Content-type: text/html Manpage of XLOCK

XLOCK

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 01 Jan 1997
Index
Return to Main Contents

NAME

xlock - Locks the local X display until a password is entered.

SYNOPSIS

xlock [ -help ] [ -version ] [ -resources ] [ -display displayname ] [ -name resourcename ] [ -mode modename ] [ -delay usecs ] [ -batchcount num ] [ -cycles num ] [ -saturation value ] [ -/+allowaccess ] [ -/+nolock ] [ -/+inwindow ] [ -/+inroot ] [ -/+remote ] [ -/+mono ] [ -/+allowroot ] [ -/+debug ] [ -/+echokeys ] [ -/+enablesaver ] [ -/+grabmouse ] [ -/+install ] [ -/+sound ] [ -/+timeelapsed ] [ -/+usefirst ] [ -/+verbose ] [ -nice level ] [ -lockdelay seconds ] [ -timeout seconds ] [ -font fontname ] [ -msgfont message-fontname ] [ -bg color ] [ -fg color ] [ -background color ] [ -foreground color ] [ -username string ] [ -password string ] [ -info string ] [ -validate string ] [ -invalid string ] [ -geometry geom ] [ -icongeometry geom ] [ -/+use3d ] [ -delta3d value ] [ -none3d color ] [ -right3d color ] [ -left3d color ] [ -both3d color ] [ -program programname ] [ -messagesfile formatted-filename ] [ -messagefile filename ] [ -message string ] [ -mfont mode-fontname ] [ -imagefile filename ] [ -neighbors num ] [ -cpasswd crypted-password ] [ -forceLogout minutes ] [ -logoutButtonLabel textstring ] [ -logoutButtonHelp textstring ] [ -logoutFailedString textstring ] [ -/+dtsaver ] [ -locksound string ] [ -infosound string ] [ -validsound string ] [ -invalidsound string ]

DESCRIPTION

xlock locks the X server till the user enters their password at the keyboard. While xlock is running, all new server connections are refused. The screen saver is disabled. The mouse cursor is turned off. The screen is blanked and a changing pattern is put on the screen. If a key or a mouse button is pressed then the user is prompted for the password of the user who started xlock.

If the correct password is typed, then the screen is unlocked and the X server is restored. When typing the password Control-U and Control-H are active as kill and erase respectively. To return to the locked screen, click in the small icon version of the changing pattern.

In the lower part of the password screen a message is displayed. This message is taken from the first file of the following that exists: $HOME/.xlockmessage, $HOME/.plan, or $HOME/.signature.

On systems which support new BSD style authentication, the password may be prefixed by an authentication style followed by a colon (i.e. "style:password"). See the login.conf(5) for more information on authentication styles.

NOTE ON ETIQUETTE

Xlock should not be used on public terminals when there is a high demand for them.

If you find a public terminal that has been locked by another user and there are no other terminals available, and the terminal appears to have been left idle for a while (normally more than 15 minutes), it is fair to try to reset the session in some manner.

OPTIONS

-help

Print options and a brief description.

-version

Print version (if >= 4.00).

-resources

Print default resource file to standard output.

-display displayname

The display option sets the X11 display to lock. xlock locks all available screens on a given server, and restricts you to locking only a local server such as unix:0, localhost:0, or :0 unless you set the -remote option.

-name resourcename

resourcename is used instead of XLock when looking for resources to configure xlock.

-mode modename

As of this writing there are over 60 display modes supported (plus one more for random selection of one of these).

ant

Shows Langton's and Turk's generalized ants.

ball

Shows bouncing balls.

bat

Shows bouncing flying bats.

blot

Shows Rorschach's ink blot test.

bouboule

Shows Mimi's bouboule of moving stars.

bounce

Shows bouncing footballs.

braid

Shows random braids and knots.

bug

Shows Palmiter's bug evolution and a garden of Eden.

cartoon

Shows bouncing cartoons. Not compiled in by default.

clock

Shows Packard's oclock.

daisy

Shows a meadow of daisies.

dclock

Shows a floating digital clock.

demon

Shows Griffeath's cellular automata.

drift

Shows cosmic drifting flame fractals.

eyes

Shows eyes following a bouncing grelb.

flag

Shows a flying flag of your operating system.

flame

Shows cosmic flame fractals.

