xtide(1)

🌊 NAME 🌊

xtide — harmonic tide clock and tide predictor (interactive client)

okay so bestie, this is the manual page for xtide(1) and it's literally about to change your whole relationship with the ocean 💖

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

xtide [-b ``YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM''] [-bc color] [-bg color] [-cb y|n] [-cc
color] [-ch pixels] [-cw pixels] [-dc color] [-Dc color] [-df ``format-
string''] [-display ``X display''] [-ec color] [-el y|n] [-em pSsMm]
[-fc color] [-fe y|n] [-fg color] [-fn font] [-ga aspect] [-geometry
``�XOFF�YOFF''] [-gf font] [-gh pixels] [-gl longitude] [-gs d|l|s] [-gt
y|n] [-gw pixels] [-hf ``format-string''] [-in y|n] [-l ``location
name''] [-lw pixels] [-m a|g|k|m|p|r] [-mc color] [-Mc color] [-mf font]
[-ml [-]N.NN(ft|m|kt)] [-nc color] [-ou y|n] [-tc color] [-tf ``format-
string''] [-tl y|n] [-to opacity] [-u ft|m] [-v] [-z y|n]

like, that's a lot of flags, but don't panic, we're gonna go through every single one 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

XTide is a whole package that serves up tide and current predictions in a wide variety of formats. You want graphs? Done. Text listings? Done. Calendars? Done. A tide clock chilling on your desktop? Done, bestie. 🌈

XTide can work with X-windows, plain text terminals, or the web. It pulls this off with three separate programs, and the way that it's split up is honestly so organized of it:

• the interactive interface — xtide 👑
• the non-interactive or command line interface — tide
• the web interface — xttpd

xtide is the interactive X-windows client for XTide 2. And like, yes, in reality it accepts many command line options, but ngl you should not need to use them — everything can be done interactively. Just run xtide and point and click your way to whatever you need. Genuinely that's it. 🫶

If you get stuck, click on a ? button for on-line help. (Not me being saved by the ? button every single time 😭)

For a complete discussion of the command line options and a detailed explanation of the interactive interface, please see the verbose documentation at https://flaterco.com/xtide/. iykyk 📖

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🎀 CONFIGURATION 🎀

Unless a configuration file /etc/xtide.conf is supplied, you must set the environment variable HFILE_PATH to point to the harmonics files that should have been installed along with the xtide program. No vibes-based guessing here, it's required. Example:

export HFILE_PATH=/usr/local/share/xtide/harmonics.tcd

If a configuration file is used, the first line should consist of the colon-separated list of harmonics files (e.g. the HFILE_PATH line above without the "export HFILE_PATH=" part). And heads up — the environment variable takes precedence over the configuration file. env var wins, periodt. 💅

If the optional World Vector Shoreline files have been installed, the path to those files can be supplied in the WVS_DIR environment variable or as the second line of the configuration file. 🌍

Set the environment variable XTIDE_DEFAULT_LOCATION to the name of your favorite place if you want to skip the location-choosing step. Main character energy: it just knows where you live. ✨

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

Every single one, bestie. Buckle in. 🎢

• -b YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM — Specify the begin (start) time for predictions using the ISO 8601 compliant format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM, where hours range from 00 to 23. The timestamp is in the local time zone for the location, or in UTC if the -z setting is engaged. If clock mode is selected or if no -b is supplied, the current time will be used. ⏰
• -bc color — Background color of buttons (default gray80). 🔘
• -bg color — Background color for text windows and location chooser (default white). 🤍
• -cb y|n — Select whether or not tide clocks should be created with buttons (default n). 🔘
• -cc color — Color of dots indicating current stations in the location chooser (default rgb:00/A0/00). 🟢
• -ch pixels — Initial height for tide clocks (default 312 pixels). 📏
• -cw pixels — Initial width for tide clocks (default 84 pixels). 📐
• -dc color — Daytime background color in tide graphs (default SkyBlue). ☀️
• -Dc color — Color of datum line in tide graphs (default white). 🤍
• -df format-string — strftime(3) style format string for printing dates (default %Y-%m-%d). 🗓️
• -display X display — Specify the X display, e.g. "quake:0.0". This overrides the DISPLAY environment variable. 🖥️
• -ec color — Foreground in tide graphs during outgoing tide (default SeaGreen). 🌊
• -el y|n — Select whether or not to draw datum and middle-level lines in tide graphs (default n). 📉

The National Ocean Service (NOS) defines both Mean Sea Level (MSL) and Mean Tide Level (MTL) in terms of averages taken over observations. The middle-level line is drawn at the midpoint of the theoretical tidal range, which usually corresponds to the mathematical mean level of the predictions. This approximates both MSL and MTL, but, strictly speaking, is equivalent to neither. Moreover, subordinate station offsets may shift the actual mean so that it no longer falls at the midpoint of the tidal range. The datum line is drawn at the zero level of the predictions, which usually corresponds to the station's benchmark, but this too can be rendered inaccurate by subordinate station offsets. 🧪 (yes, that's a lot of caveats, no I did not skip any of them)

