Re: Clairification - was [Re: Desktop Background Bites the Dust]
On Sat 27 May 2017 at 12:32:06 (+0100), Brian wrote:
> On Fri 26 May 2017 at 17:57:40 -0500, Michael Milliman wrote:
>
> > On 05/25/2017 05:56 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > >
> > > If I had read the man page more slowly that using the menu to set the
> > > image as wallpaper was unnecessary. Use:
> > > feh --no-xinerama --bg-fill
> > > /usr/share/backgrounds/mate/desktop/GreenTraditional.jpg
> > >
> > >
> > And actually, the --no-xinerama flag is not needed, at least on my
> > system. I use feh --bg-fill ... and it works just fine. Of course,
> > that is a very limited (and safe) usage of feh. I don't think it wise
> > to use it for anything much more (IMHO).
>
> Surprising after all these years that feh is now revealed as an unsafe
> image viewer.
Wow, I didn't realise I'd participated in a revelation.
I noticed the overwriting problem in September 2007, within days of
buying a digital camera that set the orientation flag. (Previously,
I'd been using a work cast-off which didn't set it.) I'd used xzgv
for some years as my image viewer but never had much luck with its
--exif-orient option, so I tried feh as an alternative because
it appeared to honour it.
Very soon after using feh, I noticed that the timestamps displayed
by mc on my camera picture directories were getting screwed up.
Of course, these picture files get backed up straight from the SD
card before I even look at them, so I was able to restore the
original pictures without any difficulty once I'd worked out
what to blame.
(However there are still probably a few downloaded images that are
not in their original state, because I have no practical way of
discovering which ones they are.)
Apologies for not bringing it up then. I didn't resubscribe
here for another 8 years and was only reminded about the problem
on seeing this thread. FWIW I use xsetbg (xloadimage) for my
desktops, but my laptops use the background colour as a
battery-state and, in extremis, CPU temperature indicator. So,
for example, if the power cord dislodges, the presently green
background will switch to yellow.
> I use it to look at an image prior to printing it from feh
> and see that as quick, reliable and convenient but not as unwise.
Understood. I didn't know whether you were a feh user, or had just
read the man page, when I made my mouse comment. In any case, such
single-use instances as proof-checking and wallpaper-setting may
well justify its use, but my comment about its misdescription
and dangers was intended for readers of this list who might use
it as a general-purpose viewer after installing it in the wake of
this thread.
BTW I checked the error message I mentioned earlier. Feh itself
emits the incorrect error message for PNG files, but the correct
message is emitted by the spawned jpegtran program for JPGs.
Cheers,
David.
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