GIF2FB(1)

📦
version 7.44.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 GIF2FB — okay bestie, let's talk about gif2fb(1) 💅

So this is the page for gif2fb(1), brought to you by the BRL-CAD girlies, and it's literally just "put a GIF on a frame buffer." Iconic behavior, no notes. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

gif2fb — display a GIF image on a frame buffer 💖

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

gif2fb [-H] [-v] [-F _frame_buffer_] [_gif_file_]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the whole vibe: gif2fb reads a CompuServe GIF (that's Graphics Interchange Format, iykyk) image and displays its first picture on a frame buffer. Not all of them. The first one. Periodt. 💅

The GIF data may contain 1, 2, 4, or 8 bit deep pictures with one or more color maps, and gif2fb is smart enough to SELECT the appropriate color map and decode the LZW-compressed image — all while honoring GIF interlacing. She's thorough. The frame buffer is opened at the size of the embedded image, so it fits like it was made for her (because it was 🫶).

If no gif_file is given, the image is read from standard input — use the shell < redirection construct, bestie, that's the move.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -F frame_buffer — Display on the specified frame buffer rather than the one named by the FB_FILE environment variable (or the default system frame buffer). Main character chooses her own venue. 👑
  • -H — Print the GIF screen dimensions to standard error in the form -w_width_ -n_height_ and exit without displaying the image. The output is suitable for passing as arguments to other BRL-CAD frame buffer tools. No picture, just facts. ✨
  • -v — Verbose. Print details of the GIF header, image header, and code sizes to standard error. She's telling you EVERYTHING. 🙈
  • -h | -? — Print a usage message and exit. The classic "help me help you." 😭

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Example 1. Report the dimensions of a GIF image

gif2fb -H image.gif

With -H, gif2fb prints the image dimensions to standard error as -w_width_ -n_height_ and exits without displaying the image. The reported dimensions can be used to size a matching frame buffer with tools such as fbserv(1) or pixautosize(1). It's giving "measure twice, cut once." 📏💖

Example 2. Decode a GIF piped from standard input

gif2fb -v -F /dev/X < image.gif

Reads the GIF from standard input and displays it on frame buffer /dev/X while printing header diagnostics — useful for inspecting an image produced earlier in a pipeline. Pipeline girlies stay winning. 🌀✨

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

brlcad(1), gif-fb(1), pix-fb(1), png-fb(1)

(the whole friend group, honestly 🫶)

💀 DIAGNOSTICS 💀

Error messages are intended to be self-explanatory. She's not gonna overexplain — read the message, bestie, she believes in you. 😭

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

BRL-CAD Team 👑

This software is Copyright (c) 1994-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

🍓 BUG REPORTS 🍓

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org. Don't suffer in silence, ngl — tell them. 💌

and that's the whole page, bestie 💜 — this was GIF2FB(1), straight from the BRL-CAD source, with the copyright window running 1994-2026. slay, go display a GIF. 🧚✨

📦 where this page comes from