sballs(6)

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

💖 sballs(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because we're reading the sballs page from the XScreenSaver manual and honestly? it's a little iconic. it's section 6, it's a game/demo situation, and it's about to be your new hyperfixation.

✨ NAME ✨

sballs — draws balls spinning like crazy in GL 🌀💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

sballs [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root] [--window-id
number] [--visual visual] [--delay microseconds] [--object
object_number] [--cycles sphere_speed] [--size viewport_size]
[--texture] [--no-texture] [--wireframe] [--no-wireframe] [--trackmouse]
[--no-trackmouse] [--fps]

like, look at all those flags. she's got range. no cap. 🌈

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

The sballs program draws an animation of balls spinning like crazy in GL.

that's it. that's the whole pitch. balls. spinning. crazy. in GL. and honestly the manpage said it with its whole chest so we're respecting it. 🔥

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

sballs accepts the following options — and yes, we're doing all of them, because we don't skip options in this house:

  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so she's the main character unless you say otherwise 👑
  • --root — draw on the root window.
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick the window, she draws on it. teamwork 🫶
  • --install — install a private colormap for the window.
  • --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. hex girlies rise ✨
  • --fps — display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. stats! numbers! a little dashboard for you specifically 📊
  • --object object_number — specify how the spheres are grouped (forming an object). the objects are:
    1. tetrahedron
    2. cube. this is the default 🧊
    3. octahedron
    4. dodecahedron
    5. icosahedron
    6. plane
    7. pyramid
    8. star ⭐

like she really said "polyhedra? I have them. all of them." geometry queen.

  • --size viewport_size — the viewport of the GL scene is the specified size if it's greater than 32 and less than screensize. default value is 0, meaning full screensize. so 0 = "she's taking up the whole room, obviously" 💅
  • --texture — show a textured background and spheres. this is the default. textured and thriving.
  • --no-texture — disables texturing the animation. flat. stripped back. minimalist era 🙈
  • --trackmouse — let the mouse be a joystick to change the view of the animation. this implies --no-wander. yes, your mouse is a joystick now, that's just the situation 🖱️
  • --no-trackmouse — disables mouse tracking. this is the default.
  • --wire — draw a wireframe rendition of the spheres. see-through spheres, very sheer, very couture 🕸️
okay lowkey important: the synopsis up there lists --wireframe and --no-wireframe, and the options list documents --wire. we're not merging them, not fixing them, not editing them — we're reporting them exactly as the page says, because that's the whole deal bestie. 🫶

💜 ENVIRONMENT 💜

  • 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.

environment variables: the behind-the-scenes besties that make everything work without anyone thanking them 😭

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

X(1), xscreensaver(1)

go read those too, iykyk 📚

Copyright © 2001 by Eric Lassauge.

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.

(translation: go off, use it, sell it, just keep the copyright notice and this permission notice in there, and understand that it comes with literally no warranty. "as is." that's the vibe check and it passed.) 💀

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

  • Mustata Bogdan (LoneRunner) <lonerunner@planetquake.com>
  • Eric Lassauge <lassauge@users.sourceforge.net>

legends. both of them. 🌟

and that's the page!! 💖 written up against X Version 11, version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026 — so if you see sballs(6) floating around out there, that's her, that's the one. mwah. 🎀

📦 where this page comes from