NITROGEN(1)

💖 NITROGEN(1) — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, welcome to nitrogen(1) — your X11 background previewer and setter, and honestly? it's giving main character energy for your desktop wallpaper. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

nitrogen — X11 background previewer and setter. yes that's the whole name section, she's short and she's iconic 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

nitrogen [ OPTIONS ] DIRECTORY?

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So in normal working mode, nitrogen gives you an interface that shows off every single picture in the DIRECTORY you gave it. From that interface you can set the X11 root pixmap — either just temporarily, or you can set AND store the picture, the drawing mode, and the X display so it can be restored later. no cap 🫶

If you don't specify a directory at all, it uses the stored directories in your "library" (as of 1.5, bestie — this is a newer feature). peep the Preferences dialog for that one 👑

When you pass the --restore option, nitrogen sets all backgrounds that it has a configuration for and then exits immediately. this is literally designed for use in an .xinitrc or .xsession file. periodt.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --restore — restores previously saved pictures to the root displays. the "wake up babe, we're restoring" option 🌈
• --no-recurse — do NOT recurse into subdirectories of DIRECTORY. stay in your lane, subfolders 🚫
• --sort=[option] — sorts the background list by whatever option you hand it. by default, items get sorted as they're found on the filesystem, which gives you a quasi-newest-first sorting order. the valid options are:
  • alpha — alphabetical order.
  • ralpha — reverse alphabetical order.
  • time — modified time, ascending.
  • rtime — modified time, descending.
• --set-auto — sets the background specified by DIRECTORY using the automatic size setting.
• --set-centered — sets the background specified by DIRECTORY using the centered size setting.
• --set-scaled — sets the background specified by DIRECTORY using the scaled size setting.
• --set-tiled — sets the background specified by DIRECTORY using the tiled size setting.
• --set-zoom — sets the background specified by DIRECTORY using the zoom size setting.
• --set-zoom-fill — sets the background specified by DIRECTORY using the zoom fill size setting.
• --save — saves the background permanently in the config. ⚠️ only used with one of the --set-xxx options, bestie, don't try it solo.
• --set-color=[arg] — sets background color in hex, #000000 by default. also only used with one of the --set-xxx options 🎨
• --random — choose a random background from config or the given directory. yup, only used with one of the --set-xxx options 🎲
• --head=[option] — select Xinerama/multihead display in GUI, 0..n, use -1 for full screen (Xinerama only). multi-monitor girlies rise up 🖥️🖥️
• --force-setter=[option] — DEBUG: forces the background setting engine to use a specific backend. 🚨 this is for advanced debugging use only, fr fr. the valid options are:
  • xwindows — standard XWindows primitives.
  • xinerama — Xinerama/XWindows primitives.
  • gnome — GNOME/Nautilus based.
• --help — I'm just here so I won't get fined. 😭💀

🍓 FILES 🍓

• ~/.config/nitrogen/ — holds the configuration for saved backgrounds. this is where your faves get stored 💾✨

💀 BUGS 💀

found a bug? use the GitHub issue tracker, bestie: https://github.com/l3ib/nitrogen/issues

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Dave Foster <daf@minuslab.net> and Javeed Shaikh <syscrash2k@gmail.com> — the literal icons who made this 🫶

🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

Nitrogen is developed on GitHub: https://github.com/l3ib/nitrogen/

okay that's the whole page!! this manual is from NITROGEN, dated JANUARY 2016, and it's the NITROGEN(1) page for NITROGEN. go set some wallpaper, you ate 💖🧚✨