dbus-send

' dbus-send 'u dbus-send [ --system | --session | --address= ADDRESS ][ --dest= NAME ][ --print -reply [ =literal ]][ --reply -timeout= MSEC ][ --type= TYPE ] OBJECT_PATH INTERFACE.MEMBER [ CONTENTS ...]

The dbus-send command is used to send a message to a D -Bus message bus . See http://www.freedesktop .org/software/dbus/ for more information about the big picture .

There are two well -known message buses: the systemwide message bus (installed on many systems as the "messagebus" service) and the per -user -login -session message bus (started each time a user logs in) . The --system and --session options direct dbus-send to send messages to the system or session buses respectively . If neither is specified, dbus-send sends to the session bus .

Nearly all uses of dbus-send must provide the --dest argument which is the name of a connection on the bus to send the message to . If --dest is omitted, no destination is set .

The object path and the name of the message to send must always be specified . Following arguments, if any, are the message contents (message arguments) . These are given as type -specified values and may include containers (arrays, dicts, and variants) as described below .

---

.RS 4
<contents> ::= <item> | <container> [ <item> | <container> . . .] <item> ::= <type>:<value> <container> ::= <array> | <dict> | <variant> <array> ::= array:<type>:<value>[,<value> . . .] <dict> ::= dict:<type>:<type>:<key>,<value>[,<key>,<value> . . .] <variant> ::= variant:<type>:<value> <type> ::= string | int16 | uint16 | int32 | uint32 | int64 | uint64 | double | byte | boolean | objpath .RE

D -Bus supports more types than these, but dbus-send currently does not . Also, dbus-send does not permit empty containers or nested containers (e .g . arrays of variants) .

Here is an example invocation:

---

.RS 4

dbus -send --dest=org .freedesktop .ExampleName \ /org/freedesktop/sample/object/name \ org .freedesktop .ExampleInterface .ExampleMethod \ int32:47 string: (Aqhello world (Aq double:65 .32 \ array:string:"1st item","next item","last item" \ dict:string:int32:"one",1,"two",2,"three",3 \ variant:int32: -8 \ objpath:/org/freedesktop/sample/object/name
.RE

Note that the interface is separated from a method or signal name by a dot, though in the actual protocol the interface and the interface member are separate fields .

The following options are supported:

--dest= NAME Specify the name of the connection to receive the message .

--print -reply Block for a reply to the message sent, and print any reply received in a human -readable form . It also means the message type ( --type= )is method_call .

--print -reply=literal Block for a reply to the message sent, and print the body of the reply . If the reply is an object path or a string, it is printed literally, with no punctuation, escape characters etc .

--reply -timeout= MSEC Wait for a reply for up to MSEC milliseconds . The default is implementation typically 25 seconds .

--system Send to the system message bus .

--session Send to the session message bus . (This is the default .)

--address= ADDRESS Send to ADDRESS .

--type= TYPE Specify method_call or signal (defaults to " signal ").

Please send bug reports to the D -Bus mailing list or bug tracker, see http://www.freedesktop .org/software/dbus/

dbus -send was written by Philip Blundell .