1ROOTTAIL(1)                 General Commands Manual                ROOTTAIL(1)
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NAME

6       root-tail - print text directly to X11 root window
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SYNOPSIS

9       root-tail   [-g|--geometry  GEOMETRY]  [-fn|--font  FONTSPEC]  [--color
10       color]  [--reload  SEC  COMMAND]  [--shade]  [--outline]   [--minspace]
11       [--noflicker]  [-f|--fork] [--reverse] [--whole] [--partial] [--update]
12       [--cont  STRING]  [--wordwrap]  [--justify]   [--noinitial]   [--frame]
13       [--windowed} [-id ID] [-i|--interval SECONDS] [-V] file1[,color[,desc]]
14       [file2[,color[,desc]]]
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DESCRIPTION

17       Displays a given file anywhere on your X11 root window, i.e. it is kind
18       of  tail  -f for multiple files using your desktop background as output
19       window.
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21       All non-option arguments on the command line are files to be logged.  A
22       null desc (example: "/var/log/messages,red,") will prevent the printing
23       of a description and the []'s.
24
25   General Options
26       --color COLOR
27              Use COLOR as default.
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29       --font | -fn FONTSPEC
30              Use font FONTSPEC. This can be either a fixed  width  font  like
31              -fn  fixed  or any font using -fn '-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*'
32              with the appropriate fields filled out (see xfontsel).  Specify‐
33              ing  a  different  FONTSPEC before each filename will cause each
34              file to be displayed in a different font.
35
36       -f | --fork
37              Forks to the background.
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39       --reverse
40              Display the files in reverse order, with the newest lines at the
41              top.
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43       --whole
44              Only display whole lines. If the last line of a file doesn't yet
45              end with a newline character then wait until it does before dis‐
46              playing  it.  This is the default if more than one file is being
47              displayed.
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49       --partial
50              This is the opposite of the --whole option (see above). It  dis‐
51              plays  lines  even  if they don't yet have a newline at the end.
52              This is the default if only one file is being displayed.
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54       --update
55              Update partial lines 'in place' if they are still on the  screen
56              when  they  are updated in their files. Using --update automati‐
57              cally turns on --partial.
58
59       --cont STRING
60              When partial lines are broken into two  lines  in  the  display,
61              prefix  the 2nd line with STRING. Defaults to "|| ". Specify the
62              "--whole" argument to ensure partial lines are never  displayed,
63              or  specify  "--update"  to attempt to "repair" broken lines in-
64              place.
65
66       --cont-color COLOR
67              Use COLOR when displaying the continuation string (as optionally
68              specified with the --cont option above).
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70       --wordwrap
71              The  default  behaviour  is to fit as much as possible onto each
72              line of output, even if this means splitting a word between  one
73              line  and the next. The --wordwrap argument splits lines at spa‐
74              ces if possible.
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76       --justify
77              After wrapping long lines, attempt to justify the text  to  pro‐
78              duce a smooth right-hand margin.  Implies --wordwrap.
79
80       --reload SEC COMMAND
81              Re-display  the  file(s)  and run COMMAND every SEC seconds. The
82              default is to never re-display the file(s).
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84       --shade
85              Add black shading to the font.
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87       --outline
88              Add a black outline to the font  (making  redraws  quite  a  bit
89              slower).
90
91       --minspace
92              Use minimum linespace even when using shading or outlining. This
93              might result in leftover pixels (dependign on font  and  logfile
94              content).
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96       --noflicker
97              Use slower but flicker-free update.
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99       --noinitial
100              Don't display the end of the file(s) initially.
101
102       --windowed
103              Create  a  new  window  instead  of reusing the root window. The
104              newly created window covers the whole screen, puts itself behind
105              all  other  windows  and  and  does  not accept events. Use this
106              option if you use a compositing manager  suihc  as  xcompmgr  or
107              compton,  as  the  compositing  extension  has  been  very badly
108              designed and cannot handle root windows correctly.
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110       -id ID Use the given window ID for output instead of the root window.
111
112       -i | --interval SECONDS
113              Use the specified sleeping interval between  checks  instead  of
114              the default 2.4 seconds. Fractional values are OK.
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116       -V     Print version information.
117
118       --frame
119              Draw a frame around the selected area.  This is useful when try‐
120              ing to find the perfect geometry.
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EXAMPLE

123       root-tail  --windowed  -g  800x250+100+50  -font  10x20   /var/log/mes‐
124       sages,green -font 12x24 /var/log/secure,red,'ALERT'
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BUGS

127       Some desktop environments open a virtual root window and make it diffi‐
128       cult to share it. If you cannot see anything after starting  root-tail,
129       try  the  --windowed  option,  a setting "allow programs on desktop" or
130       similar, or manually specify a window id.
131
132       Should you happen to find any bugs please fix them and send me a diff.
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134       NOTE: This program was modified by Marc  Lehmann  <schmorp@schmorp.de>,
135       who  couldn't reach the original author. Please direct bug-reports etc.
136       to root-tail@schmorp.de.
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138       http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/root-tail.html
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1434.2 Berkeley Distribution         2019-06-14                       ROOTTAIL(1)
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