atunnel(6)

📦
version 6.15 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

✨ atunnel ✨

okay bestie, welcome to atunnel — this is the XScreenSaver manual page (section 6, the games/toys-ish part of the manual, iykyk) and honestly? it's giving hypnotic GL tunnel journey and nothing less 💫

🌀 NAME 🌀

atunnel — a hypnotic GL tunnel journey. that's it, that's the whole vibe. you get in the tunnel, you go through the tunnel, you come out a changed person 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

atunnel [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root] [--window-id
number] [--visual visual] [--delay microseconds] [--light] [--no-light]
[--wire] [--no-wire] [--texture] [--no-texture] [--fps]

like, yes, that's the whole invocation. it's a synopsis, she's thorough but she's not gonna over-explain 🌸

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so atunnel literally just draws an animation of a journey through a GL tunnel. that's the plot. no plot twists, no dialogue, just tunnel. and honestly? it ate. the tunnel is the journey and the journey is the tunnel 💅✨

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

okay so — tiny heads-up before we start: the original page opens this section with the sentence "sballs accepts the following options:" which is, um, a different program's name 😭 bestie the copy-paste was not it, but we're keeping it on the record fr fr because that's what the page says. anyway. the options:

  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you do nothing, this is what you get 🪟
  • --root — draws on the root window instead. main character energy, painting directly on your desktop background 👑
  • --window-id number — draws on the specific window you point at with number. you choose, bestie 🎯
  • --install — installs a private colormap for the window. fancy palette, all yours 🌈
  • --visual visual — tells it which visual to use. legal values are the name of a visual class, OR the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. hex girlies rise 🔢
  • --fps — displays the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. the stats girlies are gonna be obsessed 💀📊
  • --texture — shows a textured tunnel. this is the default, so texture is already on, bestie, no need to ask twice 🧚
  • --no-texture — disables texturing the animation. smooth brain tunnel, no texture 🍓
  • --wire — draws a wireframe rendition of the tunnel. skeleton tunnel! iconic ⭐
🫶 quick reality check: the synopsis up there also shows --delay, --light / --no-light, and --no-wire, and this OPTIONS list doesn't spell those out. so we're not gonna invent descriptions for them, ngl — that's just how the page is. iykyk 😭

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

the vibe check variables, all listed:

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number 🖥️
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property 📄
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root 🪟✨

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

go read these too, bestie, they're the friend group:

(that link is copied exactly, percent-encodings and all — don't come for me, that's literally what the page says 💅)

Copyright © 2003 by Eric Lassauge.

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.

🫶 translation: yes you can use it, yes you can sell it, just keep the copyright notice and this permission notice in all copies and in the supporting docs. and no promises that it's suitable for anything — it's as is, no express or implied warranty, periodt 💀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

  • Roman Podobedov <romka@ut.ee>
  • Eric Lassauge <lassauge@users.sourceforge.net>

okay that's the whole page, go watch the tunnel, drink some water, and remember: the journey is the tunnel and the tunnel is the journey 🌈🌀💜

signing off with the official footer energy: this is X Version 11, page version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026 — mwah, bye bestie 💋🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from