To build on VMS, see README.VMS.
-If you are upgrading, you might want to delete your ~/.xscreensaver file.
-If you don't, you might not see the new graphics modes. If you are upgrading
-from version 2.* to version 3.*, definitely do delete your .xscreensaver file.
-
If you think you've found a bug, please let me know! No bug report is too
small. But first, please read the enclosed `README.debugging' file to find
out what kind of information would be most helpful to include in your bug
You can try out xscreensaver like so:
xscreensaver &
- xscreensaver-command -demo
-
-After a few seconds, the screen should go black, and a dialog box should
-appear in the upper right corner. This is "Demo Mode".
+ xscreensaver-demo
-Note: unlike `xlock', xscreensaver has a client-server model: the
-`xscreensaver' process is a daemon that runs in the background; it is
-controlled by the foreground `xscreensaver-command' program.
+The XScreenSaver suite of applications uses a client-server model:
+The `xscreensaver' program is a daemon that runs in the background;
+it is controlled by the foreground `xscreensaver-demo' program.
xscreensaver has an extensive manual -- please read it!
numerous graphics hacks for use as screensavers. There is nothing magic
about these: they are just programs that draw on the root window.
-More than 100 such programs are included. For details, see the xscreensaver
-web page, or the enclosed manual pages. There are also some helpful hints
-on customization in the xscreensaver app-defaults file (normally installed
-in /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver.)
+More than 140 such programs are included. For details, see the xscreensaver
+web page, or the enclosed manual pages.
The latest version of xscreensaver is always available on the web at
http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/.
============
+Changes since 4.00: * New hacks: `twang', `glsnake', `boxed', `sballs',
+ and `glforestfire'.
+ * New hacks `apollonian', `euler2d', `juggle',
+ `polyominoes' and `thornbird', from xlockmore.
+ * Merged recent xlockmore changes into `ant', `braid',
+ `demon', `discrete', `drift', `fadeplot', `forest',
+ `grav', `hopalong', `ifs', `laser', `lightning',
+ `lisa', `lissie', `loop', `mountain', `penrose',
+ `rotor', `sierpinski', `slip', `sphere', `spiral',
+ `strange', and `vines'.
+ * Fixed the `gltext' bug that sometimes caused
+ horizontal lines to vanish again. This time for sure.
+ * Sped up `webcollage' by adding a C helper program to
+ replace the PPM pipeline. It also pastes images
+ semi-transparently now.
+ * Added support for the gdk_pixbuf library: if this lib
+ is available, then `blitspin', `xflame', and `flag'
+ can load GIF, JPEG, and PNG images in addition to XPM
+ and XBM.
+ * Fixed a rare race condition where the desktop-grabbing
+ hacks could sometimes leave the screen wedged, if the
+ user moved the mouse exactly when they were grabbing
+ the screen image (it would un-wedge the next time the
+ saver timed out or was activated.)
+ * Fixed incorrect colors in the screen-grabbing GL hacks
+ (`gflux' and `flipscreen3d'.)
+ * Made SIGHUP restart the daemon process (though using
+ `xscreensaver-command -restart' is still the preferred
+ way.)
+ * Tweaks to `xspirograph'.
+ * Minor configure and portability tweaks.
+Changes since 3.34: * Redesigned `xscreensaver-demo' GUI: it now includes
+ small-preview and per-hack configuration dialogs.
+ * Added three new modes of operation: `One Screen Saver',
+ `Blank Screen', and `Don't Blank' (in addition to the
+ historical `Random Screen Saver').
+ * Configure now defaults to installing the hacks in
+ <prefix>/lib/xscreensaver/ instead of <prefix>/bin/.
+ (Most distros already did it this way.)
+ * New GL hacks, `menger', `engine', `flipscreen3d'.
+ * Made `sierpinski3d' be more colorful.
+ * New versions of `xmatrix' and `nerverot'.
+ * Fixed a bug in `starwars' that made the font be drawn
+ with thin lines in -root mode.
+ * Fixed a bad colormap bug in `crystal' that could make
+ *subsequent* hacks malfunction!
+ * Made `gflux' able to grab screen images (`-mode grab').
+ * Updated `webcollage' for recent search engine changes.
+ * Removed most command-line options to `xscreensaver':
+ just edit the ~/.xscreensaver file instead.
+ * Improved behavior on multi-screen and Xinerama systems:
+ the mouse now stays on the screen where the user left
+ it, and the password and splash dialogs always appear
+ on the screen that has the mouse.
+ * Made the splash dialog use more Gtk-like colors;
+ made it have only two buttons, "Settings" and "Help".
+ * Made `sonar' understand `.ssh/known_hosts2' format
+ files, and be better about stripping out illegal
+ addresses.
