xenial (1) xautolock.1.gz

Provided by: xautolock_2.2-4_amd64 bug

NAME

       xautolock - fire up programs in case of user inactivity under X

VERSION

       This man page applies to xautolock version 2.2.

SYNOPSIS

       xautolock [-help] [-version] [-time mins] [-locker locker] [-killtime killmins] [-killer killer] [-notify
                 margin]  [-notifier   notifier]   [-bell   percent]   [-corners   xxxx]   [-cornerdelay   secs]
                 [-cornerredelay   altsecs]   [-cornersize   pixels]   [-secure]   [-resetsaver]   [-nocloseout]
                 [-nocloseerr]  [-noclose]  [-disable]  [-enable]  [-toggle]  [-exit]  [-locknow]   [-unlocknow]
                 [-nowlocker locker] [-restart] [-detectsleep]

DESCRIPTION

       Xautolock  monitors  the user activity on an X Window display. If none is detected within mins minutes, a
       program is started as specified by the -locker option. Xautolock will  typically  be  used  to  lock  the
       screen  (hence  its  primary  name)  but  it really doesn't care what program you make it start. For this
       reason, xautolock does not interfere with the default X screen saver, unless the  -resetsaver  option  is
       used.   This  implies that it is the job of the locker or the user to take the appropriate actions if the
       default screen saver is to be disabled.  The only real  assumption  made  by  xautolock  is  that  a  new
       countdown starts as soon as the locker exits.

       In the presence of the -notify option, a warning signal will be issued margin seconds before starting the
       locker. Warning signals come in two kinds:

       •  You can use the -notifier option to specify the command to be issued to perform notification.

       •  Alternatively, you can let xautolock ring the bell. In this  case,  the  -bell  option  specifies  the
          loudness of the signal in percent, as described in the XBell man page.

       You  can  tell  xautolock  to take special actions when you move the mouse into one of the corners of the
       display and leave it there, by using the -corners, -cornerdelay, -cornerredelay and -cornersize  options.
       This works as follows:

       The  xxxx  argument  to  the -corners option must consist of exactly 4 characters from the following set:
       '0', '+', '-'. Each one of these specifies what xautolock should do when the mouse enters a small  square
       area located in each of the corners of the screen. The corners are considered in the following order: top
       left, top right, bottom left, bottom right.  A '0' indicates that xautolock should ignore the  corner.  A
       '+'  indicates  that  xautolock  should start the locker after secs or altsecs seconds (see below for the
       difference between both), unless the mouse is moved or keyboard input is received. A '-'  indicates  that
       xautolock  should  not  start  the locker at all. The pixels argument specifies the size in pixels of the
       corner areas.

       Most users of the -corners option want the locker to activate within a very  short  time  interval  after
       they  move  the  mouse  into  a  '+'  corner.   This  can be achieved by specifying a small value for the
       -cornerdelay option. However, if the mouse is subsequently  left  where  it  is,  xautolock  will  almost
       immediately  start  a  new  locker  right  after  the  user  quits  the current one. To prevent this from
       happening, the -cornerredelay option can be used to specify the time-out interval to be used if and  only
       if the mouse is sitting in a `+' corner and has not been moved since the previous locker exited.

       A  running  xautolock process can be disabled (unless if the -secure option has been specified), in which
       case it will not attempt to start the locker. To disable an already running xautolock  process,  use  the
       -disable  option. To re-enable it, use -enable. To toggle it between both states, use -toggle. Using this
       method is preferable to using sending it SIGSTOP and SIGCONT signals, because  while  disabled  xautolock
       will still be emptying its event queue.

       A  running  xautolock process can also be told to exit (unless if the -secure option has been specified).
       To do this, use the -exit option.

       The -killtime and -killer options allow, amongst other  things,  to  implement  an  additional  automatic
       logout,  on  top  of  the  automatic  screen  locking. In the presence of one or both of these options, a
       secondary timeout will be triggered killmins after starting the locker (unless user activity is  detected
       in  the  mean  time).   Upon  expiration  of  this secondary timer, the killer program is run. Note that,
       despite the name of the options, xautolock really doesn't care what the killer does  in  reality.  If  it
       doesn't  (indirectly)  cause xautolock to get killed, and assuming that no user activity is detected, the
       secondary trigger will periodically expire every killmins minutes for as long as the locker runs.

       In combination with -killtime and -killer, the -secure option allows  system  administrators  to  enforce
       xautolock  as a part of their security procedures, and to prevent people from locking shared displays for
       an excessive amount of time. One way to achieve this is to start xautolock (using -secure and  optionally
       -killtime  and -killer) from within XDM's Xsession file in such a way that the session automatically ends
       if xautolock itself is killed.

