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<refentry id='dbussend1'>
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<!--  dbus\-send manual page. -->
<!--  Copyright (C) 2003 Red Hat, Inc. -->

<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>dbus-send</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv id='name'>
<refname>dbus-send</refname>
<refpurpose>Send a message to a message bus</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
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<refsynopsisdiv id='synopsis'>
<cmdsynopsis>
  <command>dbus-send</command>    
    <group choice='opt'><arg choice='plain'>--system </arg><arg choice='plain'>--session </arg></group>
    <arg choice='opt'>--dest=<replaceable>NAME</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='opt'>--print-reply </arg>
    <arg choice='opt'>--type=<replaceable>TYPE</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>&lt;destination</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>object</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>path&gt;</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>&lt;message</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>name&gt;</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='opt' rep='repeat'><replaceable>contents</replaceable></arg>
    <sbr/>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>


<refsect1 id='description'><title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para>The <command>dbus-send</command> command is used to send a message to a D-Bus message
bus. See <ulink url='http://www.freedesktop.org/software/dbus/'>http://www.freedesktop.org/software/dbus/</ulink> for more 
information about the big picture.</para>


<para>There are two well-known message buses: the systemwide message bus 
(installed on many systems as the "messagebus" service) and the 
per-user-login-session message bus (started each time a user logs in).
The --system and --session options direct <command>dbus-send</command> to send
messages to the system or session buses respectively.  If neither is
specified, <command>dbus-send</command> sends to the session bus.</para>


<para>Nearly all uses of <command>dbus-send</command> must provide the --dest argument
which is the name of a connection on the bus to send the message to. If
--dest is omitted, no destination is set.</para>


<para>The object path and the name of the message to send must always be
specified. Following arguments, if any, are the message contents
(message arguments).  These are given as type-specified values and 
may include containers (arrays, dicts, and variants) as described below.</para>

<literallayout remap='.nf'>
&lt;contents&gt;   ::= &lt;item&gt; | &lt;container&gt; [ &lt;item&gt; | &lt;container&gt;...]
&lt;item&gt;       ::= &lt;type&gt;:&lt;value&gt;
&lt;container&gt;  ::= &lt;array&gt; | &lt;dict&gt; | &lt;variant&gt;
&lt;array&gt;      ::= array:&lt;type&gt;:&lt;value&gt;[,&lt;value&gt;...] 
&lt;dict&gt;       ::= dict:&lt;type&gt;:&lt;type&gt;:&lt;key&gt;,&lt;value&gt;[,&lt;key&gt;,&lt;value&gt;...]
&lt;variant&gt;    ::= variant:&lt;type&gt;:&lt;value&gt;
&lt;type&gt;       ::= string | int16 | uint 16 | int32 | uint32 | int64 | uint64 | double | byte | boolean | objpath
</literallayout> <!-- .fi -->

<para>D-Bus supports more types than these, but <command>dbus-send</command> currently
does not.  Also, <command>dbus-send</command> does not permit empty containers
or nested containers (e.g. arrays of variants).</para>


<para>Here is an example invocation:</para>
<literallayout remap='.nf'>

  dbus-send --dest=org.freedesktop.ExampleName               \
            /org/freedesktop/sample/object/name              \
            org.freedesktop.ExampleInterface.ExampleMethod   \
            int32:47 string:'hello world' double:65.32       \
            array:string:"1st item","next item","last item"  \
            dict:string:int32:"one",1,"two",2,"three",3      \
            variant:int32:-8                                 \
            objpath:/org/freedesktop/sample/object/name 

</literallayout> <!-- .fi -->

<para>Note that the interface is separated from a method or signal 
name by a dot, though in the actual protocol the interface
and the interface member are separate fields.</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id='options'><title>OPTIONS</title>
<para>The following options are supported:</para>
<variablelist remap='TP'>
  <varlistentry>
  <term><option>--dest=NAME</option></term>
  <listitem>
<para>Specify the name of the connection to receive the message.</para>
  </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
  <term><option>--print-reply</option></term>
  <listitem>
<para>Block for a reply to the message sent, and print any reply received.</para>
  </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
  <term><option>--system</option></term>
  <listitem>
<para>Send to the system message bus.</para>
  </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
  <term><option>--session</option></term>
  <listitem>
<para>Send to the session message bus.  (This is the default.)</para>
  </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
  <varlistentry>
  <term><option>--type=TYPE</option></term>
  <listitem>
<para>Specify "method_call" or "signal" (defaults to "signal").</para>

  </listitem>
  </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>

<refsect1 id='author'><title>AUTHOR</title>
<para>dbus-send was written by Philip Blundell.</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id='bugs'><title>BUGS</title>
<para>Please send bug reports to the D-Bus mailing list or bug tracker,
see <ulink url='http://www.freedesktop.org/software/dbus/'>http://www.freedesktop.org/software/dbus/</ulink></para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>