+Changes since 3.33: * Turned `memoryLimit' off by default, sigh. Apparently
+ some versions of the GL libraries (appear to) allocate
+ hundreds of megs for every GL program, so `memoryLimit'
+ was causing GL programs to malfunction or crash on
+ those systems.
+ * Improved fading on TrueColor XFree86 4.1.x systems.
+ * New GL hack, `circuit'.
+ * Added `fuzz' mode to `decayscreen'.
+ * New version of `whirlygig'.
+ * Added links to `xplanet' and `sphereEversion'.
+ * Fixed rare race condition that could make `sonar' hang.
+ * Fixed potential crash in `speedmine'.
+ * Made `xscreensaver-demo' not crash when imageDirectory
+ was set to a non-existent directory.
+ * Made `xscreensaver-getimage-video' invoke XawTV's
+ `streamer' program better.
+ * Made `phosphor' and `starwars' deal with CR, LF,
+ or CRLF line endings.
+ * Changes for Cygwin compilation environments.
+ * Made `sonar' compile on systems that can't ping.
+ * Configure changes for HPUX 10.20.
+ * Made PAM code work on Red Had 4.2 systems.
+ * Made `xscreensaver-command -deactivate' work when the
+ saver is not active: what that does is reset the idle
+ timer, as if keyboard input had been detected. This
+ was added for the benefit of people writing DVD-playing
+ software: they can now prevent the screensaver from
+ kicking in by sending a -deactivate message once a
+ minute while the movie is playing and not paused.
+ * Various minor portability tweaks.
+Changes since 3.32: * New hacks, `speedmine' and `whirlygig'.
+ * Sped up `pyro', made the explosions look a bit better.
+ * Added better stars to `glplanet' and `starwars'.
+ * Many internal changes to `webcollage'.
+ * Some new options to `attraction'.
+ * Minor fix to `noseguy' to avoid un-erased pixels.
+ * Rewrote the screen-eraser effects so that they complete
+ in the same amount of time regardless of how slow
+ your X server is (some of them were glacial on servers
+ with slow blitting.)
+ * Fixed a potential free memory reference that could
+ sometimes cause a crash at startup.
+ * Possibly fixed a problem that could cause the daemon
+ to crash with an X error. I was never able to
+ reproduce this problem, but I think I might have
+ figured out what caused it.
+ * Worked around a problem that caused PAM authentication
+ to fail on some Red Hat 7.x systems.
+ * Added a `memoryLimit' parameter that controls the
+ amount of memory a graphics hack may allocate: if they
+ try to allocate more than this, malloc() will fail
+ (and they will exit or (safely) crash, rather than
+ hogging memory.) Default is 50M.
+ * Made `gnome-help-browser' be the default way to display
+ man pages in `xscreensaver-demo', if running on a
+ GNOME system.
+Changes since 3.31: * The image-manipulating hacks (`slidescreen', etc.) can
+ now operate on randomly chosen image files from disk,
+ or on frames captured from the system's video input,
+ instead of (or in addition to) manipulating images of
+ the desktop.
+ * Rewrote `vidwhacker' to use the new image-grabbing
+ mechanism.
+ * Made fading work on TrueColor XFree86 4.x systems.
+ * Fixed a subtle rendering bug in `atlantis' (the fish
+ were inside out!)
+ * Made `atlantis' have a texture simulating light
+ reflections from the surface of the ocean.
+ * Fixed up label placement in `molecule'.
+ * Better color bars in `xteevee'.
+ * Made `install-strip' not try to strip scripts.
+Changes since 3.30: * Put in more sensible defaults for DPMS, and updated
+ the documentation to reflect the fact that all your
+ DPMS settings are now belong to xscreensaver.
+ * Fixed the `xscreensaver.spec' file so that `--force'
+ is no longer needed.
+ * New versions of `rotzoomer' and `nerverot'.
+ * Fixed an OSF/1 compilation problem in `molecule'.
+Changes since 3.29: * New hacks, `molecule', `dangerball', and `rotzoomer'.
+ * New version of `gflux'.
+ * Made `gltext' able to display the current time.
+ * Fixed a floating-point-precision problem in `gltext'
+ that sometimes caused horizontal lines to vanish.
+ * Removed the `-window-id' option from the hacks:
+ it never worked right, and was unnecessary.
+ * Made the `starwars' hack use thicker lines, antialias
+ the text, and fade out at the far edge instead of just
+ dropping off.
+ * Fixed an SHM segment leak in `moire'.
+Changes since 3.28: * Better rendering of the new logo.
+ * New hack, `gltext'.
+ * Added `-planetary' option to `gears', to draw a
+ different kind of gear system.
