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] [-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). Specifying 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 displaying 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 displays 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 automatically 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 produce 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.

-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 trying to find the perfect geometry.

EXAMPLE

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

BUGS

Some desktop environments open a virtual root window and make it difficult to share it. If you cannot see anything after starting root-tail, try to find 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 <pcg@goof.com>, who couldn't reach the original author. Please direct bug-reports etc. to pcg@goof.com.

http://root-tail.plan9.de/