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nvidia-settings(1) General Commands Manual nvidia-settings(1)

NAME
nvidia-settings - configure the NVIDIA graphics driver

SYNOPSIS
nvidia-settings [options]
nvidia-settings [options] --no-config
nvidia-settings [options] --load-config-only
nvidia-settings [options] {--query=attr | --assign=attr=value} ...
nvidia-settings [options] --glxinfo

Options: [-vh] [--config=configfile] [-c ctrl-display]
[--verbose={none | errors | deprecations | warnings | all}]
[--describe={all | list | attribute_name}]

attr has the form:
DISPLAY/attribute_name[display_devices]

DESCRIPTION
The nvidia-settings utility is a tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics
driver. It operates by communicating with the NVIDIA X driver, querying
and updating state as appropriate. This communication is done via the NV-
CONTROL, GLX, XVideo, and RandR X extensions.

Values such as brightness and gamma, XVideo attributes, temperature, and
OpenGL settings can be queried and configured via nvidia-settings.

When nvidia-settings starts, it reads the current settings from its config-
uration file and sends those settings to the X server. Then, it displays a
graphical user interface (GUI) for configuring the current settings. When
nvidia-settings exits, it queries the current settings from the X server
and saves them to the configuration file.

OPTIONS
-v, --version
Print the nvidia-settings version and exit.

-h, --help
Print usage information and exit.

--config=CONFIG
Use the configuration file CONFIG rather than the default
~/.nvidia-settings-rc

-c CTRL-DISPLAY, --ctrl-display=CTRL-DISPLAY
Control the specified X display. If this option is not given, then
nvidia-settings will control the display specified by '--display' ;
if that is not given, then the $DISPLAY environment variable is
used.

-l, --load-config-only
Load the configuration file, send the values specified therein to
the X server, and exit. This mode of operation is useful to place
in your xinitrc file, for example.

-n, --no-config
Do not load the configuration file. This mode of operation is use-
ful if nvidia-settings has difficulties starting due to problems
with applying settings in the configuration file.

-r, --rewrite-config-file
Write the X server configuration to the configuration file, and
exit, without starting the graphical user interface. See EXAMPLES
section.

-V VERBOSE, --verbose=VERBOSE
Controls how much information is printed. Valid values are 'none'
(do not print status messages), 'errors' (print error messages),
'deprecations' (print error and deprecation messages), 'warnings'
(print error, deprecation, and warning messages), and 'all' (print
error, deprecation, warning and other informational messages). By
default, 'deprecations' is set.

-a ASSIGN, --assign=ASSIGN
The ASSIGN argument to the '--assign' command line option is of the
form:

{DISPLAY}/{attribute name}[{display devices}]={value}

This assigns the attribute {attribute name} to the value {value} on
the X Display {DISPLAY}. {DISPLAY} follows the usual {host}:{dis-
play}.{screen} syntax of the DISPLAY environment variable and is op-
tional; when it is not specified, then it is implied following the
same rule as the --ctrl-display option. If the X screen is not
specified, then the assignment is made to all X screens. Note that
the '/' is only required when {DISPLAY} is present.

{DISPLAY} can additionally include a target specification to direct
an assignment to something other than an X screen. A target speci-
fication is contained within brackets and consists of a target type
name, a colon, and the target id. The target type name can be one
of screen , gpu , framelock , fan , thermalsensor , svp , or dpy ;
the target id is the index into the list of targets (for that target
type). The target specification can be used in {DISPLAY} wherever
an X screen can be used, following the syntax {host}:{display}[{tar-
get_type}:{target_id}]. See the output of

nvidia-settings -q all

for information on which target types can be used with which attrib-
utes. See the output of

nvidia-settings -q screens -q gpus -q framelocks -q fans -q ther-
malsensors -q svps -q dpys

for lists of targets for each target type.

The [{display devices}] portion is also optional; if it is not spec-
ified, then the attribute is assigned to all display devices.

Some examples:

-a FSAA=5
-a localhost:0.0/DigitalVibrance[CRT-0]=0
--assign="SyncToVBlank=1"
-a [gpu:0]/DigitalVibrance[DFP-1]=63

-q QUERY, --query=QUERY
The QUERY argument to the '--query' command line option is of the
form:

{DISPLAY}/{attribute name}[{display devices}]

This queries the current value of the attribute {attribute name} on
the X Display {DISPLAY}. The syntax is the same as that for the
'--assign' option, without '= {value}' ; specify '-q screens', '-q
gpus', '-q framelocks', '-q fans' , '-q thermalsensors', '-q svps',
or '-q dpys' to query a list of X screens, GPUs, Frame Lock devices,
Visual Computing Systems, Devices, Fans, Thermal Sensors, 3D Vision
Pro Transceivers, or Display Devices, respectively, that are present
on the X Display {DISPLAY}. Specify '-q all' to query all attrib-
utes.

