path: root/doc/reference/running-clutter.xml

<part id="running-clutter">
  <partinfo>
    <author>
      <firstname>Emmanuele</firstname>
      <surname>Bassi</surname>
      <affiliation>
        <address>
          <email>ebassi@linux.intel.com</email>
        </address>
      </affiliation>
    </author>
  </partinfo>

  <title>Running Clutter</title>

  <partintro>

    <section id="environment-variables">
      <title>Environment Variables</title>

      <para>
        Clutter automatically checks environment variables during
        its initialization. These environment variables are meant
        as debug tools, overrides for default behaviours or to
        address known hardware issues:
      </para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_BACKEND</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Changes the windowing system backend used by Clutter.
            The allowed values for this environment variable depend on
            the configuration options used when compiling Clutter. The
            available values are:</para>
            <itemizedlist>
              <listitem><simpara>x11, for the X11 backend</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>wayland, for the Wayland backend</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>win32, for the Windows backend</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>osx, for the MacOS X backend</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>gdk, for the GDK backend</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>eglnative, for the EGL/KMS backend</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>cex100, for the CEx100 backend</simpara></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
            <para>All of the above options except for the <varname>eglnative</varname>
            and <varname>cex100</varname> backends also have an input backend.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_INPUT_BACKEND</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Changes the input backend used by Clutter.
            The allowed values for this environment variable depend on
            the configuration options used when compiling Clutter. The
            available values are:</para>
            <itemizedlist>
              <listitem><simpara>tslib</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>evdev</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>null</simpara></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
            <para>This environment variable is only useful for setting the input
            backend when using a windowing system backend that does not have an
            input API, like the <varname>eglnative</varname> or the <varname>cex100</varname>
            windowing system backends.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_DRIVER</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Changes the GL driver used when initializing Clutter.
            The allowed values for this environment variable are:</para>
            <itemizedlist>
              <listitem><simpara>gl3, for the GL driver using a 3.2+ core profile</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>gl, for the GL driver using a legacy profile</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>gles2, for the GLES 2.0 driver</simpara></listitem>
              <listitem><simpara>any, for the default chosen by Cogl</simpara></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
            <para>The special '*' value can be used to ask Clutter to use the
            default list of drivers, e.g. 'CLUTTER_DRIVER=gles2,*' will ask Clutter
            to try the GLES 2.0 driver first, and then fall back to the default list
            of Cogl drivers.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_SCALE</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Forces the window scaling factor to that value
            inside Clutter instead of relying on what backends detect.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_TEXT_DIRECTION</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Forces the text direction of every Pango layout
            inside Clutter. Valid values are: ltr or rtl</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_SHOW_FPS</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Prints out the frames per second achieved by Clutter.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_DEFAULT_FPS</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Sets the default framerate.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_DISABLE_MIPMAPPED_TEXT</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Disables mipmapping when rendering text.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_FUZZY_PICK</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Enables "fuzzy picking".</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_DEBUG</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Enables debugging modes for Clutter; debugging modes are
            used to print debugging messages on the console. Clutter must be
            compiled with the --enable-debug configuration switch for these
            messages to be printed out. Multiple debugging modes can be
            enabled by separating them using a colon (":") or a comma
            (",").</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_PAINT</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Enables paint debugging modes for Clutter; the modes change
            the way Clutter paints a scene and are useful for debugging the
            behaviour of the paint cycle.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_ENABLE_DIAGNOSTIC</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>When set to 1, enables diagnostic messages for run-time
            deprecations, similarly to <varname>G_ENABLE_DIAGNOSTIC</varname> in
            GLib.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <para>On the GLX backend there is also:</para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>CLUTTER_VBLANK</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>Selects the sync-to-vblank mode to be used.
            Valid values are: none, dri or glx</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

    </section>

    <section id="command-line">
      <title>Command Line Arguments</title>

      <para>Similarly to the environment variables, Clutter also installs
      command line switches that are parsed during initialization:</para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-show-fps</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_SHOW_FPS. Prints the
          current rendering speed in frames per second.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-default-fps=FPS</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_DEFAULT_FPS. Sets the
          default framerate.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-text-direction=DIRECTION</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_TEXT_DIRECTION. Sets the
          direction for the text.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-disable-mipmapped-text</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_DISABLE_MIPMAPPED_TEXT.
          Disables mipmapping when rendering text.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-use-fuzzy-picking</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_FUZZY_PICK. Enables
          "fuzzy" picking.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-debug=FLAGS</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_DEBUG. Sets FLAGS as the
          Clutter debugging flags.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-no-debug=FLAGS</term>
          <listitem><para>Unsets FLAGS from the Clutter debugging
          flags.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--cogl-debug=FLAGS</term>
          <listitem><para>Equivalent of COGL_DEBUG. Sets FLAGS as the
          Cogl debugging flags.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--cogl-no-debug=FLAGS</term>
          <listitem><para>Unsets FLAGS from the Cogl debugging
          flags.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--clutter-enable-accessibility</term>
          <listitem><para>Enables accessibility support.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <para>The X11 backends also have the following command line
      options:</para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--display=DISPLAY</term>
          <listitem><para>Sets the X11 display to use.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--screen=SCREEN</term>
          <listitem><para>Sets the X11 screen number to use.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>--synch</term>
          <listitem><para>Make X11 calls synchronous.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </section>

