FBFREE(1)

💅 FBFREE(1) — the BRL-CAD glow-up, bestie edition

okay so picture this: it's a fbfree page from the BRL-CAD manual set, and it's here to teach you how to let a frame buffer go. yes, we're doing closures, but for graphics resources. 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

fbfree — free resources associated with a frame buffer

like, all of them. the whole vibe. gone. 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

fbfree [-F _framebuffer_]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so fbfree opens up the frame buffer you point it at, and then immediately releases any resources that are associated with it. open, release, bye. main character efficiency. 👑

its most common use — and honestly its moment — is shutting down an fbserv(1) process and freeing up the shared memory or the display resources that process is holding onto. no cap, that's the whole reason this little icon exists. 🔥

internally? the command literally just calls the fb_free() routine after opening the frame buffer. that's it. that's the whole thing. it's giving "short and sweet."

and if you don't hand it a frame buffer with -F, it just uses the default — which is normally taken from the FB_FILE environment variable. 🌈

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -F framebuffer — specify the frame buffer to free. if you skip it, the default frame buffer gets used, and that default is typically the value of the FB_FILE environment variable. yw 💅
• -h, -? — print a usage message and then exit. a little "here's how this works, bestie" moment. 🫶

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⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

Example 1. Shut down a remote frame buffer server

fbserv -S 1024 0 /dev/X &
export FB_FILE=:0
pix-fb image.pix
fbfree

the lore: start an fbserv(1) listening on port 0, point FB_FILE at it, display a pix(5) image into it with pix-fb(1), and then — once you're done looking at it — release the frame buffer and tear down the server with fbfree. clean exit, no leftovers, we love a tidy queen. 🧚✨

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

brlcad(1), fbserv(1), fbclear(1), fb-fb(1), libdm(3)

(the whole friend group, fr fr 💜)

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🌸 AUTHOR 🌸

BRL-CAD Team

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💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

this software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

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💀 BUG REPORTS 💀

reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org

ngl if something's cursed, tell the devs. they want to know. that's the whole point of the address, bestie. 🙈

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and that's the page!! 🍓 brought to you by the BRL-CAD manual set, FBFREE(1), mwah 💋 — thanks for reading, go free those frame buffers responsibly ✨🦋