bsetbg(1)

💖 bsetbg(1) — v2.0 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the little utility that makes your desktop background look stunning ✨ it's the bsetbg manual page, and yes it's giving main character energy, but also it's giving "your root window is about to be gorgeous."

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🌸 NAME 🌸

bsetbg — a utility to manipulate the appearance of the X11 desktop's root window.

like, it changes your wallpaper. that's the vibe. periodt 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

bsetbg [options] image

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea ☕ — bsetbg is designed to give the Blackbox window manager a standard way to change the background of the root window. and ngl, it works with literally any other window manager too, so don't feel gatekept 🫶

what it actually is: a wrapper. it wraps both bsetroot and a whole flexible lineup of third-party applications that it calls on when it's dealing with image files. she's versatile. she's the moment. 👑

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -f, -full image — image gets stretched to fill the entire desktop. full glam, no gaps 💖
• -t, -tile image — image gets tiled across the desktop. repeat after me: iconic pattern behavior 🌈
• -c, -center image — image is centered on the desktop. simple, elegant, lowkey perfect 🎀
• -e, -exec program options fallback-arg image — this one tells bsetbg to run a separate command by executing program with options, where options are arguments to program.

if a fallback-arg is supplied (-full, -tile, or -center, as described up above), bsetbg will assume the last argument is a filename. and if program exits non-zero, or just isn't available on the target system, bsetbg will try to handle the file with the fallback argument instead. she has a plan B, bestie 😭

see the EXAMPLES section for more on -exec.

• -p, -post list — specifies a list of arguments to pass to the $POST_COMMAND. 🫶
• -d, -debug — debugging mode! bsetbg will print commands without executing them. it's a look-but-don't-touch situation, no cap.
• -g, -generate list — outputs a list of default configuration values, suitable for redirecting into ~/.bsetbgrc. any arguments you supply will be considered applications to search for in the system path, overriding bsetbg's internal defaults. it's giving DIY 💅
• -app imageApp — use this flag to specify which image application to use. this application may be one of the pre-defined list, or literally any application capable of displaying an image on the root window. you can also use this flag in conjunction with passing application-specific parameters to the application — in which case they should be enclosed in double quotes. ⭐
• -v, -version — outputs the version number. the receipts, basically. 📜
• -h, -help — outputs a brief usage message. she'll remind you what she does 🥺

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💜 OTHER OPTIONS 💜

bsetbg will also accept all of the arguments for bsetroot. go consult the bsetroot(1) man page for further information — that's a whole other rabbit hole, bestie 🐇

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🧚 CONFIGURATION 🧚

bsetbg reads its configuration values from the file ~/.bsetbgrc if it exists. otherwise? she scans the system path for a pre-defined list of image applications to use. (currently that list is: qiv, xli, xv, wmsetbg, Esetroot, display, and xsetbg.) 🔍

~/.bsetbgrc should contain the following variables:

• CENTER="string" — application and arguments to be used to center an image on the root window when the -center argument is specified.
• FULL="string" — application and arguments to be used to stretch an image to fill the root window when the -full argument is specified.
• TILE="string" — application and arguments to be used to tile an image on the root window when the -tile argument is specified.
• DEFAULT="string" — the action to take place by default if none of the above have been specified.

the following variables are optional:

• NO_EXEC="boolean" — if this variable is set, bsetbg will never modify the root window. she's on strike. 💀
• POST_COMMAND="string" — this variable specifies a command that bsetbg will run after every successful modification of the root window. 🎉
• LOG_LAST_CMD="boolean" — if this variable is set, bsetbg will keep a logfile of the last two successful commands. keeping receipts, as she should 📝
• LOGFILE="string" — this variable can specify the logfile to be used when $LOG_LAST_CMD is defined. the default is ~/.bsetbg_last_cmd .

as mentioned up above, bsetbg will function perfectly for the majority of users without having a configuration file. power users who want more control over bsetbg's behavior should run bsetbg -g and use the output to create a ~/.bsetbgrc, which may then be tweaked by hand. customize her, she loves it 💜

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

in this example, bsetbg will set the image in centered mode:

bsetbg -center foo.png

an example of the -exec argument:

bsetbg -exec xv -root -quit -rmode 5 -rbg rgb:2/2/2 \      -center
foo.png

an example in which bsetbg creates a configuration file using xv and qiv:

 bsetbg -g xv qiv > ~/.bsetbgrc

an example of the use of the -app argument:

bsetbg -app qiv "-o rgb:d6/c5/a2 -x" -c foo.png

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

the author of bsetbg may be reached at tmk@lordzork.com. shoutout to them, fr fr 🫡

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🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

blackbox(1), bsetroot(1), qiv(1), xli(1), xv(1), display(1), wmsetbg(1)

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okay that's the whole page, bestie!! go forth and make your root window ate 💅✨ this was bsetbg, v2.0, dated February 2002 — and remember, if anyone asks, you read the manual. slay. 💖🎀🦋