    <para>The GLX backend also has the following command line option:</para>

    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
        <term>--vblank=METHOD</term>
        <listitem><para>Equivalent of CLUTTER_VBLANK. Sets the sync-to-vblank
        method to be used.</para></listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>

    <section id="clutter-Debug-Flags">
      <title>Debug flags for Clutter</title>

      <para>The debugging flags can be used for the CLUTTER_DEBUG environment
      variable and the --clutter-debug command line switch. Multiple flags can
      be separated by a colon (:) or a comma (,).</para>

      <!--
      keep in sync with the list of Clutter debug keys inside clutter-main.c
      -->
      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>actor</term>
          <listitem><para>Generic actor-related notes</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>animation</term>
          <listitem><para>#ClutterAnimation notes</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>backend</term>
          <listitem><para>Backend-related notes, including initialization of
          the backend features and GL context creation</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>event</term>
          <listitem><para>Event handling notes</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>layout</term>
          <listitem><para>#ClutterLayoutManager notes</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>misc</term>
          <listitem><para>Miscellaneous notes</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>scheduler</term>
          <listitem><para>Notes related to timelines and the master
          clock</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>script</term>
          <listitem><para>Notes related to #ClutterScript</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <para>It is possible to get all the debugging notes using the
      special "all" flag.</para>

    </section>

    <section id="configuration-file">
      <title>Configuration File</title>

      <para>Clutter will look for files named <filename>settings.ini</filename>
      located in the <filename>/etc/clutter-1.0</filename> and
      <filename>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/clutter-1.0</filename> directories. These files
      must be valid key files (see #GKeyFile in the GLib documentation) and may
      have three sections:</para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>Environment</term>
          <listitem><para>The keys in this section map the environment variables
          honoured by Clutter.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>Debug</term>
          <listitem><para>The keys in this section related to the debugging notes
          that Clutter exposes when compiled with debugging support; similarly to
          the environment variables and command line arguments related to the
          debugging notes, Clutter must be compiled with support for these notes
          in order to use them.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>Settings</term>
          <listitem><para>The keys in this section strictly map to the #GObject
          properties exposed by the #ClutterSettings type; if Clutter is running
          on an X11 platform, the XSettings manager will take precedence over the
          values specified in the <filename>settings.ini</filename>
          file.</para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <section id="configuration-keys-environment">
        <title>Keys available for the Environment group</title>

        <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>ShowFps</term>
            <listitem><para>A boolean value, equivalent to setting
            <code>CLUTTER_SHOW_FPS</code>.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>DisableMipmappedText</term>
            <listitem><para>A boolean value, equivalent to setting
            <code>CLUTTER_DISABLE_MIPMAPPED_TEXT</code>.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>UseFuzzyPicking</term>
            <listitem><para>A boolean value, equivalent to setting
            <code>CLUTTER_FUZZY_PICK</code>.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>EnableAccessibility</term>
            <listitem><para>A boolean value, equivalent to setting
            <code>CLUTTER_ENABLE_ACCESSIBILITY</code>.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>DefaultFps</term>
            <listitem><para>An integer value, equivalent to setting
            <code>CLUTTER_DEFAULT_FPS</code>.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>TextDirection</term>
            <listitem><para>A string value, equivalent to setting
            <code>CLUTTER_TEXT_DIRECTION</code>.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
        </variablelist>
      </section>

      <section id="configuration-keys-debug">
        <title>Keys available for the Debug group</title>

        <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>Debug</term>
            <listitem><para>A string containing the debugging flags, in the same
            format that should be used with the <code>CLUTTER_DEBUG</code>
            environment variable.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>PaintDebug</term>
            <listitem><para>A string containing the paint debugging flags, in the same
            format that should be used with the <code>CLUTTER_PAINT</code>
            environment variable.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          <varlistentry>
            <term>PickDebug</term>
            <listitem><para>A string containing the pick debugging flags, in the same
            format that should be used with the <code>CLUTTER_PICK</code>
            environment variable.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
        </variablelist>
      </section>

    </section>

  </partintro>
</part>