forest

Shows binary trees of a fractal forest.

galaxy

Shows crashing spiral galaxies.

gear

Shows GL's gears. May not be available depending on how it was configured.

geometry

Shows morphing of a complete graph.

grav

Shows orbiting planets.

helix

Shows string art.

hop

Shows real plane iterated fractals.

hyper

Shows a spinning tesseract in 4D space.

image

Shows randomly appearing logos.

julia

Shows the Julia set.

kaleid

Shows a kaleidoscope.

laser

Shows spinning lasers.

life

Shows Conway's game of life.

life1d

Shows Wolfram's game of 1D life.

life3d

Shows Bays' game of 3D life.

lightning

Shows Keith's fractal lightning bolts.

lissie

Shows lissajous worms.

loop

Shows Langton's self-producing loops.

marquee

Shows messages.

maze

Shows a random maze and a depth first search solution.

mountain

Shows Papo's mountain range.

nose

Shows a man with a big nose runs around spewing out messages.

pacman

Shows Pacman(tm).

penrose

Shows Penrose's quasiperiodic tilings.

petal

Shows various GCD Flowers.

puzzle

Shows a puzzle being scrambled and then solved.

pyro

Shows fireworks.

qix

Shows spinning lines a la Qix(tm).

roll

Shows a rolling ball.

rotor

Shows Tom's Roto-Rooter.

shape

Shows stippled rectangles, ellipses, and triangles.

slip

Shows slipping blits.

sphere

Shows a bunch of shaded spheres.

spiral

Shows helixes of dots.

spline

Shows colorful moving splines.

star

Shows a star field with a twist.

swarm

Shows a swarm of bees following a wasp.

swirl

Shows animated swirling patterns.

tri

Shows a Sierpinski's triangle.

triangle

Shows a triangular mountain range.

turtle

Shows turtle fractals.

wator

Shows Dewdney's Water-Torus planet of fish and sharks.

wire

Shows a random circuit with 2 electrons.

world

Shows spinning Earths.

worm

Shows wiggly worms.

blank

Shows nothing but a black screen. Does not show up in random mode.

bomb

Shows a bomb and will autologout after a time. Does not show up in random mode and may be available depending on how it was configured.

random

Shows a random mode from above except blank (and bomb).

-delay usecs

The delay option sets the speed at which a mode will operate. It simply sets the number of microseconds to delay between batches of animations. In blank mode, it is important to set this to some small number of seconds, because the keyboard and mouse are only checked after each delay, so you cannot set the delay too high, but a delay of zero would needlessly consume cpu checking for mouse and keyboard input in a tight loop, since blank mode has no work to do.

-batchcount num

The batchcount option sets number of things to do per batch to num .

In ant mode this refers the number of ants.

In ball mode it is the number of balls.

In bat mode it is the number of bats, could be less because of conflicts.

In blot mode this refers to the number of pixels rendered in the same color.

In bouboule mode it is the number of stars.

In bounce mode it is the number of balls, could be less because of conflicts.

In braid mode it is the upper bound number of strands.

In bug mode it is the number of bugs, could be less because of conflicts.

In cartoon mode it means nothing.

In clock mode it is the percentage of the screen, but less than 100%.

In daisy mode it is the number flowers that make a meadow.

In dclock mode it means nothing.

In demon mode this refers the number of colors.

In drift mode it is the number of levels to recurse (larger = more complex).

In eyes mode it is the number of eyes.

In flame mode it is the number of levels to recurse (larger = more complex).

In forest mode it is the number trees that make a forest.

In galaxy mode it means the number of galaxies.

In gear mode it is means nothing.

In geometry mode it is the number of vertices.

In grav mode it is the number of planets.

In helix mode it means nothing.

In hop mode this refers to the number of pixels rendered in the same color.

In hyper mode it means nothing.

In image mode it means it is the number of logos on screen at once.

In julia mode it is the depth of recursion.

In kaleid mode it means nothing.

In laser mode it is the number lasers.

In life mode it is the number of generations before a glider is introduced.

In life1d mode it means nothing.

In life3d mode it is the number of generations before a glider is introduced.

In lissie mode it is the number of worms.

In loop mode it means nothing.

In marquee mode it means nothing.

In maze mode it means nothing.

In mountain mode it is the number of mountains.

In nose mode it means nothing.