-t, --terse
When querying attribute values with the '--query' command line op-
tion, only print the current value, rather than the more verbose de-
scription of the attribute, its valid values, and its current value.

-d, --display-device-string
When printing attribute values in response to the '--query' option,
if the attribute value is a display device mask, print the value as
a list of display devices (e.g., "CRT-0, DFP-0"), rather than a
hexadecimal bit mask (e.g., 0x00010001).

-g, --glxinfo
Print GLX Information for the X display and exit.

-E, --eglinfo
Print EGL Information for the X display and exit.

-k, --vulkaninfo
Print Vulkan Information for the X display and exit.

-e DESCRIBE, --describe=DESCRIBE
Prints information about a particular attribute. Specify 'all' to
list the descriptions of all attributes. Specify 'list' to list the
attribute names without a descriptions.

-p PAGE, --page=PAGE
The PAGE argument to the '--page' commandline option selects a par-
ticular page in the nvidia-settings user interface to display upon
starting nvidia-settings. Valid values are the page names in the
tree view on the left side of the nvidia-settings user interface;
e.g.,

--page="X Screen 0"

Because some page names are not unique (e.g., a "PowerMizer" page is
present under each GPU), the page name can optionally be prepended
with the name of the parent X Screen or GPU page, followed by a
comma. E.g.,

--page="GPU 0 - (Quadro 6000), PowerMizer"

The first page with a name matching the PAGE argument will be used.
By default, the "System Information" page is displayed.

-L, --list-targets-only
When performing an attribute query (from the '--query' command line
option) or an attribute assignment (from the '--assign' command line
option or when loading an ~/.nvidia-settings-rc file), nvidia-set-
tings identifies one or more targets on which to query/assign the
attribute.

The '--list-targets-only' option will cause nvidia-settings to list
the targets on which the query/assign operation would have been per-
formed, without actually performing the operation(s), and exit.

-w, --write-config, --no-write-config
Save the configuration file on exit (enabled by default).

-i, --use-gtk2
Force nvidia-settings to use the GTK+ 2 library for the graphical
user interface if a user interface is required. This option is only
available on systems where nvidia-settings supports both the GTK+ 2
and GTK+ 3 user interfaces.

-I GTK-LIBRARY, --gtk-library=GTK-LIBRARY
Specify the graphical user interface library to use if a nvidia-set-
tings user interface is required. This value may be the exact loca-
tion of the library or it may be the directory containing the appro-
priately named library. If this is the exact location, the
'use-gtk2' option is ignored.

USER GUIDE
Contents
1. Layout of the nvidia-settings GUI
2. How OpenGL Interacts with nvidia-settings
3. Loading Settings Automatically
4. Command Line Interface
5. X Display Names in the Config File
6. Connecting to Remote X Servers
7. Licensing
8. TODO

1. Layout of the nvidia-settings GUI
The nvidia-settings GUI is organized with a list of different categories on
the left side. Only one entry in the list can be selected at once, and the
selected category controls which "page" is displayed on the right side of
the nvidia-settings GUI.

The category list is organized in a tree: each X screen contains the rele-
vant subcategories beneath it. Similarly, the Display Devices category for
a screen contains all the enabled display devices beneath it. Besides each
X screen, the other top level category is "nvidia-settings Configuration",
which configures behavior of the nvidia-settings application itself.

Along the bottom of the nvidia-settings GUI, from left to right, is:

1) a status bar which indicates the most recently altered option;

2) a Help button that toggles the display of a help window which pro-
vides a detailed explanation of the available options in the current
page; and

3) a Quit button to exit nvidia-settings.

Most options throughout nvidia-settings are applied immediately. Notable
exceptions are OpenGL options which are only read by OpenGL when an OpenGL
application starts.

Details about the options on each page of nvidia-settings are available in
the help window.

2. How OpenGL Interacts with nvidia-settings
When an OpenGL application starts, it downloads the current values from the
X driver, and then reads the environment (see APPENDIX E: OPENGL ENVIRON-
MENT VARIABLE SETTINGS in the README). Settings from the X server override
OpenGL's default values, and settings from the environment override values
from the X server.

