pbs_idled(8B)

💤 pbs_idled(8B) — the little daemon that knows when you're actually at your desk 💤

okay so real talk: this is the man page for pbs_idled, and it lives in section 8B of the manual, which is the PBS Professional corner of the world. it's a whole daemon whose entire personality is "are you touching the keyboard or not" and honestly? iconic. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

pbs_idled — runs the PBS daemon that watches the console and tells pbs_mom all about your idle time. yes, it's literally the vibes-checker for whether a machine is busy or just sitting there. 💅

🐧 LINUX SYNOPSIS 🐧

pbs_idled [-D <display>] [-r <reconnect delay>] [-w <wait time>]
pbs_idled --version

🪟 WINDOWS SYNOPSIS 🪟

pbs_idled [start | stop]
pbs_idled --version

💖 LINUX DESCRIPTION 💖

so on Linux, pbs_idled is out here monitoring an X windows display and reporting the display's idle time back to PBS. if the mouse moves or a key gets touched, PBS gets told that the vnode is busy. no cap, that's the whole job. 🐭⌨️

the way you're supposed to run this: from the system-wide Xsession file, in the background, before the window manager is run. main character placement, honestly.

🚨 important bestie: if you run this program outside of the Xsession, it will need to be able to make a connection to the X display. if it can't connect, it can't do its little job.

for the deets on X security, go peek at the xhost or xauth man pages. iykyk. 🔐

🪟 WINDOWS DESCRIPTION 🪟

on Windows the plot shifts a little: pbs_idled reads its polling interval from a file called idle_poll_time, which is created by MoM. then it monitors keyboard, mouse, and console activity, and updates a file called idle_touch whenever it catches user activity. also created by MoM. team work makes the dream work fr fr. 🧚

🌸 LINUX OPTIONS 🌸

• -D <display> — the display to connect to and monitor. point it at the X display you want it to keep an eye on. 👀
• -r <reconnect delay> — time to wait before we try to reconnect to the X display if the previous attempt was unsuccessful. basically the "okay bestie, take a breather, try again" timer. 😮‍💨
• -w <wait time> — interval between times when the daemon checks for events or pointer movement. the snooze button between vibe checks. ⏱️
• --version — the pbs_idled command returns its PBS version information and exits. ✨ this option can only be used alone ✨ — do not try to pair it with friends, it's a solo act.

🦋 WINDOWS OPTIONS 🦋

• start — starts the pbs_idled process. go go go 🚀
• stop — stops the pbs_idled process. okay bye 👋
• --version — the pbs_idled process returns its PBS version information and exits. again: this option can only be used alone. it's giving independent woman energy. 💅

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

pbs_mom(8B), xhost(1), xauth(1) — go read those too, they're the supporting cast and they ate. 🌈

and that's the whole page bestie, you understood it perfectly, i'm so proud of you 💜

source/version: Local · date: 6 May 2020 · and it's all part of PBS Professional, mwah 🎀✨