table of contents
ROOTTAIL(1) | General Commands Manual | ROOTTAIL(1) |
NAME¶
root-tail - print text directly to X11 root window
SYNOPSIS¶
root-tail [-g|--geometry GEOMETRY] [-fn|--font FONTSPEC] [--color color] [--reload SEC COMMAND] [--shade] [--outline] [--minspace] [--noflicker] [-f|--fork] [--reverse] [--whole] [--partial] [--update] [--cont STRING] [--wordwrap] [--justify] [--noinitial] [--frame] [-id ID] [-i|--interval SECONDS] [-V] file1[,color[,desc]] [file2[,color[,desc]]]
DESCRIPTION¶
Displays a given file anywhere on your X11 root window, i.e. it is kind of tail -f for multiple files using your desktop background as output window.
All non-option arguments on the comamnd line are files to be logged. A null desc (example: "/var/log/messages,red,") will prevent the printing of a description and the []'s.
General Options¶
- --color COLOR
- Use COLOR as default.
- --font | -fn FONTSPEC
- Use font FONTSPEC. This can be either a fixed width font like -fn fixed or any font using -fn '-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*' with the appropriate fields filled out (see xfontsel). Specifying a different FONTSPEC before each filename will cause each file to be displayed in a different font.
- -f | --fork
- Forks to the background.
- --reverse
- Display the files in reverse order, with the newest lines at the top.
- --whole
- Only display whole lines. If the last line of a file doesn't yet end with a newline character then wait until it does before displaying it. This is the default if more than one file is being displayed.
- --partial
- This is the opposite of the --whole option (see above). It displays lines even if they don't yet have a newline at the end. This is the default if only one file is being displayed.
- --update
- Update partial lines 'in place' if they are still on the screen when they are updated in their files. Using --update automatically turns on --partial.
- --cont STRING
- When partial lines are broken into two lines in the display, prefix the 2nd line with STRING. Defaults to "|| ". Specify the "--whole" argument to ensure partial lines are never displayed, or specify "--update" to attempt to "repair" broken lines in-place.
- --cont-color COLOR
- Use COLOR when displaying the continuation string (as optionally specified with the --cont option above).
- --wordwrap
- The default behaviour is to fit as much as possible onto each line of output, even if this means splitting a word between one line and the next. The --wordwrap argument splits lines at spaces if possible.
- --justify
- After wrapping long lines, attempt to justify the text to produce a smooth right-hand margin. Implies --wordwrap.
- --reload SEC COMMAND
- Re-display the file(s) and run COMMAND every SEC seconds. The default is to never re-display the file(s).
- --shade
- Add black shading to the font.
- --outline
- Add a black outline to the font (making redraws quite a bit slower).
- --minspace
- Use minimum linespace even when using shading or outlining. This might result in leftover pixels (dependign on font and logfile content).
- --noflicker
- Use slower but flicker-free update.
- --noinitial
- Don't display the end of the file(s) initially.
- -id ID
- Use the given window ID for output instead of the root window.
- -i | --interval SECONDS
- Use the specified sleeping interval between checks instead of the default 2.4 seconds. Fractional values are OK.
- -V
- Print version information.
- --frame
- Draw a frame around the selected area. This is useful when trying to find the perfect geometry.
EXAMPLE¶
root-tail -g 800x250+100+50 -font 10x20 /var/log/messages,green -font 12x24 /var/log/secure,red,'ALERT'
BUGS¶
Some desktop environments open a virtual root window and make it difficult to share it. If you cannot see anything after starting root-tail, try to find a setting "allow programs on desktop" or similar, or manually specify a window id.
Should you happen to find any bugs please fix them and send me a diff.
NOTE: This program was modified by Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com>, who couldn't reach the original author. Please direct bug-reports etc. to pcg@goof.com.
2004-03-27 | 4.2 Berkeley Distribution |