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
62 ## Installation/removal
64 You can use the `autorandr.py` script as a stand-alone binary. If you'd like to
65 install it as a system-wide application, there is a Makefile included that also
66 places some configuration files in appropriate directories such that autorandr
67 is invoked automatically when a monitor is connected or removed, the system
68 wakes up from suspend, or a user logs into an X11 session. Run `make install`
69 as root to install it.
71 If you prefer to have a system wide install managed by your package manager,
74 * Use the [official Arch package](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/any/autorandr/).
75 * Use the [official Debian package](https://packages.debian.org/sid/x11/autorandr) on sid
76 * Use the [ebuild from zugaina](https://gpo.zugaina.org/x11-misc/autorandr) on Gentoo.
78 [nix package](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/modules/services/misc/autorandr.nix)
81 [guix package](https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/log/gnu/packages/xdisorg.scm?qt=grep&q=autorandr)
83 * Use the [SlackBuild](https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/desktop/autorandr/) on Slackware.
84 * Use the automated nightlies generated by the
85 [openSUSE build service](https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:phillipberndt/autorandr)
86 for various distributions (RPM and DEB based).
87 * Use the [X binary package system](https://wiki.voidlinux.eu/XBPS)' on Void Linux
88 * Build a .deb-file from the source tree using `make deb`.
89 * Build a .rpm-file from the source tree using `make rpm`.
91 We appreciate packaging scripts for other distributions, please file a pull
92 request if you write one.
94 If you prefer `pip` over your package manager, you can install autorandr with:
96 sudo pip install "git+http://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr#egg=autorandr"
100 sudo pip install autorandr
102 if you prefer to use a stable version.
106 Save your current display configuration and setup with:
108 autorandr --save mobile
110 Connect an additional display, configure your setup and save it:
112 autorandr --save docked
114 Now autorandr can detect which hardware setup is active:
120 To automatically reload your setup:
124 To manually load a profile:
126 $ autorandr --load <profile>
130 $ autorandr <profile>
132 autorandr tries to avoid reloading an identical configuration. To force the
135 $ autorandr --load <profile> --force
137 To prevent a profile from being loaded, place a script call _block_ in its
138 directory. The script is evaluated before the screen setup is inspected, and
139 in case of it returning a value of 0 the profile is skipped. This can be used
140 to query the status of a docking station you are about to leave.
142 If no suitable profile can be identified, the current configuration is kept.
143 To change this behaviour and switch to a fallback configuration, specify
144 `--default <profile>`. The system-wide installation of autorandr by default
145 calls autorandr with a parameter `--default default`. There are three special,
146 virtual configurations called `horizontal`, `vertical` and `common`. They
147 automatically generate a configuration that incorporates all screens
148 connected to the computer. You can symlink `default` to one of these
149 names in your configuration directory to have autorandr use any of them
150 as the default configuration without you having to change the system-wide
153 You can store default values for any option in an INI-file located at
154 `~/.config/autorandr/settings.ini`. In a `config` section, you may place any
155 default values in the form `option-name=option-argument`.
157 A common and effective use of this is to specify default `skip-options`, for
158 instance skipping the `gamma` setting if using
159 [`redshift`](https://github.com/jonls/redshift) as a daemon. To implement
160 the equivalent of `--skip-options gamma`, your `settings.ini` file should look
172 Three more scripts can be placed in the configuration directory
173 (as defined by the [XDG spec](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html),
174 usually `~/.config/autorandr` or `~/.autorandr` if you have an old installation
175 for user configuration and `/etc/xdg/autorandr` for system wide configuration):
177 - `postswitch` is executed *after* a mode switch has taken place. This can be
178 used to notify window managers or other applications about the switch.
179 - `preswitch` is executed *before* a mode switch takes place.
180 - `postsave` is executed after a profile was stored or altered.
181 - `predetect` is executed before autorandr attempts to run xrandr.
183 These scripts must be executable and can be placed directly in the configuration
184 directory, where they will always be executed, or in the profile subdirectories,
185 where they will only be executed on changes regarding that specific profile.
187 Instead (or in addition) to these scripts, you can also place as many executable
188 files as you like in subdirectories called `script_name.d` (e.g. `postswitch.d`).
190 If a script with the same name occurs multiple times, user configuration
191 takes precedence over system configuration (as specified by the
192 [XDG spec](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html))
193 and profile configuration over general configuration.
195 As a concrete example, suppose you have the files
197 - `/etc/xdg/autorandr/postswitch`
198 - `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch`
199 - `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch.d/notify-herbstluftwm`
200 - `~/.config/autorandr/docked/postswitch`
202 and switch from `mobile` to `docked`. Then
203 `~/.config/autorandr/docked/postswitch` is executed, since the profile specific
204 configuration takes precedence, and
205 `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch.d/notify-herbstluftwm` is executed, since
206 it has a unique name.
208 If you switch back from `docked` to `mobile`, `~/.config/autorandr/postswitch`
209 is executed instead of the `docked` specific `postswitch`.
211 If you experience issues with xrandr being executed too early after connecting
212 a new monitor, then you can use a `predetect` script to delay the execution.
