path: root/man/weston.man

.TH WESTON 1 "2012-09-13" "Weston __version__"
.SH NAME
weston \- the reference Wayland server
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B weston
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B weston
is the reference implementation of a Wayland server. A Wayland server is a
display server, a window manager, and a compositor all in one. Weston has
several backends as loadable modules: it can run on Linux KMS (kernel
modesetting via DRM), as an X client, or inside another Wayland server
instance.

Weston supports fundamentally different graphical user interface paradigms via
shell plugins. Two plugins are provided: the desktop shell, and the tablet
shell.

When weston is started as the first windowing system (i.e. not under X nor
under another Wayland server), it should be done with the command
.B weston-launch
to set up proper privileged access to devices.

Weston also supports X clients via 
.BR XWayland ", see below."
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH BACKENDS
.TP
.I drm-backend.so
The DRM backend uses Linux KMS for output and evdev devices for input.
It supports multiple monitors in a unified desktop with DPMS. See
.BR weston-drm (7),
if installed.
.TP
.I wayland-backend.so
The Wayland backend runs on another Wayland server, a different Weston
instance, for example. Weston shows up as a single desktop window on
the parent server.
.TP
.I x11-backend.so
The X11 backend runs on an X server. Each Weston output becomes an
X window. This is a cheap way to test multi-monitor support of a
Wayland shell, desktop, or applications.
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH SHELLS
.TP
Desktop shell
Desktop shell is like a modern X desktop environment, concentrating
on traditional keyboard and mouse user interfaces and the familiar
desktop-like window management. Desktop shell consists of the
shell plugin
.I desktop-shell.so
and the special client
.B weston-desktop-shell
which provides the wallpaper, panel, and screen locking dialog.
.TP
Tablet shell
Tablet shell is a graphical user interface aimed for tablet-like
devices, where usually the only input method is a touch screen.
It does not support freely floating windows or many other desktop
features, but intends to provide a natural interface on tablets.
Tablet shell consists of the shell plugin
.I tablet-shell.so
and the special client
.B weston-tablet-shell
which provides the basic user interface.
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH XWAYLAND
XWayland requires a special X.org server to be installed. This X server will
connect to a Wayland server as a Wayland client, and X clients will connect to
the X server. XWayland provides backwards compatibility to X applications in a
Wayland stack.

XWayland is activated by instructing
.BR weston " to load " xwayland.so " module, see " EXAMPLES .
Weston starts listening on a new X display socket, and exports it in the
environment variable
.BR DISPLAY .
When the first X client connects, Weston launches a special X server as a
Wayland client to handle the X client and all future X clients.

It has also its own X window manager where cursor themes and sizes can be
chosen using
.BR XCURSOR_PATH
and
.BR XCURSOR_SIZE " environment variables. See " ENVIRONMENT .
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH OPTIONS
.
.SS Weston core options:
.TP
\fB\-\^B\fR\fIbackend.so\fR, \fB\-\-backend\fR=\fIbackend.so\fR
Load
.I backend.so
instead of the default backend. The file is searched for in
.IR "__weston_modules_dir__" ,
or you can pass an absolute path. The default backend is 
.I __weston_native_backend__
unless the environment suggests otherwise, see
.IR DISPLAY " and " WAYLAND_DISPLAY .
.TP
.BR \-\^h ", " \-\-help
Print the program version and a summary of command line options, and quit.
.TP
\fB\-\^i\fR\fIN\fR, \fB\-\-idle\-time\fR=\fIN\fR
Set the idle timeout to
.I N
seconds. The default timeout is 300 seconds. When there has not been any
user input for the idle timeout, Weston enters an inactive mode. The
screen fades to black, and depending on the shell in use, a screensaver
may activate, monitors may switch off, and the shell may lock the session.
.TP
\fB\-\-log\fR=\fIfile.log\fR
Append log messages to the file
.I file.log
instead of writing them to stderr.
.TP
\fB\-\-modules\fR=\fImodule1.so,module2.so\fR
Load the comma-separated list of modules. Only used by the test
suite. The file is searched for in
.IR "__weston_modules_dir__" ,
or you can pass an absolute path.
.TP
\fB\-\^S\fR\fIname\fR, \fB\-\-socket\fR=\fIname\fR
Weston will listen in the Wayland socket called
.IR name .
Weston will export
.B WAYLAND_DISPLAY
with this value in the environment for all child processes to allow them to
connect to the right server automatically.
.SS DRM backend options:
See
.BR weston-drm (7).
.
.SS Wayland backend options:
.TP
\fB\-\-display\fR=\fIdisplay\fR
Name of the Wayland display to connect to, see also
.I WAYLAND_DISPLAY
of the environment.
.TP
\fB\-\-width\fR=\fIW\fR, \fB\-\-height\fR=\fIH\fR
Make the desktop size
.IR W x H " pixels."
.
.SS X11 backend options:
.TP
.B \-\-fullscreen
.TP
.B \-\-no\-input
Do not provide any input devices. Used for testing input-less Weston.
.TP
\fB\-\-output\-count\fR=\fIN\fR
Create
.I N
X windows to emulate the same number of outputs.
.TP
\fB\-\-width\fR=\fIW\fR, \fB\-\-height\fR=\fIH\fR
Make the default size of each X window
.IR W x H " pixels."
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH FILES
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.
.TP
.B DISPLAY
The X display. If
.B DISPLAY
is set, and
.B WAYLAND_DISPLAY
is not set, the default backend becomes
.IR x11-backend.so .
.TP
.B WAYLAND_DEBUG
If set to any value, causes libwayland to print the live protocol
to stderr.
.TP
.B WAYLAND_DISPLAY
The name of the display (socket) of an already running Wayland server, without
the path. The directory path is always taken from
.BR XDG_RUNTIME_DIR .
If
.B WAYLAND_DISPLAY
is not set, the socket name is "wayland-0".

If
.B WAYLAND_DISPLAY
is already set, the default backend becomes
.IR wayland-backend.so .
This allows launching Weston as a nested server.
.TP
.B WAYLAND_SOCKET
.TP
.B XCURSOR_PATH
Set the list of paths to look for cursors in. It changes both
libwayland-cursor and libXcursor, so it affects both Wayland and X11 based
clients. See
.B xcursor
(3).
.TP
.B XCURSOR_SIZE
This variable can be set for choosing an specific size of cursor. Affect
Wayland and X11 clients. See
.B xcursor
(3).
.TP
.B XDG_CONFIG_HOME
.TP
.B XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
The directory for Weston's socket and lock files.
Wayland clients will automatically use this.
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH BUGS
Bugs should be reported to the freedesktop.org bugzilla at
https://bugs.freedesktop.org with product "Wayland" and
component "weston".
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH WWW
http://wayland.freedesktop.org/
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH EXAMPLES
.IP "Launch Weston with the DRM backend on a VT"
weston-launch
.IP "Launch Weston with the DRM backend and XWayland support"
weston-launch -- --modules=xwayland.so
.IP "Launch Weston (wayland-1) nested in another Weston instance (wayland-0)"
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0 weston -Swayland-1
.IP "From an X terminal, launch Weston with the x11 backend"
weston
.
.\" ***************************************************************
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR weston-drm (7)
.\".BR weston-launch (1),
.\".BR weston.ini (5)