halo(6)

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

🌸 halo(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, bestie edition 🌸

Okay so this is halo, and it lives in the XScreenSaver manual (yes, section 6, the games/toys section, we love a niche icon 💅).

✨ NAME ✨

halo — draws circular patterns. That's it. That's the whole gig. Circles. Patterns. Cool ones. 🌀

🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

halo [--display host:display.screen] [--foreground color] [--background
color] [--window] [--root] [--window-id number][--mono] [--install]
[--visual visual] [--count int] [--delay usecs] [--mode seuss | ramp |
random ] [--animate] [--colors integer] [--fps]

Copy that exactly, bestie, don't get creative with it 🙈

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So the halo program draws cool patterns based on circles. That's literally the whole description in the original and honestly? It ate. Iconic minimalism. No notes. 🎀

💖 OPTIONS 💖

halo accepts the following options — and we're going through every single one, no skipping, no cap:

  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. Main character behavior honestly 👑
  • --root — Draw on the root window. Going full desktop takeover, we love to see it.
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. Like, that specific one. Fr fr.
  • --mono — If you're on a color display, pretend we're on a monochrome display. Delulu era but make it aesthetic 💀
  • --install — Install a private colormap for the window. Fancy private club energy.
  • --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. Yes, decimal or hex, she contains multitudes 🧚
  • --count integer — How many circles to draw. Default 0, meaning random. Chaos by default, honestly relatable.
  • --mode seuss | ramp | random — pick your vibe:
    • In seuss mode, alternating striped curves will be drawn. Striped. Curves. Dr. Seuss would be obsessed 🍓
    • In ramp mode, a color ramp will be drawn. Gradient girlies rise up 🌈
    • random means pick the mode randomly. Let the universe decide ✨
  • --delay microseconds — How much of a delay should be introduced between steps of the animation. Default 100000, or about 0.1 second. Yes that's microseconds, stay woke.
  • --colors integer — How many colors to use. Default 100. A hundred colors!! We're rich 💜
  • --animate — If specified, then the centerpoints of the circles will bounce around. Otherwise, the circles will be drawn once, erased, and a new set of circles will be drawn. Bouncing centers = lowkey mesmerizing 😭
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate and CPU load. Stats girlies, this one's for you 📊

🌺 ENVIRONMENT 🌺

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. The classic. The blueprint.
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. Very "I have a guy for that" of it.
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. Slay, that's the whole note.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read those too, iykyk 🫶

Copyright © 1993 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.

(Translation: go off, just keep the notice 🙏)

🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 6-jul-93. A legend, a pioneer, the moment 💫

Ok and that's the whole page!! Every flag, every default, every env var, all of it — nothing dropped, periodt 💅✨

— cute lil sign-off: this was X Version 11, manual version 6.15 dated 30-Mar-2026, mwah 🎀💖

📦 where this page comes from