213 Write e.g. `sleep 1` into that file to make autorandr wait a second before
218 Some of autorandr's state is exposed as environment variables
219 prefixed with `AUTORANDR_`, such as:
220 - `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE`
221 - `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILES`
222 - `AUTORANDR_PROFILE_FOLDER`
223 - `AUTORANDR_MONITORS`
225 with the intention that they can be used within the hook scripts.
227 For instance, you might display which profile has just been activated by
228 including the following in a `postswitch` script:
230 notify-send -i display "Display profile" "$AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE"
233 The one kink is that during `preswitch`, `AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE` is
234 reporting the *upcoming* profile rather than the *current* one.
236 ### Wildcard EDID matching
238 The EDID strings in the `~/.config/autorandr/*/setup` files may contain an
239 asterisk to enable wildcard matching: Such EDIDs are matched against connected
240 monitors using the usual file name globbing rules. This can be used to create
241 profiles matching multiple (or any) monitors.
243 ### udev triggers with NVidia cards
245 In order for `udev` to detect `drm` events from the native NVidia driver, the
246 kernel parameter `nvidia-drm.modeset` must be set to 1. For example, add a file
247 `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm-modeset.conf`:
250 options nvidia_drm modeset=1
256 * *2021-12-22* Fix `--match-edid` (see #273)
259 * *2021-12-16* Switch default interpreter to Python 3
260 * *2021-12-16* Add `--list` to list all profiles
261 * *2021-12-16* Add `--cycle` to cycle all detected profiles
262 * *2021-12-16* Store display properties (see #204)
265 * *2020-05-23* Handle empty sys.executable
266 * *2020-06-08* Fix Python 2 compatibility
267 * *2020-10-06* Set group membership of users in batch mode
270 * *2020-05-04* Revert making the launcher the default (fixes #195)
273 * *2020-04-23* Fix hook script execution order to match description from readme
274 * *2020-04-11* Handle negative gamma values (fixes #188)
275 * *2020-04-11* Sort approximate matches in detected profiles by quality of match
276 * *2020-01-31* Handle non-ASCII environment variables (fixes #180)
277 * *2019-12-31* Fix output positioning if the top-left output is not the first
278 * *2019-12-31* Accept negative gamma values (and interpret them as 0)
279 * *2019-12-31* Prefer the X11 launcher over systemd/udev configuration
283 * *2019-11-10* Count closed lids as disconnected outputs
284 * *2019-10-05* Do not overwrite existing configurations without `--force`
285 * *2019-08-16* Accept modes that don't match the WWWxHHH pattern
286 * *2019-03-22* Improve bash autocompletion
287 * *2019-03-21* Store CRTC values in configurations
288 * *2019-03-24* Fix handling of recently disconnected outputs (See #128 and #143)
292 * *2019-03-18* Removed mandb call from Makefile
296 * *2019-02-17* Add an X11 daemon that runs autorandr when a display connects (by @rliou92, #127)
297 * *2019-02-17* Replace width=0 check with disconnected to detect disconnected monitors (by @joseph-jones, #139)
298 * *2019-02-17* Fix handling of empty padding (by @jschwab, #138)
299 * *2019-02-17* Add a man page (by @somers-all-the-time, #133)
303 * *2018-09-25* Fix FB size computation with rotated screens (by @Janno, #117)
307 * *2018-04-19* Bugfix: Do not load default profile unless --change is set
308 * *2018-04-30* Added a `AUTORANDR_MONITORS` variable to hooks (by @bricewge, #106)
309 * *2018-06-29* Fix detection of current configuration if extra monitors are active
310 * *2018-07-11* Bugfix in the latest change: Correctly handle "off" minitors when comparing
311 * *2018-07-19* Do not kill spawned user processes from systemd unit
312 * *2018-07-20* Correctly handle "off" monitors when comparing -- fixup for another bug.
316 * *2018-01-03* Add --version
317 * *2018-01-04* Fixed vertical/horizontal/clone-largest virtual profiles
318 * *2018-03-07* Output all non-error messages to stdout instead of stderr
319 * *2018-03-25* Add --detected and --current to filter the profile list output
320 * *2018-03-25* Allow wildcard matching in EDIDs
324 * *2017-12-22* Fixed broken virtual profile support
325 * *2017-12-14* Added support for a settings file
326 * *2017-12-14* Added a virtual profile `off`, which disables all screens
330 * *2017-11-13* Add a short form for `--load`
331 * *2017-11-21* Fix environment stealing in `--batch` mode (See #87)
335 * *2017-07-16* Skip `--panning` unless it is required (See #72)
336 * *2017-10-13* Add `clone-largest` virtual profile
340 * *2017-06-07* Call systemctl with `--no-block` from udev rule (See #61)
341 * *2017-01-20* New script hook, `predetect`
342 * *2017-01-18* Accept comments (lines starting with `#`) in config/setup files
346 * *2016-12-07* Tag the current code as version 1.0.0; see github issue #54
347 * *2016-10-03* Install a desktop file to `/etc/xdg/autostart` by default