ALOCK(1)

📦 version 2.5.1, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 ALOCK(1) — your girl's guide to alock

okay so real talk, this is the manual page for alock (that's the whole NAME situation, bestie: alock — locks the local X display until the correct password is entered). pull up a chair, we're getting into it.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

alock [-help] [-modules] [-auth type:opts] [-bg type:opts] [-cursor
type:opts] [-input type:opts]

that's the whole shape of it, no cap 🫶

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so alock is a simple screen lock application — like, literally its whole personality. it locks your X server until the correct password is provided. if the authentication was successful, the X server is unlocked and you can go back to doing your thing. icon behavior. 👑

here's the quirky bit: when alock is started it just waits for the first keypress. that first keypress is you saying "yes hi, I would like to type in the password now." at first glance you might be like "why 😭 that's annoying" — however this approach is chosen due to security reasons. so it's not a bug, it's a boundary. periodt. 💅

heads up bestie: alock does not provide any fancy animations like xlock and xscreensaver and probably never will. it's just for locking the current X session. that's it. that's the gig. no screensaver fish tank, no flying toasters. ✨

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -h, -help — Print a short help
  • -m, -modules — List available (compiled in) module types
  • -a, -auth type:options — Define the type of the authentication, depends strongly on how alock was built:
    • none — No authentication at all
    • pam — Tries to authenticate against the users system-password using the pam-login-module.
    • passwd — Tries to authenticate against the users system-password. On systems using shadow alock needs the suid-flag set.
    • hash — Authenticates using arbitrary hash comparison.
      • list — display available hashing algorithms
      • type=<type> — use <type> hashing algorithm
      • hash=<hash> — use <hash> as reference
      • file=<filename> — use content of <filename> as reference
  • -b, -bg type:options — Define the type of how alock should handle the background:
    • none — You can see everything like it is
    • blank — Fill the background with color
      • color=<color> — use <color>
    • shade — Dims content of the screen and recolors it.
      • color=<color> — use <color>
      • shade=<percent> — valid from 1 to 99
      • blur=<percent> — valid from 1 to 99
      • mono — convert to monochrome
    • image — Use the image <filename> and puts it as the background
      • file=<filename>
      • center
      • scale
      • tiled
      • color=<color> — use <color>
      • shade=<percent> — valid from 1 to 99
  • -c, -cursor type:options — Define the look-a-like of the cursor/mouse pointer:
    • none — No change to the current cursor
    • glyph — Use the given glyph of the "cursor"-font
      • list — Display all possible glyph-names
      • name=<name>
      • bg=<color>
      • fg=<color>
    • xcursor — Use the given <filename> in xcursor-format
      • file=<filename>
    • image — Use the given <filename>
      • file=<filename>
  • -i, -input type:options — Define the type of the input indicator, which should be used while typing password:
    • none — No input feedback for user
    • frame — Display frame on the current display
      • width=<width> — the frame width, valid from 1 upwards
      • input=<color> — use <color> while typing
      • check=<color> — use <color> while checking password
      • error=<color> — use <color> upon authentication error

🦋 RESOURCES 🦋

okay so these are the X resource names, iykyk — each one maps to a flag above 💖

  • ALock.Background.Blank.Color — Same as -b blank:color. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Background.Image.Color — Same as -b image:color. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Background.Image.Shade — Same as -b image:shade. Numerical.
  • ALock.Background.Image.Option — Same as -b image:center, -b image:scale or -b image:tiled. Available option values: center, scale, tiled
  • ALock.Background.Shade.Color — Same as -b shade:color. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Background.Shade.Shade — Same as -b shade:shade. Numerical.
  • ALock.Background.Shade.Blur — Same as -b shade:blur. Numerical.
  • ALock.Background.Shade.Mono — Same as -b shade:mono. Boolean.
  • ALock.Cursor.Glyph.Name — Same as -c glyph:name. Compiled-in glyph name.
  • ALock.Cursor.Glyph.Background — Same as -b glyph:bg. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Cursor.Glyph.Foreground — Same as -b glyph:fg. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Input.Frame.Color.Input — Same as -i frame:input. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Input.Frame.Color.Check — Same as -i frame:check. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Input.Frame.Color.Error — Same as -i frame:error. X color resource name.
  • ALock.Input.Frame.Width — Same as -i frame:width. Numerical.

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Originally written by Mathias Gumz <akira at fluxbox.org>, based upon xtrlock. Starting with alock version 2.0, code is maintained by Arkadiusz Bokowy <arkadiusz.bokowy at gmail.com>. legends, honestly 🫶✨

🌈 COPYING 🌈

Copyright (C) 2005 - 2009 Mathias Gumz, 2014 Arkadiusz Bokowy. Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the MIT. See LICENSE provided in the distribution.

and that's the whole page bestie — ALOCK(1), dated 02/13/2015, and yes that footer is literally just that same ALOCK(1) tag again at the bottom, cute right 💀 stay locked, stay gorgeous 💅✨

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