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conky(1)                                                              conky(1)



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

SYNOPSIS
       conky [options]

DESCRIPTION
       Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on  the  torsmo  code.
       Since  it's original conception, Conky has changed a fair bit from it's
       predecessor.  Conky can display just about  anything,  either  on  your
       root  desktop  or in it's 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
       For  users  compiling from source, 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 Gentoo's Portage... simply use "emerge app-
       admin/conky" for installation.  There is  also  usually  an  up-to-date
       ebuild within Conky's package or in CVS.

       Debian,etc.  users  --  Conky will be in Debian's repositories soon (by
       mid-September, hopefully), and then Ubuntu  shortly  thereafter.  Until
       then, "dpkg -i" the .deb package to install.

       Example  to  compile  and  run Conky with all optional components (note
       that some configure options may differ for your system):

       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-xft   --enable-seti   --enable-dou-
       ble-buffer    --enable-own-window   --enable-proc-uptime   --enable-mpd
       --enable-mldonkey    --enable-x11    --enable-portmon     --enable-xmms
       --enable-bmp --enable-audacious --enable-infopipe --enable-bmpx

       make

       make install # Optional

       src/conky

       Conky probably doesn't compile with compilers other than gcc  and  icc.
       It  doesn't  compile  with C89 compiler and not even with pure C99.  It
       uses a 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 don't
       know exactly why.

       You  can disable 'drawing to own window' feature in case you don't 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's seriously wrong (mem leak, etc.).

       An easy way to force Conky to reload your ~/.conkyrc: "killall -SIGUSR1
       conky".  Saves you the trouble of having to kill 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
       there'll be a better solution in Conky 2.x...

OPTIONS
       Command  line  options override configurations defined in configuration
       file.

       -v | -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. If installing from
       Debian package, this should be in /usr/share/doc/conky/examples  ("gun-
       zip conkyrc.sample.gz" to get conkyrc.sample).

       You  might  want  to copy it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying
       it.  Other configs can be found at http://conky.sf.net

       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 border's 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 won't be
              so big.


       draw_borders
              Draw borders around text?


       draw_graph_borders
              Draw borders around graphs?


       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


       min_port_monitors
              Allow for the creation of at least this number of port  monitors
              (if 0 or not set, default is 16)


       min_port_monitor_connections
              Allow  each port monitor to track at least this many connections
              (if 0 or not set, default is 256)


       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)


       out_to_console
              Print text to stdout.


       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)


       wm_class_name
              Manually set the WM_CLASS name. Defaults to "conky".


       xmms_player
              Use specified player/plugin for the xmms status variables. Valid
              items are: none, xmms, bmp, audacious and infopipe. (default  is
              none). Note that bmpx is currently handled separately.


       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
       [http://sedition.com/perl/rgb.html].  Color can be also in #rrggbb for-
       mat (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


       apm_adapter
              Display APM AC adapter status (FreeBSD only)


       apm_battery_life
              Display APM battery life in percent (FreeBSD only)


       apm_battery_time
              Display  remaining  APM battery life in hh:mm:ss or "unknown" if
              AC adapterstatus is on-line or charging (FreeBSD only)


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


       bmpx_artist
              Artist in current BMPx track


       bmpx_album
              Album in current BMPx track


       bmpx_title
              Title of the current BMPx track


       bmpx_track
              Track number of the current BMPx track


       bmpx_bitrate
              Bitrate of the current BMPx track


       bmpx_uri
              URI of the current BMPx track


       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.


       cpubar (cpu number) (height),(width)
              Bar  that shows CPU usage, height is bar's height in pixels. See
              $cpu for more info on SMP.


       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.  I'd
              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 can't be less
              than update_interval in configuration. See also $texeci


       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 Conky's 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  fan's  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  fan's 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


       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 mpd's progress


       mpd_bitrate
              Bitrate of current song


       mpd_status
              Playing, stopped, et cetera.


       mpd_title
              Title of current MPD song


       mpd_vol
              MPD's volume


       mpd_elapsed
              Song's elapsed time


       mpd_length
              Song's length


       mpd_percent
              Percent of song's progress


       mpd_random
              Random status (On/Off)


       mpd_repeat
              Repeat status (On/Off)


       mpd_track
              Prints the MPD track field


       mpd_name
              Prints the MPD name field


       mpd_file
              Prints the file name of the current MPD song


       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


       tcp_portmon port_begin port_end item (index) (ip4 only at present)
              TCP port monitor for specified local ports. Port numbers must be
              in the range 1 to 65535. Valid items are:

              count - total number of connections in the range

              rip - remote ip address

              rhost - remote host name

              rport - remote port number

              lip - local ip address

              lhost - local host name

              lservice - local service name from /etc/services

              The connection index provides you with access to each connection
              in  the  port  monitor.  The monitor will return information for
              index values from 0 to n-1 connections. Values higher  than  n-1
              are  simply  ignored. For the "count" item, the connection index
              must be omitted. It is required for all other items.

              Examples:

              ${tcp_portmon 6881 6999 count} - displays the number of  connec-
              tions in the bittorrent port range

              ${tcp_portmon  22 22 rip 0} - displays the remote host ip of the
              first sshd connection

              ${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 9} - displays the remote host ip of  the
              tenth sshd connection

              ${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rhost 0} - displays the remote host name of
              the first connection on a privileged port

              ${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rport 4} - displays the remote host port of
              the fifth connection on a privileged port

              ${tcp_portmon  1 65535 lservice 14} - displays the local service
              name of the fifteenth connection in the range of all ports

              Note that port monitor variables which share the same port range
              actually refer to the same monitor, so many references to a sin-
              gle port range for different items and different indexes all use
              the  same monitor internally. In other words, the program avoids
              creating redundant monitors.

       texeci interval command
              Runs a command at an interval inside a thread and  displays  the
              output.  Same  as  $execi,  except  the  command is run inside a
              thread. Use this if you have a slow script to keep Conky  updat-
              ing.  You should make the interval slightly longer then the time
              it takes your script to execute. For  example,  if  you  have  a
              script  that  take  5  seconds  to  execute, you should make the
              interval at least 6 seconds. See also $execi.


       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 Conky's 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 doesn't 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 vertical offset by N pixels. Negative values  will  cause
              text to overlap. See also $offset.


       xmms_bar (height),(width)
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: progress bar


       xmms_bitrate
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: bitrate of current tune


       xmms_channels
              xmms  /  bmp / audacious / infopipe: number of audio channels of
              current tune


       xmms_filename
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: full  path  and  filename  of
              current tune


       xmms_frequency
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: sampling frequency of current
              tune


       xmms_length
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: total length of current  tune
              as MM:SS


       xmms_length_seconds
              xmms  / bmp / audacious / infopipe: total length of current tune
              in seconds


       xmms_playlist_position
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: playlist position of  current
              tune


       xmms_playlist_length
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: number of tunes in playlist


       xmms_position
              xmms  /  bmp  /  audacious / infopipe: MM:SS position of current
              tune


       xmms_position_seconds
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: position of current  tune  in
              seconds


       xmms_status
              xmms  /  bmp  /  audacious  /  infopipe:  player  status  (Play-
              ing/Paused/Stopped/Not running)


       xmms_title
              xmms / bmp / audacious / infopipe: title of current tune


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 doesn't work with
       all window managers. Especially doesn't work well with Gnome and it has
       been  reported  that  it  doesn't 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://conky.sourceforge.net]

       http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/conky           [http://www.source-
       forge.net/projects/conky]

       #conky on irc.freenode.net

AUTHORS
       The Conky dev team. What's up now!



                                  2006-02-12                          conky(1)