For example, by default OpenGL uses the FSAA setting requested by the ap-
plication (normally, applications do not request any FSAA). An FSAA set-
ting specified in nvidia-settings would override the OpenGL application's
request. Similarly, the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable will override
the application's FSAA setting, as well as any FSAA setting specified in
nvidia-settings.

Note that an OpenGL application only retrieves settings from the X server
when it starts, so if you make a change to an OpenGL value in nvidia-set-
tings, it will only apply to OpenGL applications which are started after
that point in time.

3. Loading Settings Automatically
The NVIDIA X driver does not preserve values set with nvidia-settings be-
tween runs of the X server (or even between logging in and logging out of
X, with xdm(1), gdm, or kdm ). This is intentional, because different
users may have different preferences, thus these settings are stored on a
per-user basis in a configuration file stored in the user's home directory.

The configuration file is named ~/.nvidia-settings-rc. You can specify a
different configuration file name with the --config command line option.

After you have run nvidia-settings once and have generated a configuration
file, you can then run:

nvidia-settings --load-config-only

at any time in the future to upload these settings to the X server again.
For example, you might place the above command in your ~/.xinitrc file so
that your settings are applied automatically when you log in to X.

Your .xinitrc file, which controls what X applications should be started
when you log into X (or startx), might look something like this:

nvidia-settings --load-config-only &
xterm &
evilwm

or:

nvidia-settings --load-config-only &
gnome-session

If you do not already have an ~/.xinitrc file, then chances are that
xinit(1) is using a system-wide xinitrc file. This system wide file is
typically here:

/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

To use it, but also have nvidia-settings upload your settings, you could
create an ~/.xinitrc with the contents:

nvidia-settings --load-config-only &
. /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

System administrators may choose to place the nvidia-settings load command
directly in the system xinitrc script.

Please see the xinit(1) man page for further details of configuring your
~/.xinitrc file.

4. Command Line Interface
nvidia-settings has a rich command line interface: all attributes that can
be manipulated with the GUI can also be queried and set from the command
line. The command line syntax for querying and assigning attributes
matches that of the .nvidia-settings-rc configuration file.

The --query option can be used to query the current value of attributes.
This will also report the valid values for the attribute. You can run
nvidia-settings --query all for a complete list of available attributes,
what the current value is, what values are valid for the attribute, and
through which target types (e.g., X screens, GPUs) the attributes can be
addressed. Additionally, individual attributes may be specified like this:

nvidia-settings --query Overlay

An attribute name may be prepended with an X Display name and a forward
slash to indicate a different X Display; e.g.:

nvidia-settings --query localhost:0.0/Overlay

An attribute name may also just be prepended with the screen number and a
forward slash:

nvidia-settings --query 0/Overlay

in which case the default X Display will be used, but you can indicate to
which X screen to direct the query (if your X server has multiple X
screens). If no X screen is specified, then the attribute value will be
queried for all valid targets of the attribute (eg GPUs, Displays X
screens, etc).

Attributes can be addressed through "target types". A target type indi-
cates the object that is queried when you query an attribute. The default
target type is an X screen, but other possible target types are GPUs, Frame
Lock devices, Visual Computing Systems, fans, thermal sensors, 3D Vision
Pro Transceivers and display devices.

Target types give you different granularities with which to perform queries
and assignments. Since X screens can span multiple GPUs (in the case of
Xinerama, or SLI), and multiple X screens can exist on the same GPU, it is
sometimes useful to address attributes by GPU rather than X screen.

A target specification is contained within brackets and may consist of a
target type name, a colon, and the target id. The target type name can be
one of screen, gpu, framelock, fan, thermalsensor, svp, or dpy; the target
id is the index into the list of targets (for that target type). Target
specifications can be used wherever an X screen is used in query and as-
signment commands; the target specification can be used either by itself on
the left side of the forward slash, or as part of an X Display name.

For example, the following queries address X screen 0 on the localhost:

nvidia-settings --query 0/VideoRam
nvidia-settings --query localhost:0.0/VideoRam
nvidia-settings --query [screen:0]/VideoRam
nvidia-settings --query localhost:0[screen:0]/VideoRam

To address GPU 0 instead, you can use either of:

nvidia-settings --query [gpu:0]/VideoRam
nvidia-settings --query localhost:0[gpu:0]/VideoRam

Note that if a target specification is present, it will override any X
screen specified in the display name as the target to process. For exam-
ple, the following query would address GPU 0, and not X screen 1:

nvidia-settings --query localhost:0.1[gpu:0]/VideoRam

A target name may be used instead of a target id, in which case all targets
with matching names are processed.

