3 Automatically select a display configuration based on connected devices
7 This is a compatible Python rewrite of
8 [wertarbyte/autorandr](https://github.com/wertarbyte/autorandr). Contributions
9 for bash-completion, fd.o/XDG autostart, Nitrogen, pm-utils, and systemd can be
10 found under [contrib](contrib/).
12 The original [wertarbyte/autorandr](https://github.com/wertarbyte/autorandr)
13 tree is unmaintained, with lots of open pull requests and issues. I forked it
14 and merged what I thought were the most important changes. If you are searching
15 for that version, see the [`legacy` branch](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/tree/legacy).
16 Note that the Python version is better suited for non-standard configurations,
17 like if you use `--transform` or `--reflect`. If you use `auto-disper`, you
18 have to use the bash version, as there is no disper support in the Python
19 version (yet). Both versions use a compatible configuration file format, so
20 you can, to some extent, switch between them. I will maintain the `legacy`
21 branch until @wertarbyte finds the time to maintain his branch again.
23 If you are interested in why there are two versions around, see
24 [#7](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/issues/7),
25 [#8](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/issues/8) and
27 [#12](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/issues/12)
28 if you are unhappy with this version and would like to contribute to the bash
31 ## License information and authors
33 autorandr is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License
36 Contributors to this version of autorandr are:
44 * Christophe-Marie Duquesne
51 * Rasmus Wriedt Larsen
63 ## Installation/removal
65 You can use the `autorandr.py` script as a stand-alone binary. If you'd like to
66 install it as a system-wide application, there is a Makefile included that also
67 places some configuration files in appropriate directories such that autorandr
68 is invoked automatically when a monitor is connected or removed, the system
69 wakes up from suspend, or a user logs into an X11 session. Run `make install`
70 as root to install it.
72 If you prefer to have a system wide install managed by your package manager,
75 * Use the [official Arch package](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/any/autorandr/).
76 * Use the [official Debian package](https://packages.debian.org/sid/x11/autorandr) on sid
77 * Use the [FreeBSD Ports Collection](https://www.freshports.org/x11/autorandr/) on FreeBSD.
78 * Use the [ebuild from zugaina](https://gpo.zugaina.org/x11-misc/autorandr) on Gentoo.
80 [nix package](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/modules/services/misc/autorandr.nix)
83 [guix package](https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/log/gnu/packages/xdisorg.scm?qt=grep&q=autorandr)
85 * Use the [SlackBuild](https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/desktop/autorandr/) on Slackware.
86 * Use the automated nightlies generated by the
87 [openSUSE build service](https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:phillipberndt/autorandr)
88 for various distributions (RPM and DEB based).
89 * Use the [X binary package system](https://wiki.voidlinux.eu/XBPS)' on Void Linux
90 * Build a .deb-file from the source tree using `make deb`.
91 * Build a .rpm-file from the source tree using `make rpm`.
93 We appreciate packaging scripts for other distributions, please file a pull
94 request if you write one.
96 If you prefer `pip` over your package manager, you can install autorandr with:
98 sudo pip install "git+http://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr#egg=autorandr"
102 sudo pip install autorandr
104 if you prefer to use a stable version.
108 Save your current display configuration and setup with:
110 autorandr --save mobile
112 Connect an additional display, configure your setup and save it:
114 autorandr --save docked
116 Now autorandr can detect which hardware setup is active:
122 To automatically reload your setup:
126 To manually load a profile:
128 $ autorandr --load <profile>
132 $ autorandr <profile>
134 autorandr tries to avoid reloading an identical configuration. To force the
137 $ autorandr --load <profile> --force
139 To prevent a profile from being loaded, place a script call _block_ in its
140 directory. The script is evaluated before the screen setup is inspected, and
141 in case of it returning a value of 0 the profile is skipped. This can be used
142 to query the status of a docking station you are about to leave.
