Here’s the Deal

Eye of Gnome (eog) vs sxiv

14 3

13 1

When comparing Eye of Gnome (eog) vs sxiv, the Slant community recommends Eye of Gnome (eog) for most people. In the question“What are the best FOSS image viewers for UNIX-like systems?” Eye of Gnome (eog) is ranked 9th while sxiv is ranked 10th.

Specs

No specs yet!

LicenseGPL-2.0

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best FOSS image viewers for UNIX-like systems?

Pros

Pro
More lightweight than other kde or gnome dependent applications like gwenview, gthumb or kphotoalbum

Pro
Double-click to view Fullscreen

By default, double-clicking on the current image opens it in Fullscreen mode. This can be turned off in Preferences if desired

Pro
Image Slideshow

You can view a slideshow of all images in the current folder, and adjust the delay between images in the Preferences dialog

Pro
ESC key exits Fullscreen and program

Pressing the ESC key exits Fullscreen mode, as well as exits the program ... hence press the ESC key twice and you're out

Pro
Can set image as wallpaper

You can set the current image as your desktop wallpaper directly from within this program

Pro
Anti-aliasing can be toggled

Anti-aliasing is usually enabled on startup and can be toggled with 'a'.
Disabling anti-aliasing means faster operation due to less CPU load.

Changing the default is possible by compiling with this setting:

# config.h
static const bool ANTI_ALIAS = false;

Pro
Supports embedding into other X windows

Via option -e.

Pro
Basic support for multi-frame images (aka animations)

Load all frames from GIF files and play GIF animations.

Pro
Acts as a filter for images that interacts with the command line

Option -i (input) takes filenames from stdinput and outputs marked images to stdoutput via option -o (output).

Pro
Userscripts can be applied to single images or thumbnail mode selection

Examples of how to use the key-handler are found here:
/usr/share/sxiv/exec/key-handler

Pro
Image infobox can be configured

Can be configured in ~/.config/sxiv/exec/image-info. See also here.

Pro
Rudimentary viewing manipulation

Images can be rotated (<,>), flipped (|,_) and scaled (w,W,e,E,=).

Pro
View mode with marked files

Keys 'N' and 'P' move in list of marked files. This can be useful.

Pro
Thumbnail mode

Pro
Fast

Ad
Cons

Con
No APNG support

And it won't be it seems https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=151281

Con
Still have gnome dependencies

Con
Browsing a directory after opening a single file needs fixing

See here

There is a workaround implemented in ranger that works more or less out of the box

    # This hook allows image viewers to open all images in the current
    # directory, keeping the order of files the same as in ranger.
    # The requirements to use it are:
    # 1. set open_all_images to true
    # 2. ensure no files are marked
    # 3. call rifle with a command that starts with "sxiv " or "feh "
    def sxiv_workaround_hook(command):

Con
Jumping in thumbnail mode possible, but limited

By entering a number, followed by capital G the focus jumps to that image in the list counted from beginning. (G is default key for 'g_n_or_last'-action (see config.h in source).)
It has to be noted that prefixing a motion with a number also works as espected (vim style).
Alas, a jumping mode with lables (like with pqiv) would be an advantage.

Con
It doesn't have pong

Con
Thumbnail mode only with simple marking

Key 'm' marks files.

Con
Keys not configurable except via keyhandler mode or compilation

Keys can be associated with userscripts, which can be defined in ~/.config/sxiv/exec/key-handler. Every associated button needs to be prefixed with the key combination C-x (although that prefix can be configured to another key or key combination in config.h).

It has to be noted that key configuration apart from the key-handler is possible via compilation (Customizable key and mouse button mappings in config.h), which must not be a bad way to configure buttons, but certainly means a barrier for the not so tech-savvy.

Easy instruction for compilation:
1) Enter in terminal: "git clone https://github.com/muennich/sxiv.git"
2) Edit file "config.h" according to this
3) Compile and install, namely enter directory and enter in terminal: "make && sudo make install" (beware of sudo/root unless you know what you do)
( 4) Iterate: 2), then: enter directory and enter in terminal: "make clean && make && sudo make install" )

See an example for remapping the navigation buttons:

// navigate thumbnail+image
    { 0,            XK_Left,          i_navigate,           -1 },
    { 0,            XK_Left,          t_move_sel,           DIR_LEFT },

    { 0,            XK_Right,         i_navigate,           +1 },
    { 0,            XK_Right,         t_move_sel,           DIR_RIGHT },

    { 0,            XK_Down,          t_move_sel,           DIR_DOWN },
    { 0,            XK_Up,            t_move_sel,           DIR_UP },

    { ShiftMask,    XK_Right,         i_navigate,           +10 },
    { ShiftMask,    XK_Left,          i_navigate,           -10 },