1DIRECTFBRC(5) DirectFB Manual Pages DIRECTFBRC(5)
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7 directfbrc - DirectFB configuration file
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12 The directfbrc file is a configuration file read by all DirectFB appli‐
13 cations on startup. There are two of these: a system-wide one stored
14 in /etc/directfbrc and a per-user $HOME/.directfbrc which may override
15 system settings.
16 Further customization is available per executable (basename of
18 argv[0]): /etc/directfbrc.$0 and a per-user $HOME/.directfbrc.$0
19 After config files, the environment variable DFBARGS is parsed.
21 The same parameters that can be used in the directfbrc file can be
23 passed via this variable or on the command-line by prefixing them with
24 --dfb: separated each with a comma.
25
28 The directfbrc file contains one parameter per line. Comments are
29 introduced by a hash sign (#), and continue until the end of the line.
30 Blank lines are ignored.
31 Most parameters are switches that turn certain features on or off.
33 These switches have a no- variant that disables the feature. This man-
34 page describes the positive variant and will also note which setting is
35 the compiled-in default.
36
40 The following parameters may be specified in the directfbrc file:
41 system=<system>
44 Specifies the graphics system to use. The default is to use the
45 Linux frame buffer (fbdev) but you can also run DirectFB appli‐
46 cations on SDL (sdl). Other systems might be added in the
47 future.
48 fbdev=<device>
51 Opens the given frame buffer device instead of /dev/fb0.
52 busid=<id>
55 Specify the bus location of the card. The option is only used if
56 DirectFB doesn't have sysfs support and if unspecified 1:0:0
57 will be assumed. Use this option if the driver fails to detect
58 (or incorrectly detects) your card.
59 mode=<width>x<height>
62 Sets the default screen resolution. If unspecified DirectFB will
63 use the first mode from /etc/fb.modes Some frame buffer devices
64 (namely vesafb) don't support mode switches and can only be used
65 in the resolution that is set on boot time.
66 scaled=<width>x<height>
69 Scale the window to this size for 'force-windowed' apps.
70 depth=<pixeldepth>
73 Sets the default pixel depth in bits per pixel. If unspecified
74 DirectFB will use the depth specified in the first mode from
75 /etc/fb.modes DirectFB supports color depths of 8, 15, 16, 24
76 and 32. Which values are available depends on the frame buffer
77 device you are using. Some frame buffer devices (namely vesafb)
78 don't support mode switches at all and can only be used in the
79 pixel depth that is set at boot time.
80 pixelformat=<pixelformat>
83 Sets the default pixel format. This is similar to the depth
84 parameter described above but allows more fine-grained control.
85 Possible values for pixelformat are LUT8, RGB332, RGB16, RGB24
86 and RGB32. Some drivers may also support the more exotic pixel
87 formats A8, ALUT44, ARGB, ARGB1555, I420, UYVY, YUY2 and YV12.
88 session=<num>
91 Selects the multi application world which is joined or created.
92 Starting with zero, negative values force creation of a new
93 world using the lowest unused session number. This will override
94 the environment variable "DIRECTFB_SESSION".
95 force-slave
98 Always enter as a slave, waiting for the master, if not there.
99 remote=<host>[:<session>]
102 Select the remote session to connect to.
103 tmpfs=<directory>
106 Uses the given directory (tmpfs mount point) for creation of the
107 shared memory file in multi application mode. This option is
108 only useful if the automatic detection fails or if non-tmpfs
109 storage is desired.
110 shmfile-group=<groupname>
113 Group that owns shared memory files.
114 memcpy=<method>
117 With this option the probing of memcpy() routines can be
118 skipped, saving a lot of startup time. Pass "help" for a list of
119 possible values.
120 primary-layer=<id>
123 Selects which layer is the "primary layer", default is the
124 first. Check 'dfbinfo' for a list of layers supported by your
125 hardware.
126 primary-only
129 Tell application only about the primary layer.
130 quiet Suppresses console output from DirectFB. Only error messages
133 will be displayed.
134 [no-]banner
137 Enables the output of the DirectFB banner at startup. This is on
138 by default.
139 [no-]debug
142 Enables debug output. This is on by default but you won't see
143 any debug output unless you compiled DirectFB with debugging
144 support.
145 [no-]debugmem
148 Enable memory allocation tracking.
149 [no-]debugshm
152 Enable shared memory allocation tracking.
153 [no-]trace
156 Enable stack trace support. This is on by default but you won't
157 see any trcae output unless you compiled DirectFB with trace
158 support.
159 log-file=<name>
162 Write all messages to the specified file.
163 log-udp=<host>:<port>
166 Send all messages via UDP to the specified host and port.
167 fatal-level=<level>
170 Abort on NONE, ASSERT (default) or ASSUME (incl. assert)
171 force-windowed
174 Forces the primary surface to be a window. This allows to run
175 applications that were written to do full-screen access in a
176 window.
177 force-desktop
180 Forces the primary surface to be the background surface of the
181 desktop.
