How to set xscreensaver to use blank mode without GUI?

Question

After installing xscreensaver in Arch Linux my laptop has started displaying fancy, battery-depleting animations when nobody is looking. How do I configure this to use the blank mode via the command line (i.e., without xscreensaver-demo)?

Answer 1

You can configure this in either ~/.Xresources:

xscreensaver.mode: blank

or ~/.xscreensaver:

mode: blank

To verify:

xrdb -load ~/.Xresources
killall xscreensaver
xscreensaver -no-splash &

Then press Ctrl-Alt-L, and stare into the unblinking eye of infinity.