autorandr/README.md

# autorandr 
Automatically select a display configuration based on connected devices

## Branch information

This is a compatible Python rewrite of
[wertarbyte/autorandr](https://github.com/wertarbyte/autorandr).

The original [wertarbyte/autorandr](https://github.com/wertarbyte/autorandr)
tree is unmaintained, with lots of open pull requests and issues. I forked it
and merged what I thought were the most important changes. If you are searching
for that version, see the [`legacy` branch](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/tree/legacy).
Note that the Python version is better suited for non-standard configurations,
like if you use `--transform` or `--reflect`. If you use `auto-disper`, you
have to use the bash version, as there is no disper support in the Python
version (yet). Both versions use a compatible configuration file format, so
you can, to some extent, switch between them.  I will maintain the `legacy`
branch until @wertarbyte finds the time to maintain his branch again.

If you are interested in why there are two versions around, see
[#7](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/issues/7),
[#8](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/issues/8) and
especially
[#12](https://github.com/phillipberndt/autorandr/issues/12)
if you are unhappy with this version and would like to contibute to the bash
version.

## License information and authors

autorandr is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License
(version 3).

Contributors to this version of autorandr are:

* Alexander Wirt
* Chris Dunder
* Daniel Hahler
* Maciej Sitarz
* Mathias Svensson
* Matthew R Johnson
* Nazar Mokrynskyi
* Phillip Berndt
* Rasmus Wriedt Larsen
* Stefan Tomanek
* Timo Bingmann
* Tomasz Bogdal
* Victor Häggqvist
* stormc
* tachylatus
* andersonjacob
* Simon Wydooghe

## Installation/removal
You can use the `autorandr.py` script as a stand-alone binary. If you'd like to
install it as a system-wide application, there is a Makefile included that also
places some configuration files in appropriate directories such that autorandr
is invoked automatically when a monitor is connected or removed, the system
wakes up from suspend, or a user logs into an X11 session.

For Debian-based distributions (including Ubuntu) it is recommended to call
`make deb` to obtain a package that can be installed and removed with `dpkg`.

On Arch Linux, there is [an aur package
available](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/autorandr-git/).

On other distributions you can install autorandr by calling `make install` and
remove it by calling `make uninstall`. Run `make` without arguments to obtain a
list of what exactly will be installed.

We appreciate packaging scripts for other distributions, please file a pull
request if you write one.

## How to use

Save your current display configuration and setup with:

    autorandr --save mobile

Connect an additional display, configure your setup and save it:

    autorandr --save docked

Now autorandr can detect which hardware setup is active:

    $ autorandr
      mobile
      docked (detected)

To automatically reload your setup, just append `--change` to the command line

To manually load a profile, you can use the `--load <profile>` option.

autorandr tries to avoid reloading an identical configuration. To force the
(re)configuration, apply `--force`.

To prevent a profile from being loaded, place a script call _block_ in its
directory. The script is evaluated before the screen setup is inspected, and
in case of it returning a value of 0 the profile is skipped. This can be used
to query the status of a docking station you are about to leave.

If no suitable profile can be identified, the current configuration is kept.
To change this behaviour and switch to a fallback configuration, specify
`--default <profile>`. The system-wide installation of autorandr by default
calls autorandr with a parameter `--default default`. There are three special,
virtual configurations called `horizontal`, `vertical` and `common`. They
automatically generate a configuration that incorporates all screens
connected to the computer. You can symlink `default` to one of these
names in your configuration directory to have autorandr use any of them
as the default configuration without you having to change the system-wide
configuration.

Another script called `postswitch` can be placed in the directory
`~/.config/autorandr` (or `~/.autorandr` if you have an old installation) as
well as in all profile directories: The scripts are executed after a mode
switch has taken place and can notify window managers or other applications
about it. The same holds for `preswitch`, which is executed before the switch
takes place, and `postsave`, which is executed after a profile was
stored/altered.

If you experience issues with xrandr being executed too early after connecting
a new monitor, then you can create a script `predetect`, which will be executed
before autorandr attempts to run xrandr. Place e.g. `sleep 1` into that file
to make autorandr wait a second before running xrandr.

All scripts can also be placed in any of the `$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS`. In addition to
the script names themselves, any executables in subdirectories named
`script_name.d` (e.g. `postswitch.d`) are executed as well. In scripts, some of
autorandr's state is exposed as environment variables prefixed with `AUTORANDR_`.
The most useful one is `$AUTORANDR_CURRENT_PROFILE`.

## Changelog

* *2016-11-15* New script hook, `predetect`
* *2016-10-03* Install a desktop file to `/etc/xdg/autostart` by default