root-tail - print text directly to X11 root window
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]]]
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 command line are files to be
logged. A null desc (example: "/var/log/messages,red,") will
prevent the printing of a description and the []'s.
- --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.
root-tail -g 800x250+100+50 -font 10x20 /var/log/messages,green
-font 12x24 /var/log/secure,red,'ALERT'
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.
http://root-tail.plan9.de/