       By default xautolock closes stdout and stderr. This prevents the locker from writing  error  messages  to
       these  files  in  case you manually lock your display.  The -nocloseout, -nocloseerr and -noclose options
       cause xautolock to not close stdout and/or stderr. On some platforms users of xnlock  will  need  to  use
       -nocloseout,  in  order  to  make  xnlock's  witty  sayings  show  up. These options can also be used for
       debugging cases in which locker invocation is not successful.

       Xautolock is capable of managing multi-headed displays.

OPTIONS

       -help           Print a help message and exit.

       -version        Print the version number and exit.

       -time           Specifies the primary timeout interval. The default is  10  minutes,  the  minimum  is  1
                       minute, and the maximum is 1 hour.

       -locker         Specifies  the  locker  to  be used. The default is xlock. Notice that if locker contains
                       multiple words, it must be specified between quotes.  In order to use your PATH to locate
                       the   program,   xautolock  feeds  the  locker  command  to  /bin/sh,  so  it  should  be
                       understandable for whatever shell your /bin/sh is. Because this  typically  is  a  Bourne
                       shell, ~ expansion most likely will not work.

       -killtime       Specifies the secondary timeout in minutes after starting the locker.  This timer is only
                       active as long as the locker is  running,  and  is  reset  each  time  user  activity  is
                       detected.  If  it expires before the locker exits, the killer command is run. The default
                       is 20 minutes, the minimum is 10 minutes, and the maximum is 2  hours.   This  option  is
                       only useful in conjunction with -killer.

       -killer         Specifies  the  killer  to  be  used. The default is none. Notice that if killer contains
                       multiple words, it must be specified between quotes.  In order to use your PATH to locate
                       the program, xautolock feeds the killr command to /bin/sh, so it should be understandable
                       for whatever shell your /bin/sh is. Because this typically is a Bourne shell, ~ expansion
                       most likely will not work.

       -notify         Warn the user margin seconds before locking. The default is to not warn the user. If used
                       in conjunction with -cornerdelay or -cornerredelay, the notification margin iused is  the
                       minimum of margin, secs and/or altsecs.

       -notifier       Specifies  the  notifier  to  be used. The default is none. This option is only useful in
                       conjunction with -notify. Notice that if notifier contains multiple  words,  it  must  be
                       specified  between  quotes.   In  order to use your PATH to locate the program, xautolock
                       feeds the notifier command to /bin/sh, so it should be understandable for whatever  shell
                       your  /bin/sh  is. Because this typically is a Bourne shell, ~ expansion most likely will
                       not work.

       -bell           Specifies the loudness of the notification signal in the absence of the -notifier option.
                       The default is 40 percent. This option is only useful in conjunction with -notify.

       -corners        Define  special  actions  to  be  taken  when  the mouse enters one of the corners of the
                       display. The default is 0000, which means that no special action is taken.

       -cornerdelay    Specifies the number of seconds to wait before reacting  to  the  mouse  entering  a  '+'
                       corner. The default is 5 seconds.

       -cornerredelay  Specifies the number of seconds to wait before reacting again if the current locker exits
                       while the mouse is sitting in a '+' corner. The default is for altsecs to equal secs.

       -cornersize     Specifies the size in pixels of the corner areas. The default is 10 pixels.

       -resetsaver     Causes xautolock to reset the X screen saver after successfully starting the locker. This
                       is  typically  used  in case the locker is not really intended to lock the screen, but to
                       replace the default X screen saver. Note that the default screen saver is  not  disabled,
                       only  reset.   Also note that using -resetsaver will inferfere with the DPMS monitors, as
                       the power down time out will also be also reset. The default is not to reset  the  screen
                       saver.

                       See the xset man page for more information about managing the X screen saver.

       -detectsleep    Instructs  xautolock  to  detect  that  computer  has been put to sleep.  This is done by
                       detecting that time has jumped by more than 3 seconds.  When this occurs, the lock  timer
                       is  reset  and  locker  program is not launched even if primary timeout has been reached.
                       This option is typically used to avoid locker program  to  be  launched  when  awaking  a
                       laptop computer.

       -secure         Instructs  xautolock  to run in secure mode. In this mode, xautolock becomes imune to the
                       effects of -enable, -disable, -toggle, and -exit. The default is to honour these actions.

       -nocloseout     Don't close stdout.

       -nocloseerr     Don't close stderr.

       -noclose        Close neither stdout nor stderr.

       -disable        Disables an already running xautolock process (if there is one,  and  it  does  not  have
                       -secure switched on). In any case, the current invocation of xautolock exits.

       -enable         Enables  an  already  running  xautolock  process  (if there is one, and it does not have
                       -secure switched on). In any case, the current invocation of xautolock exits.

