marbling(6)

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

💅 marbling — bestie's guide to the prettiest little XScreenSaver module

okay so picture this: it's a marbling(6) moment. That's the manual name, bestie, we're in section 6, and it's giving art class but make it math. 🎨✨

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

marbling [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--scale number]
[--iterations number] [--fps]

slay, that's the whole vibe right there 💖

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so what does it actually do? Okay so it literally generates a random field with Perlin Noise (yes, the fancy noise, the icon of noise) and then permutes it with Fractal Brownian Motion — and the result? Images that somewhat resemble clouds ☁️, or the striations in marble 🪨, depending on the parameters you pick and the colors you chose. Which is to say: you tweak settings, you get a whole new aesthetic. main character energy for your desktop.

it's lowkey giving "nature but mathematically unwell" and I'm obsessed. 🫶

🎀 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. yep, decimal or hex, she's flexible like that 💅
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, no notes, she just showed up 🪟
  • --root — draw on the root window. full desktop takeover, periodt 🌍
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you point, she paints 🎯
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, in microseconds. default: 10000 (0.01 seconds). so tiny, so mighty ⏱️
  • --scale number — scale. 1 - 30. default: 10. bigger number = bigger vibe ✨
  • --iterations number — complexity. 1 - 20. default: 5. turn it up for extra drama 🔥
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. numbers go brrr, or don't 🙈

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. it's how she knows where to exist 💜
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. the override file, the "actually, no" file, we respect her 🙇
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. bestie's little backstage pass 🎟️

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

(go read those, iykyk, they're the parents 🫶)

Copyright © 2021 by Jamie Zawinski and Dave Odell. 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.

🌸 okay so that's the legal bit and I'm not touching it — "as is", no warranty, no promises, don't come for us if your marble looks cursed. but also, it's free, so 💅

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Jamie Zawinski and Dave Odell. icons. legends. authors of the marble. 🙌

and that's the whole page, bestie!! no cap, every flag survived the vibe check 💖

⭐ X Version 11 • 6.15 (30-Mar-2026) ⭐ — catch you in the next manpage, mwah 🎀🦋💜

📦 where this page comes from