xcowsay(6)							   Games Manual 							xcowsay(6)

NAME

       xcowsay - Display a cute cow and speech bubble.

SYNOPSIS

       xcowsay [-h] [-t time] [-r speed] [-d] [-f font] [text]...

DESCRIPTION

       Display	a  cow with a speech bubble containing some text. If text is specified it will be displayed in the bubble. Otherwise the text will
       be read from the standard input and displayed when end of file is encountered.

       The cow is displayed for either a fixed amount of time, or an amount of time calculated from the size of the text. Click on the cow to dis-
       miss it immediately.

       If  xcowsay  is	started  with  --daemon  it  will  fork  away from the terminal and run in daemon mode. The daemon provides a DBus service
       uk.me.doof.Cowsay that responds to ShowCow requests. The daemon can queue up any number of requests and displays them in order.

       When xcowsay starts it checks to see if a daemon is running, and if it is, sends a  ShowCow  request  and  returns  immediately.  Otherwise
       xcowsay will block until the cow has disappeared.

CONFIGURATION FILE

       xcowsay	reads  a  configuration  file  on  startup.   The  configuration  file	can  be  stored  in  the  XDG compliant location $XDG_CON-
       FIG_HOME/xcowsayrc (which will default to $HOME/.config/xcowsayrc) or in your home directory at	$HOME/.xcowsayrc.   If	the  --config=FILE
       command line option is passed FILE will be processed after your personal configuration file.

       The  configuration  file  consists of 'option = value' pairs, one per line.  The valid keys are given in the next section. For example, the
       following line sets display time to 10 seconds:

	      display_time = 10000

       The character '#' begins a comment which lasts until the end of the line.

OPTIONS

       Note that these options override any settings in the config file.

       -h, --help
	      Display usage information.

       -t time, --time=time
	      Display the cow for time seconds. This overrides any value set for reading_speed.  The corresponding  config  file  option  is  dis-
	      play_time.

       -r speed, --reading-speed=speed
	      Number  of  milliseconds	to display the cow for each word in the input text. This is clamped to a minimum of min_display_time and a
	      maximum of max_display_time.  The defaults are 1 second and 30 seconds respectively. The corresponding config file option  is  read-
	      ing_speed.

       -f font, --font=font
	      Font for the speech bubble text. Accepts Pango font strings. The corresponding config file option is font.

       -d file, --dream=file
	      Display  an  image  instead of text in the cow's bubble. The dream_time config file option sets the numer of milliseconds to display
	      the image for. The default is 10 seconds.

       --think
	      Display a thought bubble instead of a speech bubble.

       --daemon
	      Run xcowsay in daemon mode if DBus support has been enabled. See the description for more information.

       --cow-size=size
	      Size of the cow image.  Current choices are small, med, or large.  The corresponding config file option is cow_size.

       --image=file
	      Use a different image instead of the cow.  The corresponding config file option is alt_image.

       --monitor=N
	      Make the cow appear on monitor N.

       --at=X,Y
	      Force that cow to appear at screen location (X,Y).  The config file options are at_x and at_y.

       --bubble-at=X,Y
	      Change position of bubble relative to where it would normally appear.  This is most useful when combined with the  alt_image  option
	      to create your own characters.  The config file options are bubble_x and bubble_y.

       --debug
	      Print messages about what xcowsay is doing. Useful for finding out why the daemon fails.

       -v, --version
	      Print version information.

AUTHOR

       Written by Nick Gasson.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report all bugs to nick@nickg.me.uk  The xcowsay home page is <http://www.doof.me.uk/xcowsay>

SEE ALSO

       cowsay(6)

BUGS

       There are a few issues I am aware of:

       The cow and speech bubble have jagged edges which would be improved by anti-aliasing.

       Very long strings will disappear off the right-hand side of the screen.	This could be fixed e.g. by using Pango's word wrapping.

																	xcowsay(6)