



asetroot(1.7.9)                                   asetroot(1.7.9)

NAME

       asetroot  -  the  AfterStep  desktop background management
       module

SYNOPSIS

       asetroot [-f config_file] [-v | --version] [-h  |  --help]
       [-l | --loadonly] [-k | --kill] [n [m]]

       Although  asetroot can be run from the command line, it is
       normally spawned by afterstep in the autoexec file, in the
       following manner:

            Module    "I"  asetroot
            Wait "I"  asetroot

       In  case  you use asetroot to switch your root backgrounds
       Wait can be used as shown above.  This  will  insure  that
       the  asetroot has set the root background before you start
       any furthur apps (like transparent aterms and Eterms).

       or from within an afterstep menu file by 'asetroot':

       % cat "~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/start/Modules/asetroot"
            Module "asetroot" asetroot
            MiniPixmap "mini-as.xpm"

       To stop the asetroot module, a menu item can be used:

       % cat "~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/start/Modules/asetroot_Stop"
            KillModuleByName "Stop asetroot" asetroot
            MiniPixmap "mini-as.xpm"

       Note:  if  asetroot  used  with  either    -k(--kill)   or
       -l(--loadonly)  options it can be started both as a module
       or as regular app, as it does not communicate with  After
       Step in that case. You can even add it to your .xinitrc to
       load X root background prior to starting window manager.

DESCRIPTION

       Depending on the options it is started with, asetroot  can
       perform different tasks:

       Normal mode: asetroot will load root backgrounds for spec
       ifyed range of desks into memory, it will set  X  property
       containing information  allowing usage of this backgrounds
       by other modules/applications, and will  remain  resident,
       tracking desk changes and changing root background accord
       ingly. It is recommended that you don't use any other apps
       to  switch  backgrounds  in  this mode for this particular
       range of desks.

       Load-only mode: asetroot will load  root  backgrounds  for



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asetroot(1.7.9)                                   asetroot(1.7.9)


       specifyed  range of desks into memory, it will set X prop
       erty containing information allowing usage of  this  back
       grounds  by other modules/applications. It will then quit,
       leaving all the required  images  resident  in  X  memory,
       leaving  it  to  other  apps  to  switch backgrounds (like
       Pager). That provides some memory savings, as you run only
       one module instead of two.

       Kill  mode:  It's  not  good  to litter memory with multi
       megabyte images in the  memory. You can use kill  mode  of
       asetroot  to  cleanup  memory from loaded images when they
       are no longer needed, for example when quiting  AfterStep,
       or when using same background on all desks (in that latter
       case it's enough to set background once and it  will  stay
       there  forever). Kill mode will kill all backgrounds - you
       can't specify desks range here!

       asetroot was designed to be as  bulletproof  as  possible,
       but  improper usage can lead it to cause crashes in After
       Step, Pager, Wharf and transparent aterms, if  you  havily
       using  transparency.  By all means avoid running two  dif
       ferent asetroots on the same range of desks, at  the  same
       time.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       $SCREEN_GAMMA
              Value of this env variable is used to gamma-correct
              PNG and JPEG images, when loading them from  files.
              Default  value  of  1.0 is used if this variable is
              not defined - which means no correction at all. Try
              using  2.2  for some older monitors to get brighter
              images.

OPTIONS

       -f config_file
              Use config_file instead of the  default  configura
              tion file.


       -h | --help
              Print a usage message and exit successfully.


       -v | --version
              Print version information and exit successfully.


       -l | --loadonly
              asetroot starts in Load-only mode ( see above ).






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asetroot(1.7.9)                                   asetroot(1.7.9)


       -k | --kill
              asetroot starts in Kill mode ( see above ).


       n [m]  Optional  parameter that is limiting asetroot func
              tionality to range of desks. n  -  specifyes  lower
              desk number, m - upper desk number.

INITIALIZATION

       During initialization, asetroot will search for a configu
       ration file which describes the image operations  to  per
       form on the root pixmap.  This file will be the one speci
       fied  by  the   -f   option   (if   given).    Else,   the
       ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/asetroot  file will be used if
       it exists.  Else, /usr/local/share/afterstep/asetroot will
       be used.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

*asetrootDeskBack desk# "background"
Specifyes what background to use for desk#. "back
ground" can be either image filename in double
quotes, or the name of background definition (see
below).

MyBackground "background_name"

background_option

~MyBackground
Specifies the beginning of a background definition.
The background can be referred to later by back
ground_name. ~MyBackground ends a root background
definition. The possible background_options follow:

Use type "data"
Specifyes what to use as the root back
ground. Possible type values are :
0: load image from the file. In that case ""data"" should specify
filename.

1: Use MyStyle definition to fill root. In that case ""data""
should specify one of the MyStyle names defined in your look file.

2: Use external application to set root background. ""data""
should specify command line options to this external app. By default
xli is used. Change it to something else, if you want, in options to

Note: remaining Background options are valid
only for type of 0 !!!

asetroot Jun 16 1999 3

asetroot(1.7.9) asetroot(1.7.9)

remaining options will perform trasforma
tions on the source image, in this order:
Cut->Tint->Scale->Align->Pad.

Cut geometry
will cut piece with specifyed geometry from
the source image.

Tint color
will tint image with color. Use shades of
gray to obtain darkened image. Note: this
only works on TrueColor displays.

Scale [geometry]
scale image to specifyed geometry. If geome
try is omitted asetroot will scale it to the
screen size.

Align [type]
it will align resulting image according to
type. Possible values are :
1: - align to the right of the screen
2: - align to the bottom of the screen
3: - align to the bottom-right of the screen
0 or 4: - align to the center of the screen
This option works only in conjunction with
the following Pad option.

Pad [type color]
will pad image if it is smaller then screen
with specifyed color. Possible type values
are :
1: - pad horizontally and tile vertically
2: - pad vertically and tile
horizontally
3: - pad both vertically and horizontally to make image the
size of the screen.

BUGS

       SCALE is produces low quality images.

AUTHOR

       Rafal Wierzbicki
       Sasha Vasko (asimagelib)






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asetroot(1.7.9)                                   asetroot(1.7.9)