propwatch(1)

📦
version 3.107 · 2 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 propwatch — the manual page, but make it slay 💖

okay so bestie, gather round, because we're talking about propwatch, and it's from the General Commands Manual section (that's section 1, iykyk). she's a tool to monitor X11 properties and honestly? she's iconic for it.

✨ NAME ✨

propwatch — a tool to monitor X11 properties 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

propwatch [ options ] property-name ...

like, options first, then a lil list of property names. simple. clean. periodt.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so propwatch is a tool that monitors window properties of root windows and application windows. it's genuinely nice for debugging property-based IPC of X11 programs — which, yes, is exactly as niche and as powerful as it sounds. main character energy fr fr. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

propwatch uses the Athena Widgets, and it accepts the usual toolkit options like -display and -geometry. (you know the vibe — standard toolkit stuff, no cap.)

Additional options are:

  • -watch display — display to monitor the windows on. by default the display specified in the DISPLAY environment variable or via -display is used, but bestie, plot twist: it is possible to watch another display instead. 💅
  • -verbose — be verbose. that's it. that's the option. she talks more. 🗣️
  • -proplog — Log property changes to stdout. 📝
  • -kbdlog — Log keystrokes to stdout. ⌨️

All remaining command line arguments are assumed to be property names which should be monitored. and if you specify no property names at all? no worries, a build in default (WM_COMMAND) will be used instead. she's got you. 🫶

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • DISPLAY — specifies the display to use for the propwatch window. 👀

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

(the whole X11 girlies squad, honestly obsessed with them 💜)

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Gerd Knorr <kraxel@bytesex.org> — thank you for your service, legend. 🎀

Copyright (C) 1997-2003 Gerd Knorr
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
okay so important caveat bestie: this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY — and specifically without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. so like, she's free, she's fun, she comes with zero promises. use her wisely. 😭

and that's the whole page, babe ✨ cute little sign-off for you: this whole thing is (c) 1997-2003 Gerd Knorr, and yes it's page propwatch(1) of the General Commands Manual. now go monitor some properties, you absolute icon. 💖🧚🍓

📦 where this page comes from