How to configure ScreenSaver by Command Line?

Solution 1:

Basics

This options are usually saved using two tools - gsettings and dconf:

• To get actual gsettings key names you need to run gsettings list-recursively > gs1 for first time and then change settings, then run it again gsettings list-recursively > gs2; then compare gs-files using meld gs1 gs2 to get a diff.
• To monitor configuration changes in realtime you can run dconf watch / and then change some GUI options. Comparison of two shots is possible by running dconf dump / > dconf1 and dconf dump / > dconf2 and then using meld dconf1 dconf2 .

Per-user variant

Using gsettings

To set needed values for your current user permanently using gsettings you have to use commands below:

gsettings set org.mate.session idle-delay 120
gsettings set org.mate.screensaver idle-activation-enabled false
gsettings set org.mate.screensaver lock-enabled false

and reverting to defaults is possible by

gsettings set org.mate.session idle-delay 30
gsettings set org.mate.screensaver idle-activation-enabled true
gsettings set org.mate.screensaver lock-enabled true

Using dconf

To set them using dconf you can use

cat <<EOF | dconf load /
[org/mate/desktop/session]
idle-delay=120

[org/mate/screensaver]
idle-activation-enabled=false
lock-enabled=false
EOF

and reverting to defaults is possible by

cat <<EOF | dconf load /
[org/mate/desktop/session]
idle-delay=30

[org/mate/screensaver]
idle-activation-enabled=true
lock-enabled=true
EOF

System-wide dconf-based method

To set this options as defaults on system-wide level you have to run the following commands:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/dconf/profile

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/dconf/profile/user
user-db:user
system-db:local
EOF

sudo mkdir -p /etc/dconf/db/local.d

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-my
[org/mate/desktop/session]
idle-delay=120

[org/mate/screensaver]
idle-activation-enabled=false
lock-enabled=false
EOF

sudo dconf update

Reverting to defaults is possible by

sudo rm /etc/dconf/profile/user /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-my
sudo dconf update

Consult with the following RedHat documentation for details:

• "Chapter 3. GSettings and dconf"
• "9.4. What Are dconf Profiles?"
• "9.5. Configuring Custom Default Values".