1 Conky (http://conky.rty.ca)
5 Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on the torsmo code.
6 Since it's original conception, Conky has changed a fair bit from
7 it's predecessor. Conky can display just about anything, either on
8 your root desktop or in it's own window. Conky has many built-in
9 objects, as well as the ability to execute programs and scripts,
10 then display the output from stdout.
12 We are always looking for help, and anyone interested in becoming
13 a developer is welcome. Please use the facilities at SourceForge
14 to make bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches.
16 Thanks for your interest in Conky.
18 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
20 Conky is generally very good on resources. However, certain objects in
21 Conky are harder on resources then others. In particular, the $tail,
22 $top, $font, and $graph objects are quite costly in comparison to
25 If you do use them, please do not complain about memory or CPU usage,
26 unless you think something is going seriously wrong (mem leak, et cetera).
30 To compile and run Conky with all optional components (If you run Gentoo, see the "Ebuild" Section below):
32 ./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-metar --enable-seti
36 Conky doesn't probably compile with other compilers than gcc and icc. It
37 doesn't compile with C89 compiler and not even with pure C99. It uses few
38 things that might not exist: strdup(), strcasecmp(), strncasecmp(), optarg
39 variable with getopt() and long long (not in C89). Crashes in file system
40 statistics stuff when compiled with icc, I don't know exactly why.
42 You can disable 'drawing to own window' feature in case you don't need it
43 by passing --disable-own-window to configure -script.
47 Conky is in Gentoo's Portage. Simply use "emerge conky" to install conky.
48 There is also usually an up-to-date ebuild within Conky's package or in
53 Default configuration file is $HOME/.conkyrc (can be changed from
54 conky.c among other things). See conkyrc.sample. You might want to copy
55 it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying it.
57 Configuration file confs
60 alignment Aligned position on screen, may be top_left,
61 top_right, bottom_left, bottom_right
62 background Boolean value, if true, Conky will be forked to
63 background when started
64 border_margin Border margin in pixels
65 border_width Border width in pixels
66 cpu_avg_samples The number of samples to average for CPU monitoring
67 default_color Default color and border color
68 default_shade_color Default shading color and border's shading color
69 default_outline_color Default outline color
70 Use the Xdbe extension? (eliminates flicker) It is
71 double_buffer highly recommended to use own window with this one
72 so double buffer won't be so big.
73 draw_borders Draw borders around text?
74 draw_shades Draw shades?
75 draw_outline Draw outlines?
76 font Font name in X, xfontsel can be used to get a nice
78 gap_x Gap between right or left border of screen, same as
79 passing -x at command line
80 gap_y Gap between top or bottom border of screen, same as
81 passing -y at command line
82 no_buffers Substract (file system) buffers from used memory?
83 mail_spool Mail spool for mail checking
84 metar_station METAR station code for weather, see
85 http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/ if you need to find
87 metar_server Define a custom METAR ftp server
88 metar_path Path on server to use
89 minimum_size Minimum size of window
90 mldonkey_hostname Hostname for mldonkey stuff, defaults to localhost
91 mldonkey_port Mldonkey port, 4001 default
92 mldonkey_login Mldonkey login, default none
93 mldonkey_password Mldonkey password, default none
94 net_avg_samples The number of samples to average for net data
95 override_utf8_locale Force UTF8? requires XFT
96 own_window Boolean, create own window to draw?
97 pad_percents Pad percentages to this many decimals (0 = no
99 stippled_borders Border stippling (dashing) in pixels
100 total_run_times Total number of times for Conky to update before
101 quitting. Zero makes Conky run forever
102 update_interval Update interval in seconds
103 uppercase Boolean value, if true, text is rendered in upper
105 use_spacer Adds spaces after certain objects to stop them
106 from moving other things around. Note that
107 this only helps if you are using a mono font,
108 such as Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
109 use_xft Use Xft (anti-aliased font and stuff)
110 text After this begins text to be formatted on screen
112 Boolean variable without value in text means yes. Value may be also yes,
113 true or any negative or positive integer meaning yes. No, false or zero
115 There may be some variables in text. Variable is given either in format
116 $variable or in ${variable}. Latter allows characters right after the
117 variable and must be used in some stuff because of arguments.
122 -V Prints version and exits
123 -a ALIGNMENT Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom}_{left,right}
124 -b Use double buffering (eliminates flicker)
125 -c FILE Config file to load instead of $HOME/.conkyrc
126 -d Daemonize, fork to background
128 -h Prints command line help and exits
129 -o Create own window to draw
130 -t TEXT Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t '$uptime'
131 -u SECS Update interval
132 -w WIN_ID Window id to draw
136 Command line options override configurations defined in configuration
141 Variable Arguments Description
143 addr (interface) IP address for an interface
144 acpiacadapter ACPI ac adapter state.
145 acpifan ACPI fan state
146 acpitemp ACPI temperature.
147 adt746xcpu CPU temperature from therm_adt746x
148 adt746xfan Fan speed from therm_adt746x
149 alignr (num) Right-justify text, with space of N
150 alignc Align text to centre
151 battery (num) Remaining capasity in ACPI or APM
152 battery. ACPI battery number can be
153 given as argument (default is BAT0).
154 buffers Amount of memory buffered
155 cached Amount of memory cached
156 color (color) Change drawing color to color
157 cpu CPU usage in percents
158 cpubar (height) Bar that shows CPU usage, height is
159 bar's height in pixels
160 cpugraph (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
161 CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex,
163 downspeed net Download speed in kilobytes
164 downspeedf net Download speed in kilobytes with one
166 downspeedgraph net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
167 Download speed graph, colours defined in
169 exec shell command Executes a shell command and displays
170 the output in conky. warning: this
171 takes a lot more resources than other
172 variables. I'd recommend coding wanted
173 behaviour in C and posting a patch :-).
