moire2(6)

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

✨ NAME ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to moire2 — it's a page from the XScreenSaver manual (section 6, the games-and-screensavers girlies 💅), and what it does is make circular interference patterns. that's the whole vibe. circles. interference. iconic. 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

moire2 [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--ncolors number]
[--thickness number] [--fps]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so this is yet another example of the fun you can have with moire interference patterns — literally, that's the pitch and it ate. this hack generates fields of concentric circles or ovals (yes, or ovals, we contain multitudes 💜) and then combines the planes with various operations.

and the planes are moving independently of one another, which is what causes the interference lines to spray.'' no cap, that's the actual word in the docs — spray.'' 🫶

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --visual visual — picks which visual to use, bestie. legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. decimal or hex, she's flexible like that ✨
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this one is the default, so if you don't say anything she'll just do this. main character energy 👑
  • --root — draw on the root window. going full desktop-background mode.
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you point, she draws, periodt.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, in microseconds. default: 50000 (0.05 seconds.). yes microseconds, not milliseconds, don't come for me, that's what it says 😭
  • --ncolors number — number of colors. default: 150.
  • --thickness number — thickness of lines, in pixels. default: 0.
  • --fps — display the current frame rate and CPU load. little stats girlie behavior, we love to see it 💀

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

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

🐚 SEE ALSO 🐚

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

Copyright © 2002 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: that's the actual license text, verbatim, do not skip it. it's giving legally binding and honestly? slay for Jamie. 🫶

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

Jamie Zawinski. 🔥

and that's the whole page, bestie — brought to you by X Version 11, version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026. go make some circles spray. 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from