XCMSDB(1)

📦
version 7.7+11build1 · 3 versions
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💖 xcmsdb 💖

✨ NAME ✨

okay so the name is xcmsdb, and it's a Device Color Characterization utility for the X Color Management System 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

xcmsdb [ -query ] [ -remove ] [ -format 32|16|8 ] [ -help ] [ -version ]
[ filename ]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay bestie, so xcmsdb is how you load, query, or remove Device Color Characterization data. That data lives in properties on the root window of the screen, exactly like section 7, Device Color Characterization, of the ICCCM says 📖✨

Device Color Characterization data (also called the Device Profile) is literally an integral part of Xlib's X Color Management System (Xcms) 💅. Without it, colors can't get converted properly between device-independent and device-dependent forms. Main character energy for real 👑

Xcms uses 3x3 matrices stored in the XDCCC_LINEAR_RGB_MATRICES property to convert color specs between CIEXYZ and RGB Intensity (XcmsRGBi, also called linear RGB) 🌈. Then it uses display gamma info stored in the XDCCC_LINEAR_RGB_CORRECTION property to convert between RGBi and RGB device (XcmsRGB, also called device RGB) 🫶

Also, Xcms lets clients register function sets in addition to its built-in one for CRT color monitors 🖥️. Those extra function sets can stash their device profile info in other properties, in their own function-set-specific format. Xcmsdb has no idea what those non-standard properties are, so it just doesn't touch them 🙈

The ASCII readable contents of filename get transformed so they can be stored in properties 💜. If you don't give a file, it reads from standard input instead. This only happens when you're not using -query or -remove.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

xcmsdb program accepts the following options:

  • -query — tries to read the XDCCC properties off the screen's root window 👀. If it works, it makes the data more readable and sends it to standard out ✨
  • -remove — tries to remove the XDCCC properties on the screen's root window 🗑️
  • -format 32|16|8 — sets the property format (32, 16, or 8 bits per entry) for the XDCCC_LINEAR_RGB_CORRECTION property 🔥. The more bits per entry, the more precise the encoded floating point values get. Default is 32 bits per entry 💅
  • -help — prints a summary of the available options and exits 🧚
  • -version — prints the program version and exits 🌸

🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

xprop(1), Xlib documentation 📚

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • DISPLAY — this is how it figures out which display and screen to use 💖

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Chuck Adams, Tektronix Inc. 🫶 Al Tabayoyon, SynChromatics Inc. (added multi-visual support) 💜

🦋 that's the whole tea, bestie 💅 this page is from X Version 11, the xcmsdb 1.0.7 release, and it's the XCMSDB(1) manual page 🎀✨ love you, mean it 💖🫶

📦 where this page comes from