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ROOTTAIL(1)		    General Commands Manual		   ROOTTAIL(1)

NAME
       root-tail - print text directly to X11 root window

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

DESCRIPTION
       Displays	a given	file anywhere on your X11 root window, i.e. it is kind
       of  tail	 -f for	multiple files using your desktop background as	output
       window.

       All non-option arguments	on the command line are	files to be logged.  A
       null desc (example: "/var/log/messages,red,") will prevent the printing
       of a description	and the	[]'s.

   General Options
       --color COLOR
	      Use COLOR	as default.

       --font |	-fn FONTSPEC
	      Use  font	 FONTSPEC.  This can be	either a fixed width font like
	      -fn fixed	or any font using  -fn	'-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*'
	      with the appropriate fields filled out (see xfontsel).  Specify-
	      ing  a  different	 FONTSPEC before each filename will cause each
	      file to be displayed in a	different font.

       -f | --fork
	      Forks to the background.

       --reverse
	      Display the files	in reverse order, with the newest lines	at the
	      top.

       --whole
	      Only display whole lines.	If the last line of a file doesn't yet
	      end with a newline character then	wait until it does before dis-
	      playing it. This is the default if more than one file  is	 being
	      displayed.

       --partial
	      This  is the opposite of the --whole option (see above). It dis-
	      plays lines even if they don't yet have a	newline	 at  the  end.
	      This is the default if only one file is being displayed.

       --update
	      Update  partial lines 'in	place' if they are still on the	screen
	      when they	are updated in their files. Using  --update  automati-
	      cally turns on --partial.

       --cont STRING
	      When  partial  lines  are	 broken	into two lines in the display,
	      prefix the 2nd line with STRING. Defaults	to "|| ". Specify  the
	      "--whole"	 argument to ensure partial lines are never displayed,
	      or specify "--update" to attempt to "repair"  broken  lines  in-
	      place.

       --cont-color COLOR
	      Use COLOR	when displaying	the continuation string	(as optionally
	      specified	with the --cont	option above).

       --wordwrap
	      The  default  behaviour  is to fit as much as possible onto each
	      line of output, even if this means splitting a word between  one
	      line  and	 the  next.  The  --wordwrap  argument splits lines at
	      spaces if	possible.

       --justify
	      After wrapping long lines, attempt to justify the	text  to  pro-
	      duce a smooth right-hand margin.	Implies	--wordwrap.

       --reload	SEC COMMAND
	      Re-display  the  file(s)	and run	COMMAND	every SEC seconds. The
	      default is to never re-display the file(s).

       --shade
	      Add black	shading	to the font.

       --outline
	      Add a black outline to the font  (making	redraws	 quite	a  bit
	      slower).

       --minspace
	      Use minimum linespace even when using shading or outlining. This
	      might  result  in	leftover pixels	(dependign on font and logfile
	      content).

       --noflicker
	      Use slower but flicker-free update.

       --noinitial
	      Don't display the	end of the file(s) initially.

       --windowed
	      Create a new window instead of  reusing  the  root  window.  The
	      newly created window covers the whole screen, puts itself	behind
	      all  other  windows and and does not accept events. Use this op-
	      tion if you use a	compositing manager suihc as xcompmgr or comp-
	      ton, as the compositing extension	has been very  badly  designed
	      and cannot handle	root windows correctly.

       -id ID Use the given window ID for output instead of the	root window.

       -i | --interval SECONDS
	      Use  the	specified  sleeping interval between checks instead of
	      the default 2.4 seconds. Fractional values are OK.

       -V     Print version information.

       --frame
	      Draw a frame around the selected area.  This is useful when try-
	      ing to find the perfect geometry.

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

BUGS
       Some desktop environments open a	virtual	root window and	make it	diffi-
       cult  to	share it. If you cannot	see anything after starting root-tail,
       try the --windowed option, a setting "allow  programs  on  desktop"  or
       similar,	or manually specify a window id.

       Should you happen to find any bugs please fix them and send me a	diff.

       NOTE:  This  program was	modified by Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>,
       who couldn't reach the original author. Please direct bug-reports  etc.
       to root-tail@schmorp.de.

       http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/root-tail.html

4.2 Berkeley Distribution	  2019-06-14			   ROOTTAIL(1)

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