{"slug": "xv", "name": "xv", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 9, "warners": 0, "score": 5.397, "rising": -1.64, "first": "2026-01-21", "latest": "2026-04-12", "why": "For just looking at images I use xv all the time. Fast, and with some editing options", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "For just looking at images I use xv all the time. Fast, and with some editing options", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/jasper-software/xv", "official_url": "https://github.com/jasper-software/xv", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["xv", "XV", "Xv"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 763920433, "item_id": 47745027, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47745027", "by": "linsomniac", "date": "2026-04-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I fully support (and have paid more than most into) John's shareware", "excerpt": "pxv, a simple image viewer inspired by John Bradley's (RIP) xv. https://github.com/linsomniac/pxv I've been wanting to do this for years. I fully support (and have paid more than most into) John's shareware, but that means that I can't just \"apt install\" it, which means I rarely have it available on my various machines. Having something I can just \"uv run\" that keeps most of the same ergonomics would be a nice altern", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)"}, {"id": 760617088, "item_id": 47538568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47538568", "by": "jfb", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to use xv a lot.", "excerpt": "Oh man. I used to use xv a lot. RIP, John.", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760588336, "item_id": 47536771, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47536771", "by": "Tor3", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For just looking at images I use xv all the time. Fast, and with some editing options", "excerpt": "I still use xv daily. I paid the sharewire price back in the day (I think it was $25), and the license, if I recall correctly, was a photo of John with a thumbs-up. I've added a few patches here and there to deal with slightly more modern jpeg features and the like, and for the most part it handles everything I want to do, and the rest I do with imagemagick. For just looking at images I use xv all the time. Fast, and", "context": "paid for the shareware license, patched it", "use_case": "viewing images", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760573152, "item_id": 47535822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47535822", "by": "em-bee", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i just built it on my machine. works!", "excerpt": "you can try it. a few years ago some people picked up maintenance: https://github.com/jasper-software/xv i just built it on my machine. works!", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewer", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760560560, "item_id": 47535035, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47535035", "by": "kristopolous", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "He was still accepting shareware payment for it on his website, which I think is amazing", "excerpt": "He was still accepting shareware payment for it on his website, which I think is amazing... https://xv.trilon.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "Tor3", "context": "paid for the shareware license, patched it", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47536771", "date": "2026-03-26"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["image viewing", "image viewer", "viewing images"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47534086", "title": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away", "mentions": 7}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47741527", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46665987", "title": "200 MB RAM FreeBSD Desktop", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 3}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 763920433, "item_id": 47745027, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47745027", "by": "linsomniac", "date": "2026-04-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I fully support (and have paid more than most into) John's shareware", "excerpt": "pxv, a simple image viewer inspired by John Bradley's (RIP) xv. https://github.com/linsomniac/pxv I've been wanting to do this for years. I fully support (and have paid more than most into) John's shareware, but that means that I can't just \"apt install\" it, which means I rarely have it available on my various machines. Having something I can just \"uv run\" that keeps most of the same ergonomics would be a nice altern", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)"}, {"id": 760677632, "item_id": 47542352, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47542352", "by": "cloudbonsai", "date": "2026-03-27", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Here is a user manual of xv that contains prenty of screenshots", "excerpt": "Here is a user manual of xv that contains prenty of screenshots: https://dav.lbl.gov/archive/NERSC/Software/xv/help/xvdocs.pdf I think the \"Miscellaneous Ramblings\" on the final page really illustrates the color of his personality: Section 13.3: Miscellaneous Ramblings And, of course, thanks to everyone else. If you contributed to the developement of xv in some way, and I somehow forgot to put you in the big list, my", "context": "", "use_case": "image viewer", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760617088, "item_id": 47538568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47538568", "by": "jfb", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to use xv a lot.", "excerpt": "Oh man. I used to use xv a lot. RIP, John.", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760592144, "item_id": 47537009, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47537009", "by": "tzs", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Bradley wrote xv a long time ago", "excerpt": "So far only two linkable reports of his death have been found. The other is on a Twitter-like site that is so full of anti-semite, white nationalist, and similar content and has so little of anything else that it makes Twitter look like a far left hang out. Bradley wrote xv a long time ago and appears to be better known for his later work, including his music. Here's how he described himself on Soundcloud [1]: > Guit", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760588336, "item_id": 47536771, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47536771", "by": "Tor3", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For just looking at images I use xv all the time. Fast, and with some editing options", "excerpt": "I still use xv daily. I paid the sharewire price back in the day (I think it was $25), and the license, if I recall correctly, was a photo of John with a thumbs-up. I've added a few patches here and there to deal with slightly more modern jpeg features and the like, and for the most part it handles everything I want to do, and the rest I do with imagemagick. For just looking at images I use xv all the time. Fast, and", "context": "paid for the shareware license, patched it", "use_case": "viewing images", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760576752, "item_id": 47536047, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47536047", "by": "lysace", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It uses raw Xlib to implement a custom widget toolkit.", "excerpt": "It uses raw Xlib to implement a custom widget toolkit. Yeah, it does feel Amiga-ish. A button (thanks for the github link, em-bee): https://github.com/jasper-software/xv/blob/main/src/xvbutt.c", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760573152, "item_id": 47535822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47535822", "by": "em-bee", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i just built it on my machine. works!", "excerpt": "you can try it. a few years ago some people picked up maintenance: https://github.com/jasper-software/xv i just built it on my machine. works!", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewer", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 760560560, "item_id": 47535035, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47535035", "by": "kristopolous", "date": "2026-03-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "He was still accepting shareware payment for it on his website, which I think is amazing", "excerpt": "He was still accepting shareware payment for it on his website, which I think is amazing... https://xv.trilon.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Bradley, author of xv, has passed away"}, {"id": 747264450, "item_id": 46704028, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46704028", "by": "don-bright", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Xv image viewer probably the only thing i used X for", "excerpt": "Ran linux in an 8 mb 486 in the 90s. X ran in 256 color mode and twm or mwm were the window managers. It was so hard to use though. Had to setup modelines settings for your monitor in a textfile and theoretically could damage it with wrong iputs. Programming X fuggedabout it - I was from turbo borland msdos land where everything was neatly documented and designed with clear examples to make programming easy. I was lu", "context": "", "use_case": "Image viewing", "switched_from": "", "story": "200 MB RAM FreeBSD Desktop"}]}