gdbus 1 User Commands gdbus Introspect and call remote objects gdbus introspect --system --session --address address --dest bus_name --object-path /path/to/object --xml 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 ARG1 ARG2 gdbus help Description gdbus offers a simple commandline utility for introspecting and calling methods on remote objects. Commands 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. Monitors one or all objects owned by the owner of bus_name. 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. 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 { 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'; }; }; In a similar fashion, the 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 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>},) /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>},) AUTHOR Written by David Zeuthen zeuthen@gmail.com with a lot of help from many others. BUGS Please send bug reports to either the distribution bug tracker or the upstream bug tracker at . SEE ALSO dbus-send1