xscreensaver-gl-helper(1)

📦 version 5.45, in ubuntu jammy

💖 xscreensaver-gl-helper(1) 💖

ok so this is a page from the XScreenSaver manual, bestie, and it's about a teeny tiny little helper program called xscreensaver-gl-helper. she's small but she matters. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

xscreensaver-gl-helper — figure out which X visual to use for GL programs

like... that's literally her whole job. and she ate. 💅

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

xscreensaver-gl-helper [-display host:display.screen]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so picture this: OpenGL programs need to know which visual they should be using so they actually work properly, right? that's the whole vibe check. and this program's entire purpose in life is to print the ID of that visual. that's it. that's the girl. ✨

and the reason she even exists? because the xscreensaver(1) daemon did NOT want to have to link against the OpenGL library. like, imagine the drama. so instead of dragging all of libGL into the daemon, they made a whole separate lil program to do the one thing. iconic delegation, honestly. 👑

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

  • DISPLAY — this is where she looks to get the default host, display, and screen number. no DISPLAY, no screen to peek at, iykyk. 🫶

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

sisters, cousins, and adjacent besties — go read these too:

Copyright © 2000 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.

and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 she's short, she's sweet, she knows exactly one thing and she knows it perfectly. this was X Version 11, version 5.45, dated 08-Dec-2020 — mwah. periodt. 🎀💅✨

📦 where this page comes from