updated docs for , mentioned that metar is gone. changed some of the packaging files...

[monky] / README

conky(1)                                                              conky(1)



NAME
       conky - A system monitor for X originally based on the torsmo code, but
       more kickass. It just keeps on givener. Yeah.

SYNOPSIS
       conky [options]

DESCRIPTION
       Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on  the  torsmo  code.
       Since  its original conception, Conky has changed a fair bit from its
       predecessor.  Conky can display just about  anything,  either  on  your
       root  desktop  or in its own window.  Conky has many built-in objects,
       as well as the ability to execute programs and  scripts,  then  display
       the output from stdout.

       We  are  always  looking  for help, and anyone interested in becoming a
       developer is welcome.  Please use the facilities at SourceForge to make
       bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches.

       Thanks for your interest in Conky.

COMPILING
       First,  make  sure you have the X development libraries installed, this
       should be a package along the lines of  "libx11-dev  or  xorg-x11-dev".
       Gentoo  users,  Conky  is  in  Gentoos  Portage.  Simply  use  "emerge
       app-admin/conky" for installation.  There is also usually an up-to-date
       ebuild within Conkys package or in CVS.

       To compile and run Conky with all optional components:

       sh autogen.sh # Only required if building from CVS

       ./configure            --prefix=/usr            --mandir=/usr/share/man
       --infodir=/usr/share/info    --datadir=/usr/share     --sysconfdir=/etc
       --localstatedir=/var/lib   --enable-double-buffer   --enable-own-window
       --enable-proc-uptime --enable-mpd --enable-xft --enable-seti

       make

       make install # Optional

       ./conky

       Conky  doesnt  probably compile with other compilers than gcc and icc.
       It doesnt compile with C89 compiler and not even with  pure  C99.   It
       uses  few  things  that  might not exist: strdup(), strcasecmp(), strn
       casecmp(), optarg variable with getopt() and long long  (not  in  C89).
       Crashes in file system statistics stuff when compiled with icc, I dont
       know exactly why.

       You can disable drawing to own window feature in case you dont  need
       it by passing --disable-own-window to configure -script.


YOU SHOULD KNOW
       Conky  is generally very good on resources. However, certain objects in
       Conky are harder on resources then others. In  particular,  the  $tail,
       $top,  $font,  and $graph objects are quite costly in comparison to the
       rest of Conky.

       If you do use them, please do not complain about memory or  CPU  usage,
       unless  you  think  something  is  going  seriously wrong (mem leak, et
       cetera).

       Easy way to force Conky to reload your  ~/.conkyrc:  "killall  -SIGUSR1
       conky".  Saves you the trouble of having to stop and then restart.

       IMPORTANT:  For  previous Conky users, Conky 1.3 no longer supports the
       metar stuff.  mdsplib was causing  way  too  many  problems.  hopefully
       therell be a better solution in Conky 2.x...

OPTIONS
       Command  line  options override configurations defined in configuration
       file.

       -V     Prints version and exits


       -a ALIGNMENT
              Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom}_{left,right} or none


       -b     Use double buffering (eliminates "flicker")


       -c FILE
              Config file to load instead of $HOME/.conkyrc


       -d     Daemonize Conky, aka fork to background


       -f FONT
              Font to use


       -h     Prints command line help and exits


       -o     Create own window to draw


       -t TEXT
              Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t  $uptime


       -u SECONDS
              Update interval


       -w WIN_ID
              Window id to draw


       -x X_COORDINATE
              X position


       -y Y_COORDINATE
              Y position


CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
       Default configuration file  is  $HOME/.conkyrc  (can  be  changed  from
       conky.c among other things). See conkyrc.sample. You might want to copy
       it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying it.

       alignment
              Aligned position on screen, may  be  top_left,  top_right,  bot
              tom_left, bottom_right, or none


       background
              Boolean  value, if true, Conky will be forked to background when
              started


       on_bottom
              Set conky on the bottom of all other applications


       border_margin
              Border margin in pixels


       border_width
              Border width in pixels


       cpu_avg_samples
              The number of samples to average for CPU monitoring


       default_color
              Default color and border color


       default_shade_color
              Default shading color and borders shading color


       default_outline_color
              Default outline color


       double_buffer
              Use the Xdbe extension? (eliminates flicker) It is highly recom
              mended to use own window with this one so double buffer wont be
              so big.