+ * Made motion and rotation be smoother in `gears',
+ `glplanet', `moebius', `rubik', and `sierpinski3d'.
+ * Improved coloration in `sierpinski3d'.
+ * Made the GL hacks react to window size changes.
+ * Made most of the GL hacks take a -fps option (like
+ `pulsar' did), so you can use them to benchmark your
+ 3D hardware.
+ * Fixed the previous fix to `sonar'.
+ * Minor fix to `nerverot'.
+ Made sonar able to ping hosts on DEC OSF1.
+ * Eliminated a bogus "didn't get enough colors" warning
+ in some of the hacks.
+Changes since 3.27: * New logo for xscreensaver!
+ * New hacks, `starwars' and `stonerview'.
+ * Made the motion of the bouncing ball in `stairs' be a
+ little less jerky.
+ * Made newly-added screenhacks be added to .xscreensaver
+ automatically: if there are hacks in the app-defaults
+ file that are not also in ~/.xscreensaver, they will
+ be added to the end of the list.
+ * Redid the `Screensaver Options' part of the control
+ panel; xscreensaver now lets you configure your DPMS
+ settings.
+ * Fixed some Makefile problems with non-GL builds.
+ * Fixed detection of MesaGL for version 3.3.
+ * Better workaround to Red Hat 7.0's broken gcc.
+ * Added Sparc Solaris kernel panic to `bsod'.
+Changes since 3.26: * New hacks: `zoom' and `whirlwindwarp'.
+ * Fixed a free-memory-reference bug in `sonar'.
+ * Better error handling when there are no suitable GL
+ visuals.
+ * Added diagnostic dialog when xscreensaver-demo is
+ unable to launch xscreensaver (e.g., when running as
+ root.)
+ * Fixed a bug that caused screenhack argument changes
+ to be ignored when xscreensaver-demo was running as
+ root (if "root" and "nobody" have different home
+ directories.)
+ * Made the programs default to ":0" if $DISPLAY is unset.
+ * Made the `-verbose' output include information about
+ which server extensions were supported at compile time.
+ * Worked around Red Hat 7.0's broken gcc 2.96.
+ * Updated default delays on the GL hacks to look better
+ on machines with super-fast 3D hardware.
+ * Install `screensaver-properties-capplet' to work around
+ the usual egregious GNOME lossage.
+Changes since 3.25: * Added "enabled" checkboxes in the list of hacks in
+ xscreensaver-demo (Gtk version only.)
+ * New hacks `hyperball', `xrayswarm', and `gflux'.
+ * New versions of `nerverot', `galaxy', and `hypercube'.
+ * Small fixes to `phosphor', `shadebobs', `xflame',
+ and `sonar'.
+ * Added external helper program `xscreensaver-gl-helper'
+ to figure out which X visual to use for OpenGL
+ programs.
+ * Configure updates for XFree86 4.0, and for BSD.
+ * Made it be more tolerant of bogus /etc/group files.
+ * When installing the PAM config file, first try to just
+ copy an existing "xdm" or "login" config file, so that
+ xscreensaver does authentication in the same way as the
+ rest of the system.
+Changes since 3.24: * New hack, `nerverot'.
+ * Added BSD kernel panic to `bsod'.
+ * New version of `shadebobs'.
+ * New version of `petri'.
+ * Updated `webcollage' to handle recent Altavista URL
+ format changes; made it search the AP photo gallery.
+ * Revamped command-line options of `sonar' and made it
+ properly handle subnets.
+ * The `bubbles' hack can now trickle up or down the
+ screen.
+ * The `xsublim' hack can now read its text from programs.
+ * Support for GLE version 3 in `extrusion'.
+ * Fixed compilation problems in `maze'.
+ * Fixed a rare crash in `flow'.
+ * Fixes for minor installation problems.
Changes since 3.23: * Added `-ignorant' option to `maze' hack.
* Updates to `critical', `bsod', `xflame', and `flow'.
* Added support for Kerberos 5 (via its Kerberos 4
Changes since 1.8: * Added demo mode, and locking.
* Added `maze' hack.
* Added `norotate' option to `rocks' hack.
+Changes since 1.4: * Works when run from XDM before anyone logs in.
+ * Sped up `imsmap'.
+ * Can use `xv' as a slideshow without using up colormap
+ entries while the screen is not blanked.
+ * Fixed a BadDrawable error in non-XIdle mode.
+ * Added `blitspin' and `imsmap'.
+Changes since 1.0: * Current list of included hacks is now: qix, helix,
+ rorschach, attraction, greynetic, rocks, pyro,
+ hopalong, and noseguy.
projects / xscreensaver / blobdiff