xscreensaver-gl-visual(6x)

💅 xscreensaver-gl-visual — the lil helper that picks your GL visual

okay bestie, welcome to the <pink>xscreensaver-gl-visual(6x)</pink> manual page, the most lowkey iconic tiny program in the whole XScreenSaver family. she's small, she's focused, she has one job and she does it flawlessly. no notes. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

xscreensaver-gl-visual — figure out which X visual to use for GL programs

like... that's it. that's the whole personality. she figures out the visual. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

xscreensaver-gl-visual [--display host:display.screen]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the tea, bestie: this program prints out the ID of the visual that should be used so that OpenGL programs actually work properly. that's the whole thing. it prints an ID. and then it's done. main character energy of a one-line script but make it a compiled binary. ✨

and why does she exist, you ask? not me being a whole separate executable for one job 😭 — but it's on purpose. the actual reason is that this program only exists so that the xscreensaver(1) daemon does not need to link against the OpenGL library. that's it. she's the designated GL-adjacent friend so the daemon can stay unbothered and unlinked, living her best life without dragging OpenGL into the group chat. 🦋

so when someone needs to know which visual is correct for GL, she handles it. daemon stays clean. everyone wins. slay. 👑

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• DISPLAY — used to get the default host, display, and screen number. iykyk, it's the classic X environment variable, she's been here forever and she's still thriving. 💜

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• X(1)
• xdpyinfo(1)
• xglinfo(1)
• glxinfo(1)
• glxdpyinfo(1)
• xscreensaver(1)
• xscreensaver-settings(1)
• xscreensaver-command(1)

the whole friend group fr fr 🫶 — go read them if you want the full lore.

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright © 2000 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.

okay so real talk: that's the legal bit, and it stays exactly as it is because it's a whole license and we do not freestyle those. no cap. 💀

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and that's the page bestie!! 🎀 this whole manual is from X Version 11, specifically the 6.17-1.fc44 build from 13-Oct-2026, and it's the xscreensaver-gl-visual(6x) page — tiny program, huge heart, literally just printing a visual ID so OpenGL stuff behaves. obsessed with her. periodt. 💖✨🦋🌸