metacity-theme-viewer

metacity-theme-viewer [OPTION...] [THEME_FILE_OR_DIRECTORY]

--help
    Displays the help message, listing available options and general usage information for the command.

--version
    Outputs the version information for the metacity-theme-viewer utility.

--display=DISPLAY
    Specifies the X display to connect to. This is useful when running the command on a different X server than the current one.

THEME_FILE_OR_DIRECTORY
    The path to the Metacity theme file (typically metacity-theme-1.xml) or the directory containing the theme assets. If a directory is provided, the viewer will attempt to find the theme definition file within it.

metacity-theme-viewer is a dedicated utility for visually previewing themes designed for the Metacity window manager.

This tool allows users and, more particularly, theme developers to inspect how a specific Metacity theme renders various window decorations, such as title bars, window buttons (close, minimize, maximize), and resizing handles, without needing to apply the theme system-wide. It provides a convenient sandbox for evaluating theme aesthetics and and functionality, making it invaluable for debugging visual inconsistencies or comparing different design iterations efficiently.

Metacity served as the default window manager for the GNOME 2 desktop environment. Consequently, metacity-theme-viewer remains relevant primarily in legacy GNOME 2 installations or environments that explicitly utilize or support Metacity themes, offering a snapshot of window appearance.

metacity-theme-viewer is largely considered a legacy tool. Its primary utility is within environments still utilizing the Metacity window manager, which has been superseded by Mutter in modern GNOME (GNOME 3 and newer). Users on contemporary Linux distributions with default GNOME installations may find this command unavailable or irrelevant, as their window decorations are managed by Mutter themes or other compositors.

This tool is particularly valuable for Metacity theme developers. It allows them to quickly iterate on design changes to window decorations without the overhead of applying the theme globally, logging out, or restarting the desktop environment, significantly streamlining the theme creation and debugging workflow.

Metacity themes typically consist of an XML definition file (commonly named metacity-theme-1.xml) located within a subdirectory like metacity-1/, alongside various image assets (e.g., PNG files) that define buttons, borders, and other graphical elements of the window frames.

The metacity-theme-viewer utility was developed as an integral part of the Metacity project, serving as the default window manager for the GNOME 2.x series. Its creation was aimed at simplifying theme development and previewing during a period when Metacity themes were prevalent. With the transition of GNOME to version 3 and the adoption of Mutter as its default window manager and compositor, the relevance and active development of metacity-theme-viewer significantly declined, positioning it as a tool primarily for historical or niche Metacity-based environments.

metacity(1), gnome-control-center(1), gtk-theme-viewer(1)