Wallpaper Setter

xwallpaper – wallpaper setting utility for X

xwallpaper is a lightweight command-line utility for setting desktop backgrounds under X11. It concentrates on common wallpaper operations without introducing the extra functionality or dependencies of a complete wallpaper manager.

The application supports JPEG, PNG and XPM images. Support for each format is configurable at build time, so the relevant image libraries are only required when the corresponding format is enabled.

Unlike some basic wallpaper setters, xwallpaper also advertises the selected background image to applications that support semi-transparent backgrounds. This is useful for terminal emulators and other applications that simulate transparency by displaying portions of the desktop wallpaper.

Security is another design consideration. The program relies directly on libraries normally present in an X11 environment, such as libxcb, and supports restrictive sandboxing. On Linux, it can use seccomp to filter system calls when the relevant library is available.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Set desktop wallpapers under X11 using a command-line interface.
  • Supports JPEG, PNG and XPM image formats.
  • Configure image format support at build time to minimise dependencies.
  • Advertise the selected wallpaper to applications supporting semi-transparent backgrounds.
  • Uses standard X11 libraries without requiring a complete desktop environment.
  • Supports seccomp system call filtering on Linux and pledge sandboxing on OpenBSD.

Website: github.com/stoeckmann/xwallpaper
Support:
Developer: Tobias Stoeckmann
License: ISC License

xwallpaper is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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Read our verdict in the software roundup.


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