KMSCON.CONF(1) kmscon.conf KMSCON.CONF(1)

kmscon.conf - Configuration file for KMS/DRM based System Console

kmscon.conf is the configuration file to control the behavior of kmscon and adjust it to your system-setup. It allows to remap the bindings of keyboard-shortcuts, define the desired keyboard-layout, select font attributes for text-rendering, hardware-accelerationn, orientation of output and much more.

Below is a complete list of all recognized Options, their meaning and possible values. In section Example is a typical real-world sample of a configuration to guide you in creating your own.

Here is a real-world example of a typical kmscon.conf file:

### General Options ###
verbose
### Seat Options ###
vt=1
switchvt
### Session Options ###
session-max=6
session-control
### Terminal Options ###
term=linux
### Input Options ###
xkb-model=pc102
xkb-layout=de
xkb-repeat-delay=200
xkb-repeat-rate=65
mouse
dpms-timeout=0
### Video Options ###
drm
hwaccel
gpus=all
render-engine=gltex
rotate=normal
### Font Options ###
font-engine=pango
font-size=18
font-name=Ubuntu Mono

Any line starting with a #-character is ignored and considered to be a comment.

Below is a complete list of all recognized options, their meaning and possible values.

### General Options ###

verbose

Make kmscon be very chatty about what it is doing. It prints to stdout unless redirected. Off if not present in kmsconf.conf or commented out. (default: off)

debug

Let kmscon be even more chatty. The text-output goes to stdout or any file it was redirected to. Off if not present in kmsconf.conf or commented out. (default: off)

silent

Suppress notices and warnings. (default: off)

configdir

Path to config directory. (default: /etc/kmscon)

listen

Listen for new seats and spawn sessions accordingly. (default: off)

### Seat Options ###

vt

Select which VT to run on. (default: auto)

switchvt

Automatically switch to VT. (default: on)

seats

Select seats to run on. (default: current)

### Session Options ###

session-max

Maximum number of sessions. (default: 50)

session-control

Allow keyboard session-control. (default: off)

terminal-session

Enable terminal session. (default: on)

### Terminal Options ###

login

Start the given login process instead of the default process; all arguments following '--' will be be parsed as argv to this process. No more options after '--' will be parsed so use it at the end of the argument string. (default: /bin/login -p)

term

Value of the TERM environment variable for the child process. (default: xterm-256color)

reset-env

Reset environment before running child process. (default: on)

backspace-delete

Send delete character when backspace is pressed. (default: on)

palette

Select the used color palette. (default: default)

sb-size

Size of the scrollback-buffer in lines. (default: 1000)

### Input Options ###

xkb-model

Set XkbModel for input devices. (default: unset)

xkb-layout

Set XkbLayout for input devices. (default: unset)

xkb-variant

Set XkbVariant for input devices. (default: unset)

xkb-options

Set XkbOptions for input devices. (default: unset)

xkb-keymap

Use a predefined keymap for input devices. (default: unset)

xkb-repeat-delay

Initial delay for key-repeat in ms. (default: 250)

xkb-repeat-rate

Delay between two key-repeats in ms. (default: 50)

--mouse

Enable mouse/touchpad/trackpoint in kmscon (default: on). It allows to select, and copy/paste text with a pointing device, and also to scroll with the mouse wheel. It's still experimental, and may not work with specific devices.

--dpms-timeout

Set screen timeout in seconds (default: 0 = disabled). When enabled, the screen will automatically turn off (DPMS OFF) after the specified period of keyboard and mouse inactivity. Any keyboard or mouse input will turn the screen back on and reset the timer. This feature is useful for power saving on systems where the screen is not always needed.

### Grabs/Keyboard-Shortcuts ###

grab-scroll-up

Shortcut to scroll up. (default: <Shift>Up)

grab-scroll-down

Shortcut to scroll down. (default: <Shift>Down)

grab-page-up

Shortcut to scroll page up. (default: <Shift>Prior)

grab-page-down

Shortcut to scroll page down. (default: <Shift>Next)

grab-zoom-in

Shortcut to increase font size. (default: <Ctrl>Plus)

grab-zoom-out

Shortcut to decrease font size. (default: <Ctrl>Minus)

grab-session-next

Switch to next session. (default: <Ctrl><Logo>Right)

grab-session-prev

Switch to previous session. (default: <Ctrl><Logo>Left)

grab-session-dummy

Switch to dummy session. (default: <Ctrl><Logo>Escape)

grab-session-close

Close current session. (default: <Ctrl><Logo>BackSpace)

grab-terminal-new

Create new terminal session. (default: <Ctrl><Logo>Return)

grab-rotate-cw

Rotate output clock-wise. (default: <Logo>Plus)

grab-rotate-ccw

Rotate output counter-clock-wise. (default: <Logo>Minus)

grab-reboot

Reboot the system when this keyboard shortcut is pressed. This option is disabled by default. The reboot behavior follows the system-wide setting in /proc/sys/kernel/ctrl-alt-del: when set to 0 (default), a graceful reboot is performed by sending SIGINT to init (PID 1); when set to a value greater than 0, an immediate hard reboot is performed after syncing disk buffers. Example: grab-reboot=<Ctrl><Alt>Delete (default: disabled)

### Video Options ###

drm

Use DRM if available. (default: on)

hwaccel

Use 3D hardware-acceleration if available. (default: off)

gpus

GPU selection mode. (default: all)

use-original-mode

Use the original KMS video mode. (default: on)

mode

Set the resolution to {width}x{height}

rotate

Orientation of output to use. (default: normal)

### Font Options ###

font-engine

Font engine to use. (default: pango)

font-size

Font size in points. (default: 12)

font-name

Font name to use. (default: monospace)

font-dpi

Force DPI value for all fonts. (default: 96)

/etc/kmsconf.conf

kmscon(1)

January 2023 kmscon.conf