XScreenSaver
XScreenSaver is a screen saver and locker for the X Window System.
Contents
Installing XScreenSaver
Install the xscreensaver package found in the official repositories.
For an Arch Linux branded experience, the AUR hosts xscreensaver-arch-logo.
Configuring XScreenSaver
Global options are defined in /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver
. Under a standard setup, there is likely no need to edit this file. Instead most options are configured on a user-by-user basis simply by running xscreensaver-demo
$ xscreensaver-demo
xscreensaver-demo writes the chosen configuration in ~/.xscreensaver
, discarding any manual modification to the file.
Fortunately, since at least XScreenSaver 5.22, there is another way to edit XScreenSaver's user configuration, using ~/.Xresources
; see here for some examples.
DPMS settings
XScreenSaver manages display energy saving (DPMS) independently of X itself and overrides it. To configure the timings for standby, display poweroff and such, use xscreensaver-demo or edit the configuration file manually, e.g. ~/.xscreensaver
,
timeout: 1:00:00 cycle: 0:05:00 lock: False lockTimeout: 0:00:00 passwdTimeout: 0:00:30 fade: True unfade: False fadeSeconds: 0:00:03 fadeTicks: 20 dpmsEnabled: True dpmsStandby: 2:00:00 dpmsSuspend: 2:00:00 dpmsOff: 4:00:00
Xresources
Control many settings by using ~/.Xresources
. Defaults are located in /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver
.
Below are all the valid Xresources for version 5.22.
from: driver/XScreenSaver.ad
xscreensaver.mode: random xscreensaver.timeout: 0:10:00 xscreensaver.cycle: 0:10:00 xscreensaver.lockTimeout: 0:00:00 xscreensaver.passwdTimeout: 0:00:30 xscreensaver.dpmsEnabled: False xscreensaver.dpmsQuickoffEnabled: False xscreensaver.dpmsStandby: 2:00:00 xscreensaver.dpmsSuspend: 2:00:00 xscreensaver.dpmsOff: 4:00:00 xscreensaver.grabDesktopImages: True xscreensaver.grabVideoFrames: False xscreensaver.chooseRandomImages: True ! This can be a local directory name, or the URL of an RSS or Atom feed. xscreensaver.imageDirectory: /usr/share/wallpapers/ xscreensaver.nice: 10 xscreensaver.memoryLimit: 0 xscreensaver.lock: False xscreensaver.verbose: False xscreensaver.timestamp: True xscreensaver.fade: True xscreensaver.unfade: False xscreensaver.fadeSeconds: 0:00:03 xscreensaver.fadeTicks: 20 xscreensaver.splash: True xscreensaver.splashDuration: 0:00:05 xscreensaver.visualID: default xscreensaver.captureStderr: True xscreensaver.ignoreUninstalledPrograms: False xscreensaver.textMode: file xscreensaver.textLiteral: XScreenSaver xscreensaver.textFile: xscreensaver.textProgram: fortune xscreensaver.textURL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewPages&feed=rss xscreensaver.overlayTextForeground: #FFFF00 xscreensaver.overlayTextBackground: #000000 xscreensaver.overlayStderr: True xscreensaver.font: *-medium-r-*-140-*-m-* ! The default is to use these extensions if available (as noted.) xscreensaver.sgiSaverExtension: True xscreensaver.xidleExtension: True xscreensaver.procInterrupts: True ! Turning this on makes pointerHysteresis not work. xscreensaver.xinputExtensionDev: False ! Set this to True if you are experiencing longstanding XFree86 bug #421 ! (xscreensaver not covering the whole screen) xscreensaver.GetViewPortIsFullOfLies: False ! This is what the "Demo" button on the splash screen runs (/bin/sh syntax.) xscreensaver.demoCommand: xscreensaver-demo ! This is what the "Prefs" button on the splash screen runs (/bin/sh syntax.) xscreensaver.prefsCommand: xscreensaver-demo -prefs ! This is the URL loaded by the "Help" button on the splash screen, ! and by the "Documentation" menu item in xscreensaver-demo. xscreensaver.helpURL: http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/man.html ! loadURL -- how the "Help" buttons load the helpURL (/bin/sh syntax.) xscreensaver.loadURL: firefox '%s' || mozilla '%s' || netscape '%s' ! manualCommand -- how the "Documentation" buttons display man pages. xscreensaver.manualCommand: xterm -sb -fg black -bg gray75 -T '%s manual' -e /bin/sh -c 'man "%s" ; read foo' ! The format