background image

Description

Draws a background image in place of the defaultbg color.

Notes

The path to the image file has to be configured in config.h using the variable bgfile (patch modifies config.def.h, changes made there need to be ported to config.h if it already exists). The image format is expected to be farbfeld. In case the background image is smaller than the window size the background will be tiled.

Pseudo Transparency

The variable pseudotransparency enables functionality which fixes the coordinates of the background image to the screen origin. This emulates the effect of transparency without the need for an X composite manager.

Hint: With the use of farbfeld utilities effects can be applied to the desktop background in an automated fashion. Pictured below is an example of the result of a darken and blur operation invoked with the following command:

jpg2ff < wallpaper.jpg | ff-border e 50 | ff-bright rgba 0 0.5 1 | ff-blur 50 15 > st_wallpaper.ff

Screenshot

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Signal Reloading

Apply the following patch on top of the previous to enable reloading the background image when a USR1 signal occurs:

If you use the xresources with signal reloading patch ignore the patch above and simply add these two lines to the beginning of the reload function located in the file x.c:

XFreeGC(xw.dpy, xw.bggc);
bginit();

Hint: You can send a USR1 signal to all st processes with the following command:

pidof st | xargs kill -s USR1

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