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:
45 * Christophe-Marie Duquesne
52 * Rasmus Wriedt Larsen
64 ## Installation/removal
66 You can use the `autorandr.py` script as a stand-alone binary. If you'd like to
67 install it as a system-wide application, there is a Makefile included that also
68 places some configuration files in appropriate directories such that autorandr
69 is invoked automatically when a monitor is connected or removed, the system
70 wakes up from suspend, or a user logs into an X11 session. Run `make install`
71 as root to install it.
73 If you prefer to have a system wide install managed by your package manager,
76 * Use the [official Arch package](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/any/autorandr/).
77 * Use the [official Debian package](https://packages.debian.org/sid/x11/autorandr) on sid
78 * Use the [FreeBSD Ports Collection](https://www.freshports.org/x11/autorandr/) on FreeBSD.
79 * Use the [official Gentoo package](https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/x11-misc/autorandr).
81 [nix package](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/modules/services/misc/autorandr.nix)
84 [guix package](https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/log/gnu/packages/xdisorg.scm?qt=grep&q=autorandr)
86 * Use the [SlackBuild](https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/desktop/autorandr/) on Slackware.
87 * Use the automated nightlies generated by the
88 [openSUSE build service](https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:phillipberndt/autorandr)
89 for various distributions (RPM and DEB based).
90 * Use the [X binary package system](https://wiki.voidlinux.eu/XBPS)' on Void Linux
91 * Build a .deb-file from the source tree using `make deb`.
92 * Build a .rpm-file from the source tree using `make rpm`.
94 We appreciate packaging scripts for other distributions, please file a pull
95 request if you write one.
97 If you prefer `pip` over your package manager, you can install autorandr with:
99 sudo pip install "git+http://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr#egg=autorandr"
103 sudo pip install autorandr
105 if you prefer to use a stable version.
109 Save your current display configuration and setup with:
111 autorandr --save mobile
113 Connect an additional display, configure your setup and save it:
115 autorandr --save docked
117 Now autorandr can detect which hardware setup is active:
123 To automatically reload your setup:
127 To manually load a profile:
129 $ autorandr --load <profile>
133 $ autorandr <profile>
135 autorandr tries to avoid reloading an identical configuration. To force the
138 $ autorandr --load <profile> --force
140 To prevent a profile from being loaded, place a script call _block_ in its
141 directory. The script is evaluated before the screen setup is inspected, and
142 in case of it returning a value of 0 the profile is skipped. This can be used
143 to query the status of a docking station you are about to leave.
145 If no suitable profile can be identified, the current configuration is kept.
146 To change this behaviour and switch to a fallback configuration, specify
147 `--default <profile>`. The system-wide installation of autorandr by default
148 calls autorandr with a parameter `--default default`. There are three special,
149 virtual configurations called `horizontal`, `vertical` and `common`. They
150 automatically generate a configuration that incorporates all screens
151 connected to the computer. You can symlink `default` to one of these
152 names in your configuration directory to have autorandr use any of them
153 as the default configuration without you having to change the system-wide
156 You can store default values for any option in an INI-file located at
157 `~/.config/autorandr/settings.ini`. In a `config` section, you may place any
158 default values in the form `option-name=option-argument`.
160 A common and effective use of this is to specify default `skip-options`, for
161 instance skipping the `gamma` setting if using
162 [`redshift`](https://github.com/jonls/redshift) as a daemon. To implement
163 the equivalent of `--skip-options gamma`, your `settings.ini` file should look
175 Three more scripts can be placed in the configuration directory
176 (as defined by the [XDG spec](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html),
177 usually `~/.config/autorandr` or `~/.autorandr` if you have an old installation
178 for user configuration and `/etc/xdg/autorandr` for system wide configuration):
180 - `postswitch` is executed *after* a mode switch has taken place. This can be
181 used to notify window managers or other applications about the switch.
182 - `preswitch` is executed *before* a mode switch takes place.
183 - `postsave` is executed after a profile was stored or altered.
184 - `predetect` is executed before autorandr attempts to run xrandr.
186 These scripts must be executable and can be placed directly in the configuration
187 directory, where they will always be executed, or in the profile subdirectories,
188 where they will only be executed on changes regarding that specific profile.
190 Instead (or in addition) to these scripts, you can also place as many executable
191 files as you like in subdirectories called `script_name.d` (e.g. `postswitch.d`).
192 The order of execution of scripts in these directories is by file name, you can
193 force a certain ordering by naming them `10-wallpaper`, `20-restart-wm`, etc.
195 If a script with the same name occurs multiple times, user configuration
196 takes precedence over system configuration (as specified by the
197 [XDG spec](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html))
198 and profile configuration over general configuration.
200 As a concrete example, suppose you have the files
202 - `/etc/xdg/autorandr/postswitch`
203 - `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch`
204 - `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch.d/notify-herbstluftwm`
205 - `~/.config/autorandr/docked/postswitch`
207 and switch from `mobile` to `docked`. Then
208 `~/.config/autorandr/docked/postswitch` is executed, since the profile specific
209 configuration takes precedence, and
210 `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch.d/notify-herbstluftwm` is executed, since
211 it has a unique name.
213 If you switch back from `docked` to `mobile`, `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch`
214 is executed instead of the `docked` specific `postswitch`.
