headroom(6)

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

💅 headroom(6) — like, the XScreenSaver manual, but make it make sense

okay so bestie, real talk: this is headroom, and it lives in the XScreenSaver manual. That's the whole vibe check up top. It's a twitchy head. That's it. That's the demo. And honestly? Iconic.

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

🎀 NAME

headroom — a twitchy head.

no cap, that's the entire description the universe gave us. a head. it twitches. slay.

✨ DESCRIPTION

"Back in my day, we used to say 'No future'. Well. This is it." -- Blank Reg

that's it. that's the description. someone put a quote from Blank Reg in a manpage about a twitchy head and I, for one, am obsessed. 🦋

💅 OPTIONS

okay here's where it gets good, all the flags, none skipped, let's go:

  • --visual visual — tells it which visual to use, bestie. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual (and that id can be decimal or hex, we're flexible like that ✨).
  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. this one's the default, so if you do nothing, this is what you get. main character energy 🫶
  • --root — draws on the root window instead.
  • --window-id number — draws on the window you specify. you pick, queen 👑
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default is 20000, which is 0.02 seconds in case your brain also refuses to do microsecond math. 🙈
  • --speed number — animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. simple as. 🏃‍♀️
  • --spin 0 — don't rotate. that's it, that's the whole flag.
  • --spin [XYZ] — around which axes should the object spin? you tell it. literally just hand over the axes. 🔄
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the object should wander around the screen or, like, stay put. 🧚
  • --mask | --no-mask — mask Headroom. yes that's the whole explanation. we're all just vibing with it. 🎭
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. glow-up but make it skeletal 💀
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. numbers! live! at the bottom! 🔥

🌈 ENVIRONMENT

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. the classic.
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. fancy. 💜
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. iykyk.

⭐ SEE ALSO

go read those too, they're literally right there, be curious bestie 🦋

Copyright © 2020 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.

🚨 real talk, this part isn't cute fluff, it's the actual legal text, so read it properly: keep the copyright notice in all copies, keep both notices in the supporting docs, and know that it ships "as is" — no warranty, express or implied, no promises that it'll be suitable for anything. periodt.

🧚 AUTHOR

Jamie Zawinski; suit model by Jared Williams. yes, there is a suit model. we stan a credited suit model. 🎀

and that's the whole page, bestie 💅 — brought to you by X Version 11, version 6.15 dated 30-Mar-2026, and the manpage name for the search bar is headroom(6). go forth and rotate responsibly ✨🌸🫶

📦 where this page comes from