1
2PURPOSE
3=======
4
5Xautolock monitors console activity under the X window system, and
6fires up a program of your choice if nothing happens during a
7user configurable period of time. You can use this to automatically
8start up a screen locker in case you tend to forget to do so manually
9before having a coffee break.
10
11Xautolock will typically be used to lock the screen but it really
12doesn't care what program you make it start. The only real assumption
13made by xautolock is that a new countdown starts as soon as the
14locker exits.
15
16
17WHAT'S NEW
18==========
19
20Nearly 6 years after the release of version 2.1, version 2.2 fixes a
21few minor things, but most of all features freshly updated contact
22information, as I have left my previous employer in 2006.
23
24For more details on any of the changes, refre to the Changelog file.
25
26
27HOW TO USE IT
28=============
29
30Just read the man page, it's really simple.
31
32If you're on VMS, you should also check out the VMS.notes file.
33
34
35HOW IT WORKS
36============
37
38If xautolock has been compiled to support either the Xidle, or the
39MIT ScreenSaver extensions (or both), it first tries to find out
40whether the X server also supports one of them. If it does, xautolock
41will periodically call it to determine the amount of time elapsed
42since the last input event, and will then base its actions upon that.
43
44In the absence of both extensions, xautolock starts by traversing the
45window tree, selecting SubstructureNotify on all windows and adding
46each window to a temporary list. About +- 30 seconds later, it scans
47this list, asking for KeyPress events. However, it takes care
48to interfere as little as possible with the event propagation
49mechanism. This is the reason for the delay between the moment
50xautolock learns about a new window (and consequently asks for
51SubstructureNotify events) and the moment it asks for KeyPress
52events. Whenever a new window is created by an application, a similar
53process takes place. In contradiction to what many people believe,
54this scheme does not cause a noticeable overhead.
55
56In addition, xautolock periodically issues a QueryPointer request in
57order to find out whether the pointer has moved and implement the
58"corners" feature as decribed in the man page.
59
60If nothing happens within a user-specified period of time, xautolock
61will fire up a program which is supposed to lock the screen. While
62this program is running, xautolock itself remains on the look-out for
63user interaction.
64
65
66COMPILING XAUTOLOCK
67===================
68
69Xautolock should compile straight out of the box. Here's the recepy:
70
71 1. Edit the Imakefile to your likings.
72
73 2. Type:
74
75 xmkmf
76 make
77 make install
78 make install.man
79 make clean
80
81 3. Have fun.
82
83If this procedure fails, the most likely reason is the absence of the
84MIT ScreenSaver extension on your system. If this is the case, simply
85edit the Imakefile accordingly and try again.
86
87If compilation fails because MIT ScreenSaver is not available, do the
88following:
89
90 + Find out whether the X server supports it (use the xdpyinfo
91 command for this). Quite often it will, even if the support for
92 compiling programs with it is absent. If this applies to you,
93 nag your sysadmin and/or vendor about it. MIT ScreenSaver is a
94 pretty standard extension that IMHO should be provided with any
95 X based system.
96
97 + If you cannot find MIT ScreenSaver, repeat the same procedure
98 with Xidle (except for the `nag your vendor' bit). If your
99 server supports Xidle, but you do not have the development
100 files and cannot find them on the web, just send me and e-mail
101 and I will forward you a copy.
102
103 + If you are still out of luck, use the good old backup mechanism.
104 Xautolock wil be just as happy without server extensions.
105
106Nowadays, all modern X servers come with MIT ScreenSaver. However,
107some (or most/all?) of the HP ones apparently don't, so by default
108this feature is disabled on HP-UX. Simply edit the Imakefile if you
109disagree.
110
111
112KNOWN BUGS
113==========
114
115Important notice: the first two bugs listed here are only present in
116case xautolock has been compiled with support for neither the Xidle
117nor the MIT ScreenSaver extensions, or in case the X server being
118used does not support them. They make up a good reason to get one of
119these extensions installed.
