Modifying Screensaver Displays

The screensaver application allows users to choose one or more screensaver displays. A screensaver display is an application that displays images on the screen of the user when the screen is not in use. The screensaver displays are listed in the XScreenSaver file and in the $HOME/.xscreensaver file.

To Add a Screensaver Display on Linux

To add a new screensaver display, copy the executable file for the display to the directory where the displays are located. For example, in Java Desktop System, the displays are located in the /usr/lib/xscreensaver directory. Add the command for the screensaver display to the XScreenSaver file or the $HOME/.xscreensaver file. Include any arguments that are required to run the screensaver display on the whole screen, rather than in a window. For example, you might want to include the -root option to display the screensaver display on the whole screen.

To Add a Screensaver Display on the Solaris Platform

To add a new screensaver display, copy the executable file for the display to the /usr/openwin/lib/xscreensaver/hacks directory. Add the command for the screensaver display to the XScreenSaver file or the $HOME/.xscreensaver file. Include any arguments that are required to run the screensaver display on the whole screen, rather than in a window. For example, you might want to include the -root option to display the screensaver display on the whole screen.

To Disable a Screensaver Display on Linux

To disable a screensaver display, add a minus sign (-) at the start of the command for the screensaver display in the preferences file. The following excerpt from a $HOME/.xscreensaver file shows a disabled Qix (solid) screensaver display:

-		 "Qix (solid)" 	qix -root -solid -segments 100

To Disable a Screensaver Display on the Solaris Platform

To disable screensaver displays for all users on a Sun Ray™ thin client, rename the /usr/openwin/lib/xscreensaver/hacks directory to any name other than hacks.

OpenGL screensaver displays are provided with the GNOME Desktop. By default, all OpenGL screensaver displays are disabled, because many users do not have the OpenGL library installed. Users who have the OpenGL library installed can use the XScreenSaver dialog to enable OpenGL screensaver displays.

Some screensaver displays show the contents of the screen of the user. To avoid security violations, screensaver displays that show the contents of the screen are not included in the Sun Microsystems distribution of the GNOME Desktop.

The Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) service name for the XScreenSaver application is dtsession. This name is used to be compatible with previous applications.