In qix mode it is the number of lines rendered in the same color.

In pacman mode it means the number of ghosts.

In penrose mode it means nothing.

In petal mode it the greatest random number of petals.

In puzzle mode it the number of moves.

In pyro mode it is the maximum number flying rockets at one time.

In rotor mode it is the number of points.

In rotor mode it is the number of rotor thingys which whirr...

In shape mode it means nothing.

In slip mode it means nothing.

In sphere mode it means nothing.

In spiral mode it is the number of spirals.

In spline mode it is the number of points "splined".

In star mode it is the number of stars on the screen at once.

In swirl mode it means the number of "knots".

In swarm mode it is the number of bees.

In tri mode it is the number of points.

In triangular mode it is the number of mountains.

In turtle mode it means nothing.

In wator mode it means the breed time for the fish.

In wire mode it means the length of the circuit.

In world mode it is the number of worlds.

In worm mode it is the number of worms.

In blank mode it means nothing.

In bomb mode it means the number of minutes to autologout.

A negative batchcount allows for randomness. The range from the minimum allowed nonnegative batchcount for a particular mode to the ABS( batchcount ) (or maximum allowed batchcount , whichever is less).

-cycles num

The cycles option sets the number of cycles until time out for ant, blot, braid, bug, clock, daisy, demon, eyes, flag, forest, helix, hop, hyper, galaxy, kaleid, laser, life, life1d, life3d, lissie, loop, mountain, petal, shape, spline, tri, triangle, and wator, wire. For worm it is the length of the lines, for julia and spiral it is the length of the trail of dots, for qix it is the number of lines, for spline it means the number of splines. For others it means nothing.

-size num

The size option sets the size maximum size of a star in bouboule, pyro and star, size of ball in ball and bounce, size of bat in bat, size of clock in clock, size of lissie in lissie, size of dots of flag, width of maze hallway, size of side of penrose tile, radius of ball in roll, width of worm, size of cells in ant, bug, life, life1d, pacman, wator, and wire. A negative number allows for randomness, similar to batchcount.

-saturation value

The saturation option sets saturation of the color ramp used to value . 0 is grayscale and 1 is very rich color. 0.4 is a nice pastel.

+/-nolock

The nolock option causes xlock to only draw the patterns and not lock the display. A key press or a mouse click will terminate the screen saver.

-/+inwindow

Runs xlock in a window, so that you can iconify, move, or resize it and still use your screen for other stuff. When running in a window, xlock no longer locks your screen, it just looks good.

-/+inroot

Runs xlock in your root window. Like the inwindow option it no longer locks the screen, it just looks good.

-/+remote

The remote option tells xlock to not stop you from locking remote X11 servers. This option should be used with care and is intended mainly to lock X11 terminals which cannot run xlock locally. If you lock someone else's workstation, they will have to know your password to unlock it. Using +remote overrides any resource derived values for remote and prevents xlock from being used to lock other X11 servers. (Use `+' instead of `-' to override resources for other options that can take the `+' modifier similarly.)

-/+mono

The mono option causes xlock to display monochrome, (black and white) pixels rather than the default colored ones on color displays.

-/+allowaccess

This option is required for servers which do not allow clients to modify the host access control list. It is also useful if you need to run x clients on a server which is locked for some reason... When allowaccess is true, the X11 server is left open for clients to attach and thus lowers the inherent security of this lock screen. A side effect of using this option is that if xlock is killed -KILL, the access control list is not lost.

-/+allowroot

The allowroot option allows the root password to unlock the server as well as the user who started xlock. May not be able to turn this on and off depending on your system and how xlock was configured.

-/+debug

Allows xlock to be debugged by doing all but locking the screen.

-/+echokeys

The echokeys option causes xlock to echo '?' characters for each key typed into the password prompt. Some consider this a security risk, so the default is to not echo anything.

-/+enablesaver

By default xlock will disable the normal X server's screen saver since it is in effect a replacement for it. Since it is possible to set delay parameters long enough to cause phosphor burn on some displays, this option will turn back on the default screen saver which is very careful to keep most of the screen black.

-/+grabmouse

The grabmouse option causes xlock to grab the mouse and keyboard, this is the default. xlock can not lock the screen without this.

-/+install

Allows xlock to install its own colormap if xlock runs out of colors. May not work on with some window managers (fvwm) and does not work with the -inroot option.

