XScreenSaver: TODO List

XScreenSaver
TODO List

This is the list of known problems in the MacOS port of XScreenSaver. If you'd like to tackle any of this, I'd love to have some help.

To build on MacOS, use the XCode project included in the tarball. You shouldn't need to have X11 installed, and shouldn't need to run "configure" first. You need XCode 2.2 (downloadable from Apple).

To debug, you can either install the .saver bundles in your "Library/Screen Savers/" directory (symlinks work too) or you can use the included "SaverTester" program. Double-click on it, switch to the "Arguments" tab, and change the $SCREENSAVER_MODULE variable to the base-name of the saver you want to debug.

Why is this getting logged every time the prefs are used:
"SaverTester[]: ScreenSaverDefaults does not respond to volatileDomainForName:"
xflag, sonar (and others) -- if you delete all the text in a preferences text field, this happens after hitting OK:
NSRunLoop ignoring exception '-[NSCFDictionary setObject:forKey:]: attempt to insert nil value' that raised during posting of delayed perform with target 3d9ea0 and selector 'invokeWithTarget:'
2D graphics are really slow in general. In particular, XCopyArea is a dog: try out "Slip" or "Kumppa" for examples of something that should be screamingly fast, but isn't...
These programs are too slow:
- apple2
- deluxe
- eruption
- flow
- fluidballs
- goop
- halo
- nerverot
- pong
- ripples
- sonar
- speedmine
- t3d (slow startup)
- xanalogtv
- zoom
These programs are painfully slow:
- fiberlamp
- fireworkx
- halftone
- interference
- kumppa
- metaballs
- moire2 (it's unusable on slow machines)
- slip
- xmatrix
screen grabbing doesn't always work; sometimes I just get black. Maybe I need to do CGDisplayCaptureWithOptions(dpy,kCGCaptureNoFill) but when I do that, the screen saver deactivates as if the mouse had moved!
Rework image loading so that the texture is loaded on the other side of the fork, using a shared aglContext.
xanalogtv -- sometimes crashes at exit.
qix -solid -xor (and -transparent) -- looks wrong: it's drawing some pixels in the shape more than once, causing striping.
bsod -only blitdamage -- uses plane masks as... actual plane masks. I don't know how to do that with Quartz; I don't think it would look right if done with alpha transparency.
blitspin -- only works with the builtin 1-bit image; color images turn to static, because the XOR implementation only works with 1-bit pixmaps.
crystal -- doesn't draw grid.
Make standalone non-screensaver terminal-emulator programs for apple2 and phosphor.
Rewrite vidwhacker to use Quartz instead of pbm.