used for printing the date and time in the password dialog box ! To show the time only: %I:%M %p ! For 24 hour time: %H:%M xscreensaver.dateFormat: %d-%b-%y (%a); %I:%M %p ! This command is executed by the "New Login" button on the lock dialog. ! (That button does not appear on the dialog if this program does not exist.) ! For Gnome: probably "gdmflexiserver -ls". KDE, probably "kdmctl reserve". ! Or maybe yet another wheel-reinvention, "lxdm -c USER_SWITCH". xscreensaver.newLoginCommand: kdmctl reserve xscreensaver.installColormap: True xscreensaver.pointerPollTime: 0:00:05 xscreensaver.pointerHysteresis: 10 xscreensaver.initialDelay: 0:00:00 xscreensaver.windowCreationTimeout: 0:00:30 xscreensaver.bourneShell: /bin/sh ! Resources for the password and splash-screen dialog boxes of ! the "xscreensaver" daemon. xscreensaver.Dialog.headingFont: *-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-*-180-*-*-*-iso8859-1 xscreensaver.Dialog.bodyFont: *-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-iso8859-1 xscreensaver.Dialog.labelFont: *-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-iso8859-1 xscreensaver.Dialog.unameFont: *-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-iso8859-1 xscreensaver.Dialog.buttonFont: *-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-iso8859-1 xscreensaver.Dialog.dateFont: *-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-*-80-*-*-*-iso8859-1 ! Helvetica asterisks look terrible. xscreensaver.passwd.passwdFont: *-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-iso8859-1 xscreensaver.Dialog.foreground: #000000 xscreensaver.Dialog.background: #E6E6E6 xscreensaver.Dialog.Button.foreground: #000000 xscreensaver.Dialog.Button.background: #F5F5F5 !*Dialog.Button.pointBackground: #EAEAEA !*Dialog.Button.clickBackground: #C3C3C3 xscreensaver.Dialog.text.foreground: #000000 xscreensaver.Dialog.text.background: #FFFFFF xscreensaver.passwd.thermometer.foreground: #4464AC xscreensaver.passwd.thermometer.background: #FFFFFF xscreensaver.Dialog.topShadowColor: #FFFFFF xscreensaver.Dialog.bottomShadowColor: #CECECE xscreensaver.Dialog.logo.width: 210 xscreensaver.Dialog.logo.height: 210 xscreensaver.Dialog.internalBorderWidth: 24 xscreensaver.Dialog.borderWidth: 1 xscreensaver.Dialog.shadowThickness: 2 xscreensaver.passwd.heading.label: XScreenSaver %s xscreensaver.passwd.body.label: This screen is locked. xscreensaver.passwd.unlock.label: OK xscreensaver.passwd.login.label: New Login xscreensaver.passwd.user.label: Username: xscreensaver.passwd.thermometer.width: 8 xscreensaver.passwd.asterisks: True xscreensaver.passwd.uname: True xscreensaver.splash.heading.label: XScreenSaver %s xscreensaver.splash.body.label: Copyright © 1991-2013 by xscreensaver.splash.body2.label: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org> xscreensaver.splash.demo.label: Settings xscreensaver.splash.help.label: Help
Starting XScreenSaver
Single-User Systems
Simply installing the xscreensaver package is not enough to have it run automatically. The xscreensaver
program has to be started, which is commonly done by the desktop environment via a line in ~/.xinitrc
as follows:
/usr/bin/xscreensaver -no-splash &
or
( ( sleep 10 && /usr/bin/xscreensaver -no-splash -display :0.0 ) & )
The ampersand &
argument makes the xscreensaver
program run in the background and is required.
XScreenSaver is automatically started by Xfce in /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc
, to ensure it gets executed use startxfce4
and not xfce4-session
.
exec startxfce4
Multi-User Systems
If operating with multiple users with a display manager (e.g. SLiM, GDM, KDM) it is best to start XScreenSaver via the desktop manager's native screensaver interface. This allows full management of user switching. For example, if using GNOME, install gnome-screensaver and xscreensaver but only have gnome-screensaver
active. This allows for all the screensavers to be selected, and keep the ability for user switching in the event that one user has the screen locked, and another user wants to "switch users" to he/she can access to the box.