182 [no-]hardware
185 Turns hardware acceleration on. By default hardware acceleration
186 is auto-detected. If you disable hardware acceleration, the
187 driver for your graphics card will still be loaded and used to
188 access additional display layers (if there are any), but all
189 graphics operations will be performed by the software renderer.
190 [no-]software
193 This option allows to disable software fallbacks.
194 [no-]dma
197 Turns DMA acceleration on, if supported by the driver. By
198 default DMA acceleration is off.
199 [no-]sync
202 Flushes all disk buffers before initializing DirectFB. This can
203 be useful if you working with experimental device drivers and
204 expect crashes. The default is not to sync.
205 [no-]mmx
208 The no-mmx options allows to disable the use of MMX routines
209 even if support for MMX was detected. By default MMX is used if
210 is available and support for MMX was compiled in.
211 [no-]agp[=mode]
214 Turns AGP memory support on. The option enables DirectFB using
215 the AGP memory to extend the amount of video memory available.
216 You can specify the AGP mode to use (e.g. 1, 2, 4, 8 or 0 to
217 disable agp). By default AGP memory support is off.
218 [no-]thrifty-surface-buffers
221 Free sysmem instance on xfer to video memory.
222 font-format=<format>
225 Specify the font format to use. Possible values are A1, A8,
226 ARGB, ARGB1555, ARGB2554, ARGB4444, AiRGB. The default font for‐
227 mat is A8 because it is the only format that ensures high qual‐
228 ity, fast rendering and low memory consumption at the same time.
229 Use this option only if your fonts looks strange or if font ren‐
230 dering is too slow.
231 [no-]sighandler
234 By default DirectFB installs a signal handler for a number of
235 signals that cause an application to exit. This signal handler
236 tries to deinitialize the DirectFB engine before quitting the
237 application. Use this option to enable/disable this feature.
238 dont-catch=<num>[[,<num>]...]
241 As described with the sighandler option, DirectFB installs a
242 signal handler for a number of signals. By using this option
243 you may specify a list of signals that shouldn't be handled this
244 way.
245 [no-]deinit-check
248 By default DirectFB checks if the application has released all
249 allocated resources on exit. If it didn't, it will clean up
250 after the application. This option allows to switch this fea‐
251 ture on or off.
252 block-all-signals
255 This option activates blocking of all signals, useful for
256 DirectFB daemons (a DirectFB master application that does noth‐
257 ing except being the master).
258 [no-]vt-switch
261 By default DirectFB allocates a new virtual terminal and
262 switches to it.
263 vt-num=<num>
266 Use given VT instead of current/new one.
267 [no-]vt-switching
270 Allow to switch virtual terminals using <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<F?>. This
271 is an experimental feature that is usually disabled; use at your
272 own risk.
273 [no-]graphics-vt
276 Puts the virtual terminal into graphics mode. This has the
277 advantage that kernel messages won't show up on your screen
278 while the DirectFB application is running.
279 [no-]vt
282 Use VT handling code at all?
283 mouse-source=<device>
286 Specify the serial mouse device.
287 [no-]mouse-gpm-source
290 Enables using GPM as mouse input repeater.
291 [no-]motion-compression
294 Usually DirectFB compresses mouse motion events. This means that
295 subsequent mouse motions are delivered to the application as a
296 single mouse motion event. This leads to a more responsive but
297 less exact mouse handling.
298 mouse-protocol=<protocol>
301 Specifies the mouse protocol to use. The following protocols are
302 supported:
303 MS Two button mouse using the Microsoft mouse protocol.
305 MS3 Three button mouse using an extended Microsoft mouse proto‐
307 col.
308 MouseMan Three button mouse using a different extension to the
310 Microsoft mouse protocol introduced by Logitech.
311 MouseSystems The most commonly used protocol for three button
313 mice.
314 PS/2 Two/three button mice of the PS/2 series.
316 IMPS/2 Two/three button USB mice with scrolling wheel using the
318 Microsoft Intellimouse protocol.
319 The different protocols for serial mice are described in more
321 detail in mouse(4).
322 [no-]lefty
325 Swaps left and right mouse buttons. Useful for left-handers.
326 [no-]capslock-meta
329 Map the CapsLock key to Meta. Useful for users of the builtin WM
330 without a Meta key on the keyboard (e.g. Window key).
331 linux-input-ir-only
334 Ignore all non-IR Linux Input devices.
335 [no-]cursor
338 By default DirectFB shows a mouse cursor when an application
339 makes use of windows. This option allows to switch the cursor
340 off permanently. Applications cannot enable it explicitly.
341 wm=<wm>
344 Specify the window manager to use.
345 bg-none
348 Completely disables background handling. Doesn't make much sense
349 since the mouse and moving windows will leave ugly traces on the
350 background.
351 bg-color=AARRGGBB
354 Controls the color of the background. The color is specified in
355 hexadecimal notation. The alpha value defaults to full opacity
356 and may be omitted. For example to choose a bright magenta back‐
357 ground, you'd use bg-color=FF00FF.
358 bg-image=<filename>
361 Fills the background with the given image from file. The image
362 is stretched to fit to the screen dimensions.
363 bg-tile=<filename>
366 Like bg-image but tiles the image to fit to the screen dimen‐
367 sions instead of stretching it.
