Uses CVLC (command-line VLC) to record a screen session in Linux.

screencast.md

Linux screen capture

Uses CVLC (command-line VLC) to record an ongoing screen session in Linux.

Requires VLC to be installed.

Usage

To save a new video file in the current folder:

$ screencast

To save a new video file in a new/existing folder foo:

$ screencast -d foo # -d or --directory

New files will be named screencast-<year><month><day><hour><minute>.mp4

Important

In order to finish recording and save the video file, enter quit in the original console.

Do not close with ctrl-c as it can corrupt the file!

Notes

• Doesn't display cursor in output
  • There is a way to provide a custom PNG to overlay cursor movements
    • BUT! Cursor won't change as it does on usual interactive elements (text, buttons, etc)
• Apparent lag in final output
  • FPS flag doesn't seem to change the output framerate

screencast.sh

#!/bin/bash

#
# Usage:
# -------------------------------------------------------
# `screencast`
#   saves video file in the current folder
# `screencast -d foo`
#   saves video file in the 'foo' folder (creates folder if none exists)
#
# TERMINATE BY ENTERING `quit` INTO THE RUNNING TERMINAL
#
# DO NOT CLOSE WITH `Ctrl-C` -- CAN CAUSE CORRUPTION !!!
#

DATE=$(date +%y%m%d%H%M)
NAME="screencast-$DATE"
FILE="$NAME"

while [[ $# > 1 ]]
do
key="$1"

case $key in
    -d|--directory)
    DIR="$2"
    FILE="$DIR/$NAME"
    $(mkdir -p $DIR)
    shift;;
    *)
esac
shift
done

cvlc screen:// \
-I rc \
--screen-follow-mouse \
--screen-fps 5 \
:sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=800,fps=5,scale=1,acodec=none}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=mp4,dst=$FILE}}"

1. Can it record audio? If yes, can it record from both mic and output?
2. (silly question) Why is fps=5?

I think it does record audio - you'd have to look into the VLC command line util for the vairous options.
Frames per second (FPS) controls the quality.

I no longer use this solution - instead OBS for any screencaps/recordings.

@gorango May I know, what specifically bothers you about this solution?