For example, querying the DigitalVibrance of display device DVI-I-1 may be
done like so:

nvidia-settings --query [dpy:DVI-I-1]/DigitalVibrance

When a target name is specified, the target type name may be omitted,
though this should be used with caution since the name will be matched
across all target types. The above example could be written as:

nvidia-settings --query [DVI-I-1]/DigitalVibrance

The target name may also simply be a target type name, in which case all
targets of that type will be queried.

For example, querying the BusRate of all GPUs may be done like so:

nvidia-settings --query [gpu]/BusRate

The target specification may also include a target qualifier. This is use-
ful to limit processing to a subset of targets, based on an existing rela-
tionship(s) to other targets. The target qualifier is specified by
prepending a target type name, a colon, the target id, and a period to the
existing specification. Only one qualitfer may be specified.

For example, querying the RefreshRate of all DFP devices on GPU 1 may be
done like so:

nvidia-settings --query [GPU:1.DPY:DFP]/RefreshRate

Likewise, a simple target name (or target type name) may be used as the
qualifier. For example, to query the BusType of all GPUs that have DFPs
can be done like so:

nvidia-settings --query [DFP.GPU]/BusType

See the output of

nvidia-settings --query all

for what targets types can be used with each attribute. See the output of

nvidia-settings --query screens --query gpus --query framelocks --query fans --query thermalsensors --query svps --query dpys

for lists of targets for each target type.

To enable support for the "GPUGraphicsClockOffset" and "GPUMemoryTransfer-
RateOffset" attributes, ensure that the "Coolbits" X configuration option
includes the value "8" in the bitmask. For more details, refer to the doc-
umentation of the "Coolbits" option in the NVIDIA driver README. Query the
"GPUPerfModes" string attribute to see a list of the available performance
modes:

nvidia-settings --query GPUPerfModes

Each performance mode is presented as a comma-separated list of "to-
ken=value" pairs. Each set of performance mode tokens is separated by a
";". The "perf" token indicates the performance level. The "*editable"
tokens indicate which domains within the performance level can have an off-
set applied. The "GPUGraphicsClockOffset" and "GPUMemoryTransferRateOff-
set" attributes map respectively to the "nvclock" and "memtransferrate" to-
kens of performance levels in the "GPUPerfModes" string.

Note that the clock manipulation attributes "GPUGraphicsClockOffset" and
"GPUMemoryTransferRateOffset" apply to the offsets of specific performance
levels. The performance level is specified in square brackets after the
attribute name. For example, to query the "GPUGraphicsClockOffset" for
performance level 2:

nvidia-settings --query GPUGraphicsClockOffset[2]

The --assign option can be used to assign a new value to an attribute. The
valid values for an attribute are reported when the attribute is queried.
The syntax for --assign is the same as --query, with the additional re-
quirement that assignments also have an equal sign and the new value. For
example:

nvidia-settings --assign FSAA=2
nvidia-settings --assign [CRT-1]/DigitalVibrance=9
nvidia-settings --assign [gpu:0]/DigitalVibrance=0
nvidia-settings --assign [gpu:0]/GPUGraphicsClockOffset[2]=10

Multiple queries and assignments may be specified on the command line for a
single invocation of nvidia-settings. Assignments are processed in the or-
der they are entered on the command line. If multiple assignments are made
to the same attribute or to multiple attributes with dependencies, then the
later assignments will have priority.

If either the --query or --assign options are passed to nvidia-settings,
the GUI will not be presented, and nvidia-settings will exit after process-
ing the assignments and/or queries. In this case, settings contained
within the ~/.nvidia-settings-rc configuration file will not be automati-
cally uploaded to the X server, nor will the ~/.nvidia-settings-rc configu-
ration file be automatically updated to reflect attribute assignments made
via the --assign option.

5. X Display Names in the Config File
In the Command Line Interface section above, it was noted that you can
specify an attribute without any X Display qualifiers, with only an X
screen qualifier, or with a full X Display name. For example:

nvidia-settings --query FSAA
nvidia-settings --query 0/FSAA
nvidia-settings --query alpha.example.org:0/FSAA

In the first two cases, the default X Display will be used, in the second
case, the screen from the default X Display can be overridden, and in the
third case, the entire default X Display can be overridden.

