root-tail1x

Print text directly to x11 root window

Usage

root-tail [{-g | -geometry GEOMETRY}] [{-fn | -font FONTSPEC}] [-color color] [-reload SEC COMMAND] [-reverse] [-shade] [{-f | -fork}] [-noinitial] [-frame] [{-i | -interval SECONDS}] [-V] file1 [,color [,desc]] [file2 [,color [,desc]]]

Overview

Displays a given file anywhere on your X11 root window with a transparent background. It was made because I'm very lazy and this was easier than making a new rxvt pixmap each time I changed my background to simulate that transparent effect. A null desc (example: "/var/log/messages,red,") will prevent the printing of a description and the []'s.

General Options

-color COLOR: Use color $color as default.

-font | -fn FONTSPEC: Use font FONTSPEC this can be either fixed withn fonts like -fn fixed or any font using -fn '-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*' with the appropriate fields filled out (see xfontsel)

-f | -fork: Forks to the background and gives the pid of itself (useful if rt is being called from a script or frontend)

-reload SEC COMMAND: Run command & run command after $sec seconds.

-shade: Add shading to font. -reverse Print new lines at the top.

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

-i | -interval SECONDS: Use the specified sleeping interval between checks instead of the default 3 seconds. Fractional values are o.k.

-V: Print version information.

-frame: Surround the selected area with a frame. This is just a debugging tool and doesn't always work properly. Use it to find the perfect geometry.

Examples

root-tail -g 80x25+100+50 \
/var/log/messages,green /var/log/secure,red,'ALERT'

root-tail -shade -f -g 144x53+6+0 \
-fn -*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-12-*-*-*-m-*-* \
/var/log/kernel,red /var/log/daemon.log,green \
/var/log/mail.log,yellow