1XScreenSaver(6) Games Manual XScreenSaver(6)
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6 xscreensaver-systemd - lock the screen upon suspend, and inhibit
7 screen-blanking during video playback.
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10 xscreensaver-systemd [-verbose]
11
13 The xscreensaver-systemd program is a helper daemon launched by
14 xscreensaver(1) for systemd(1) or elogind(8) integration. It does two
15 things:
16 * When the system is about to go to sleep (e.g., the laptop lid has
18 just been closed) it locks the screen just before the system sleeps,
19 by running xscreensaver-command --suspend. When the system wakes up
20 again, it runs xscreensaver-command --deactivate to make the unlock
21 dialog appear immediately. It does this through the org.freedesk‐
22 top.login1(5) D-Bus interface.
23 * When another process asks for the screen saver to be inhibited (e.g.
25 because a video is playing) this program periodically runs xscreen‐
26 saver-command --deactivate to keep the display un-blanked. It does
27 this until that other program asks for it to stop, or exits. It does
28 this through the org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver(5), org.gnome.Session‐
29 Manager(5) and org.kde.Solid.PowerManagement.PolicyAgent(5) D-Bus in‐
30 terfaces.
31
33 Blanking-related problems take two forms: failing to connect to D-Bus;
34 and other programs requesting stupid things.
35 D-BUS
37 Only one program at a time can register with systemd(1) or elogind(8)
38 for screen-saver-related events, so if another screen saver is running
39 as a part of the desktop environment, xscreensaver-systemd will be un‐
40 able to launch. This program has workarounds for Gnome and KDE, but if
41 you are using something else, that might be a problem.
42 CHROME & CHROMIUM (101.0)
44 * Playing only audio in Chrome will prevent your screen from blanking.
45 Chrome sends the exact same "inhibit" reason for audio as for video,
46 so we can't tell them apart.
47 * Chrome prevents your screen from blanking when playing short, looping
49 videos. This means that your screen won't blank when Chrome is show‐
50 ing a Twitter page (because those animated GIFs aren't really GIFs,
51 they are MP4s). This affects Tweetdeck as well.
52 The proper way to fix this would be for Chrome to stop inhibiting
54 once a video loops. That way your multi-hour movie inhibits prop‐
55 erly, but your looping GIF only inhibits for the first few seconds.
56 Firefox does not have either of these problems.
58 MPLAYER (2:1.4)
60 Makes no attempt to inhibit the screen saver. Use VLC or MPV instead.
61 VARIOUS
63 Most programs fail to inhibit screen blanking if they crash or are
64 killed while playing. We try to detect when this has happened and
65 auto-uninhibit, but that might not work with all versions of systemd,
66 resulting in blanking remaining permanently inhibited. If that hap‐
67 pens, killing and restarting xscreensaver-systemd is a workaround.
68
70 X(1), xscreensaver(1), xscreensaver-settings(1), xscreensaver-com‐
71 mand(1), systemd(1), sd-bus(3), elogind(8)
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74 Copyright © 2019-2022 by Martin Lucina and Jamie Zawinski. Permission
75 to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose
76 with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copy‐
77 right notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
78 The software is provided "as is" and the author disclaims all war‐
80 ranties with regard to this software including all implied warranties
81 of merchantability and fitness. in no event shall the author be liable
82 for any special, direct, indirect, or consequential damages or any dam‐
83 ages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in
84 an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out
85 of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.
86
88 Martin Lucina <martin@lucina.net>, 4-Jun-2019
89X Version 11 6.04-1.fc36 (06-Jun-2022) XScreenSaver(6)