X Power Tools

Chapter 6. X Utility Programs

The Unused Toolbox

The standard X distribution contains a number of command-line utilities to configure and administer the X server. These tools have been collected over many years, and some have a very old look and feel to them. Indeed, many have been superseded by tools built into modern desktop environments. Nonetheless, they continue to be extremely useful for system administrators. The articles in this chapter will introduce you to the more useful tools in this toolbox.

In addition to the tools discussed in this chapter, the utilities available from X.org include:

xev (Section 15.4)

For testing input events

xkbsetmap (Section 12.7) and xmodmap (Section 15.4)

For setting the keymap

xlsfonts (Section 10.4), xfontsel (Section 10.4), mkfontdir (Section 10.5), and mkfontscale (Section 10.5)

For dealing with old-style fonts

x11perf, x11perfcomp, and xmark

For testing and benchmarking a X server

xsm (Section 8.2)

For session management

glxinfo, xtrapinfo, and xvinfo

For getting information about specific extensions

Determine the Display Configuration

xdpyinfo is an X client that gathers information about the display and outputs it to standard output. This very simple program is invaluable when debugging an X server setup.

xpyinfo must be run from a terminal program (Section 7.4) or have its output redirected to be useful. It is used like this:

$ xdpyinfoname of display:    :0.0version number:    11.0vendor string:    The X.Org Foundationvendor release number: 60802000 ...