is the screensaver source code available?

Valkyrie_of_valhalla · 08-06-2006, 04:28 AM

As much as I searched both in my computer and on the web, I couldn't find the source code of the screensavers that come with kde. The screensaver's path is, from what I see, /usr/lib/xscreensaver but here I have only the screensaver executables and a file called vidwhacker...
So can I find the source code of these screensavers anywhere? I am interested in how they are made.
I am particulary interested in "phosphor". From what I see, it runs any program or shell script I put in the setup screen, and writes the output to a shell-like screen. And, also, from my knowledge, the screensaver application executes with root privleges right? This is a little security concern... That's one of the reasons I am interested in the source code, to see exactly how far it can go...
Thanks for reading this. Any info will help.

Simon Bridge · 08-06-2006, 04:55 AM

You could contact the author:

Code:

man phosphor
XScreenSaver(6x)                                              XScreenSaver(6x)

NAME
       phosphor - simulates an old terminal with long-sustain phosphor

[snip]

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 27-Apr-99.  Pty and  vt100  emulation  by
       Fredrik Tolf <fredrik@dolda2000.com>.

The screensaver is an executable that runs on the root window in full-screen mode. While it is expected that you will run the program from the xscreensaver proper, you can still run it from terminal normally.

I see Jamie has not explicitly released this under GPL.

aidanr · 08-06-2006, 09:23 AM

http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/download.html

the source is right there

Valkyrie_of_valhalla · 08-06-2006, 03:10 PM

Thank you both for the info.
Sorry I couldn't find it, I should learn to search better...