-/+sound

Allows you to turn on and off sound if installed with the capability.

-/+timeelapsed

Allows you to find out how long a machine is locked so you can complain to an administrator that someone is hogging a machine.

-/+usefirst

The usefirst option causes xlock to use the keystroke which got you to the password screen as the first character in the password. The default is to ignore the first key pressed.

-/+verbose

Verbose mode, tells what options it is going to use.

-nice nicelevel

The nice option sets system nicelevel of the xlock process to nicelevel .

-lockdelay seconds

The lockdelay option sets the number of seconds before the screen needs a password to be unlocked. Good for use with an autolocking mechanism like xautolock(1).

-timeout seconds

The timeout option sets the number of seconds before the password screen will time out.

-font fontname

The font option sets the font to be used on the prompt screen.

-msgfont fontname

option sets the font to be used for the message that is displayed in the lower part of the password screen.

-fg color

The fg option sets the color of the text on the password screen to color .

-bg color

The bg option sets the color of the background on the password screen to color .

-foreground color

The foreground option sets the color of the text on the password screen to color .

-background color

The background option sets the color of the background on the password screen to color .

-username string

Text string is shown in front of user name, defaults to "Name: ".

-password string

Text string is the password prompt string, defaults to "Password: ".

-info string

Text string is an informational message to tell the user what to do, defaults to "Enter password to unlock; select icon to lock.".

-validate string

Text string is a message shown while validating the password, defaults to "Validating login..."

-invalid string

Text string is a message shown when password is invalid, defaults to "Invalid login."

-geometry geom

The geometry option sets geom the size and offset of the lock window (normally the entire screen). The entire screen format is still used for entering the password. The purpose is to see the screen even though it is locked. This should be used with caution since many of the modes will fail if the windows are far from square or are too small (size must be greater than 0x0). This should also be used with -enablesaver to protect screen from phosphor burn.

-icongeometry geom

The icongeometry option sets geom the size of the iconic screen (normally 64x64) seen when entering the password. This should be used with caution since many of the modes will fail if the windows are far from square or are too small (size must be greater than 0x0). The greatest size is 256x256. There should be some limit so users could see who has locked the screen. Position information of icon is ignored.

-/+use3d

Turn on/off 3d view available on bouboule, pyro, star, and worm.

-delta3d value

Space between the center of your 2 eyes for 3d mode.

-none3d color

Color used for empty size in 3d mode.

-right3d color

Color used for right eye in 3d mode.

-left3d color

Color used for left eye in 3d mode.

-both3d color

Color used for overlapping images for left and right eye in 3d mode.

-program programname

The program option sets the program to be used as the fortune generator. Currently used only for marquee and nose modes.

-messagesfile formatted-filename

The messagesfile option sets the file to be used as the fortune generator. The first entry is the number of fortunes, the next line contains the first fortune. Fortunes begin with a "%%" on a line by itself. Currently used only for marquee and nose modes. If one exists, it takes precedence over the fortune program.

-messagefile filename

The messagefile option sets the file where the contents are the message. Currently used only for marquee and nose modes. If one exists, it takes precedence over the fortune program and messagesfile.

-message textstring

The message option sets the message. Currently used only for marquee and nose modes. If one exists, it takes precedence over the fortune program, messagesfile and messagefile.

-mfont mode-fontname

The mfont option sets the font to be used in the mode. Currently used only for marquee and nose modes.

-imagefile filename

The imagefile option sets the ras or xpm file to be displayed with image or puzzle mode. Raster files work with -install as well.

MORE OPTIONS (these may not be available)

-cpasswd crypted-password: The cpasswd option sets the key to be this text string to unlock xlock instead of password file.
-forceLogout minutes: The forceLogout option sets minutes to auto-logout.
-logoutButtonLabel string: Text string is a message shown inside logout button when logout button is displayed. Defaults to "Logout".
-logoutButtonHelp string: Text string is a message shown outside logout button when logout button is displayed. Defaults to "Click the \"Logout\" button to log out current\n user and make workstation available."
-logoutFailedString string: Text string is a message shown when a logout is attempted and fails. Defaults to "Logout attempt FAILED.\n Current user could not be automatically logged out."
-/+dtsaver: Turn on/off CDE Saver Mode.
-locksound string: Text string references sound to use at lock time. Default sound, male voice: "Thank you, for your cooperation."
-infosound string: Text string references sound to use for information. Default sound, male voice: "Identify please."
-validsound string: Text string references sound to when a password is valid. Default sound, female voice: "Complete."
-invalidsound string: Text string references sound to when a password is invalid. Default sound, female voice: "I am not programmed to give you that information."

