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XScreenSaver(1)		    General Commands Manual	       XScreenSaver(1)

NAME
       xscreensaver-settings - configure and control the xscreensaver daemon

SYNOPSIS
       xscreensaver-settings [--display	host:display.screen] [--debug]

DESCRIPTION
       The  xscreensaver-settings program is a graphical front-end for setting
       the parameters used by the xscreensaver(1) daemon.  It is  a  tool  for
       editing	the  ~/.xscreensaver file, and for demoing the various display
       modes.

       The main	window consists	of a menu bar and two tabbed pages.  The first
       page is for editing the list of demos, and the second  is  for  editing
       various other parameters	of the screensaver.

MENU COMMANDS
       All of these commands are on either the File or Help menus:

       Blank Screen Now
	   Activates the background xscreensaver daemon, which will then run a
	   demo	 at  random.   This  is	 the same as running xscreensaver-com-
	   mand(1) with	the --activate option.

       Lock Screen Now
	   Just	like Blank Screen Now, except the screen  will	be  locked  as
	   well	 (even if it is	not configured to lock all the time.)  This is
	   the same as running xscreensaver-command(1) with the	--lock option.

       Kill Daemon
	   If the xscreensaver daemon is running  on  this  screen,  kill  it.
	   This	is the same as running xscreensaver-command(1) with the	--exit
	   option.

       Restart Daemon
	   If  the  xscreensaver  daemon  is  running on this screen, kill it.
	   Then	launch it again.  This is the same as doing "xscreensaver-com-
	   mand	--exit"	followed by "xscreensaver".

	   Note	that  it  is  not  the	same  as  doing	 "xscreensaver-command
	   --restart".

       Exit
	   Exits  the xscreensaver-settings program (this program) without af-
	   fecting the background xscreensaver daemon, if any.

       About...
	   Displays the	version	number of this program,	xscreensaver-settings.

       Documentation...
	   Opens up a web browser looking at the XScreenSaver web page,	 where
	   you	can  find  online  copies  of  the  xscreensaver(1),  xscreen-
	   saver-settings(1), and xscreensaver-command(1) manuals.

DISPLAY	MODES TAB
       This page contains a list of the	names of the various display modes,  a
       preview	area,  and some	fields that let	you configure screen saver be-
       havior.

   Mode
       This option menu	controls the activation	behavior of the	screen	saver.
       The options are:

	   Disable Screen Saver
	       Don't  ever  blank the screen, and don't	ever allow the monitor
	       to power	down.

	   Blank Screen	Only
	       When blanking the screen, just go black:	don't run  any	graph-
	       ics.

	   Only	One Screen Saver
	       When  blanking the screen, only ever use	one particular display
	       mode (the one selected in the list.)

	   Random Screen Saver
	       When blanking the screen, select	a  random  display  mode  from
	       among those that	are enabled and	applicable.  If	there are mul-
	       tiple  monitors connected, run a	different display mode on each
	       one.  This is the default.

	   Random Same Saver
	       This is just like Random	Screen Saver,  except  that  the  same
	       randomly-chosen	display	 mode will be run on all monitors, in-
	       stead of	different ones on each.

   Demo	List
       Double-clicking in the list on the left will let	you try	out the	 indi-
       cated  demo.   The  screen  will	 go black, and the program will	run in
       full-screen mode, just as it  would  if	the  xscreensaver  daemon  had
       launched	 it.  Clicking the mouse again will stop the demo and un-blank
       the screen.

       Single-clicking in the list will	run it in the small  preview  pane  on
       the right.  (But	beware:	many of	the display modes behave somewhat dif-
       ferently	 when  running	in  full-screen	 mode, so the scaled-down view
       might not give an accurate impression.)

       When Mode is set	to Random Screen Saver,	each name in the  list	has  a
       checkbox	 next  to  it:	this controls whether this display mode	is en-
       abled.  If it is	unchecked, then	that mode will not be chosen.  (Though
       you can still run it explicitly by double-clicking on its name.)

       If the list has focus, you can type any character to search within it.

   Arrow Buttons
       Beneath the list	are a pair of up and down arrows. Clicking on the down
       arrow will select the next item in the list, and	then run it  in	 full-
       screen  mode,  just  as	if you had double-clicked on it.  The up arrow
       goes the	other way.  This is just a shortcut for	trying out all of  the
       display modes in	turn.

   Blank After
       After  the  user	 has been idle this long, the xscreensaver daemon will
       blank the screen.