120
121 1. If, when creating a window, an application waits for more than
122 30 seconds before calling selecting KeyPress events on non-leaf
123 windows, xautolock may interfere with the event propagation
124 mechanism. This effect is theoretical and has never been
125 observed in real life.
126
127 2. Xautolock can not properly handle the secure keyboard mode of
128 xterm, since that will prevent any other process, including
129 xautolock, from noticing the keyboard events aimed at the
130 xterm. Consequently, xautolock sometimes will think that there
131 is no keyboard activity while in reality there is.
132
133 3. Under some configurations, xautolock fails to exit upon logout.
134 This problem can occur (but does not always do so) under the
135 following combined circumstances:
136
137 + Xautolock is started in background from within a .xinitrc.
138 + Your are trusting your windowmanager to kill all X processes
139 when quitting (which, by the way, is not a good idea). One
140 well known source of problems in this area consists of olwm
141 and its look-alikes.
142 + The .xinitrc contains a "wait" statement to make it collect
143 all background processes upon logout.
144
145 The simplest workround for this problem is to start xautolock
146 from within a subshell. I.e. use this:
147
148 ( xautolock & )
149
150 On Solaris an alternative solution (which basically works in
151 exactly the same way) is to use this:
152
153 toolwait xautolock
154
155 4. The -disable, -enable, -toggle, -exit, -locknow, -unlocknow,
156 and -restart options depend on access to the X server to do
157 their work. This implies that they will be suspended in case
158 some other application has grabbed the server all for itself.
159
160 5. Xautolock does not check whether the screen locker specified
161 actually is available.
162
163 6. The xautolock resources have a dummy resource classes.
164
165If you can find others, please notify mce@scarlet.be.
166
167Note that, while I still scan most X related newsgroups, I do not
168actually read them on a regular basis anymore, as X no longer is
169a part of my job. I do still actively support xautolock on a daily
170basis, though. Hence you are much more likely to get quick help if
171you contact me directly.
172
173
174WARNING
175=======
176
177It looks like there is a bug in the event management code of some X
178servers (amongst which both X11R4 and X11R5 on older versions of
179SunOS). If you are using version 1.7 of xautolock (previously known
180as patchlevel 7), it is best to reset the server before switching to
181version 1.8 or later. If you fail to do so, an old version 1.7 bug
182may still show up. (Some keyboard events were being hijacked by
183version 1.7 of xautolock, particularly when using tvtwm).
184
185
186CONTRIB DIRECTORY
187=================
188
189The contrib directory may contain various patches that have been
190contributed over time. If a patch is in there, I have for some reason
191or another decided not to include it in xautolock proper, but still
192consider it to be sufficiently usefull to other people in order to
193add it to the distribution.
194
195Note that the contents of the contrib directory are *not* part of
196xautolock. Each of the contributions lives under its own copyright.
197
198In versions 2.1 and 2.2 of xautolock, the contrib directory is empty,
199since due to a lack of time I did not feel like porting the stuff that
200used to be in there prior to the 2.x versions. Maybe it'll be back in
2012.3 or so.
202
203
204COPYRIGHT
205=========
206
207Copyright 1990, 1992-1999, 2001-2002, 2004, 2007 by Stefan De Troch
208and Michel Eyckmans.
209
210Versions 2.0 and above of xautolock are available under version 2 of
211the GNU GPL. Earlier versions are available under other conditions.
212For more information, see the License file.
213
214
215AUTHORS
216=======
217
218Xautolock was conceived, written, and performed by:
219
220 Michel Eyckmans (MCE) mce@scarlet.be
221 Stefan De Troch <e-mail private>
222
223Please send queries for help, feature suggestions, bug reports, etc.
224to mce@scarlet.be only.
225
226
227ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
228================
229
230Special thanks to:
231
232 Kris Croes croes@imec.be
233
234And the many people who submitted bug reports, patches, suggestions,
235kudos, etc.
236
237No thanks to a certain commercial X server provider who volunteered
238to beta test version 1.9 on many, *many* platforms but didn't live
239up to it. Also our apologies to the candidate beta testers who were
240not retained because of this candidate.
241