Another option to retain multi-user support, without having to install a second screensaver, is to modify either ~/.xscreensaver
for per-user settings, or /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver
for global settings, and add the following line.
newLoginCommand: /usr/bin/gdmflexiserver
Lock Screen
To immediately trigger xscreensaver
, if it is running, and lock the screen, execute the following command:
$ xscreensaver-command --lock
Automatically lock when suspending/sleeping/hibernating
The best option is to install xss-lock from AUR, and run this command from the X session autostart script:
xss-lock -- xscreensaver-command -lock &
Another option is to install xuserrun-git from AUR, and create the following file:
/etc/systemd/system/xscreensaver.service
[Unit] Description=Lock X session using xscreensaver Before=sleep.target [Service] Type=oneshot ExecStart=/usr/bin/xuserrun /usr/bin/xscreensaver-command -lock [Install] WantedBy=sleep.target
and enable it with systemctl enable xscreensaver
.
You may want to set XScreenSaver's fade out time to 0.
Other service configuration without xuserrun and for one user from this thread, replace the previous [Service] section by this one :
/etc/systemd/system/xscreensaver.service
[Service] User=yourusername Type=oneshot Environment=DISPLAY=:0 ExecStart=/usr/bin/xscreensaver-command -lock
Disabling XScreenSaver for Media Applications
MPlayer
Add the following to ~/.mplayer/config
heartbeat-cmd="xscreensaver-command -deactivate >&- 2>&- &"
Kodi
There is no native support within Kodi to disable XScreenSaver (although it comes with its own screensaver). The AUR contains a tiny app called kodi-prevent-xscreensaver that does just this.
Adobe Flash/MPlayer/VLC
There is no native way to disable XScreenSaver for flash, but there is script named lightsOn that works great and has support for Firefox's Flash plugin, Chromium's Flash plugin, MPlayer, and VLC.
Another approach would be to disable DPMS completely.
Using XScreenSaver as animated wallpaper
One can run xscreensaver
in the background, just like a wallpaper.
First, kill any process that is controlling the background (the root window).
Locate the desired XScreenSaver executable (they are usually on /usr/lib/xscreensaver/
) and run it with the -root
flag, like this
$ /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glslideshow -root &
XScreenSaver as wallpaper under xcompmgr
xcompmgr may cause problems. One recommended solution is to use xwinwrap to run it in order to use it as wallpaper. Find it as shantz-xwinwrap-bzr in the AUR.
Run it with the following command:
$ xwinwrap -b -fs -sp -fs -nf -ov -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glslideshow -root -window-id WID &
Theming
XScreenSaver's unlock screen can be themed with X resources (see: XScreenSaver resources).
User switching from the lock screen
By default, xscreensaver's "New Login" button in the lock screen will call /usr/bin/gdmflexiserver
to allow for user switching. This is fine if using gdm or kdm. Other display managers such as lightdm and lxdm support this functionality as well.
LXDM
Simply paste the following into ~/.xscreensaver
to use LXDM's switching mode:
newLoginCommand: lxdm -c USER_SWITCH
Lightdm
Simply paste the following into ~/.xscreensaver
to use lightdm's switching mode:
newLoginCommand: dm-tool switch-to-greeter
KDM
Simply paste the following into ~/.xscreensaver
/ /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver
to use kdm's switching mode:
newLoginCommand: kdmctl reserve
Debugging
You can configure xscreensaver to write to a log file by creating the logfile # touch /var/log/xscreensaver.log
and then specifying its X resource logFile.
~/.Xresources
xscreensaver.logFile:/var/log/xscreensaver.log
To log verbose debugging information to the logFile as well start xscreensaver with the -verbose
command line option, or add this to ~/.Xresources
~/.Xresources
xscreensaver.logFile:/var/log/xscreensaver.log xscreensaver.verbose:true
See Also
- PanicLock -- Lock the screen and close any selected programs in background.
- Homepage for XScreenSaver
- Display Power Management Signaling
- xinitrc
- List of applications#Screen_lockers