This is flan.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.2 from manual.texi. This is the manual for version Version 2.1 (Build 1983.0) of Flan (http://www.nonpaged.com/software/flan), last updated on August 25, 2026. Copyright (C) 2025-2026 Anton McClure (http://www.nonpaged.com/). All rights reserved.  File: flan.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction to Flan, Up: (dir) Flan Reference Manual ********************* This is the manual for version Version 2.1 (Build 1983.0) of Flan (http://www.nonpaged.com/software/flan), last updated on August 25, 2026. Copyright (C) 2025-2026 Anton McClure (http://www.nonpaged.com/). All rights reserved. * Menu: * Introduction to Flan:: * Configuration and Settings:: * Updates and Upgrades::  File: flan.info, Node: Introduction to Flan, Next: Configuration and Settings, Prev: Top, Up: Top 1 Introduction to Flan ********************** Flan (aka the Flan Local-Access Notifier) is a free digital calendar signage software, originally written for use at the University of Akron's College of Business. It is intended currently for use with the FreeBSD Operating System and the XLibre display server. For information regarding Flan, please refer to the: project's Web pages (https://www.nonpaged.com/software/flan). Questions via e-mail may be sent to flan@nonpaged.com (mailto:flan@nonpaged.com). * Menu: * Downloading Flan:: * Running Flan::  File: flan.info, Node: Downloading Flan, Next: Running Flan, Up: Introduction to Flan 1.1 Downloading Flan ==================== Flan is licensed under the Anton McClure Software License Terms. See the file 'LICENSE' for details. Tarballs downloads are available from Anton McClure's FTP server over either the FTP (ftp://release.dl.nonpaged.com/software/flan/), HTTP (http://release.dl.nonpaged.com/software/flan/), and HTTPs (https://release.dl.nonpaged.com/software/flan/) protocols. * Menu: * Requirements::  File: flan.info, Node: Requirements, Up: Downloading Flan 1.1.1 Requirements ------------------ Flan requires the following when running: * XLibre (or another X11 display server) * XPM library * ical library * xml2 library  File: flan.info, Node: Running Flan, Prev: Downloading Flan, Up: Introduction to Flan 1.2 Running Flan ================ Assuming that you've got a Flan configuration file set up already, simply run the command: $flan /optional/path/to/config If your are not currently using X11, you should run it with xinit like so: $xinit flan /optional/path/to/config If all goes well, Flan should open on your current TTY. If you want to automate Flan, you may use the included systemd service file to do so. By default, the systemd script is configured to use TTY7 as Flan is intended to run standalone without an underlying desktop environment or window manager. If you need to set up your config file, the next chapter, "Settings", goes over all of the settings categories and options that you will find in the standard issue sample config.  File: flan.info, Node: Configuration and Settings, Next: Updates and Upgrades, Prev: Introduction to Flan, Up: Top 2 Configuration and Settings **************************** A sample configuration file may be found within the tarball for any given version. The settings are described below as follows. At the end of the chapter is all of the settings as they will appear in the sample configuration file. * Menu: * Main Settings:: * Font Settings:: * Color Settings:: * Text Settings:: * SRC Settings:: * All Together::  File: flan.info, Node: Main Settings, Next: Font Settings, Up: Configuration and Settings 2.1 Main Settings ================= These, long with source (ICS/XML) files, were the first editable options in Flan, with the goal of making it useful for more than just room 101 at the University of Akron College of Business. '*refresh*' Time between data reloads. '*days*' Number of days shown on-screen. '*logo*' XPM image file used as on-screen logo. '*title*' Title of calendar/organization. '*mode*' File type used. This can be either ics for calendar files, or xml for XML documents. '*regex*' Expression used to separate title and subtitle.  File: flan.info, Node: Font Settings, Next: Color Settings, Prev: Main Settings, Up: Configuration and Settings 2.2 Font Settings ================= All of the fonts must be written using the X Logical Font Description (XLFD) format. '*m*' Primary calendar font '*a*' Secondary header font '*l*' Primary header font '*d*' Secondary calendar font '*i*' Info bar font  File: flan.info, Node: Color Settings, Next: Text Settings, Prev: Font Settings, Up: Configuration and Settings 2.3 Color Settings ================== '*t_bgc*' Header background color '*t_txt*' Header text color '*b_bgc*' Calendar background color '*b_txt*' Calendar text color '*s_bgc*' Info bar background color '*s_txt*' Info bar text color '*c_bgc*' Cell background color  File: flan.info, Node: Text Settings, Next: SRC Settings, Prev: Color Settings, Up: Configuration and Settings 2.4 Text Settings ================= Text is just written with the left and right sides separated by '\\'. This is not the default text, but Anton did not like how the PDF copy formatted it when the default text was used here. 'Left side text\\Right side text'  File: flan.info, Node: SRC Settings, Next: All Together, Prev: Text Settings, Up: Configuration and Settings 2.5 SRC Settings ================ Calendars are just written as title=link. 'Test 1=ftp://ftp.example.cascaded.org/cal/test1.ics'  File: flan.info, Node: All Together, Prev: SRC Settings, Up: Configuration and Settings 2.6 All Together ================ All of the default settings as intended may look something like this: ; Sample flan.cfg for Flan ; http://www.nonpaged.com/software/flan ; ; Copyright (C) 2025-2026 Anton McClure ; All rights reserved. [main] refresh=3600 days=3 logo=/usr/local/share/flan/default.xpm title=Planning Flan mode=ics regex=^(.+)[[:space:]]?--[[:space:]]?(.*) [fonts] m=-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-*-* a=-*-times-bold-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-*-* l=-*-new century schoolbook-bold-r-normal-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-* d=-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-17-*-*-*-*-*-*-* i=-*-new century schoolbook-medium-r-*-*-17-*-*-*-*-*-*-* [colors] t_bgc=#4A6B8C t_txt=#FFFFFF b_bgc=#CCD3D7 b_txt=#224466 s_bgc=#3A5B71 s_txt=#E3E3E5 c_bgc=#FFFFFF [text] This is the planning flan\\This is test text Save this to /usr/local/etc/flan.cfg\\and edit as needed. [src] Test 1=/usr/local/share/flan/test1.ics Test 2=/usr/local/share/flan/test2.ics Test 3=/usr/local/share/flan/test3.ics  File: flan.info, Node: Updates and Upgrades, Prev: Configuration and Settings, Up: Top 3 Updates and Upgrades ********************** At this time, Flan does not have a built-in way to check for and install software updates. You can, however, automate this process by having a script periodically download a copy of a tarball, extract the tarball, and then install the files to their appropriate locations from there. For example, you may put the flan binary in '/usr/local/bin/' and the manual files in '/usr/local/share/doc/' for future reference. There is no right or wrong place for anything, so you don't need to worry about a rigid file structure.  Tag Table: Node: Top311 Node: Introduction to Flan759 Ref: introduction-to-flan911 Node: Downloading Flan1437 Ref: downloading-flan1572 Node: Requirements1954 Ref: requirements2056 Node: Running Flan2200 Ref: running-flan2327 Node: Configuration and Settings3054 Ref: configuration-and-settings3235 Node: Main Settings3586 Ref: main-settings3719 Node: Font Settings4282 Ref: font-settings4438 Node: Color Settings4691 Ref: color-settings4849 Node: Text Settings5124 Ref: text-settings5279 Node: SRC Settings5508 Ref: src-settings5659 Node: All Together5760 Ref: all-together5889 Node: Updates and Upgrades7015 Ref: updates-and-upgrades7155  End Tag Table  Local Variables: coding: utf-8 End: