glslideshow(6)

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

💖 NAME 💖

glslideshow — slideshow of images using smooth zooming and fades. It’s giving main-character energy for your photo folder, fr fr. 🌸

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

glslideshow [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--duration seconds] [--transition
seconds] [--pan seconds] [--fade seconds] [--letterbox | --clip] [--zoom
percent] [--titles] [--delay usecs] [--fps] [--verbose] [--debug]
[--wireframe]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so bestie, this one displays a slideshow of images, with panning, zooming and crossfading effects. Literally iconic. ✨

To specify the directory that images are loaded from, run xscreensaver-settings(1) and click on the "Advanced" tab. That’s the vibe check for where your pics come from. 💖

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --visual visual — Specify which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. Slay. 💅
  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. Main character behavior, honestly. 🪟
  • --root — Draw on the root window. Root window rights. 👑
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. Specificity is cute. 🎯
  • --duration seconds — How long each image will be displayed before loading a new one. Default 30 seconds. Chill hangout time. ⏳
  • --transition seconds — When a new image is loaded, it transitions onto the screen by sliding in from the edges, spinning or flipping. This is how long that transition takes. Set it to 0 to disable the transition effects. Default 3 seconds. The way it slides in… obsessed. 🌀
  • --pan seconds — Once an image has been loaded, it is panned, zoomed and cross-faded against itself. This is how fast those pans are. Set this to 0 to disable the panning-and-crossfading effect. Default 6 seconds. Pan-pan-pan. 🫶
  • --fade seconds — When zooming and cross-fading, this is how long the "fade" portion takes. This value must be less than the "pan" option (it is inclusive). Set this to 0 to disable the panning-and-crossfading effect. Default 2 seconds. Soft-launch your fades, bestie. 🌫️
⚠️ real talk: --fade has to be less than --pan (it is inclusive), or the vibe check fails. Keep it cute and under. 💀
  • --letterbox — Whether to fit the image on the screen (adding horizontal or vertical black bars) or to fill the screen (cropping the image). This is the default. Black bars can be a look. 🎞️
  • --clip — The opposite of --letterbox. Periodt. ✂️
  • --zoom number — Zoom in on the image a little bit. This applies both to "transitions" and to "panning-and-crossfading". Default: 75, meaning that 75% or more of each image will always be visible. If you always want to see 100% of every image, then use "letterbox" and set "zoom" to 100%. Bestie, do not crop what you can’t handle. 🔍
  • --titles — Whether to show the file name of the current image in the upper left corner. Name-drop your pics. 🏷️
  • --delay number — Per-frame delay, in microseconds. Default: 20000 (0.02 seconds). Tiny pause, big energy. ⏱️
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. Numbers? On my screen? It’s more likely than you think. 📊
  • --verbose — Prints debugging info to stderr. Spill the tea, stderr. ☕
  • --debug — Draw some diagnostic rectangles. Rectangles are lowkey serving structure. 🔲
  • --wireframe — Another debug mode. Different debug, same chaos. 🕸️

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. Where am I? What display am I on? 💭
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. Overrides? She’s bold. 🦋
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — The window ID to use with --root. Window ID says hi. 🪟

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

X(1), xscreensaver-settings(1), xscreensaver-getimage(6), xscreensaver(1), carousel(6) photopile(6)

iykyk, go read those too. 📚✨

Copyright © 2003-2025 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.

📜 yes bestie, the legal bit is quoted exactly. no cap.

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Jamie Zawinski. Icon. 🫶

This page is from X Version 11, release 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026. Bye bestie, go make your slideshow slay! 💅💖🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from