144 If no suitable profile can be identified, the current configuration is kept.
145 To change this behaviour and switch to a fallback configuration, specify
146 `--default <profile>`. The system-wide installation of autorandr by default
147 calls autorandr with a parameter `--default default`. There are three special,
148 virtual configurations called `horizontal`, `vertical` and `common`. They
149 automatically generate a configuration that incorporates all screens
150 connected to the computer. You can symlink `default` to one of these
151 names in your configuration directory to have autorandr use any of them
152 as the default configuration without you having to change the system-wide
155 You can store default values for any option in an INI-file located at
156 `~/.config/autorandr/settings.ini`. In a `config` section, you may place any
157 default values in the form `option-name=option-argument`.
159 A common and effective use of this is to specify default `skip-options`, for
160 instance skipping the `gamma` setting if using
161 [`redshift`](https://github.com/jonls/redshift) as a daemon. To implement
162 the equivalent of `--skip-options gamma`, your `settings.ini` file should look
174 Three more scripts can be placed in the configuration directory
175 (as defined by the [XDG spec](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html),
176 usually `~/.config/autorandr` or `~/.autorandr` if you have an old installation
177 for user configuration and `/etc/xdg/autorandr` for system wide configuration):
179 - `postswitch` is executed *after* a mode switch has taken place. This can be
180 used to notify window managers or other applications about the switch.
181 - `preswitch` is executed *before* a mode switch takes place.
182 - `postsave` is executed after a profile was stored or altered.
183 - `predetect` is executed before autorandr attempts to run xrandr.
185 These scripts must be executable and can be placed directly in the configuration
186 directory, where they will always be executed, or in the profile subdirectories,
187 where they will only be executed on changes regarding that specific profile.
189 Instead (or in addition) to these scripts, you can also place as many executable
190 files as you like in subdirectories called `script_name.d` (e.g. `postswitch.d`).
192 If a script with the same name occurs multiple times, user configuration
193 takes precedence over system configuration (as specified by the
194 [XDG spec](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html))
195 and profile configuration over general configuration.
197 As a concrete example, suppose you have the files
199 - `/etc/xdg/autorandr/postswitch`
200 - `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch`
201 - `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch.d/notify-herbstluftwm`
202 - `~/.config/autorandr/docked/postswitch`
204 and switch from `mobile` to `docked`. Then
205 `~/.config/autorandr/docked/postswitch` is executed, since the profile specific
206 configuration takes precedence, and
207 `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch.d/notify-herbstluftwm` is executed, since
208 it has a unique name.
210 If you switch back from `docked` to `mobile`, `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch`
211 is executed instead of the `docked` specific `postswitch`.
213 If you experience issues with xrandr being executed too early after connecting
214 a new monitor, then you can use a `predetect` script to delay the execution.
215 Write e.g. `sleep 1` into that file to make autorandr wait a second before
220 Some of autorandr's state is exposed as environment variables
221 prefixed with `AUTORANDR_`, such as:
222 - `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE`
223 - `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILES`
224 - `AUTORANDR_PROFILE_FOLDER`
225 - `AUTORANDR_MONITORS`
227 with the intention that they can be used within the hook scripts.
229 For instance, you might display which profile has just been activated by
230 including the following in a `postswitch` script:
232 notify-send -i display "Display profile" "$AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE"
235 The one kink is that during `preswitch`, `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE` is
236 reporting the *upcoming* profile rather than the *current* one.
238 ### Wildcard EDID matching
240 The EDID strings in the `~/.config/autorandr/*/setup` files may contain an
241 asterisk to enable wildcard matching: Such EDIDs are matched against connected
242 monitors using the usual file name globbing rules. This can be used to create
243 profiles matching multiple (or any) monitors.