   Cycle After
       After the screensaver has been running for  this	 long,	the  currently
       running	graphics  demo will be killed, and a new one started.  If this
       is 0, then the graphics demo will never be changed: only	one demo  will
       run until the screensaver is deactivated	by user	activity.

       If  there  are  multiple	 screens, the savers are staggered slightly so
       that while they all change every	cycle minutes, they don't  all	change
       at the same time.

   Lock	Screen
       When this is checked, the screen	will be	locked when it activates.

   Lock	Screen After
       This controls the length	of the "grace period" between when the screen-
       saver  activates,  and when the screen becomes locked.  For example, if
       this is 5 minutes, and Blank After is 10	minutes, then  after  10  min-
       utes,  the  screen  would blank.	 If there was user activity at 12 min-
       utes, no	password would be required to un-blank the  screen.   But,  if
       there  was  user	 activity at 15	minutes	or later (that is, Lock	Screen
       After minutes after activation) then a password would be	required.  The
       default is 0, meaning that if locking is	enabled, then a	password  will
       be required as soon as the screen blanks.

   Preview
       This  button,  below  the  small	preview	window,	runs the demo in full-
       screen mode so that you can try it out.	This is	the  same  thing  that
       happens	when you double-click an element in the	list.  Click the mouse
       to dismiss the full-screen preview.

   Settings
       This button will	pop up a dialog	where you can configure	settings  spe-
       cific to	the display mode selected in the list.

SETTINGS DIALOG
       When  you click on the Settings button on the Display Modes tab,	a con-
       figuration dialog will pop up that lets you customize settings  of  the
       selected	 display  mode.	  Each	display	mode has its own custom	set of
       configuration controls.

ADVANCED TAB
       This tab	lets you change	various	settings used by the xscreensaver dae-
       mon itself, as well as some global options shared by all	of the display
       modes.

   Image Manipulation
       Some of the graphics hacks manipulate images.  These  settings  control
       where those source images come from.  The savers	load images by running
       the  xscreensaver-getimage(6)  and  xscreensaver-getimage-file(6)  pro-
       grams.

	   Grab	Desktop	Images
	       If this option is selected, then	savers are allowed to  manipu-
	       late  the  desktop  image, that is, a display mode might	draw a
	       picture of your desktop melting,	or  being  distorted  in  some
	       way.   The security-paranoid might want to disable this option,
	       because if it is	set, it	means that the windows on your desktop
	       will occasionally be visible while your screen is locked.  Oth-
	       ers will	not be able to do anything, but	they may  be  able  to
	       see whatever you	left on	your screen.

	   Grab	Video Frames
	       If  your	 system	 has  a	camera or other	video input, selecting
	       this option may allow the image-manipulating modes  to  grab  a
	       still-frame of video to operate on.

	   Choose Random Image
	       If  this	 option	is set,	then the image-manipulating modes will
	       select a	random image file to operate on,  from	the  specified
	       source.	 That  source  may be a	local directory, which will be
	       recursively searched for	images.	 Or, it	may be the URL	of  an
	       RSS or Atom feed	(e.g., a Flickr	gallery), in which case	a ran-
	       dom  image  from	 that feed will	be selected instead.  The con-
	       tents of	the feed will be cached	locally	and refreshed periodi-
	       cally as	needed.

	   If more than	one of the above image-related options	are  selected,
	   then	 one  will be chosen at	random.	 If none of them are selected,
	   then	an image of video colorbars will be used instead.

   Text	Manipulation
       Some of the display modes display and manipulate	text.	The  following
       options	control	 how  that text	is generated.  The savers load text by
       running the xscreensaver-text(6)	program.

	   Host	Name and Time
	       If this checkbox	is selected, then the text used	by the	screen
	       savers will be the local	host name, OS version, date, time, and
	       system load.

	   Text
	       If  this	 checkbox  is selected,	then the literal text typed in
	       the field to its	right will be used.  If	it contains  %	escape
	       sequences, they will be expanded	as per strftime(2).

	   Text	File
	       If  this	 checkbox is selected, then the	contents of the	corre-
	       sponding	file will be displayed.

	   Program
	       If this checkbox	is selected, then the given  program  will  be
	       run, repeatedly,	and its	output will be displayed.

	   URL If  this	 checkbox is selected, then the	given web page will be
	       downloaded and displayed	repeatedly.  If	the document  contains
	       HTML, RSS, or Atom, it will be converted	to plain-text first.