       draw_borders
              Draw borders around text?


       draw_shades
              Draw shades?


       draw_outline
              Draw outlines?


       font   Font name in X, xfontsel can be used to get a nice font


       gap_x  Gap between right or left border of screen, same as  passing  -x
              at command line


       gap_y  Gap  between  top or bottom border of screen, same as passing -y
              at command line


       no_buffers
              Substract (file system) buffers from used memory?


       mail_spool
              Mail spool for mail checking


       maximum_width pixels
              Maximum width of window


       minimum_size width (height)
              Minimum size of window


       mldonkey_hostname
              Hostname for mldonkey stuff, defaults to localhost


       mldonkey_port
              Mldonkey port, 4001 default


       mldonkey_login
              Mldonkey login, default none


       mldonkey_password
              Mldonkey password, default none


       mpd_host
              Host of MPD server


       mpd_port
              Port of MPD server


       mpd_password
              MPD server password


       net_avg_samples
              The number of samples to average for net data


       override_utf8_locale
              Force UTF8? requires XFT


       own_window
              Boolean, create own window to draw?


       own_window_transparent
              Boolean, set pseudo-transparency?


       own_window_colour colour
              If own_window_transparent no, set a specified background  colour
              (defaults  to  black).  Takes  either a hex value (#ffffff) or a
              valid RGB name (see /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt)


       pad_percents
              Pad percentages to this many decimals (0 = no padding)


       stippled_borders
              Border stippling (dashing) in pixels


       total_run_times
              Total number of times for Conky to update before quitting.  Zero
              makes Conky run forever


       update_interval
              Update interval in seconds


       uppercase
              Boolean value, if true, text is rendered in upper case


       use_spacer
              Adds spaces after certain objects to stop them from moving other
              things around. Note that this only helps if you are using a mono
              font, such as Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.


       use_xft
              Use Xft (anti-aliased font and stuff)


       text   After this begins text to be formatted on screen


VARIABLES
       Colors  are  parsed using XParsecolor(), there might be a list of them:
       /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb.txt.   Also,   http://sedition.com/perl/rgb.html
       Color  can  be also in #rrggbb format (hex).  Note that when displaying
       bytes, power is 1024 and not 1000 so 1M really  means  1024*1024  bytes
       and not 1000*1000.

       addr interface
              IP address for an interface


       acpiacadapter
              ACPI ac adapter state.


       acpifan
              ACPI fan state


       acpitemp
              ACPI temperature in C.


       acpitempf
              ACPI temperature in F.


       adt746xcpu
              CPU temperature from therm_adt746x


       adt746xfan
              Fan speed from therm_adt746x


       alignr (num)
              Right-justify text, with space of N


       alignc (num)
              Align text to centre


       battery (num)
              Remaining  capacity  in ACPI or APM battery. ACPI battery number
              can be given as argument (default is BAT0).


       buffers
              Amount of memory buffered


       cached Amount of memory cached


       color (color)
              Change drawing color to color


       cpu (cpuN)
              CPU usage in percents. For SMP machines, the CPU number  can  be
              provided as an argument. cpu0 is the total usage, and >=cpu1 are
              individual CPUs. See $cpu for more info on SMP.


       cpubar (cpu number) (height),(width)
              Bar that shows CPU usage, height is bars height in pixels


       cpugraph (cpu number) (height),(width) (gradient  colour  1)  (gradient
       colour 2)
              CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex, minus the #.  See
              $cpu for more info on SMP.


       diskio Displays current disk IO.


       diskiograph  (height),(width)  (gradient  colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
       (scale)
              Disk  IO graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is
              non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.


       downspeed net
              Download speed in kilobytes


       downspeedf net
              Download speed in kilobytes with one decimal


       downspeedgraph  net  (height),(width)  (gradient  colour  1)  (gradient
       colour 2) (scale)
              Download speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus  the  #.  If
              scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.


       else   Text to show if any of the above are not true


       exec command
              Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. warn
              ing: this takes a lot more resources than other  variables.  Id
              recommend coding wanted behaviour in C and posting a patch.