• -em pSsMm — Events to suppress (p = phase of moon, S = sunrise, s = sunset, M = moonrise, m = moonset), or x to suppress none. E.g, to suppress all sun and moon events, set eventmask to the value pSsMm. 🌙
• -fc color — Foreground in tide graphs during incoming tide (default Blue). 🔵
• -fe y|n — Select whether or not to prefer flat map to round globe location chooser (default n). 🗺️
• -fg color — Color of text and other notations (default black). 🖤
• -fn font — Font used for button labels and verbiage in text windows (default as incoming from X11 or libXaw3dXft). See NOTES. 🔤
• -ga aspect — Initial aspect for tide graphs and clocks (default 1.0). This controls not the width or height of the window but rather the relative scaling of the X and Y axes in the plot of the tide curve. 📈
• -geometry �XOFF�YOFF — Specify a position for the window corresponding to the first use of -l. (Width and height are controlled by different settings.) 📌
• -gf font — Font used in graphs and clocks in interactive client (default "embedded"). Does not affect SVG-format output. See NOTES. 🖋️
• -gh pixels — Initial height for tide graphs (default 312 pixels). 📏
• -gl longitude — Initial center longitude for location chooser. Valid values are -180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 and 360. 360 (the default) will pick the longitude with the most tide stations. 🌐
• -gs d|l|s — Style of graphs and clocks. Valid values: d (default), l (line), s (semitransparent). 🎨
• -gt y|n — Select whether or not to label tenths of units in tide graphs (default n). 🔢
• -gw pixels — Initial width for tide graphs (default 960 pixels). 📐
• -hf format-string — strftime(3) style format string for printing hour labels on time axis (default %l). 🕐
• -in y|n — Select whether or not to use inferred values for some constituents (default n). For expert use only. 🧠 (like, don't touch this unless you're that girl)
• -l location name — Specify a location for tide predictions. When given to the interactive client, this causes it to start a tide clock for the specified location instead of launching a location chooser on startup. This is useful for starting a tide clock automatically when you log on. Multiple uses of -l will result in multiple tide clocks. 🕰️✨ (one for every place you love, obsessed)
• -lw pixels — Width of line in graph styles l and s (default 2.5 pixels). ✏️
• -m a|g|k|m|p|r — Specify mode to be about, graph, clock, medium rare, plain, or raw. The default is clock. 🥩 (yes, medium rare is a real mode and yes, it ate)
• -mc color — Color of mark line in graphs (default red). ❤️
• -Mc color — Color of middle-level line in tide graphs (default yellow). 💛
• -mf font — Monospace font used for location list, text predictions, help windows and about mode text (default "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-100-100-100-c-70-iso8859-1" (without libXaw3dXft) or "LiberationMono-12" (with libXaw3dXft)). See NOTES. 🔡
• -ml [-]N.NN(ft|m|kt) — Specify an initial mark level to be used in prediction windows launched from the command line. The predictions will include the times when the tide level crosses the mark. The mark level also can be specified or changed using the Options menu. Not supported in clock mode. Does not affect windows that are launched from the location chooser. Example usage: -ml -0.25ft 📍
• -nc color — Nighttime background color in tide graphs (default DeepSkyBlue). 🌙
• -ou y|n — Select whether or not to print numbers with no ft/m/kt (default n). 🔢
• -tc color — Color of dots indicating tide stations in the location chooser (default red). 🔴
• -tf format-string — strftime(3) style format string for printing times (default %l:%M %p %Z). 🕰️
• -tl y|n — Select whether or not to draw depth lines on top of the tide graph (default n). 📊
• -to opacity — Opacity of the fill in graph style s (semitransparent) (default 0.65). 🫥
• -u ft|m — Preferred units of length (default no preference). 📏
• -v — Print version string and exit. 👋
• -z y|n — Select whether or not to coerce all time zones to UTC (default n). 🌍

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🧚 NOTES 🧚

If XTide is built with Xaw3dXft, font names given to XTide must be in fontconfig format (e.g., "Helvetica-10"), rather than the traditional XLFD (e.g., "-*-helvetica-*-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"). 🎀

Also, Xaw3dXft does not return errors if there are problems with a font name; it just loads a default font instead. 😭 (silent treatment fr fr — no error, no warning, just vibes and a default font)

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

tide(1), xttpd(8), https://flaterco.com/xtide/

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💜 that's the whole page bestie — this one's XTide 2, dated 2020-06-27, and it literally ate. go predict some tides, you absolute icon 🌊💅🫶