1X11TRACE(1) X11TRACE X11TRACE(1)
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6 x11trace - trace communication between X11 client and server
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9 x11trace [ options ] [ -s | -k ] [ [ -W ] [ -- ] command args ... ]
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12 x11trace fakes an X server and forwards all connections to a real X
13 server, displaying the communication between clients in (well, theoret‐
14 ically) human readable form. If a command is given, x11trace executes
15 the named command with $DISPLAY set to the faked X server. If that com‐
16 mand exits before any connections are made, x11trace exits immediately
17 unless -W is specified.
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20 -I directory
21 Look into directory for protocol description files. (i.e. the
22 directory where the .proto files can be found).
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24 -s | --stopwhendone (default)
25 Terminate when all forwarded clients have disconnected. (Or
26 when a program was run once the program has finished and all
27 connections are closed).
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29 -k | --keeprunning
30 If all clients disconnected, wait for new ones to connect.
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32 -W | --waitforclient
33 Do not stop when the started program terminates before any con‐
34 nection was made. (Might be necessary if the program forks to
35 background).
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37 -d name | --display name
38 Forward connections to the X server specified by name instead of
39 the one specified by the environment variable DISPLAY.
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41 -D name | --fakedisplay name
42 Fake display name instead of $FAKEDISPLAY or :9 respectively.
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44 -f filename | --authfile filename
45 Add an -f filename to the arguments for all calls to xauth to
46 get the authentication tokens of the X server to connect to.
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48 -F filename | --newauthfile filename
49 Add an -f filename to the arguments for all calls to xauth to
50 save the authentication tokens to connect to the faked X server.
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52 -c | --copyauthentication (default)
53 Copy the authentication tokens for the X server to connect to so
54 that clients connecting to our fake server will use them.
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56 The commands run are roughly equivalent to: xauth add $FAKEDIS‐
57 PLAY . `xauth list $DISPLAY | awk '$2=="MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1"
58 {print $3}'`
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60 Not that only MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 tokens are copied as x11trace
61 does not yet support to change the authentication tokens so that
62 XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1 would be possible.
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64 -n | --nocopyauthentication
65 Do not call xauth and do fiddle with authentication tokens but
66 leave that to the user to handle.
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68 -e | --denyextensions
69 Modify all server replies to say there are no extensions avail‐
70 able. (As x11trace does supports only a small number of exten‐
71 sions anyway and calls all extended requests "unknown" and all
72 replies to such requests "unexpected").
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74 -w | --readwritedebug
75 Print how many bytes are read and/or written when.
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77 -m count | --maxklistlength count
78 Print only the first count many elements of all lists.
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80 -i | --interactive
81 Only sent requests from the client to the server after interac‐
82 tive confirmation. Confirmation is given by pressing enter or a
83 number followed by enter via stdin. This can give funny results
84 when multiple clients are tunneled.
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86 -o | --outfile filename
87 Dump output into filename instead of stdout.
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89 -b | --buffered
90 Do not write every line on its own but wait until buffers are
91 full. Speeds up things a little bit when outputting to a file.
92 Not very useful at all together with -i.
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94 --timestamps
95 Print a timestamp before each line.
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97 Note that the time a packet is printed is between the time a
98 packet is received and the time a packet is sent, but it gives
99 no other information than that.
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101 --relative-timestamps
102 Print a timestamp relative to the beginning of the connection
103 before each line.
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105 Note that the time a packet is printed is between the time a
106 packet is received and the time a packet is sent, but it gives
107 no other information than that.
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110 --monotonic-timestamps
111 Print a CLOCK_MONOTONIC (see clock_gettime(3)) timestamp each
112 time a package is printed. This is likely to be the uptime of
113 your system.
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115 Note that the time a packet is printed is between the time a
116 packet is received and the time a packet is sent, but it gives
117 no other information than that.
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119 --print-offsets
120 Print offsets of all fields (useful to debug nested lists in
121 protocol descriptions)
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123 --print-counts
124 Print counts (useful to debug lists in protocol descriptions)
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127 DISPLAY
128 Without --display the content of this variable is used to deter‐
129 mine the server to connect to. (And without -n given to xauth to
130 get the authentication tokens for this display.)
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132 FAKEDISPLAY
133 Without --fakedisplay the content of this variable is used to
134 determine how to listen for clients. (And without -n given to
135 xauth to set the authentication tokens for this display.) If
136 neither is given, x11trace will try :9
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138 XAUTHORITY
139 Without -n and without -f or -F your xauth program will most
140 likely look into this variable for the file to get/save the
141 authentication tokens from/into. If this is not set it will most
142 likely use $HOME/.Xauthority.
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146 Report bugs to <brlink@debian.org> or the Debian BTS.
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149 xauth(1), x(7x),
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152 Copyright © 2005 Bernhard R. Link
153 This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
154 NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
155 PURPOSE.
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159x11trace 26 June 2009 X11TRACE(1)