xrt(1) xrt(1)
XRT
xrt - Display a short text file in the root window
SYNOPSIS
xrt [-?] [-a] [-b colour] [-c] [-d] [-f font] [-g gap] [-h] [-
l linewidth] [-n] [-p percentage] [-r] [-s colour] [-t title] [-
w width] [filename [filename...]]
DESCRIPTION
xrt writes a box containing text directly onto the root window, with
an optional title line. Its primary use is to display the motd on the
xdm login screen (i.e. prior to the user logging in).
OPTIONS
The following options are recognised:
-? Display a syntax usage message.
-a Only display characters in the range ASCII 32 to 126. Tabs
and linefeeds are the only other characters dealt with if
this option is used.
-b colour
Sets the specified background colour for the box, the
default being beige.
-c Centre the text in each line of the box. Leading and
trailing spaces (after tab expansion) are removed prior to
the centralisation of the text. This is particularly useful
for proportional fonts.
-d Add the time and date (of the most recent file specified or
the current time if standard input is used) at the top of
the text box. TZ is used for the time zone, but a fallback
time zone can be hard-coded in during compile-time for use
when the TZ environmental variable isn't set (e.g. during
the xdm login screen).
-f font
Use the font specified instead of the default 9x15 font
(unless the specified font doesn't exist). Either
proportional or non-proportional fonts can be used, although
it is recommended that you use -c to centre proportional
fonts.
-g gap
Add the specified number of pixels as an inter-line gap, the
default being 1 pixel. Negative values can be specified if
you want pointlessly overlapping lines of text.
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xrt(1) xrt(1)
-h Use a horizontal line to split each readable file (assuming
there are 2 or more such files) that is displayed. This
enforces a limit of 16 readable files. The line width
specified via -l is ignored - the line is always one pixel
high.
-l linewidth
Sets the line width of the box border (default is 3). A line
width of 0 means no border around the box.
-n Add the last openable filename to the title at the top of
the box (<stdin> is displayed if standard input is used).
-p percent
Specify the percentage down from the top of the screen where
the vertical centre of the box (excluding the title) is
located. Defaults to 50%. This is a percentage so that
different sized screens will still have sensible
positioning. For xdm login screens, the author recommends an
80% setting.
-r Switch to reverse video (i.e. flip foreground and background
colours).
-s colour
Sets the specified foreground colour for the text and
borders, the default being navyblue.
-t title
Adds the specified title to the top of the box, overriding
the -n option. It can still be combined with the -d option
though.
-w width
Set a fixed width in pixels for the box (excluding any
borders). This overrides the default behaviour, which is to
dynamically calculate the box width based on the longest
string to be displayed.
CLEVER BITS
xrt will not draw anything if no lines of text or only blank lines of
text are supplied. It also converts tabs into spaces using a tabstop
of 8 characters. Files that can't be read are skipped with a warning
to stderr. The box is now intelligently positioned/truncated on the
screen, so it usually avoids being partially off the screen (-h might
fool it though).
BUGS
Nothing at the moment, he says with a grin.
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xrt(1) xrt(1)
SEE ALSO
xdm(1),xroach(1),xsetroot(1)
AUTHOR
Richard K. Lloyd <rkl@csc.liv.ac.uk>
- 3 - Formatted: December 30, 2025
