Back to main site | Back to man page index

GDBUS(1)                                            User Commands                                            GDBUS(1)



NAME
       gdbus - Tool for working with D-Bus objects

SYNOPSIS
       gdbus introspect [--system | --session | --address address] --dest bus_name --object-path /path/to/object
             [--xml] [--recurse] [--only-properties]

       gdbus monitor [--system | --session | --address address] --dest bus_name [--object-path /path/to/object]

       gdbus call [--system | --session | --address address] --dest bus_name --object-path /path/to/object
             --method org.project.InterfaceName.MethodName [--timeout seconds] ARG1 ARG2...

       gdbus emit [--system | --session | --address address] --object-path /path/to/object
             --signal org.project.InterfaceName.SignalName [--dest unique_bus_name] ARG1 ARG2...

       gdbus help

DESCRIPTION
       gdbus is a simple tool for working with D-Bus objects.

COMMANDS
       introspect
           Prints out interfaces and property values for a remote object. For this to work, the owner of the object
           needs to implement the org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable interface. If the --xml option is used, the
           returned introspection XML is printed, otherwise a parsed pretty representation is printed. The --recurse
           option can be used to introspect children (and their children and so on) and the --only-properties option
           can be used to only print the interfaces with properties.

       monitor
           Monitors one or all objects owned by the owner of bus_name.

       call
           Invokes a method on a remote object. Each argument to pass to the method must be specified as a serialized
           GVariant except that strings do not need explicit quotes. The return values are printed out as serialized
           GVariant values.

       emit
           Emits a signal. Each argument to include in the signal must be specified as a serialized GVariant except
           that strings do not need explicit quotes.

       help
           Prints help and exit.

BASH COMPLETION
       gdbus ships with a bash completion script to complete commands, destinations, bus names, object paths and
       interface/method names.

EXAMPLES
         This shows how to introspect an object - note that the value of each
         property is displayed:

           $ gdbus introspect --system \
                   --dest org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
                   --object-path /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/0
           node /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/0 {
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable {

                        out a{sv} props);
             };
             interface org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Device.Wired {
               signals:
                 PropertiesChanged(a{sv} arg_0);
               properties:
                 readonly b Carrier = false;
                 readonly u Speed = 0;
                 readonly s HwAddress = '00:1D:72:88:BE:97';
             };
             interface org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Device {
               methods:
                 Disconnect();
               signals:
                 StateChanged(u arg_0,
                              u arg_1,
                              u arg_2);
               properties:
                 readonly u DeviceType = 1;
                 readonly b Managed = true;
                 readwrite o Ip6Config = '/';
                 readwrite o Dhcp4Config = '/';
                 readwrite o Ip4Config = '/';
                 readonly u State = 2;
                 readwrite u Ip4Address = 0;
                 readonly u Capabilities = 3;
                 readonly s Driver = 'e1000e';
                 readwrite s Interface = 'eth0';
                 readonly s Udi = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:19.0/net/eth0';
             };
           };

       The --recurse and --only-properties options can be useful when wanting to inspect all objects owned by a
       particular process:

           $ gdbus introspect --system --dest org.freedesktop.UPower --object-path / --recurse  --only-properties
           node / {
             node /org {
               node /org/freedesktop {
                 node /org/freedesktop/UPower {
                   interface org.freedesktop.UPower {
                     properties:
                       readonly b IsDocked = true;
                       readonly b LidForceSleep = false;
                       readonly b LidIsPresent = false;
                       readonly b LidIsClosed = false;
                       readonly b OnLowBattery = false;
                       readonly b OnBattery = false;
                       readonly b CanHibernate = true;
                       readonly b CanSuspend = true;
                       readonly s DaemonVersion = '0.9.10';
                   };
                   node /org/freedesktop/UPower/Policy {
                   };

           [...]
             interface org.freedesktop.Notifications {
               methods:
                 GetServerInformation(out s return_name,
                                      out s return_vendor,
                                      out s return_version,
                                      out s return_spec_version);
                 GetCapabilities(out as return_caps);
                 CloseNotification(in  u id);
                 Notify(in  s app_name,
                        in  u id,
                        in  s icon,
                        in  s summary,
                        in  s body,
                        in  as actions,
                        in  a{sv} hints,
                        in  i timeout,
                        out u return_id);
             };
           [...]

       With this information, it's easy to use the call command to display a notification

           $ gdbus call --session \
                        --dest org.freedesktop.Notifications \
                        --object-path /org/freedesktop/Notifications \
                        --method org.freedesktop.Notifications.Notify \
                        my_app_name \
                        42 \
                        gtk-dialog-info \
                        "The Summary" \
                        "Here's the body of the notification" \
                        [] \
                        {} \
                        5000
           (uint32 12,)

       Monitoring all objects on a service:

           $ gdbus monitor --system --dest org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit
           Monitoring signals from all objects owned by org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit
           The name org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit is owned by :1.15
           /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2: org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Session.ActiveChanged (false,)
           /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Seat1: org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Seat.ActiveSessionChanged ('',)
           /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2: org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Session.ActiveChanged (true,)
           /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Seat1: org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Seat.ActiveSessionChanged ('/org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2',)

       Monitoring a single object on a service:

           $ gdbus monitor --system --dest org.freedesktop.NetworkManager --object-path /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/4141
           Monitoring signals on object /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/4141 owned by org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
           The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager is owned by :1.5
           /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/4141: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.AccessPoint.PropertiesChanged ({'Strength': <byte 0x5c>},)

BUGS
       Please send bug reports to either the distribution bug tracker or the upstream bug tracker at
       https://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=glib.

SEE ALSO
       dbus-send(1)



GIO                                                                                                          GDBUS(1)