       execbar command
              Same  as  exec,  except  if  the  first  value return is a value
              between 0-100, it will use that number for a bar. The  size  for
              the bar is currently fixed, but that may change in the future.


       execgraph command
              Same as execbar, but graphs values.


       execi interval command
              Same  as exec but with specific interval. Interval cant be less
              than update_interval in configuration.


       execibar interval command
              Same as execbar, except with an interval


       execigraph interval command
              Same as execigraph, but takes an interval arg graphs values


       font font
              Specify a different font. Only applies to one line.


       freq   Returns CPU frequency in MHz


       freq_g Returns CPU frequency in GHz


       freq_dyn
              Returns CPU frequency in MHz, but is calculated by  counting  to
              clock  cycles  to  complete  an  instruction. Only available for
              x86/amd64.


       freq_dyn_g
              Returns CPU frequency in GHz, but is calculated by  counting  to
              clock  cycles  to  complete  an  instruction. Only available for
              x86/amd64.


       fs_bar (height),(width) fs
              Bar that shows how much space is used on a file  system.  height
              is the height in pixels. fs is any file on that file system.


       fs_free (fs)
              Free space on a file system available for users.


       fs_free_perc (fs)
              Free percentage of space on a file system available for users.


       fs_size (fs)
              File system size


       fs_used (fs)
              File system used space


       head logfile lines (interval)
              Displays  first  N lines of supplied text text file. If interval
              is not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conkys interval.  Max  of  30
              lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.


       hr (height)
              Horizontal line, height is the height in pixels


       i2c (dev), type, n
              I2C  sensor  from  sysfs  (Linux 2.6). dev may be omitted if you
              have only one I2C device. type is either  in  (or  vol)  meaning
              voltage, fan meaning fan or temp/tempf (first in C, second in F)
              meaning  temperature.  n  is   number   of   the   sensor.   See
              /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on your local computer.


       i8k_ac_status
              If  running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
              whether ac power is on, as listed in  /proc/i8k  (translated  to
              human-readable).  Beware  that this is by default not enabled by
              i8k itself.


       i8k_bios
              If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops,  displays
              the bios version as listed in /proc/i8k.


       i8k_buttons_status
              If  running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
              the volume buttons status as listed in /proc/i8k.


       i8k_cpu_temp
              If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops,  displays
              the cpu temperature in celsius, as reported by /proc/i8k.


       i8k_cpu_tempf
              If  running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
              the cpu temperature in farenheit, as reported by /proc/i8k.


       i8k_left_fan_rpm
              If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops,  displays
              the  left  fans  rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
              listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
              in reverse order.


       i8k_left_fan_status
              If  running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
              the left fan  status  as  listed  in  /proc/i8k  (translated  to
              human-readable).  Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in
              reverse order.


       i8k_right_fan_rpm
              If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops,  displays
              the  right  fans rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
              listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
              in reverse order.


       i8k_right_fan_status
              If  running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
              the right fan status  as  listed  in  /proc/i8k  (translated  to
              human-readable).  Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in
              reverse order.


       i8k_serial
              If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops,  displays
              your laptop serial number as listed in /proc/i8k.


       i8k_version
              If  running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
              the version formatting of /proc/i8k.


       if_running (process)
              if PROCESS is running, display  everything  if_running  and  the
              matching $endif


       if_existing (file)
              if  FILE  exists, display everything between if_existing and the
              matching $endif


       if_mounted (mountpoint)
              if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between  if_mounted
              and the matching $endif


       kernel Kernel version


       linkstatus interface
              Get the link status for wireless connections


       loadavg
              (1,2,3)> System load average, 1 is for past 1 minute, 2 for past
              5 minutes and 3 for past 15 minutes.


       machine
              Machine, i686 for example


       mails  Mail count in mail spool. You can use program like fetchmail  to
              get  mails  from  some server using your favourite protocol. See
              also new_mails.


