swirl(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ swirl(6x) ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the XScreenSaver manual for swirl — yes that's the manual name, page 6x, and we're gonna read it together like it's a group chat at 2am 💖

🌀 NAME 🌀

swirl — draws swirly color-cycling patterns

that's it. that's the whole job. it draws swirls. they cycle. the colors go brrr. iconic 💅

📜 SYNOPSIS 📜

swirl [--display host:display.screen] [--foreground color] [--background
color] [--window] [--root] [--window-id number][--mono] [--install]
[--visual visual] [--ncolors integer] [--delay microseconds] [--count
integer]

[--fps]

no cap, that's a lot of flags for something whose entire personality is "spirals" 🌀 but we love her for it.

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so swirl draws swirly color-cycling patterns. that's literally the description. the people behind this said "swirl. color. cycle. done." and honestly? respect 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

swirl accepts the following options, and yes, we're doing all of them:

  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you just run it and vibe, this is what you get 🪟
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. going full desktop takeover mode 👑
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick, she obeys 💖
  • --mono — if you're on a color display, pretend we're on a monochrome display. delulu era, but make it aesthetic 🖤🤍
  • --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. so like, name it or number it, both are valid, we don't gatekeep 👀
  • --ncolors integer — how many colors should be used (if possible). default 200. two hundred shades of slay, bestie 🎨
  • --count integer — ...and that's it. that's the whole description. the manual just lists it and moves on. not a single word of explanation. the audacity 💀 iykyk, you gotta look elsewhere for this one.
  • --fps — display the current frame rate and CPU load. for the girlies who need numbers to feel something 📊
heads up: your SYNOPSIS also mentions --display host:display.screen, --foreground color, --background color and --delay microseconds — they're up there in the usage line, they just never got their own little bullet. mysterious. elusive. 🔍

🌿 ENVIRONMENT 🌿

the vibes your environment hands over, no asking required:

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. your ride-or-die for "where do i even draw" 🖥️
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. she's the override girlie, the one who says "actually, no, we're doing it my way" 💅
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. her whole personality is delivering a window id when you're in root mode 🪟✨

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

go read these too, they're the extended universe, the cinematic of manual pages:

Copyright © 1994 M. Dobie.

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.

so like — free to use, free to remix, just keep the receipts and keep the notice in the docs. no sneaky deleting the credits, bestie, that's not the move 🙈

👑 AUTHOR 👑

M.Dobie <mrd@ecs.soton.ac.uk>, 1994.

Ability to run standalone or with xscreensaver added by Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-May-97.

two legends. one swirl. collab of the century 🌈

and that's the whole page, babes — this was swirl(6x) from the XScreenSaver manual, version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026, part of X Version 11. go forth and cycle some colors 🌀💖✨

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