Script for choosing random background on startup

3 files changed, 55 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/X/xinitrc b/X/xinitrc
index bb2ba38c..fa4dc14b 100644
--- a/X/xinitrc
+++ b/X/xinitrc
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@ xrdb "${XRESOURCES:-$HOME/.Xresources}"
 # <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key#Common_compose_combinations>
 setxkbmap -option compose:ralt,ctrl:nocaps,terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
 
-# Apply background image
-# Edited cover of Darkthrone's 1994 album "Transilvanian Hunger"
-feh --bg-scale --no-fehbg -- "$HOME"/.xbackgrounds/hunger.jpg
+# Apply a random background image
+xrbg
 
 # Start dunst(1) to display libnotify messages
 dunst &
diff --git a/bin/xrbg b/bin/xrbg
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9250b20a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/xrbg
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+#
+# xrbg(1) -- Apply a random background image.
+#
+# Author: Tom Ryder <tom@sanctum.geek.nz>
+# Copyright: 2016
+# License: Public domain
+#
+self=xrbg
+
+# Path to the backgrounds directory
+bgd=${XBACKGROUNDS:-$HOME/.xbackgrounds}
+
+# Collect all the background images in an array if they
+# match some kosher extensions
+shopt -s nullglob
+declare -a bgs
+bgs=("$bgd"/*)
+
+# If there are no images, warn explicitly and bail
+if ! ((${#bgs[@]})) ; then
+    printf '%s: No background images found in %s\n' \
+        "$self" "$bgd"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Pick one of the images (note shuf(1) needed)
+rbg=$(shuf -en1 "${bgs[@]}") || exit 1
+
+# Apply it as the background and we're done
+feh --bg-scale --no-fehbg -- "$rbg"
+
diff --git a/man/man1/xrbg.1 b/man/man1/xrbg.1
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04e3c2b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/man1/xrbg.1
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+.TH XRBG 1 "March 2016" "Manual page for xrbg"
+.SH NAME
+.B xrbg
+\- apply a random X background image with feh(1)
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B xrbg
+.br
+XBACKGROUNDS=/path/to/images
+.B xrbg
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.B xrbg
+searches for images in the directory named in the XBACKGROUNDS environment
+variable (defaults to ~/.xbackgrounds), chooses a random one with shuf(1), and
+applies it with feh(1). It's designed for use in ~/.xinitrc, but it seems to
+work when called manually from within an X session too.
+.SH SEE ALSO
+feh(1), shuf(1)
+.SH AUTHOR
+Tom Ryder <tom@sanctum.geek.nz>
+