GIO Developer David Zeuthen zeuthen@gmail.com gdbus 1 User Commands gdbus Tool for working with D-Bus objects 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 --interactive 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 wait --system --session --address address --activate bus_name --timeout seconds bus_name gdbus help gdbus is a simple tool for working with D-Bus objects. 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. wait Waits until bus_name is owned by some process on the bus. If the --activate is specified, that bus name will be auto-started first. It may be the same as the bus name being waited for, or different. help Prints help and exit. gdbus ships with a bash completion script to complete commands, destinations, bus names, object paths and interface/method names. 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 { methods: Introspect(out s data); }; interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties { methods: Get(in s interface, in s propname, out v value); Set(in s interface, in s propname, in v value); GetAll(in s interface, 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 { }; node /org/freedesktop/UPower/Wakeups { interface org.freedesktop.UPower.Wakeups { properties: readonly b HasCapability = true; }; }; }; }; }; }; In a similar fashion, the introspect command can be used to learn details about the Notify method: [...] 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,) Call a method with file handle argument: $ gdbus call --session \ --dest org.example.foo \ --object-path /org/example/foo \ --method SendFDs \ 1 \ 10 \ 10<file.foo 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>},) /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/4141: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.AccessPoint.PropertiesChanged ({'Strength': <byte 0x64>},) /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/4141: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.AccessPoint.PropertiesChanged ({'Strength': <byte 0x5e>},) /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/4141: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.AccessPoint.PropertiesChanged ({'Strength': <byte 0x64>},) Emitting a signal: $ gdbus emit --session --object-path /foo --signal org.bar.Foo "['foo', 'bar', 'baz']" Emitting a signal to a specific process: $ gdbus emit --session --object-path /bar --signal org.bar.Bar someString --dest :1.42 Waiting for a well-known name to be owned on the bus; this will not auto-start the service: $ gdbus wait --session org.bar.SomeName Auto-starting then waiting for a well-known name to be owned on the bus: $ gdbus wait --session --activate org.bar.SomeName Auto-starting a different service, then waiting for a well-known name to be owned on the bus. This is useful in situations where SomeName is not directly activatable: $ gdbus wait --session --activate org.bar.PrerequisiteName org.bar.SomeName Waiting for a well-known name and giving up after 30 seconds. By default, the timeout is disabled; or set --timeout to 0 to disable it: $ gdbus wait --session --timeout 30 org.bar.SomeName Please send bug reports to either the distribution bug tracker or the upstream bug tracker at . dbus-send1