XRandR Invert Colors

Simple utility that inverts colors on all screens, using XrandR.

Dependencies

• XrandR development files (apt-get install libxcb-randr0-dev)
• Type sudo make deps-apt on Debian / Ubuntu

Building

• From a terminal, type make

Installing

Execute sudo make install after build to put the binary in the following location:

• /usr/local/bin/xrandr-invert-colors

Using

Run xrandr-invert-colors.bin for inverting colors on all screens. The follwing program option is implemented:

• -s <crtc_number> : Instead of inverting all screens, invert only the colors of the screen identified by <crtc_number>.
• --help and -h : Print a short help for the program.
• --version : Print a (dummy) version information.
• -d : Enables debug log on standard output. Prints diagonstic messages.

Hint: put the executable in the a directory listed in $PATH, and bind the execution of xrandr-invert-colors.bin to a shortcut key.

Achknowledgements

Redshift developers, for creating the XRandR gamma setting code. Their code is reused in this application. http://jonls.dk/redshift/ https://launchpad.net/redshift

Alternatives

• xcalib -i -a : Inverts the colors of the current screen.
  • Note that as of date of last testing (2014, xcalib version 0.8) xcalib has not been able to invert the colors on all monitors in a multi-monitor setup, because all monitors are presented by the X11 server as a single screen. Thus this limitation is coming from the X11 server. xrandr-invert-colors does not have this limitation, because it uses XRandR API, which correctly handles all attached monitors.

License

GNU GPL v3

Frequently asked questions

After a short time, the colors are reverted to original ones, there is no error message

Please make sure that other color-adjusting program is not running in the background, like RedShift.

It does not work on Ubuntu 17.10

xrandr-invert-colors only works on Xorg, not on Wayland (or Mir). Please make sure that you use Xorg.

"On supported systems, Wayland is now the default display server. The older display server is still available: just choose Ubuntu on Xorg from the cog on the log in screen. " https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtfulAardvark/ReleaseNotes

See issue #15 .