	       Note:  this  re-downloads  the  document	 every time the	screen
	       saver runs out of text, so it will probably be hitting that web
	       server multiple times a minute.

   Power Management Settings
       These settings control whether, and when, your monitor powers down.

	   Power Management Enabled
	       Whether the monitor should be powered down after	 a  period  of
	       inactivity.

	       If  this	 option	is grayed out, it means	your X server does not
	       support the XDPMS extension, and	so control over	the  monitor's
	       power state is not available.

	   Standby After
	       If  Power  Management  Enabled is selected, the monitor will go
	       black after this	much idle time.	  (Graphics  demos  will  stop
	       running,	also.)

	   Suspend After
	       If  Power  Management  Enabled is selected, the monitor will go
	       into power-saving mode after this much idle time.   This	 dura-
	       tion should be greater than or equal to Standby.

	   Off After
	       If Power	Management Enabled is selected,	the monitor will fully
	       power  down after this much idle	time.  This duration should be
	       greater than or equal to	Suspend.

	   Quick Power-off in Blank Only Mode
	       If the display mode is set to Blank Screen  Only	 and  this  is
	       checked,	 then the monitor will be powered off immediately upon
	       blanking, regardless of the  other  power-management  settings.
	       In this way, the	power management idle-timers can be completely
	       disabled, but the screen	will be	powered	off when black.

   Blanking
       These  options  control	how  the  screen fades to or from black	when a
       screen saver begins or ends.

	   Fade	To Black When Blanking
	       If selected, then when the screensaver activates,  the  current
	       contents	 of  the  screen  will fade to black instead of	simply
	       winking out.

	   Unfade From Black When Unblanking
	       The opposite: if	selected, then when  the  screensaver  deacti-
	       vates,  the  original  contents of the screen will fade in from
	       black instead of	appearing immediately.	This is	only  done  if
	       Fade To Black is	also selected.

	   Fade	Duration
	       When  fading  or	 unfading are selected,	this controls how long
	       the fade	will take.

   Theme
       This option menu	lists the color	schemes	available for use on  the  un-
       lock dialog.

       There  are  more	 settings than these available,	but these are the most
       commonly	used ones; see the manual for xscreensaver(1) for other	 para-
       meters  that  can  be set by editing the	~/.xscreensaver	file, or the X
       resource	database.

COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
       xscreensaver-settings accepts the following command line	options.

       --display host:display.screen
	       The X display to	use.  The xscreensaver-settings	 program  will
	       open  its window	on that	display, and also control the xscreen-
	       saver daemon that is managing that same display.

       --debug Causes lots of diagnostics to be	printed	on stderr.

       The xscreensaver	and xscreensaver-settings processes must  run  on  the
       same  machine,  or  at least, on	two machines that share	a file system.
       When xscreensaver-settings writes a new version of the  ~/.xscreensaver
       file, xscreensaver needs	to see that same file, or it won't work.

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.

       PATH    to  find	 the sub-programs to run.  However, note that the sub-
	       programs	actually launched by xscreensaver-settings for display
	       in the inline preview pane, but are launched  by	 the  xscreen-
	       saver daemon when run full screen, so the $PATH setting in both
	       processes matters.

       HOME    for  the	directory in which to read and write the .xscreensaver
	       file.

       XENVIRONMENT
	       to get the name of a resource file that	overrides  the	global
	       resources stored	in the RESOURCE_MANAGER	property.

       HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY,	http_proxy, or https_proxy
	       to get the default proxy	host and port.

UPGRADES
       The  latest  version of xscreensaver, an	online version of this manual,
       and a FAQ can always be found at	https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/

SEE ALSO
       X(1),  xscreensaver(1),	xscreensaver-command(1),   xscreensaver-getim-
       age(6),	xscreensaver-getimage-file(6), xscreensaver-getimage-video(6),
       xscreensaver-text(6)

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 1992-2022 by Jamie	Zawinski.  Permission  to  use,	 copy,
       modify,	distribute,  and  sell this software and its documentation for
       any purpose is hereby granted without  fee,  provided  that  the	 above
       copyright  notice appear	in all copies and that both that copyright no-
       tice and	this permission	notice appear in supporting documentation.  No
       representations are made	about the suitability of this software for any
       purpose.	 It is provided	"as is"	without	express	or implied warranty.

AUTHOR
       Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>.

       Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.

X Version 11		      6.09 (07-Jun-2024)	       XScreenSaver(1)

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