cage(6)

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

🌈 cage(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it a group chat 💅

okay bestie so you've wandered into cage(6), which lives in the XScreenSaver manual and honestly? it's a whole vibe. section 6, screensaver hottie energy. let's get into it ✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

cage — Escher's impossible cage, and it's here for xscreensaver. that's the whole gig. iconic behavior only 👑

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

cage [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--mono] [--wireframe]
[--fps]

like, copy-paste that exactly bestie, don't get creative with it 🙈

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so what does it do?? it draws Escher's "Impossible Cage" — yes the actual impossible one — which is a 3d analog of a moebius strip, and then it just… rotates it around in three dimensions. forever. serving main character energy on your screen, no cap 🔥

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --visual visual — tell it which visual to use, queen. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex, we're flexible 💅) of a specific visual.
  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. this is the default, so it's already doing this unless you say otherwise 🫶
  • --root — draws on the root window instead.
  • --window-id number — draws on the window you specify. your window, your rules.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 25000 (that's 0.03 seconds, if you don't wanna do the math 🧮).
  • --mono — renders solid instead of textured. minimal. clean. and honestly? obsessed.
  • --wireframe — renders in wireframe instead of textured. nothing but vibe and lines 🌸
  • --fps — shows you the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. basically a little stats reading for the data girlies 📊

🌟 ENVIRONMENT 🌟

  • DISPLAY — grabs the default host and display number from this.
  • XENVIRONMENT — gives up 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 🧚

X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read those too, they're the supporting cast and they ate 💜

Copyright © 2002 by Marcelo Vianna. and now the legal bit, which we do not skip because respecting licenses is very slay of us:

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.

so like, it's free, but keep the copyright notice in there and don't come for the author if it breaks. fr fr 💀

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

Marcelo Vianna. that's the whole credit, give them their flowers 🌸

aaaand that's the page, bestie 🫶 — X Version 11, 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), cage(6), signed, sealed, delivered, mwah 😭💖

📦 where this page comes from