The same possibilities are available in the ~/.nvidia-settings-rc configu-
ration file.

For example, in a computer lab environment, you might log into any of mul-
tiple workstations, and your home directory is NFS mounted to each worksta-
tion. In such a situation, you might want your ~/.nvidia-settings-rc file
to be applicable to all the workstations. Therefore, you would not want
your config file to qualify each attribute with an X Display Name. Leave
the "Include X Display Names in the Config File" option unchecked on the
nvidia-settings Configuration page (this is the default).

There may be cases when you do want attributes in the config file to be
qualified with the X Display name. If you know what you are doing and want
config file attributes to be qualified with an X Display, check the "In-
clude X Display Names in the Config File" option on the nvidia-settings
Configuration page.

In the typical home user environment where your home directory is local to
one computer and you are only configuring one X Display, then it does not
matter whether each attribute setting is qualified with an X Display Name.

6. Connecting to Remote X Servers
nvidia-settings is an X client, but uses two separate X connections: one to
display the GUI, and another to communicate the NV-CONTROL requests. These
two X connections do not need to be to the same X server. For example, you
might run nvidia-settings on the computer alpha.example.org, export the
display to the computer beta.example.org, but be configuring the X server
on the computer gamma.example.org:

nvidia-settings --display=beta.example.org:0 \
--ctrl-display=gamma.example.org:0

If --ctrl-display is not specified, then the X Display to control is what
--display indicates. If --display is also not specified, then the $DISPLAY
environment variable is used.

Note, however, that you will need to have X permissions configured such
that you can establish an X connection from the computer on which you are
running nvidia-settings (alpha.example.org) to the computer where you are
displaying the GUI (beta.example.org) and the computer whose X Display you
are configuring (gamma.example.org).

The simplest, most common, and least secure mechanism to do this is to use
'xhost' to allow access from the computer on which you are running
nvidia-settings.

(issued from beta.example.org)
xhost +alpha.example.org

(issued from gamma.example.org)
xhost +alpha.example.org

This will allow all X clients run on alpha.example.org to connect and dis-
play on beta.example.org's X server and configure gamma.example.org's X
server.

Please see the xauth(1) and xhost(1) man pages, or refer to your system
documentation on remote X applications and security. You might also Google
for terms such as "remote X security" or "remote X Windows", and see docu-
ments such as the Remote X Apps mini-HOWTO:

<http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Remote-X-Apps.html>

Please also note that the remote X server to be controlled must be using
the NVIDIA X driver.

7. Licensing
The source code to nvidia-settings is released as GPL. The most recent of-
ficial version of the source code is available here:

<https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings/>

Note that nvidia-settings is simply an NV-CONTROL client. It uses the NV-
CONTROL X extension to communicate with the NVIDIA X server to query cur-
rent settings and make changes to settings.

You can make additions directly to nvidia-settings, or write your own NV-
CONTROL client, using nvidia-settings as an example.

Documentation on the NV-CONTROL extension and additional sample clients are
available in the nvidia-settings source tarball. Patches can be submitted
to linux-bugs@nvidia.com.

8. TODO
There are many things still to be added to nvidia-settings, some of which
include:

- different toolkits? The GUI for nvidia-settings is cleanly ab-
stracted from the back-end of nvidia-settings that parses the con-
figuration file and command line, communicates with the X server,
etc. If someone were so inclined, a different front-end GUI could
be implemented.

- write a design document explaining how nvidia-settings is designed;
presumably this would make it easier for people to become familiar
with the code base.

If there are other things you would like to see added (or better yet, would
like to add yourself), please contact linux-bugs@nvidia.com.

FILES
~/.nvidia-settings-rc

EXAMPLES
nvidia-settings
Starts the nvidia-settings graphical interface.

nvidia-settings --load-config-only
Loads the settings stored in ~/.nvidia-settings-rc and exits.

nvidia-settings --rewrite-config-file
Writes the current X server configuration to ~/.nvidia-settings-rc
file and exits.

nvidia-settings --query FSAA
Query the value of the full-screen antialiasing setting.

nvidia-settings --assign RedGamma=2.0 --assign BlueGamma=2.0 --assign
GreenGamma=2.0
Set the gamma of the screen to 2.0.

AUTHOR
Aaron Plattner
NVIDIA Corporation

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