persist_image(3)

📦
version 0.7.1 · 2 versions
, in nixos 26.05

✨ persist_image ✨

okay bestie, this one is from the Arcan Lua API and it's called persist_image — yes, that's persist_image(3), the man page you're literally reading right now 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

persist_image — flags your video object as video context persistant 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

bool
persist_image( vid )

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so like… some objects — especially the ones linked to frameservers — lowkey need to survive otherwise aggressive operations like push_video_context. and this function? it's the glow-up. it attempts to promote the referenced object to that persistant state. main character energy only 👑

but here's the thing, and ngl this is important: this ability comes with several restrictions, okay? in practice, objects that are:

  • linked,
  • have a frameset, or
  • in other ways maintain horizontal references (within the same context)

…are prohibited from being flagged as persistant. no cap. it's giving "you can't sit with us" 😭

🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

here she is, living her best life and passing the vibe check:

function persist_image0()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 255, 0, 0);
      b = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 255, 0);
      show_image({a, b});
      assert(persist_image(a) == true);
      push_video_context();
end

see how a got flagged before push_video_context()? and the assert(...) == true? that's the slay ✨

💀 MISUSE 💀

okay now the cautionary tales, because we do not want these in your codebase, bestie 🫶

round one — flagging it, pushing the context, and then straight-up deleting it:

function persist_image0()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 255, 0, 0);
      b = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 255, 0);
      show_image({a, b});
      persist_image(a);
      push_video_context();
      delete_image(a);
end

💀 MISUSE 💀

round two — flagging it and then linking it (remember those horizontal references? yeah. this):

function persist_image1()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 255, 0, 0);
      b = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 255, 0);
      show_image({a, b});
      persist_image(a);
      link_image(a, b);
end

💀 MISUSE 💀

round three — same crime, just linking in the other direction, because the restriction doesn't care which way you spin it 🙈

function persist_image2()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 255, 0, 0);
      b = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 255, 0);
      show_image({a, b});
      persist_image(a);
      link_image(b, a);
end

💀 MISUSE 💀

round four — instancing it and then pushing the context. not the move 🔥

function persist_image3()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 255, 0, 0);
      b = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 255, 0);
      show_image({a, b});
      persist_image(a);
      c = instance_image(a);
      push_video_context();
end
🫶 real talk: all four of these are labeled MISUSE in the original for a reason — this page is showing you the wrong ways. take notes, don't copy them into your project.

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

go read these next, iykyk:

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💅 this was image, October 2026, straight out of the Arcan Lua API — mwah, go forth and persist responsibly 🧚💜

📦 where this page comes from