xautolock(l)xautolock(l)NAMExautolock - fire up programs in case of user inactivity
under X
VERSION
This man page applies to xautolock patchlevel 10.
SYNOPSISxautolock [-help] [-version] [-time mins] [-locker locker]
[-notify margin] [-notifier notifier] [-bell
percent] [-corners xxxx] [-cornerdelay secs]
[-cornerredelay altsecs] [-cornersize pixels]
[-nocloseout] [-nocloseerr] [-noclose] [-dis-
able] [-enable] [-toggle]
DESCRIPTION
Xautolock monitors the user activity on an X Window dis-
play. 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 pri-
mary name) but it really doesn't care what program you
make it start. For this reason, xautolock does not inter-
fere with the default screen saver. This implies that it
is the job of the locker 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:
o You can use the -notifier option to specify the command
to be issued to perform notification.
o Alternatively, you can let xautolock ring the bell. In
this case, the -bell option specifies the loudness of
the signal in percent.
You can tell xautolock to take special actions when you move themouse into one of the corners of the display and leave it there,
by using the -corners, -cornerdelay, -cornerredelay and -corner-size 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 asmall 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 xautolockshould ignore the corner. A '+' indicates that xautolock should
February 21, 1995 1
xautolock(l)xautolock(l)start the locker after secs or altsecs seconds (see below for thedifference 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 sizein 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 valuefor the -cornerdelay option. However, if the mouse is subse-
quently left where it is, xautolock will almost immediately start
a new locker right after the user quits the current one. To pre-
vent 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 been also be disabled, in wich
case it will not attempt to start the locker. To disable an
already runningxautolock 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 xautolockwill still be emptying its event queue.By default xautolock closes stdout and stderr. This prevents thelocker 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 time-out 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 several words, it must be speci-
fied 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
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xautolock(l)xautolock(l)
typically is a Bourne shell, ~ expansion
most likely will not work.
-notify Warn the user margin seconds before lock-
ing. 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 use-
ful in conjunction with -notify. Notice
that if notifier contains several words,
it must be specified between quotes. In
order to use your PATH to locate the pro-
gram, 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.
-nocloseout Don't close stdout.
-nocloseerr Don't close stderr.
-noclose Close neither stdout nor stderr.
-disable Disables an already running xautolock pro-
cess (if there is one). In any case, the
February 21, 1995 3
xautolock(l)xautolock(l)
current invocation of xautolock exits.
-enable Enables an already running xautolock pro-
cess (if there is one). In any case, the
current invocation of xautolock exits.
-toggle Toggles an already running xautolock pro-
cess (if there is one) between its dis-
abled and enabled modes of operation. In
any case, the current invocation of xau-
tolock exits.
RESOURCES
time Specifies the time out period.
locker Specifies the locker. No quotes are
needed, even if your locker command con-
tains several words.
notify Specifies the notification margin.
notifier Specifies the notifier. No quotes are
needed, even if your notifier command con-
tains several words.
bell Specifies the notification loudness.
corners Specifies the corner behaviour.
cornersize Specifies the size of the corner areas.
cornerdelay Specifies the delay of a '+' corner.
cornerredelay Specifies the alternative delay of a '+'
corner.
nocloseout Don't close stdout.
nocloseerr Don't close stderr.
noclose Close neither stdout nor stderr.
Resources can be specified in your ~/.Xdefaults file,
either for class Xautolock, or for whatever name you
renamed xautolock to. 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: ++++
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xautolock(l)xautolock(l)
In addition, "xmonitor" will honour:
xmonitor.cornersize: 10
while "xlogout" will honour:
xlogout.cornersize: 5
Each command line option takes precedence over the corre-
sponding default resource specification.
KNOWN BUGS
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 prop-
agation mechanism. This effect is theoretical and has
never been observed in real life. It can only occur in
case xautolock has not been compiled to support the Xidle
extension or in case the X server does not support Xidle.
xautolock does not 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 not
been compiled to support the Xidle extension or in case
the X server does not support Xidle.
xautolock does not check whether notifier and/or locker
are available.
The xautolock resources have dummy resource classes.
SEE ALSOX(1), xlock(1), xnlock(1), xscreensaver(1).
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1990, 1992-1995 by S. De Troch and MCE.
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this soft-
ware and the supporting documentation without fee is
hereby granted, provided that
1: Both the above copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in all copies of both the software and
the supporting documentation.
2: No financial profit is made out of it.
February 21, 1995 5
xautolock(l)xautolock(l)
THE AUTHORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS
SOFTWARE,
INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THEY BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL,
INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSO-
EVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER
IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
AUTHORS
Stefan De Troch detroch@imec.be
Michel Eyckmans (MCE) eyckmans@imec.be
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Kris Croes croes@imec.be
February 21, 1995 6
