Install xeyes with Homebrew, apk, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xeyes

Project history

The X.Org manpage credits Keith Packard of the MIT X Consortium as author and says the program was copied from a NeWS version apparently written by Jeremy Huxtable as seen at SIGGRAPH 1988. In X.Org packaging it became an app module described by freedesktop.org as a 'follow the mouse' demo using the X SHAPE extension.

Like other X.Org applications, xeyes moved into the modular source-release world after X11R7.0 split the old monolithic tree into separately released modules. Its freedesktop.org GitLab project was created during the 2018 migration period and keeps the small app maintained with the rest of the X.Org app family.

Adoption history

xeyes spread because it was small, visual, funny, and included with X tool collections. It gave users an immediate sign that X applications were working, while developers used it as a simple demonstration of shaped windows and pointer tracking.

In the Wayland era, xeyes gained a second life as a diagnostic joke with practical value: because it follows the pointer through X11 mechanisms, users can use its behavior to infer whether an application is running as an X11 client, through XWayland, or outside xeyes' visibility.

How it is used

The ordinary usage is simply to run xeyes and watch the pupils track the cursor. Options adjust colors, geometry, backing store, SHAPE usage, Xrender antialiasing, and the alternate distance mapping.

Packagers and desktop troubleshooters use it as a minimal GUI test because it starts quickly, has no configuration, needs only the X display path, and makes failure obvious.

Why package nerds care

xeyes is package-manager whimsy with a real technical payload. It demonstrates that not every useful package is serious; sometimes the tiny demo program is the fastest way to prove a display stack, extension, or compatibility layer is behaving as expected.

Its survival also shows how X.Org's modular app packages preserve small historical clients that would be lost if only large desktop environments were packaged.

Timeline

• 1988: The manpage traces the idea to a NeWS version seen at SIGGRAPH 1988.
• MIT X Consortium era: Keith Packard authors the X version.
• 2005: X11R7.0 modularization makes X.Org applications independently releasable modules.
• 2018: The freedesktop.org GitLab xeyes project is created during repository migration.
• 2021: xeyes 1.2.0 adds Present and XInput2 support for smoother pointer tracking.
• 2025: The GitLab tag list records xeyes 1.3.1.

Related projects

• The X SHAPE extension is the feature associated with xeyes' shaped-window demo behavior.
• Xrender is used for anti-aliased eye drawing when compiled in.
• XInput2 and Present were added in xeyes 1.2.0 for smoother tracking.
• xlogo, xclock, and oclock are neighboring small X demo or utility apps in the same cultural family.

Sources

• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xeyes
• https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-announce/2021-August/003101.html
• https://www.x.org/ModuleDescriptions/
• https://www.x.org/Other/Press/X11R6970Released/
• https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.5/doc/man/man1/xeyes.1.html