174 execbar shell command Same as exec, except if the first value
175 return is a value between 0-100, it
176 will use that number for a bar.
177 The size for the bar is currently fixed,
178 but that may change in the future.
179 execgraph shell command Same as execbar, but graphs values
180 execi interval, shell command
181 Same as exec but with specific interval.
182 Interval can't be less than
183 update_interval in configuration.
184 font font Specify a different font. Only applies
186 fs_bar (height), (fs)Bar that shows how much space is used on
187 a file system. height is the height in
188 pixels. fs is any file on that file
190 fs_free (fs) Free space on a file system available
192 fs_free_perc (fs) Free percentage of space on a file
193 system available for users.
194 fs_size (fs) File system size
195 fs_used (fs) File system used space
196 hr (height) Horizontal line, height is the height in
198 i2c (dev), type, n I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). dev
199 may be omitted if you have only one I2C
200 device. type is either in (or vol)
201 meaning voltage, fan meaning fan or
202 temp/tempf (first in C, second in F)
203 meaning temperature. n is number of the
204 sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on
206 if_running (process) if PROCESS is running, display
207 everything if_running and the matching $endif
208 if_existing (file) if FILE exists, display everything between
209 if_existing and the matching $endif
210 if_mounted (mountpoint) if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between
211 if_mounted and the matching $endif
212 else Text to show if any of the above are not true
213 kernel Kernel version
214 linkstatus (interface) Get the link status for wireless connections
215 loadavg (1), (2), (3) System load average, 1 is for past 1
216 minute, 2 for past 5 minutes and 3 for
218 machine Machine, i686 for example
219 mails Mail count in mail spool. You can use
220 program like fetchmail to get mails from
221 some server using your favourite
222 protocol. See also new_mails.
223 mem Amount of memory in use
224 membar (height) Bar that shows amount of memory in use
225 memmax Total amount of memory
226 memperc Percentage of memory in use
230 metar_tempf Temp in F
232 metar_dew_point There are a bunch of these
233 metar_rh and they are self-explanatory
240 ml_upload_counter total session upload in mb
241 ml_download_counter total session download in mb
242 ml_nshared_files number of shared files
243 ml_shared_counter total session shared in mb, buggy
244 in some mldonkey versions
245 ml_tcp_upload_rate tcp upload rate in kb/s
246 ml_tcp_download_rate tcp download rate in kb/s
247 ml_udp_upload_rate udp upload rate in kb/s
248 ml_udp_download_rate udp download rate in kb/s
249 ml_ndownloaded_files number of completed files
250 ml_ndownloading_files number of downloading files
252 mpd_artist Artist in current MPD song
253 (must be enabled at compile)
254 mpd_album Album in current MPD song
255 mpd_bar (height) Bar of mpd's progress
256 mpd_bitrate Bitrate of current song
257 mpd_status Playing, stopped, et cetera.
258 mpd_title Title of current MPD song
260 mpd_elapsed Song's elapsed time
261 mpd_length Song's length
262 mpd_percent Percent of song's progress
263 new_mails Unread mail count in mail spool.
265 outlinecolor (color) Change outline color
266 pre_exec shell command Executes a shell command one time before
267 conky displays anything and puts output
269 processes Total processes (sleeping and running)
270 running_processes Running processes (not sleeping),
272 shadecolor (color) Change shading color
273 stippled_hr (space), Stippled (dashed) horizontal line
275 swapbar (height) Bar that shows amount of swap in use
276 swap Amount of swap in use
277 swapmax Total amount of swap
278 swapperc Percentage of swap in use
279 sysname System name, Linux for example
280 offset pixels Move text over by N pixels
281 tail logfile, lines (interval)
282 Displays last N lines of supplied text
283 text file. If interval is not supplied,
284 Conky assumes 2x Conky's interval.
286 Max of 30 lines can be displayed.
287 time (format) Local time, see man strftime to get more
288 information about format
289 totaldown net Total download, overflows at 4 GB on
290 Linux with 32-bit arch and there doesn't
291 seem to be a way to know how many times
292 it has already done that before conky
294 top type, num This takes arguments in the form:
296 Basically, processes are ranked from
297 highest to lowest in terms of cpu
298 usage, which is what <num> represents.
299 The types are: "name", "pid", "cpu", and
301 There can be a max of 10 processes listed.
302 top_mem type, num Same as top, except sorted by mem usage
304 totalup net Total upload, this one too, may overflow
305 updates Number of updates (for debugging)
306 upspeed net Upload speed in kilobytes
307 upspeedf net Upload speed in kilobytes with one
309 upspeedgraph net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
310 Upload speed graph, colours defined in
313 uptime_short Uptime in a shorter format
315 seti_prog Seti@home current progress
316 seti_progbar (height) Seti@home current progress bar
317 seti_credit Seti@hoome total user credit
320 colors are parsed using XParsecolor(), there might be a list of them:
321 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb.txt. color can be also in #rrggbb format (hex).
323 Note that when displaying bytes, power is 1024 and not 1000 so 1M really
324 means 1024*1024 bytes and not 1000*1000.
328 Drawing to root or some other desktop window directly doesn't work with
329 all window managers. Especially doesn't work well with Gnome and it has
330 been reported that it doesn't work with KDE either. Nautilus can be
331 disabled from drawing to desktop with program gconf-editor. Uncheck
332 show_desktop in /apps/nautilus/preferences/. There is -w switch in Conky
333 to set some specific window id. You might find xwininfo -tree useful to
334 find the window to draw to. You can also use -o argument which makes
335 Conky to create its own window.
projects / monky / blob