window_manager

stacking window manager for X

wallpaper

Dependencies

Written in rust, cargo required.

Libraries

• xcb
• xcb-icccm
• Xcursor
• gtk-3

apt libraries: libx11-xcb-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcursor-dev libgtk-3-dev

pacman libraries: libxcb xcb-util-wm libxcursor gtk3

Optional

• grid-resize required if the grid_resize option is enabled (see configuration).
• asound
  • apt: libasound2-dev
  • pacman: alsa-lib
• pulse
  • apt: libpulse-dev
  • pacman: libpulse

Either ALSA (libasound) or PulseAudio (libpulse) are required for volume controls, PulseAudio is required for per-application volume mixing. Their presence is detected when compiling with make and their implementations are enabled respectively. If both are installed PulseAudio is preferred over ALSA since it provides per-application controls.

Usage

Build and install a release build: make release && sudo make install

Building

# Debug build for only the window manager (both commands do the same):
$ make
$ make debug
# Debug build including utility programs:
$ BUILD_ALL=1 make debug
# Release build including utility programs:
$ make release

Using make for building, the presence of the ALSA and PulseAudio libraries is checked and their implementations are only enabled if available.

When building with cargo build both backends are used by default, use --no-default-features to disable them and the alsa or pulse features to enable only one of them.

Example: cargo build --no-default-features --features alsa

Installing

# Install to /usr/local/bin
$ sudo make install
# Install to custom path
$ sudo INSTALL_PREFIX=/my/install/path make install

Installed programs (with default path):

• /usr/local/bin/window_manager
• /usr/local/bin/window_manager_quit
• /usr/local/bin/window_manager_message_box

If running the install command results in a rustup error it is trying to rebuild but cannot since it's running as super user. Just run make release normally to fix this.

In addition to the window manager and its utility programs this will also install the window_manager.desktop file to /usr/share/xsessions/window_manager.desktop.

Running

The window manager is visible to any display manager like GDM, SDDM, LightDM, or others via the /usr/share/xsessions/window_manager.desktop file installed by make install.

The window manager can be ran from a .xinitrc using:

exec window_manager

To run a debug build without installing it use the run.sh script:

• ./sun.sh or ./run.sh startx: starts the X server and the window manager, must be run from a tty
• ./run.sh xephyr starts Xephyr with a single display and runs the window manager in it
• ./run.sh multi_mon starts Xephyr with multiple monitors and runs the window manager in it

Configuration

The window manager is configured using the config.ini file in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/window_manager or $HOME/.config/window_manager.

See configuration file format.

Applications that should run at startup are added to autostartrc in the same directory.

This is simply a bash script that is run on startup (so don't forget to add & to the end of command so they don't block execution).

An example configuration is included in the config directory.

Pre-defined key bindings

• Mod + Left Mouse Click Focus the clicked window

• Mod + Left Mouse Hold Move the clicked window

• Mod + Shift + Left Mouse Hold Move the clicked window and snap it based on the resulting position

  • Left half:
    • Top/Bottom quarter: Snap to Top-/Bottom- Left
    • Otherwise: Snap to Left
  • Right half works the same way

• Mod + Right Mouse Hold Resize the clicked window

• Alt + Tab Windows-style window switching

Status bar

The window manager has a builtin status bar. See the configuration file format for customization options.

The bar contains the following widgets:

• Left: Workspace display and switcher

• Right: Battery charge, volume, current time, and a system tray

Controls:

• Workspace switcher:

  • Click: Select workspace
  • Scroll: Scroll through workspaces

• Volume:

  • Left click: Toggle master volume mute
  • Right click: Open volume mixer
  • Scroll up: Increase master volume
  • Scroll down: Decrease master volume

Acknowledgments

Some projects I used to learn how windows managers work.

• qpwm
• dwm
• tinywm
• How X Window Managers Work, And How To Write One
• Fvwm

And polybar for the system tray.

Icons

See res/README.md