216 If you experience issues with xrandr being executed too early after connecting
217 a new monitor, then you can use a `predetect` script to delay the execution.
218 Write e.g. `sleep 1` into that file to make autorandr wait a second before
223 Some of autorandr's state is exposed as environment variables
224 prefixed with `AUTORANDR_`, such as:
225 - `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE`
226 - `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILES`
227 - `AUTORANDR_PROFILE_FOLDER`
228 - `AUTORANDR_MONITORS`
230 with the intention that they can be used within the hook scripts.
232 For instance, you might display which profile has just been activated by
233 including the following in a `postswitch` script:
235 notify-send -i display "Display profile" "$AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE"
238 The one kink is that during `preswitch`, `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE` is
239 reporting the *upcoming* profile rather than the *current* one.
241 ### Wildcard EDID matching
243 The EDID strings in the `~/.config/autorandr/*/setup` files may contain an
244 asterisk to enable wildcard matching: Such EDIDs are matched against connected
245 monitors using the usual file name globbing rules. This can be used to create
246 profiles matching multiple (or any) monitors.
248 ### udev triggers with NVidia cards
250 In order for `udev` to detect `drm` events from the native NVidia driver, the
251 kernel parameter `nvidia-drm.modeset` must be set to 1. For example, add a file
252 `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm-modeset.conf`:
255 options nvidia_drm modeset=1
261 * *2023-01-15* Add reversed horizontal/vertical profiles
262 * *2023-01-15* Fix distutils deprecation warning
263 * *2023-01-15* Print error when user script fails
264 * *2022-12-01* Support `--skip-options set` to skip setting properties
267 * *2021-12-22* Fix `--match-edid` (see #273)
270 * *2021-12-16* Switch default interpreter to Python 3
271 * *2021-12-16* Add `--list` to list all profiles
272 * *2021-12-16* Add `--cycle` to cycle all detected profiles
273 * *2021-12-16* Store display properties (see #204)
276 * *2020-05-23* Handle empty sys.executable
277 * *2020-06-08* Fix Python 2 compatibility
278 * *2020-10-06* Set group membership of users in batch mode
281 * *2020-05-04* Revert making the launcher the default (fixes #195)
284 * *2020-04-23* Fix hook script execution order to match description from readme
285 * *2020-04-11* Handle negative gamma values (fixes #188)
286 * *2020-04-11* Sort approximate matches in detected profiles by quality of match
287 * *2020-01-31* Handle non-ASCII environment variables (fixes #180)
288 * *2019-12-31* Fix output positioning if the top-left output is not the first
289 * *2019-12-31* Accept negative gamma values (and interpret them as 0)
290 * *2019-12-31* Prefer the X11 launcher over systemd/udev configuration
294 * *2019-11-10* Count closed lids as disconnected outputs
295 * *2019-10-05* Do not overwrite existing configurations without `--force`
296 * *2019-08-16* Accept modes that don't match the WWWxHHH pattern
297 * *2019-03-22* Improve bash autocompletion
298 * *2019-03-21* Store CRTC values in configurations
299 * *2019-03-24* Fix handling of recently disconnected outputs (See #128 and #143)
303 * *2019-03-18* Removed mandb call from Makefile
307 * *2019-02-17* Add an X11 daemon that runs autorandr when a display connects (by @rliou92, #127)
308 * *2019-02-17* Replace width=0 check with disconnected to detect disconnected monitors (by @joseph-jones, #139)
309 * *2019-02-17* Fix handling of empty padding (by @jschwab, #138)
310 * *2019-02-17* Add a man page (by @somers-all-the-time, #133)
314 * *2018-09-25* Fix FB size computation with rotated screens (by @Janno, #117)
318 * *2018-04-19* Bugfix: Do not load default profile unless --change is set
319 * *2018-04-30* Added a `AUTORANDR_MONITORS` variable to hooks (by @bricewge, #106)
320 * *2018-06-29* Fix detection of current configuration if extra monitors are active
321 * *2018-07-11* Bugfix in the latest change: Correctly handle "off" minitors when comparing
322 * *2018-07-19* Do not kill spawned user processes from systemd unit
323 * *2018-07-20* Correctly handle "off" monitors when comparing -- fixup for another bug.
327 * *2018-01-03* Add --version
328 * *2018-01-04* Fixed vertical/horizontal/clone-largest virtual profiles
329 * *2018-03-07* Output all non-error messages to stdout instead of stderr
330 * *2018-03-25* Add --detected and --current to filter the profile list output
331 * *2018-03-25* Allow wildcard matching in EDIDs
335 * *2017-12-22* Fixed broken virtual profile support
336 * *2017-12-14* Added support for a settings file
337 * *2017-12-14* Added a virtual profile `off`, which disables all screens
341 * *2017-11-13* Add a short form for `--load`
342 * *2017-11-21* Fix environment stealing in `--batch` mode (See #87)
346 * *2017-07-16* Skip `--panning` unless it is required (See #72)
347 * *2017-10-13* Add `clone-largest` virtual profile
351 * *2017-06-07* Call systemctl with `--no-block` from udev rule (See #61)
352 * *2017-01-20* New script hook, `predetect`
353 * *2017-01-18* Accept comments (lines starting with `#`) in config/setup files
357 * *2016-12-07* Tag the current code as version 1.0.0; see github issue #54
358 * *2016-10-03* Install a desktop file to `/etc/xdg/autostart` by default