x11-backend.so.
WAYLAND_DEBUG
If set to any value, causes libwayland to print the live protocol to stderr.
WAYLAND_DISPLAY
The name of the display (socket) of an already running Wayland server, without the
path. The directory path is always taken from XDG_RUNTIME_DIR. If WAYLAND_DISPLAY
is not set, the socket name is "wayland-0".
If WAYLAND_DISPLAY is already set, the default backend becomes wayland-backend.so.
This allows launching Weston as a nested server.
WAYLAND_SOCKET
For Wayland clients, holds the file descriptor of an open local socket to a Wayland
server.
XCURSOR_PATH
Set the list of paths to look for cursors in. It changes both libwayland-cursor and
libXcursor, so it affects both Wayland and X11 based clients. See xcursor (3).
XCURSOR_SIZE
This variable can be set for choosing an specific size of cursor. Affect Wayland
and X11 clients. See xcursor (3).
XDG_CONFIG_HOME
If set, specifies the directory where to look for weston.ini.
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
The directory for Weston's socket and lock files. Wayland clients will
automatically use this.
DIAGNOSTICS
Weston has a segmentation fault handler, that attempts to restore the virtual console or
ungrab X before raising SIGTRAP. If you run weston under gdb(1) from an X11 terminal or a
different virtual terminal, and tell gdb
handle SIGSEGV nostop
This will allow weston to switch back to gdb on crash and then gdb will catch the crash
with SIGTRAP.
BUGS
Bugs should be reported to the freedesktop.org bugzilla at https://bugs.freedesktop.org
with product "Wayland" and component "weston".
WWW
http://wayland.freedesktop.org/
EXAMPLES
Launch Weston with the DRM backend on a VT
weston-launch
Launch Weston with the DRM backend and XWayland support
weston-launch -- --modules=xwayland.so
Launch Weston (wayland-1) nested in another Weston instance (wayland-0)
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0 weston -Swayland-1
From an X terminal, launch Weston with the x11 backend
weston
SEE ALSO
weston-drm(7)