TALER-MDB-ADS.SH(1)

📦 version 1.3.0, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 NAME 💅

taler-mdb-ads.sh — the little script that renders ads on vending machine displays while taler-mdb is just chilling, doing nothing. Idle screen? Not on our watch, bestie. ✨

(Yes, this is taler-mdb-ads.sh(1), the Gen Z remix. Same facts, more sparkle. 🎀)

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

taler-mdb-ads.sh [-c FILENAME] [-h]

That's it. Two flags. Iconic minimalism. 👑

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

taler-mdb-ads.sh is a command-line tool whose whole personality is rendering advertisements. No cap. 🖼️

Its options are as follows — and there are literally only two, so you have zero excuses:

🦋 the options 🦋

  • -c FILENAME — tells the command to use the configuration and other resources from FILENAME. Like, that's where it gets its whole setup. 🗂️
  • -h — prints short help on options. The "help me bestie" button. 🙈

🎀 what it actually does 🎀

When this script is running, it cycles through rendering the files in $PREFIX/share/taler/ads/ on FRAMEBUFFER_DEVICE (as defined in the configuration file). Yes, FRAMEBUFFER_DEVICE is a real thing and it's reading it from the config, not guessing. 📺

It renders them in a random order, and reshuffles them each time it loops around — so every pass hits different. It's lowkey giving shuffle playlist energy. 🔥

It depends on the fbi tool to render images on the framebuffer:

https://www.kraxel.org/blog/linux/fbida/

(that's the fbida link, fr fr — keep it handy) 🧚

⚠️ okay so this part matters: as of taler-mdb v0.10.0, we kill all running fbi processes (via killall) when cycling between images — not just the ones we started. All of them. Every single one. This behaviour may change in future releases, but right now it is what it is. 💀

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

Go read them, they're part of the lore. 📚

🫶 BUGS 🫶

Found a bug? Don't suffer in silence, bestie. Report it by using:

https://bugs.taler.net

or by sending electronic mail to <taler@gnu.org>. We'll love you for it. 💌

👑 AUTHOR 👑

GNU Taler contributors — the collective, the squad, the main characters. 🌈

2014-2025 Taler Systems SA (GPLv3+ or GFDL 1.3+)

and that's the whole page, bestie — version 1.0, dated Dec 22, 2025, filed under TALER-MDB-ADS.SH(1). go forth and advertise on those vending machines 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from