HOWTO: Animated .gif as a background

[memorygap]

So you went to put that funny animated gif as your desktop background but only the first frame appeared, static and alone? Cheer up, we can make it move.
This is a guide to getting an animated gif centered on your desktop background. I've only tested it in gnome on Hardy Heron. It works with or without compiz. The only caveat is that if you happen to have icons on your desktop the gif may cover these up if it's big enough.

Alright let's open a terminal window and get down to business.
We're going to grab Shantz modified (i.e. fixed) version of xwinwrap.
Ok we need the source from launchpad, but first we need to install bazaar to get the code, gcc to compile it, and gifsicle to actually display the gifs:

sudo apt-get install bzr build-essential gifsicle

Now let's grab the code:

bzr branch lp:xwinwrap

Let's change into that newly created directory and compile it and then install it.

cd xwinwrap
make
sudo make install

I've created a little script to make centering a gif easy for myself so open up your favorite text editor and copy and paste the following:

#!/bin/sh
# Uses xwinwrap to display given animated .gif in the center of the screen

if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
    echo 1>&2 Usage: $0 image.gif
    exit 1
fi

#get screen resolution
SCRH=`xrandr | awk '/current/ { print $8 }'`
SCRW=`xrandr | awk '/current/ { print $10 }'`
SCRW=${SCRW%\,}

#get gif resolution
IMGHW=`gifsicle --info $1 | awk '/logical/ { print $3 }'`
IMGH=${IMGHW%x*}
IMGW=${IMGHW#*x}

#calculate position
POSH=$((($SCRH/2)-($IMGH/2)))
POSW=$((($SCRW/2)-($IMGW/2)))

xwinwrap -g ${IMGHW}+${POSH}+${POSW} -ov -ni -s -nf -- gifview -w WID $1 -a

exit 0

Save this file as gifbg.sh and let's not forget to make it executable:

chmod +x gifbg.sh

Now when we can make our background move:

./gifbg.sh /path/to/animated.gif

You'll probably want to start this script when you login so hit the gnome menu -> system -> preferences -> sessions hit Add and make up a name and copy the command into the appropriate box. Notes: You have to put the complete path to the script in here because gnome doesn't respect the $PATH variable. Also, for some reason the image will appear always on top when it's loaded from boot, one solution is to add a "sleep 5" on top of the script to make sure it loads after the rest of your desktop.

There you go, an animated background using a few megs of ram and an imperceptible amount of cpu time.

To stop the magic happening either Ctrl-C the command if you ran it from the terminal or hit Alt-F2 and type:

killall xwinwrap

To uninstall:

sudo rm /usr/bin/xwinwrap

[thestig_992]

Does anyone have any good gifs to share? preferable some that would work as a background?

[binbash]

awesome guide, it will be cool if someone can share good gifs .

[memorygap]

the gif that made me figure this out is on this page http://squareamerica.com/gif4.htm

[toucher5]

This is a little different than the animated gif but I think it is interesting.

http://gnome-look.org/content/show.p...?content=83443

Basically you make an xml file as the background that refers to the pictures of choice. It changes over time. The artist set it up to look like the sun moving in the sky.

I have one in the works and will upload it to gnome-look when its done. So keep a look out.

[whitethorn]

I wasn't able to get this to work in Ibex. Just getting the branch downloaded from launchpad was pretty complicated (had to create a gpg and ssh key). After downloading the folder I wasn't able to make it.

winwrap|$make
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wredundant-decls -lX11 -lXext -lXrender xwinwrap.c -o xwinwrap
mkdir x86_64
mv ./xwinwrap ./x86_64
gcc -m32 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wredundant-decls -lX11 -lXext -lXrender xwinwrap.c -o xwinwrap
mkdir i386
mv ./xwinwrap ./i386
winwrap|$sudo make install
make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop.

It's really too bad, I was about to use the hypnotoad gif.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/toolbar/#...ewsIndex%253D1

[zach832]

Im really interested in this howto but im getting some strange errors that I dont know how to fix. This is right after running brz branch lpwinwrap. Im guessing im missing a package somewhere?

~/xwinwrap$ make
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wredundant-decls -lX11 -lXext -lXrender xwinwrap.c -o xwinwrap
/tmp/ccG67lai.o: In function `setWindowOpacity':
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0xdf): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x113): undefined reference to `XChangeProperty'
/tmp/ccG67lai.o: In function `findArgbVisual':
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x151): undefined reference to `XGetVisualInfo'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x19c): undefined reference to `XRenderFindVisualFormat'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1ed): undefined reference to `XFree'
/tmp/ccG67lai.o: In function `find_desktop_window':
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x337): undefined reference to `XQueryTree'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x379): undefined reference to `XFetchName'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x3b2): undefined reference to `XGetWindowAttributes'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x444): undefined reference to `XFree'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x453): undefined reference to `XFree'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x488): undefined reference to `XFree'
/tmp/ccG67lai.o: In function `main':
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x5a7): undefined reference to `XOpenDisplay'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x6cc): undefined reference to `XParseGeometry'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x7f6): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x864): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x8c8): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x92c): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x990): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
/tmp/ccG67lai.o:xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x9f4): more undefined references to `XInternAtom' follow
/tmp/ccG67lai.o: In function `main':
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0xe84): undefined reference to `XCreateColormap'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0xef9): undefined reference to `XCreateWindow'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0xfaf): undefined reference to `XCreateWindow'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1021): undefined reference to `XCreateWindow'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x107b): undefined reference to `XSetWMProperties'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x10b1): undefined reference to `XCreateRegion'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x10f9): undefined reference to `XShapeCombineRegion'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1108): undefined reference to `XDestroyRegion'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x112a): undefined reference to `XInternAtom'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1169): undefined reference to `XChangeProperty'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x119e): undefined reference to `XCreatePixmap'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x11ca): undefined reference to `XCreateGC'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1208): undefined reference to `XSetForeground'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1242): undefined reference to `XFillRectangle'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1260): undefined reference to `XSetForeground'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x12aa): undefined reference to `XFillArc'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1315): undefined reference to `XSetForeground'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x134f): undefined reference to `XFillRectangle'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x136d): undefined reference to `XSetForeground'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x13a4): undefined reference to `XFillPolygon'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x13de): undefined reference to `XShapeCombineMask'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x13f7): undefined reference to `XMapWindow'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x141c): undefined reference to `XLowerWindow'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1436): undefined reference to `XSync'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1575): undefined reference to `XDestroyWindow'
xwinwrap.c:(.text+0x1584): undefined reference to `XCloseDisplay'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [all64] Error 1

[umithaz]

It's a new info for me. I'll try it soon. Thanks, this is awesome how to tutorial.

[andrew103]

with Ibex didn`t worked for me also, any other solution?

[firas2]

Hi I am on step 3 and i get this error any help thank u


ubuntu@ubuntu:~/xwinwrap$ cd xwinwrap
bash: cd: xwinwrap: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/xwinwrap$ cd xwinwrap
bash: cd: xwinwrap: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/xwinwrap$ make
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -Wredundant-decls -lX11 -lXext -lXrender xwinwrap.c -o xwinwrap
xwinwrap.c:45:22: fatal error: X11/Xlib.h: No such file or directory
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
^
compilation terminated.
make: *** [all64] Error 1
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/xwinwrap$ sudo make install
make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/xwinwrap$