eruption(6)

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

🌋 eruption(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it cute

okay so bestie, this one's from the XScreenSaver manual and it's called eruption, and honestly? it's giving volcano girl summer 🌋💅

✨ NAME ✨

eruption — literally an eruption of pieces of hot volcanic rock 🔥🪨

🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

eruption [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
         [--root] [--window-id number] [--ncolors number]
         [--nParticles number] [-Heat number] [-Cooling number]
         [-Gravity number] [--delay number] [--cycles number] [--fps]

no cap, that's the whole invocation — copy it exactly, the capitals in there are not a typo, they're just how the synopsis is written, so don't come for me 🫡

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so what does this hack even do? it creates an eruption of pieces of hot volcanic rock. that's it. that's the whole bit. hot rock goes up, hot rock comes down, chaos ensues, you stare at it instead of working. iconic behavior honestly 💖

✨ OPTIONS ✨

every single flag, bestie, no skips, we're doing all of them 🎀

  • --visual visual — tells it 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. so yes, hex is allowed, go off 👑
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you do nothing, this is what you get 🪟
  • --root — draw on the root window. big desktop energy, main character wallpaper vibes 🌈
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick the window, it does its thing in there 🎯
  • --ncolors number — Number of Colors. Default: 256. that's a lotta crayons 🖍️
  • --particles number — Number of Particles. Default: 300. that's a lotta lil rock besties 🪨🪨🪨
  • --cooloff number — Eruption Cooloff. Default: 2. let the girl chill 😌
  • --heat number — Heat of Eruption. Default: 256. 🔥🔥🔥 she's hot, she's bothered
  • --gravity number — Gravity. Default: 1. what goes up must come down, physics said so ⬇️
  • --delay number — Per-frame delay, in microseconds. Default: 5000 (0.01 seconds.). tiny little pause between frames, microseconds are so small it's unreal ⏱️
  • --cycles number — Duration. 10 - 3000. Default: 80. so the range is 10 to 3000, and it defaults to 80 — don't @ me, that's just what it says 🌀
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate and CPU load. ngl this is the nosy option, it tells you how hard your machine is working 📊

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

the vibes your shell passes in, bestie:

  • 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. yes that's a whole mouthful, it's the override file, iykyk 📁
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — The window ID to use with --root. 🪟✨

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

go read these too, they're the supporting cast:

Copyright © 2002-2003 by W.P. van Paassen.

so here's the legal tea, and i'm keeping it exactly as written because lawyers do not play: 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.

tl;dr — go wild, sell it, remix it, but keep the copyright notice in there and know that there's no warranty, express or implied. none. zero. it is what it is 💀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

W.P. van Paassen — thank you for the hot rocks, legend 🫶🪨

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖 this one ships with X Version 11, version 6.15 dated 30-Mar-2026 🌸 go make some lava ✨🌋

📦 where this page comes from