gdbus - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

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 {
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,)

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

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