cinnamon-screensaver

cinnamon-screensaver [OPTION…]

--help
    Display help message and exit

--version
    Output version information and exit

--debug
    Enable verbose debug logging

--sm-client-id ID
    Set session management client identifier

cinnamon-screensaver is the screen saver and locker daemon for the Cinnamon desktop environment, used primarily in Linux Mint and other Cinnamon-based distributions. It activates after a period of user inactivity to blank the screen, display animated visual effects, and optionally lock the session for security.

The daemon integrates seamlessly with the Cinnamon session manager, handling screen power management, DPMS (Display Power Management Signaling), and inhibition signals from applications like media players or games via D-Bus interfaces. This prevents unwanted activation during fullscreen activities. It supports a variety of configurable screensaver modules, drawn from sources like xscreensaver hacks, with themes selectable via the preferences dialog.

Unlike standalone screensavers, it emphasizes reliability and never-fail locking, resuming from suspend or logout gracefully. Users interact indirectly through keyboard shortcuts (e.g., Super+L), applets, or the companion cinnamon-screensaver-command tool. Configuration includes idle timeout, lock delay, and visual effects, stored in GSettings schemas.

It runs unobtrusively in the background, consuming minimal resources when idle, and supports X11 primarily, with experimental Wayland compatibility in recent versions.

Designed for Cinnamon sessions; manual invocation outside may fail or conflict. D-Bus activated automatically; prefers X11 over Wayland currently.

Use cinnamon-screensaver-command for actions like --lock, --activate, --deactivate.

Apps inhibit via org.cinnamon.Screensaver D-Bus interface to pause during playback.

Developed starting with Cinnamon 1.6 (2012) by the Linux Mint team as a GNOME Shell fork. Evolved through versions with enhanced security, theming, and multi-monitor support; recent updates add Wayland experimentation and Flatpak compatibility.

cinnamon-screensaver-command(1), cinnamon-screensaver-preferences(1), gnome-screensaver(1), xscreensaver(1)