xscreensav...image-video(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 7 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ xscreensaver-getimage-video ✨

okay bestie, so this is a page from the XScreenSaver manual and it's all about xscreensaver-getimage-video 💖 it's a lil helper program, extremely niche, extremely iconic, and i'm gonna tell you everything about it, no cap.

🌸 NAME 🌸

xscreensaver-getimage-video — grab a video still frame for use by screen savers 🎥✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

xscreensaver-getimage-video [--verbose]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one optional flag, main character energy fr fr 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so xscreensaver-getimage-video is a helper program for the xscreensaver hacks that mess around with images 🖼️ it doesn't do its own thing — it gets invoked by xscreensaver-getimage(6x) whenever that one needs it. it's giving "i'm the supporting cast but i'm lowkey essential" 😌

what it actually does: it grabs a single frame of video from the system's video input, drops it into a file, and prints the name of that file on stdout 📸➡️📄

and the way it pulls this off?? it figures out which frame-grabbing programs are installed on your system, and then just... invokes the first one it finds. detective work, then delegation. periodt 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

xscreensaver-getimage-video accepts the following options:

  • --verbose — print diagnostics 🗣️ like, tell me everything bestie, i want the lore.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

the whole friend group, the entire group chat, the extended cinematic universe:

Copyright © 2001-2021 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. 🫣 (translation: no promises, bestie — it is what it is.)

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 14-Apr-2001. 💜 legend behaviour, honestly.

and that's the whole page!! ty for coming to my ted talk 🎀

X Version 11 🌈 6.17-1.fc44 🌈 (13-Oct-2026) — okay bye, ily, go grab a frame 💖✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from