SPECIAL MODE DEPENDENT OPTIONS

-/+truchet: Turn on and off Truchet lines (trail) in ant.
-/+grow: Turn on and off growing fractals (else they are animated) for drift.
-/+liss: Turn on and off using lissojous figures to get points for drift.
-/+decay: Turn on and off decaying orbits for grav.
-/+trail: Turn on and off decaying trail of dots for grav.
-rule num: Allows one to set life parameters <living_min><living_max><birth_min><birth_max>. For example, Conway's rule is 2333. Unfortunately, this requires the rule to be contiguous.
-/+totalistic: Turn on and off totalistic rules for life1d. If this is off then it follows rules of the LCAU collection. These rules may not be symmetric and are more general.
-rule3d num: Allows one to set life3d parameters <living_min><living_max><birth_min><birth_max>. For example, Bay's 4 rules are 4555, 5766, 5655, and 6767. Unfortunately, this requires the rule to be contiguous.
-/+ammann: Turn on and off lines for penrose.
-/+erase: Turn on and off erasing for spline. If this option is on, cycles should probably be set to around 10 or so else it should be much larger, around 2000. -trek num If its a high number you will see the space ship all the time in star.
-/+rock: Turn on and off rocks for star. If this is off, stars will be seen instead.
-/+straight: Turn on if star gets you motion sick.
-duration seconds: Allows one to set a duration for a mode in random. Duration of 0 is defined as infinite.
-modelist textstring: Allows one to pass a list of files to randomly display to random. "all" will get all files but blank (and bomb if compiled in). "all,blank" will get all modes. "all,-image bounce,+blank" will get all modes but image and bounce. "bug wator" will get only bug and wator. "random" can not be referenced.

WARNING

xlock can appear to hang if it is competing with a high-priority process for the CPU. For example, if xlock is started after a process with 'nice -20' (high priority), xlock will take considerable amount of time to respond.

SHADOW PASSWORDS

If the machine is using a shadow password system, then xlock may not be set up to get the real password and so must be given one of its own. This can be either on the command line, via the -cpasswd option, or in the file $HOME/.xlockrc, with the first taking precedence. In both cases an encrypted password is expected (see makekey(8)). If neither is given, then xlock will prompt for a password and will use that, also storing an encrypted version of it in $HOME/.xlockrc for future use.

BUGS

"kill -KILL xlock " causes the server that was locked to be unusable, since all hosts (including localhost) were removed from the access control list to lock out new X clients, and since xlock could not catch SIGKILL, it terminated before restoring the access control list. This will leave the X server in a state where "you can no longer connect to that server, and this operation cannot be reversed unless you reset the server." -From the X11R4 Xlib Documentation, Chapter 7.

NCD terminals do not allow xlock to remove all the hosts from the access control list. Therefore you will need to use the "-remote" and "-allowaccess" switches. If you happen to run without "-allowaccess" on an NCD terminal, xlock will not work and you will need to reboot the terminal, or simply go into the SETUP menus, under 'Network Parameters', and turn off TCP/IP access control.

AUTHOR

Maintained by:

David A. Bagley (bagleyd@bigfoot.com)

The latest version is currently at:

ftp.x.org in /contrib/applications/xlockmore-4.??.tar.gz

Original Author:

Patrick J. Naughton (naughton@eng.sun.com)

Mailstop 21-14

Sun Microsystems Laboratories, Inc.

Mountain View, CA 94043

415/336-1080

with many additional contributors.

COPYRIGHT

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
The original BSD daemon is Copyright (c) 1988 Marshall Kirk McKusick. All Rights Reserved.
Sun, HP, and SGI icons have their respective copyrights.

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
NOTE ON ETIQUETTE
OPTIONS
MORE OPTIONS (these may not be available)
SPECIAL MODE DEPENDENT OPTIONS
**WARNING**
SHADOW PASSWORDS
BUGS
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 02:20:05 GMT, February 07, 1997