WindowMaker is an elegant X11 window manger that emulates the OpenStep desktop with some noticeable enhancements. For an example of the obligatory screen shot, look at Sprout's desktop (~150k).
The official site to get new developmental versions from is ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/unix/X/windowmanagers/wmaker/beta/srcs .
Even though 0.14.1 is a developmental version, I have had VERY good luck with developmental stability. If you do not mess around with configurations while you have unsaved data it will do just fine. Personally, it has been superbly stable for me and the added features are worth the upgrade. Mileage may vary though, so don't get angry if it crashes.
Ok ok, this isn't a FAQ but it should be as most of the information here has either popped up in the channel or on irc sooner or later. You can read through the mailing list archives at http://wormhole.eosys.com/mail-archives/wmaker/ .
Besides the mailing list archives, there are nice documents in ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/unix/X/windowmanagers/wmaker/docs/
An appicon is the icon produced by an application that initially is in the bottom right corner of the screen while an application is running. For an example, run xterm and notice the icon in the corner. (Make sure that you use xterm and not a default rxvt because many versions of rxvt do not properly set their window attributes.
My first hint would be to look through the documentation a little more closely. Libproplist is located in the root of the WindowMaker distribution tree. Untar libproplist and compile it so that the it will be available to compile WindowMaker.
Go grab the WindowMaker data tarball from http://windowmaker.org
The author Anthony Quinn <oscruiser@geocities.com> has released a version that works with WindowMaker 0.14.1. It is available at http://wm.gnu.net.
Launch an application. If there is a little icon that pops up in the bottom corner of the screen, drag it under the rest of the icons. To make sure this application will be there next time you start up windowmaker, exit windowmaker with the "exit session" option.
Dan Pascu gives this insightful answer:
Another Answer from Dan Pascu:
Just drag icons near it like you would for the dock. If you are having a problem docking icons, you should try moving the fiend away from the dock.
If you are using XFree86, make sure scroll lock and numlock
are off or no bindings will work (XFree bug). You can try
using the XFree86 Numlock Hack by editing the line
#undef NUMLOCK_HACK in
$WindowMakerdir/src/wconfig.h and changing it to
#define NUMLOCK_HACK.
Note that this is not yet fully functional ( if at all ).
Press right click to show the menu but do not hold the button down. Go to the workspaces menu and hold the Control key down and click on the workspace you would like to rename and type the name.
David Reviejo <dreviejo@arrakis.es> best summed up this answer:
In the ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, change these 3 variables:
FocusMode = sloppy;
RaiseDelay = 1;
CirculateRaise = YES;
In ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker set AutoArrangeIcons=YES; and the icons should now auto-arrange.
Make sure that these settings are true in your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker file:
CirculateRaise = YES;
RaiseDelay = 1;
Edit WMWindowAttributes and use the AlwaysUserIcon=YES; option
You need to change 1 line to your '~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker'
file.
IconBack = (spixmap, tile.black.xpm, white);
As Random@efnet says, The last parameter is the color that
fills in any transparent parts of your icon.
Use this tcl script that was posted to the list aptly called dockit. Please note that you will have to change the top line of the script to point to the location of wish on your machine.
Here is my entry in ~/GNUstep/WMWindowAttributes for x11amp.
Edit the file
~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/autostart and insert
the line 'xv -root -quit -maxpect ~/background.jpg'
If you would like xv functionality in your menu, heres a nice little tip from Alfredo.
"Pictures" OPEN_MENU /home/sprout/backgrounds xv -root -maxpect -quit
into your ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file.
The question comes from Alban <dalroi@wit401310.student.utwente.nl>
Put something like
"More Styles" OPEN_MENU /home/sprout/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Style SETSTYLE
in your ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file.
With the release of WindowMaker-0.14.1, you can now put pixmaps anywhere you would have either a gradient or a color. This means now that
MenuTextBack=(tpixmap, foo.xpm, acolor);
in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker will put the correct pixmap tiled in your menu.
FTitleBack = (spixmap, foo.xpm, black);
Would have the effect of streching a pixmap in the titlebar of the active window.
This involves a minor source tweak. Instructions are available at http://largo.mezaway.org/tips.html#titlebar_icons
You can enter the following line in WMWindowAttributes:
gimp={Icon="5.5.tiff.xpm";};
WindowMaker now can assign Icons from within the windowmanager, to do so, right click on the title bar of an app, click on the "4" Button, enter the icon file name ( make sure this is in your pixmap path ), click update, apply, and then save.
Thanks to Michael Hafner <hayfi@rz.fh-augsburg.de> for this answer.
You don't need to patch the XEmacs code, just run
./configure --with-session=yes (in addition to any other options you use)
in your XEmacs 20.3+ sourcedir and rebuild it. Then XEmacs shows an appicon when running and you can easily dock it.
Its called asclock. It has been included with every version I've downloaded. Currently it resides in ./WindowMaker-0.xx.x/misc/asclock.tgz
asclock -shape -iconic -12 &
Drag it from the top right corner of the clock to the dock. Right
click on the icon and select autolaunch.
If you get an error such as sh: /dev/console: Permission denied, login as root, cd /dev/ and run ./MAKEDEV console
wmload -withdrawn -shape &
Then dock it similar to asclock.
Several Nice applications are available:
The default rxvt that comes with most distribtions is an outdated version of rxvt. The newest development version of rxvt is availible from ftp://ftp.math.fu-berlin.de/pub/rxvt/devel/. As of the time of this writing, the version is 2.4.6 and it natively produces an appicon without a patch.
Many different people have made patches for rxvt-2.4.5 as noted in the mailing list archives. Here is one of the patches.
John Eikenberry has also created an rpm which is available from ftp://ftp.coe.uga.edu/users/jae/windowmaker/
"You must define the WM_CLASS (XSetClassHint()) and the CLIENT_LEADER or XWMHints.window_group properties, which are automatically set by most applications that use Xt (Motif, Athena ...), but if you use plain Xlib you must set them by hand.
Also you must make a call to XSetCommand(dpy, leader, argv, argc);
Take a look at WindowMaker-0.12.3/test/test.c that is an example for writing such an app (which also have an app menu).
Oliver Graf <ograf@fga.de> writes:
The main window (normally this is called '.' [dot] in tk) should use the following lines:
wm command . [concat $argv0 $argv]
wm group . .
All child windows attached to the same app-icon should use:
toplevel .child
wm group .child .
where .child should be replaced by the actual window path.
Replace '.' with the actual main-window path and 'wm group .child .' should be added for each 'toplevel .child' call.
Not at the moment because there is not a pressing need for a pager. The concept of multiple desktops does exist and there are currently 3 ways to switch between them.
First, the Alt+Number combination will switch between desktops. The Workspaces menu will also let you switch workspaces. Lastly, the fiend will also scroll one through workspaces.
For those that would like to send an application to a specific workspace, either drag it to an edge of the desktop onto the next workspace
No. WindowMaker does support the collapsible fiend per desktop for a similar functioanility.
Themes consist of convoluted rocket science coupled with a fair amount of elbow grease <G>.
Matt Hawkins summation of themes:
A Theme, or Style, is simply a collection of pictures in some graphics format WindowMaker can understand (jpeg, tiff, xpm) and the configuration setup containing the colour/pixmap/font definitions, which is saved using "getstyle" and is used to activate the theme by "setstyle". Both getstyle and setstyle are installed with WindowMaker.
To capture the current WindowMaker style, use the command
getstyle > current.styleTo replace the current style, use the command
setstyle filename.styleDisclaimer: All Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This FAQ has no warranty, expressed or implied. I didn't do it, you didn't see me do it, you can't prove anything.
