hextrail(6)

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

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay bestie, welcome to hextrail(6) from the XScreenSaver manual 💖 — the manual name is folded in right here, cute and accounted for. hextrail is a screen saver. That's the whole NAME section: short, sweet, lowkey iconic, slay.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

the run-it line, verbatim, no cap:

       hextrail [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
       [--root] [--delay number] [--speed number] [--count number] [--thickness
       number] [--no-wander] [--no-spin] [--wireframe] [--fps]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so picture this: a network of colorful lines grows upon a hexagonal substrate. That's literally the description, and it's giving geometric garden main character energy — the way that it grows on a hexagonal substrate? iconic. Highkey obsessed, periodt. iykyk.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

vibe check the flags, bestie — ngl every single one is here:

  • --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.
  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default.
  • --root — Draw on the root window.
  • --delay number — Frame rate. 0 - 100000. Default: 30000.
  • --speed number — Speed. 0.1 - 20. Default: 1.0.
  • --count number — Hexagon Size. 2 - 80. Default: 20.
  • --thickness number — Line Thickness. 0.01 - 0.5. Default: 0.15.
  • --no-wander | --no--no-wander — Wander. Boolean.
  • --no-spin | --no--no-spin — Spin. Boolean.
  • --wireframe | --no--wireframe — Wireframe. Boolean.
  • --fps | --no--fps — Show frame rate. Boolean.

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

the environment variables are also in the group chat:

  • 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) — that's the whole see-also list, go be nosy 💅

legal tea time, and I'm keeping this verbatim because copyright is not a vibe to paraphrase:

Copyright © 2022 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.

not me folding the footer into the cutest sign-off ever: X Version 11 · 6.15 (30-Mar-2026) · hextrail(6) — bye bestie, stay hexagonal fr fr 🫶💖💅

📦 where this page comes from