dangerball(6)

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

💥 dangerball(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, bestie edition 💥

okay so picture this: it's from the XScreenSaver manual, it's called dangerball, and it is exactly as unhinged as the name suggests 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

dangerball — a 3D ball that periodically extrudes spikes. Ouch! 💀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

dangerball [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed number] [--count
number] [--no-wander] [--no-spin] [--wireframe] [--fps]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

It draws a ball. And then — periodically — it extrudes many random spikes. Ouch! 🔥 That's it. That's the whole vibe. It's giving "cute orb that occasionally becomes a threat" and honestly? Obsessed.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • --visual visual — specifies which visual to use. Legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. iykyk 🌈
  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. This is the default, so if you don't say anything, this is what you get 🫶
  • --root — draws on the root window instead.
  • --window-id number — draws on the specified window. like, that exact one. no cap 👑
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. Default: 30000 (that's 0.03 seconds, for the math girlies ✨).
  • --speed number — spike growth frequency. Range is 0.0 - 0.25. Default: 0.05. turn it up if you want chaos, turn it down if you're scared 🙈
  • --count number — number of spikes. Default: 30. thirty little ouchies 💀
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the object should wander around the screen. free spirit energy vs. stay-put energy 🦋
  • --spin | --no-spin — whether the object should spin. main character rotation 🌟
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — renders in wireframe instead of solid. skeleton look, very demure, very see-through 🎀
  • --fps — displays the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. stats girlies rise 🔥

💖 ENVIRONMENT 💖

  • DISPLAY — used to get the default host and display number.
  • XENVIRONMENT — used 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 👑

X(1), xscreensaver(1)

Copyright © 2002 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. (so like, no promises, bestie 😭)

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Jamie Zawinski.

ok that's the whole page, thank you for coming to my ted talk 💜

and finally, the cute lil sign-off: this is X Version 11, version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026, and it's the dangerball(6) page — slay, periodt 🌈⭐

📦 where this page comes from