gltext(6)

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

💖 gltext(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, bestie edition 💖

okay so this is a page from the XScreenSaver manual, and it's about a little program called gltext. and yes, I'm gonna tell you everything, no cap. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

gltext — draws some text spinning around in 3D. literally spinning. in 3D. that's the whole vibe. 🌀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

gltext [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root] [--window-id number]
       [--visual visual] [--delay microseconds] [--text string]
       [--program command] [--wander] [--no-wander] [--spin axes] [--no-spin]
       [--front] [--no-front] [--wireframe] [--fps]

like, that's a lot of flags but we're gonna get through them together, I promise. 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

gltext draws some text that spins around in 3D, using a font that looks like it's made of solid tubes. yes bestie, tubes. it's giving neon sign energy, it's giving "I'm a screensaver from 2001 and I ate", we love her for it. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

gltext accepts the following options:

  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so like, if you do nothing, this is what you get. 💫
  • --root — draw on the root window. main character energy, goes straight on your desktop background. 🌈
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick which one, you're the boss.
  • --install — install a private colormap for the window. fancy. 🎨
  • --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. so, like, a name or a number, your choice, slay.
  • --text string — the text to display. this may contain newlines, but it shouldn't be very long (keep it cute, keep it short). the default is to display the machine name and OS version.

this may also be a format string acceptable to date(1) and strftime(3), in which case it will be updated once a second. so to make this program display a spinning digital clock, you could do this:

gltext -text "%A%n%d %b %Y%n%l:%M:%S %p"

to include a literal %, you must double it: %%. (yes, it's escaping, it's always escaping 😭)

see the man page for strftime(3) for more details.

  • --program command — the given program is run, and its output is displayed. if specified, this overrides --text. the output of this program will be repeatedely displayed, with new pages of text shifting in every few seconds. lines should be relatively short. you might try:
-program 'xscreensaver-text --cols 20'

(that typo "repeatedely" is in the original, I'm not gonna fix it, it's iconic. 🙈)

  • --maxlines — set the number of lines of text to display. by default, gltext will print 8 lines of text at a time. use this option to increase or decrease that number.
be aware that gltext is designed to work with a fairly small amount of text, so setting this value too high might result in slow performance or strange behaviour stemming from buffer overflows. increase at your own risk. ⚠️ like for real, don't just crank it and walk away, that's not the move.
  • --mono — display the text in a monospace font. default is a variable-width font.
  • --no-mono — display the text in a variable-width font. this is the default.
  • --wander — move the text around the screen. this is the default, she wanders, she roams. 🚶‍♀️
  • --no-wander — keep the text centered on the screen. no roaming, she stays put.
  • --wander-speed — sets the speed at which the text wanders around. default is 0.02.
  • --spin — which axes around which the text should spin. the default is "XYZ", meaning rotate it freely in space. --spin Z would rotate the text in the plane of the screen while not rotating it into or out of the screen; etc.
  • --no-spin — don't spin the text at all: the same as --spin "".
  • --front — when spinning, never spin all the way around or upside down: always face mostly forward so that the text is easily readable. basically it keeps her looking at the camera, we love a self-aware queen. 👀
  • --no-front — allow spins to go all the way around or upside down. this is the default. chaos, but make it default. 💀
  • --wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeleton mode. 🦴
  • --fps — display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. stats girlies rise. 📊
  • --scale — sets the scale at which the text is rendered. bigger values will result in bigger text; smaller values will result in smaller text. the default value is 0.01.

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

  • 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 ⭐

X(1), xscreensaver(1) xscreensaver-text(6)

(yes, the original really is missing a comma between xscreensaver(1) and xscreensaver-text(6). I'm not touching it. it's hers. 💜)

Copyright © 2001-2014 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.

💅 AUTHOR 💅

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>

okay that's the whole thing, you now know literally everything about gltext and honestly? obsessed. go make a spinning clock, bestie. 🕰️✨

sign-off time: this page came from X Version 11, version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026, and it goes out to the one and only gltext(6). mwah. 💋🎀

📦 where this page comes from