Recording desktop activity
For the Record
We look at several tools, ranging from very simple to more complex – that can help you record various desktop activities.
Recording your desktop can serve many purposes: It can be a way of permanently recording a complicated procedure; it can prove that a student has completed an assignment, as the man page for the script command suggests; or it can enhance documentation, provide animated how-tos, and even assist with automatic testing, depending on the tools you choose.
The tools described in this article operate on several levels. At the simplest level, commands like script, ttyrec, and shelr serve as more permanent alternatives to a shell's history. By contrast, scrot takes stills, cnee records not so much visual events as the technical information behind them, and recordmydesktop produces movies made from desktop events. You could accurately say that recording tools are available for every purpose and level of users.
script
The script command writes a record of all actions within a shell (Figure 1). It is not much different from viewing a shell's history, except that it writes to file and is stored permanently. Script is one of several dozen commands installed in distributions as part of the linux-utils package.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.