papercube(6)

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

🌸 papercube(6) — like, the XScreenSaver manual page, bestie 🌸

okay so real talk: this is papercube, straight out of the XScreenSaver manual, and it's here to teach you how to fold a glueless paper cube. yes. that's the whole vibe. origami but make it Unix. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

papercube — how to fold a glueless paper cube. that's it. that's the name. iconic behavior honestly 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

papercube [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--delay number] [--no-wander] [--spin 0] [--spin [XYZ]]
[--spin Y] [--spin Z] [--spin XY] [--spin XZ] [--spin YZ] [--speed
number] [--fps] [--wireframe]

like, copy that exactly, don't @ me, the flags are the flags 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Draws a paper template that folds to make a cube. 🌈

that's genuinely the whole thing and honestly? it's giving arts-and-crafts main character energy. a little flat paper net on your screen, and then — folding. into a cube. no glue. obsessed. ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • --visual visual — which visual to use, bestie. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual (and yes, that id can be decimal or hex, we're flexible 💜).
  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. this one is the default, so if you don't pick anything, that's what you get 🎀
  • --root — draws on the root window instead. no new window, just vibes on your desktop background 🌸
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default is 30000, which is literally 0.03 seconds. tiny little pause between frames, no cap ⭐
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the object should wander around the screen or, like, stay put. you decide 💫
  • --spin 0 — don't rotate. at all. zero spinning. a very still cube 🧘
  • --spin [XYZ] — around which axes should the object spin?? the eternal question. (brackets and all, that's how it's written, okay 😭)
  • --spin Y — rotate around the Y axis. this is the default, so if you never touched this option, congrats, you've been a Y-axis girlie this whole time 👑
  • --spin Z — rotate around the Z axis. zesty 💜
  • --spin XY — rotate around the X and Y axes. double the spin, double the slay 🔥
  • --spin XZ — rotate around the X and Z axes ✨
  • --spin YZ — rotate around the Y and Z axes 🌈
  • --speed number — animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. simple math, gorgeous execution 💅
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. live numbers, live drama 📊
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. see-through cube realness 🦋

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. classic X behavior, iykyk 💫
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. fancy override energy, we love a customizable queen 👑
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. literally the hookup between the two 🌸

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

go read those too, they're the supporting cast and they ate 💅

Copyright © 2023 by Ireneusz Szpilewski. 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.

ok so that whole paragraph is the legal bit and you should read it properly, but the short girlie version is: it's free, go wild, just keep the copyright and permission notices in there, and nobody's promising it works for anything in particular — no express or implied warranty, fr fr. don't come for anybody if it breaks 💀

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Ireneusz Szpilewski and Jamie Zawinski. two absolute legends, we stan 🫶

and that's the page!! X Version 11, version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026 — that's the source, the version and the date all in one cute little sign-off, bestie. go fold a cube 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from