245 ### udev triggers with NVidia cards
247 In order for `udev` to detect `drm` events from the native NVidia driver, the
248 kernel parameter `nvidia-drm.modeset` must be set to 1. For example, add a file
249 `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm-modeset.conf`:
252 options nvidia_drm modeset=1
258 * *2021-12-22* Fix `--match-edid` (see #273)
261 * *2021-12-16* Switch default interpreter to Python 3
262 * *2021-12-16* Add `--list` to list all profiles
263 * *2021-12-16* Add `--cycle` to cycle all detected profiles
264 * *2021-12-16* Store display properties (see #204)
267 * *2020-05-23* Handle empty sys.executable
268 * *2020-06-08* Fix Python 2 compatibility
269 * *2020-10-06* Set group membership of users in batch mode
272 * *2020-05-04* Revert making the launcher the default (fixes #195)
275 * *2020-04-23* Fix hook script execution order to match description from readme
276 * *2020-04-11* Handle negative gamma values (fixes #188)
277 * *2020-04-11* Sort approximate matches in detected profiles by quality of match
278 * *2020-01-31* Handle non-ASCII environment variables (fixes #180)
279 * *2019-12-31* Fix output positioning if the top-left output is not the first
280 * *2019-12-31* Accept negative gamma values (and interpret them as 0)
281 * *2019-12-31* Prefer the X11 launcher over systemd/udev configuration
285 * *2019-11-10* Count closed lids as disconnected outputs
286 * *2019-10-05* Do not overwrite existing configurations without `--force`
287 * *2019-08-16* Accept modes that don't match the WWWxHHH pattern
288 * *2019-03-22* Improve bash autocompletion
289 * *2019-03-21* Store CRTC values in configurations
290 * *2019-03-24* Fix handling of recently disconnected outputs (See #128 and #143)
294 * *2019-03-18* Removed mandb call from Makefile
298 * *2019-02-17* Add an X11 daemon that runs autorandr when a display connects (by @rliou92, #127)
299 * *2019-02-17* Replace width=0 check with disconnected to detect disconnected monitors (by @joseph-jones, #139)
300 * *2019-02-17* Fix handling of empty padding (by @jschwab, #138)
301 * *2019-02-17* Add a man page (by @somers-all-the-time, #133)
305 * *2018-09-25* Fix FB size computation with rotated screens (by @Janno, #117)
309 * *2018-04-19* Bugfix: Do not load default profile unless --change is set
310 * *2018-04-30* Added a `AUTORANDR_MONITORS` variable to hooks (by @bricewge, #106)
311 * *2018-06-29* Fix detection of current configuration if extra monitors are active
312 * *2018-07-11* Bugfix in the latest change: Correctly handle "off" minitors when comparing
313 * *2018-07-19* Do not kill spawned user processes from systemd unit
314 * *2018-07-20* Correctly handle "off" monitors when comparing -- fixup for another bug.
318 * *2018-01-03* Add --version
319 * *2018-01-04* Fixed vertical/horizontal/clone-largest virtual profiles
320 * *2018-03-07* Output all non-error messages to stdout instead of stderr
321 * *2018-03-25* Add --detected and --current to filter the profile list output
322 * *2018-03-25* Allow wildcard matching in EDIDs
326 * *2017-12-22* Fixed broken virtual profile support
327 * *2017-12-14* Added support for a settings file
328 * *2017-12-14* Added a virtual profile `off`, which disables all screens
332 * *2017-11-13* Add a short form for `--load`
333 * *2017-11-21* Fix environment stealing in `--batch` mode (See #87)
337 * *2017-07-16* Skip `--panning` unless it is required (See #72)
338 * *2017-10-13* Add `clone-largest` virtual profile
342 * *2017-06-07* Call systemctl with `--no-block` from udev rule (See #61)
343 * *2017-01-20* New script hook, `predetect`
344 * *2017-01-18* Accept comments (lines starting with `#`) in config/setup files
348 * *2016-12-07* Tag the current code as version 1.0.0; see github issue #54
349 * *2016-10-03* Install a desktop file to `/etc/xdg/autostart` by default