368 [no-]translucent-windows
371 By default DirectFB windows may be translucent. If you disable
372 this feature, windows are forced to be either fully opaque or
373 fully transparent. This is useful if your graphics card doesn't
374 support alpha-transparent blits.
375 [no-]decorations
378 Enables window decorations if supported by the window manager.
379 videoram-limit=<amount>
382 Limits the amount of Video RAM used by DirectFB. The amount of
383 Video RAM is specified in Kilobytes.
384 agpmem-limit=<amount>
387 Limits the amount if AGP memory used by DirectFB. The amount of
388 AGP memory is specified in Kilobytes.
389 screenshot-dir=<directory>
392 If specified DirectFB will dump the screen contents in PPM for‐
393 mat into this directory when the <Print> key gets pressed.
394 disable-module=<modulename>
397 Suppress loading of this module. The module name is the filename
398 without the libdirectfb_ prefix and without extension (for exam‐
399 ple keyboard to disable loading of the keyboard input module).
400 [no-]matrox-sgram
403 Some older Matrox G400 cards have SGRAM and a number of graphics
404 operations are considerably faster on these cards if this fea‐
405 ture is enabled. Don't try to enable it if your card doesn't
406 have SGRAM! Otherwise you'd have to reboot.
407 [no-]matrox-crtc2
410 If you have a dual head G400/G450/G550 you can use this option
411 to enable additional layers using the second head.
412 matrox-tv-standard=[pal|ntsc]
415 Controls the signal produced by the TV output of Matrox cards.
416 matrox-cable-type=(composite|scart-rgb|scart-composite)
419 Matrox cable type (default=composite).
420 h3600-device=<device>
423 Use this device for the H3600 TS driver.
424 mut-device=<device>
427 Use this device for the MuTouch driver.
428 penmount-device=<device>
431 Use this device for the PenMount driver.
432 unichrome-revision=<revision>
435 Override the hardware revision number used by the Unichrome
436 driver.
437 i8xx_overlay_pipe_b
440 Redirect videolayer to pixelpipe B.
441 window-surface-policy=<policy>
444 Allows to control where window surfaces are stored. Supported
445 values for <policy> are:
446 auto DirectFB decides depending on hardware capabilities. This
448 is the default.
449 videohigh Swapping system/video with high priority.
451 videolow Swapping system/video with low priority.
453 systemonly Window surfaces are stored in system memory.
455 videoonly Window surfaces are stored in video memory.
457 desktop-buffer-mode=<mode>
460 Allows to control the desktop buffer mode. Whenever a window is
461 moved, opened, closed, resized or its contents change DirectFB
462 recomposites the window stack at the affected region. This is
463 done by blitting the windows together that are visible within
464 that region. Opaque windows are blitted directly while translu‐
465 cent windows are blitted using alpha blending or color keying.
466 If there's a back buffer the recomposition is not visible since
467 only the final result is copied into the front buffer. Without a
468 back buffer each step of the recomposition is visible. This
469 causes noticeable flicker unless all windows are opaque.
470 Supported values for <mode> are:
472 auto DirectFB decides depending on hardware capabilities. This
474 is the default. DirectFB chooses a back buffer in video memory
475 if the hardware supports simple blitting (copying from back to
476 front buffer). If there's no acceleration at all the back buffer
477 is allocated in system memory since that gives much better per‐
478 formance for alpha blended recomposition in software and avoids
479 reading from the video memory when the result is copied to the
480 front buffer.
481 backsystem The back buffer is allocated in system memory. This
483 is the recommend choice if your hardware supports simple blit‐
484 ting but no alpha blending and you are going to have many alpha
485 blended windows.
486 backvideo Front and back buffer are allocated in video memory.
488 It's not required to set this mode explicitly because the 'auto'
489 mode chooses it if blits are accelerated. Without accelerated
490 blits this mode is not recommended.
491 frontonly There is no back buffer. This is the best choice if
493 you are using opaque windows only and don't use any color key‐
494 ing.
495 vsync-after
498 Wait for the vertical retrace after flipping. The default is to
499 wait before doing the flip.
500 vsync-none
503 Disables polling for vertical retrace.
504
508 Here are some examples that demonstrates how the parameters described
509 above are passed to DirectFB application on the command-line.
510 df_neo --dfb:no-hardware
513 Starts df_neo without hardware acceleration.
514 df_neo --dfb:help
516 Lists the DirectFB options that can be passed to df_neo.
517
521 The canonical place to find informations about DirectFB is at
522 http://www.directfb.org/. Here you can find the FAQ, tutorials, mail‐
523 ing list archives, the CVS tree and can download the latest version of
524 the DirectFB library as well as a number of applications.
525
529 /etc/directfbrc
530 system-wide DirectFB configuration file
531 $HOME/.directfbrc
533 per-user DirectFB configuration file
534 /etc/fb.modes
536 frame buffer modes file
537
541 fb.modes(5), fbset(8), mouse(4), ppm(5)
542Version 1.0.0 03 Mar 2007 DIRECTFBRC(5)