FVWM-MENU-XLOCK(1)

💅 FVWM-MENU-XLOCK(1) — the group chat edition

okay so bestie, welcome to fvwm-menu-xlock, from section 1 of the manual (that's the "type this in your shell" section, iykyk). Pull up a chair, grab a strawberry 🍓, and let's get into it.

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✨ NAME ✨

fvwm-menu-xlock — builds xlock menu definition for fvwm. no cap, that's literally the whole job description.

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

fvwm-menu-xlock [ --help|-h|-? ] [ --version|-V ] [ --name|-n name ] [ --title|-t title ] [ --item format ] [ --icon-title icon ] [ --icon-item icon ] [ --special-first|-s ] [ -- xlock params ]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

It's a simple perl script 💖. What it does: it parses xlock's output, and then it builds an fvwm menu definition containing all of xlock's modes. That's it. That's the whole thing. iconic behaviour fr fr.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --help — shows the help and then dips out. exit stage left, we love a clean exit.
• --version — shows the version and then also dips out.
• --name _name_ — defines the menu name, which goes in the argument right after it. default is XLockMenu.
• --title _title_ — defines the menu title, also in the argument right after it. default is XLock Modes.
• --item _format_ — defines the menu item format, again in the next argument. default is '%n\t(%d)'. TAB can be specified as '\t', but listen — in .fvwm2rc you should specify a double backslash or a real TAB. don't say I didn't warn you 🫶.

Format specifiers, the moment you've been waiting for:

%n - mode name
%d - mode description
%D - mode description without "Shows " prefix if any

These specifiers can receive an optional integer size, positive for right adjusted string or negative for left adjusted, example: %8x; and optional *num or *-num, which means to leave only the first or last (if minus) num of chars, the num must be greater than 3, since the striped part is replaced with ..., example: %*30x. Both can be combined: %-10*-20x, this instructs to get only the 20 last characters, but if the length is less then 10 — to fill with up to 10 spaces on the right. so much power in one little format string, honestly 🎀

• --icon-title _icon_ — defines the menu icon for the title. default is no title icon, which is equivalent to an empty icon argument.
• --icon-item _icon_ — defines the menu icon for a regular item. default is no icon, also equivalent to an empty icon argument.
• --wm-icons — defines icon names suitable for use with the wm-icons package. currently this is equivalent to: --icon-title '' --icon-item menu/lock.xpm. cute!
• --special-first — instructs to include special modes first (usually black, bomb and random). main character energy for the specials, we respect it 👑.
• Option parameters can be specified either using '=' or in the next argument. short options are ok if not ambiguous: -h, -t; but be careful with short options — what is now unambiguous can became ambiguous in the next versions. 💀 so maybe just spell it out, bestie.
• Additional arguments (after --) will be passed to xlock. yes, everything after the -- is xlock's problem now.
• Please see the xlock(1) man page for the xlock options. go read it, I'll wait 🌈

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🧚 USAGE 🧚

Add these lines to your fvwm configuration file:

PipeRead 'fvwm-menu-xlock --name MenuSSaver --title "Screensaver" \
  --icon-item mini-bball.xpm --special-first -- -nice 19 -nolock'
PipeRead 'fvwm-menu-xlock --name MenuSLock --title "Lock Screen" \
  --icon-item mini-rball.xpm --special-first -- -nice 19'
AddToMenu "Utilities" "Screensaver%mini-monitor.xpm%" Popup MenuSSaver
AddToMenu "Utilities" "Screenlock%mini-lock.xpm%" Popup MenuSLock

look at that. two whole menus, one config file, zero stress. slay. ✨

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

• Charles K. Hines chuck_hines@vnet.ibm.com, initial version. the founding mother/father of the vibe.
• Mikhael Goikhman migo@homemail.com, from 24 Feb 1999. carrying the torch since '99 🫶.

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🎀 COPYING 🎀

The script is distributed by the same terms as fvwm itself. See GNU General Public License for details. (that's the big important legal one, respect it.)

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😭 BUGS 😭

Depends on the output of xlock. Will produce an empty menu if the structure of the output is changed. so if xlock ever changes how it talks, this script is just standing there like 🧍 giving you nothing.

Report bugs to fvwm-workers@fvwm.org or https://github.com/fvwmorg/fvwm3. please do it, the devs are literally so nice about it.

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially an expert 💖. this lil manual page is dated 2026-07-31 and lives under the FVWM-MENU-XLOCK(1) banner, mwah, go forth and lock your screen in style 💅🌸