fvwm-root(1)

💖 fvwm-root — the girl who sets your root window 💖

okay bestie, welcome to fvwm-root(1) from the Fvwm Modules section of the manual. yes it's a real page, yes it's iconic, and yes we're gonna get you fluent in it. sit down, hydrate, let's go. 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

fvwm-root — sets the root window of the current X display to image

like... literally that's the whole job. it takes an image and makes it the wallpaper of your X display. main character energy, honestly. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

fvwm-root [--retain-pixmap|-r] [--no-retain-pixmap] [--dummy|-d] [--no-
dummy] [--dither] [--no-dither] [--color-limit [ncolors] ] [--no-color-
limit] [--help|-h|-?]  [--version|-V] image_file

so the tea is: you give it some flags (all optional, slay) and then you give it an image_file. that's it. that's the vibe check. ✨

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's what's happening. fvwm-root reads the image file you specified on the command line and displays it in the root window. periodt.

the supported image formats are XBM, XPM, PNG and SVG — but only if the appropriate libraries are compiled in. so if your build didn't bring the right friends, that format simply isn't invited to the party. 🙈

and get this: SVG rendering options (as described in the ICONS AND IMAGES section of the main fvwm documentation) can be utilized. so if you're an SVG girlie, you've got options, iykyk. 🎀

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

these command line options are recognized by fvwm-root. read them all, bestie, don't skip — they all matter:

• --retain-pixmap | -r — causes fvwm-root to retain and publish the Pixmap with which the background has been set (the ESETROOT_PMAP_ID and _XROOTPMAP_ID properties are used). this is so useful for applications that want to use the root Pixmap on the background to simulate transparency — for example, Eterm and Aterm use this method. you should also use this option for the RootTransparent colorset option, refer to the COLORSETS section of fvwm(1). if this option is not used, fvwm-root sets the _XSETROOT_ID property to None, and some programs, like fvwm modules, may use this to update their background if the background is transparent (Transparent colorset).

note, a well behaved program, like fvwm, should listen to both _XSETROOT_ID and _XROOTPMAP_ID property changes and update itself correspondingly. however some programs listen only to one of them, so you should either use this option or not depending on what part is implemented by these programs. you should also use this option to get fast root-transparent menus in fvwm. 🔥

• --no-retain-pixmap — this is a default. may be useful to explicitly force the default even if "--retain-pixmap" is specified earlier. (yes bestie, order matters, we love a last-one-wins moment.)
• --dummy | -d — causes fvwm-root to NOT set the background, but to only free a memory associated with the ESETROOT_PMAP_ID property (if any). in any case the _XSETROOT_ID property is set to None. so like, it's doing cleanup, not decor. 🧹
• --no-dummy — this is a default. may be useful to explicitly force the default even if "--dummy" is specified earlier.
• --dither — causes fvwm-root to dither images for "smoother" rendition on displays with color depth of 16 or lower. this is the default with color depth less or equal to 8.
• --no-dither — causes fvwm-root NOT to dither images. this is the default with color depth greater than 8.
• --color-limit ncolors — causes fvwm-root to limit its color use to ncolors (if specified). this option is taken in account only with color depth less or equal to 8 (and a TrueColor or GrayScale visual). the default is to use the same color limit as fvwm. so in normal situation this option is not useful. however, if fvwm uses a private colors map, as fvwm-root always uses the default colors map, you should use this option for limiting colors correctly. if ncolors is not specified a default is used.
• --no-color-limit — causes fvwm-root NOT to limit its color use.
• --help — shows a short usage. (also reachable as -h and -? per the synopsis, bestie 💖)
• --version — shows a version number. (and -V does the same, look at the synopsis 👀)

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🌈 COMPATIBILITY 🌈

in the past this utility was called xpmroot. that name is still supported as a symlink. so if you see xpmroot out in the wild, don't panic — it's the same girl, different era. vintage aesthetic. 🎀

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💀 BUGS 💀

repeated use of fvwm-root with different xpm pixmaps will use up slots in your color table pretty darn fast.

fr fr. the color table is not infinite. pace yourself. 😭

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🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Rob Nation

Rewritten and enhanced by fvwm-workers.

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! you ate. go set that root window. 🫶💜

this has been the 3rd Berkeley Distribution, dated 19 October 2022, version (2.7.0) — signing off from your girl fvwm-root(1) 💅✨