xscreensaver-getimage(1)

📦
version 6.09 · 4 versions
, in debian trixie

✨ NAME ✨

ok so this is xscreensaver-getimage — it's a lil helper program from the XScreenSaver manual that loads a randomly-selected image onto an X11 Drawable so your screen savers have something pretty to play with 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

xscreensaver-getimage [--display host:display.screen] [--verbose]
window-id [pixmap-id]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okok so bestie, xscreensaver-getimage is a helper program for the xscreensaver hacks that manipulate images. it's literally the backstage crew, not the main character. 🫶

what it does: it selects a random image and puts it on the specified window or pixmap. and what even is that image? could be:

  • a snapshot of the desktop 📸
  • a frame captured from the system's video input 📹
  • a randomly-selected image from disk 🖼️

if you give it only a window ID, the image gets painted right there on the window. if you give it both a window ID and a pixmap ID, then the image gets painted on the pixmap, and the window may get modified as a side-effect. iykyk. 👑

🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

so it doesn't really take flags for this part — xscreensaver-getimage reads the ~/.xscreensaver file for configuration info, and it uses these settings:

  • grabDesktopImages — whether it's acceptable to grab snapshots of the desktop. the security-paranoid girlies might wanna turn this off, to avoid letting people see (but not touch!!) your desktop while the screen is locked. 💀
  • grabVideoFrames — whether it's acceptable to grab frames of video from the system's video input. grabbing video is done by invoking the xscreensaver-getimage-video(6x) program. 🎥
  • chooseRandomImages — whether it's acceptable to display random images found on disk. selecting and loading images is done by invoking the xscreensaver-getimage-file(6x) program. 🔥
  • imageDirectory — when loading images from disk, this is the directory to find them in. and no cap, the directory will be searched recursively for images. 🌀

it may also be the URL of an RSS or Atom feed, in which case a random image from that feed gets selected instead. the contents of the feed will be cached locally and refreshed periodically as needed. ✨

also if none of the three options are set to True, then video colorbars will be displayed instead. iconic fallback behaviour honestly. 🌈

💀 BUGS 💀

when grabbing desktop images, the window argument will be unmapped and have its contents modified, which causes flicker. 😭 (this does not happen when loading image files or video frames, so breathe.)

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

Copyright © 2001-2021 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

🍓 AUTHOR 🍓

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 14-Apr-2001

ok that's the whole thing bestie, no notes, we ate 💅✨ and for the record: this is from X Version 11, version 6.09 (07-Jun-2024) of the XScreenSaver manual. slay, bye 🦋💖

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