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] [-f|-fork] [-noinitial] [-frame] [-i|-interval SECONDS] [-V] file1[,color[,desc]] [file2[,color[,desc]]]

DESCRIPTION
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.

-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.

EXAMPLE

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

BUGS

- width must be larger than the longest file-header, otherwise segfaults.

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/