       mem    Amount of memory in use


       membar (height),(width)
              Bar that shows amount of memory in use


       memmax Total amount of memory


       memperc
              Percentage of memory in use


       ml_upload_counter
              total session upload in mb


       ml_download_counter
              total session download in mb


       ml_nshared_files
              number of shared files


       ml_shared_counter
              total session shared in mb, buggy in some mldonkey versions


       ml_tcp_upload_rate
              tcp upload rate in kb/s


       ml_tcp_download_rate
              tcp download rate in kb/s


       ml_udp_upload_rate
              udp upload rate in kb/s


       ml_udp_download_rate
              udp download rate in kb/s


       ml_ndownloaded_files
              number of completed files


       ml_ndownloading_files
              number of downloading files


       mpd_artist
              Artist in current MPD song must be enabled at compile


       mpd_album
              Album in current MPD song


       mpd_bar (height),(width)
              Bar of mpds progress


       mpd_bitrate
              Bitrate of current song


       mpd_status
              Playing, stopped, et cetera.


       mpd_title
              Title of current MPD song


       mpd_vol
              MPDs volume


       mpd_elapsed
              Songs elapsed time


       mpd_length
              Songs length


       mpd_percent
              Percent of songs progress


       new_mails
              Unread mail count in mail spool.


       nodename
              Hostname


       outlinecolor (color)
              Change outline color


       pre_exec shell command
              Executes a shell command one time before conky displays anything
              and puts output as text.


       processes
              Total processes (sleeping and running)


       running_processes
              Running processes (not sleeping), requires Linux 2.6


       shadecolor (color)
              Change shading color


       stippled_hr (space)
              Stippled (dashed) horizontal line


       swapbar (height),(width)
              Bar that shows amount of swap in use


       swap   Amount of swap in use


       swapmax
              Total amount of swap


       swapperc
              Percentage of swap in use


       sysname
              System name, Linux for example


       offset (pixels)
              Move text over by N pixels. See also $voffset.


       tail logfile lines (interval)
              Displays last N lines of supplied text text file. If interval is
              not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conkys interval. Max of 30 lines
              can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.


       time (format)
              Local  time, see man strftime to get more information about for
              mat


       totaldown net
              Total download, overflows at 4 GB on Linux with 32-bit arch  and
              there  doesnt  seem  to  be a way to know how many times it has
              already done that before conky has started.


       top type, num
              This takes arguments in the form:top (name) (number)  Basically,
              processes  are  ranked  from  highest  to lowest in terms of cpu
              usage, which is what (num) represents. The  types  are:  "name",
              "pid",  "cpu",  and  mem".  There  can  be a max of 10 processes
              listed.


       top_mem type, num
              Same as top, except sorted by mem usage instead of cpu


       totalup net
              Total upload, this one too, may overflow


       updates Number of updates
              for debugging


       upspeed net
              Upload speed in kilobytes


       upspeedf net
              Upload speed in kilobytes with one decimal


       upspeedgraph net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient  colour
       2) (scale)
              Upload speed graph, colours defined in  hex,  minus  the  #.  If
              scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.


       uptime Uptime


       uptime_short
              Uptime in a shorter format


       seti_prog
              Seti@home current progress


       seti_progbar (height),(width)
              Seti@home current progress bar


       seti_credit
              Seti@home total user credit


       voffset (pixels)
              Change  verticle  offset by N pixels. Negative values will cause
              text to overlap. See also $offset.


EXAMPLES
       conky -t${time %D %H:%m}-o -u 30
              Start Conky in its own window with date and clock as text and 30
              sec update interval.

       conky -a top_left -x 5 -y 500 -d
              Start Conky to background at coordinates (5, 500).

FILES
       ~/.conkyrc default configuration file

BUGS
       Drawing to root or some other desktop window directly doesnt work with
       all window managers. Especially doesnt work well with Gnome and it has
       been  reported  that  it  doesnt work with KDE either. Nautilus can be
       disabled from drawing to desktop  with  program  gconf-editor.  Uncheck
       show_desktop  in  /apps/nautilus/preferences/.  There  is  -w switch in
       Conky to set some specific window id. You  might  find  xwininfo  -tree
       useful  to  find  the  window  to draw to. You can also use -o argument
       which makes Conky to create its own window.

SEE ALSO
       http://conky.sourceforge.net

       http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/conky

       #conky on irc.freenode.net

AUTHORS
       The Conky dev team. Whats up now!



                                  2005-08-27                          conky(1)