       -toggle         Toggles an already running xautolock process (if there is  one,  and  it  does  not  have
                       -secure  switched  on)  between its disabled and enabled modes of operation. In any case,
                       the current invocation of xautolock exits.

       -exit           Causes an already running xautolock process (if there  is  one,  and  it  does  not  have
                       -secure  switched  on)  to  exit.  In  any case, the current invocation of xautolock also
                       exits.

       -locknow        Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one, if it does not have -secure
                       switched on, and is not currently disabled) to lock the display immediately. In any case,
                       the current invocation of xautolock exits.

       -unlocknow      Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one, if it does not have -secure
                       switched  on,  and  is not currently disabled) to unlock the display immediately (if it's
                       locked) by sending the locker a SIGTERM signal. In any case, the  current  invocation  of
                       xautolock exits.

       -nowlocker      Specifies  the  locker  to  be  used  if  the lock is initiated with -locknow option. The
                       default is to use the locker program given with -locker option, which defaults to xlock.

       -restart        Causes an already running xautolock process (if there is one and it does not have -secure
                       switched on) to restart. In any case, the current invocation of xautolock exits.

RESOURCES

       time            Specifies the primary timeout. Numerical.

       locker          Specifies  the locker. No quotes are needed, even if the locker command contains multiple
                       words.

       killtime        Specifies the secondary timeout. Numerical.

       killer          Specifies the killer. No quotes are needed, even if the killer command contains  multiple
                       words.

       notify          Specifies the notification margin. Numerical.

       notifier        Specifies  the  notifier.  No  quotes  are  needed, even if the notifier command contains
                       multiple words.

       bell            Specifies the notification loudness. Numerical.

       corners         Specifies the corner behaviour, as explained above.

       cornersize      Specifies the size of the corner areas. Numerical.

       cornerdelay     Specifies the delay of a '+' corner. Numerical.

       cornerredelay   Specifies the alternative delay of a '+' corner. Numerical.

       resetsaver      Reset the default X screen saver. Boolean.

       nocloseout      Don't close stdout. Boolean.

       nocloseerr      Don't close stderr. Boolean.

       noclose         Close neither stdout nor stderr. Boolean.

       Resources can be specified in your ~/.Xresources or ~/.Xdefaults file (whichever your  system  uses)  and
       merged  via  the  xrdb(1) command. They can be specified either for class Xautolock, or for whatever name
       your xautolock program has been given. This can be useful in case xautolock  is  to  be  used  for  other
       purposes  than  simply  locking  the screen. For example: if you have two copies of xautolock, one called
       "xmonitor", and one called "xlogout", then both will honour the following:

              Xautolock.corners: ++++

       In addition, "xmonitor" will honour:

              xmonitor.cornersize: 10

       while "xlogout" will honour:

              xlogout.cornersize: 5

       Each command line option takes precedence over the corresponding (default) resource specification.

KNOWN BUGS

       The -disable, -enable, -toggle, -exit, -locknow, -unlocknow, and -restart options depend on access to the
       X  server  to  do their work. This implies that they will be suspended in case some other application has
       grabbed the server all for itself.

       If, when creating a window, an application waits for more  than  30  seconds  before  selecting  KeyPress
       events  on non-leaf windows, xautolock may interfere with the event propagation mechanism. This effect is
       theoretical and has never been observed in real life. It can  only  occur  in  case  xautolock  has  been
       compiled  without  support for both the Xidle and the MIT ScreenSaver extensions, or in case the X server
       does not support these extensions.

       xautolock does not always properly handle the secure keyboard mode  of  terminal  emulators  like  xterm,
       since  that  mode  will  prevent  xautolock  from noticing the keyboard events occurring on the terminal.
       Therefore, xautolock sometimes thinks that there is no keyboard activity while in reality there is.  This
       can  only  occur  in  case  xautolock  has  been  compiled without support for both the Xidle and the MIT
       ScreenSaver extensions, or in case the X server does not support these extensions.

       xautolock does not check whether notifier and/or locker are available.

       The xautolock resources have dummy resource classes.

SEE ALSO

       X(1), xset(1), xlock(1), xnlock(1), xscreensaver(1).

       Copyright 1990, 1992-1999, 2001-2002, 2004, 2007 by Stefan De Troch and Michel Eyckmans.

       Versions 2.0 and above of xautolock are available under version 2 of the GNU GPL.  Earlier  versions  are
       available under other conditions. For more information, see the License file.

AUTHORS

       Xautolock was conceived, written, and performed by:

       Michel Eyckmans (MCE)
       Stefan De Troch

       Please send queries for help, feature suggestions, bug reports, etc.  to mce@scarlet.be.

SPECIAL THANKS TO

       Kris Croes

                                                December 28, 2007                                   xautolock(1)