galaxy(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ galaxy(6x) ✨

okay so bestie, we're in the XScreenSaver manual, section 6x, and today's main character is a lil program called galaxy. she's giving cosmic, she's giving rotation, she's giving 💫. buckle up 🫶

🌌 NAME 🌌

galaxy — draws spinning galaxies. that's it. that's the whole job. iconic, honestly 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

galaxy [--display host:display.screen] [--foreground color]
[--background color] [--window] [--root] [--window-id number][--mono]
[--install] [--visual visual] [--ncolors integer] [--delay microseconds]
[--cycles integer] [--count integer] [--size integer] [--tracks]
[--no-tracks] [--spin] [--no-spin]

[--fps]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

okay so real talk: the galaxy program draws spinning galaxies. that's the entirety of the description. no lore, no backstory, no secret quest. she spins. she galaxies. periodt ✨

💖 OPTIONS 💖

galaxy accepts the following options, and yes bestie we're going through every single one, no skimming 👑

  • --window — draw on a brand-new window that gets created just for this. this is the default, so if you say nothing at all, this is what you get 🪟
  • --root — draw straight on the root window instead. main character energy but make it wallpaper 🌈
  • --window-id number — draw on number, the specific window ID you picked out. you choose, she obeys 💫
  • --mono — if you're on a color display, pretend we're on a monochrome one. delulu? maybe. useful? apparently 🎭
  • --install — install a private colormap for the window. fancy 💅
  • --visual visual — pick which visual to use. the legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number of one specific visual (decimal or hex, your call) 👀
  • --ncolors integer — how many colors should be used (if possible, bestie, if possible). default is 64. the colors used cycle through the hue, making N stops around the color wheel 🎡🌈
  • --cycles integer — the manpage gives us literally zero explanation here 🙈 no description provided, so that's genuinely all we know. she's mysterious. respect it.
  • --count integer — same situation bestie, no description on this one either 🙈 keep scrolling, nothing to see.
  • --size integer — also undocumented in the original. the mystery continues 💀
  • --tracks — no description given for this one either, the silence is loud 😭
  • --no-tracks — and its counterpart, equally undocumented. we simply do not know 🫠
  • --spin — no description here either, bestie. the manpage woke up and chose mystery ✨
  • --no-spin — yep, also no description. matching energy 🦋
  • --fps — display the current frame rate and CPU load. this one actually tells you things, we love a transparent queen 👑

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. yeah she reads the environment like that 💅
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. so specific, so valid 🎀
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. dynamic duo fr fr 🫶

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

X(1), xscreensaver(1), xlock(1)

go read your siblings, bestie, they're all part of the same iconic family 👑

Copyright © 1994 by Hubert Feyrer.

and here's the legal bit, which we are not messing with because lawyers do not play:

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.

okay so basically: go wild, be free, but keep the receipts 💜

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

  • Original Amiga version by Uli Siegmund <uli@wombat.okapi.sub.org>, for EGS in Cluster.
  • Ported from Cluster/EGS to C/Intuition by Harald Backert.
  • Ported to X11 and xlockmore by Hubert Feyrer <hubert.feyrer@rz.uni-regensburg.de>, 30-Sep-94. 📅
  • Modified by David Bagley <bagleyd@bigfoot.com>, 23-Oct-94.
  • Modified by Dave Mitchell <davem@magnet.com>, 7-Apr-97.
  • Ability to run standalone or with xscreensaver added by Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 10-May-97.

legends, every single one of them, no cap 👑

aaaaand that's a wrap bestie 🎀 this lil galaxy doc came to you from X Version 11, version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026 — stay spinning, stay glowing ✨🦋💖

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