1 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Marco Peereboom <marco@peereboom.us>
2 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Darrin Chandler <dwchandler@stilyagin.com>
4 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
5 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
6 .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
8 .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
9 .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
10 .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
11 .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
12 .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
13 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
14 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
16 .Dd $Mdocdate: November 11 2011 $
21 .Nd window manager for X11
26 is a minimalistic window manager that tries to stay out of the way so that
27 valuable screen real estate can be used for much more important stuff.
28 It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any
30 It was written by hackers for hackers and it strives to be small, compact and
35 starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file,
38 .Sx CONFIGURATION FILES
41 The following notation is used throughout this page:
43 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
57 is very simple in its use.
58 Most of the actions are initiated via key or mouse bindings.
61 section below for defaults and customizations.
62 .Sh CONFIGURATION FILES
64 first tries to open the user specific file,
66 If that file is unavailable,
67 it then tries to open the global configuration file
68 .Pa /etc/scrotwm.conf .
70 The format of the file is \*(Ltkeyword\*(Gt = \*(Ltsetting\*(Gt.
75 Enabling or disabling an option is done by using 1 or 0 respectively.
77 The file supports the following keywords:
79 .Bl -tag -width "title_class_enabledXXX" -offset indent -compact
81 Launch an application in a specified workspace at start-of-day.
82 Defined in the format ws[<idx>]:application, e.g. ws[2]:xterm launches an
85 Border color of the currently focussed window.
87 Border color of unfocussed windows.
89 Enable or disable status bar.
90 .It Cm bar_border Ns Bq Ar x
91 Color of the status bar border in screen
93 .It Cm bar_border_width
94 Set status bar border thickness in pixels.
95 Disable border by setting to 0.
96 .It Cm bar_color Ns Bq Ar x
97 Color of the status bar window in screen
99 .It Cm bar_font_color Ns Bq Ar x
100 Color of the font in status bar in screen
105 External script that populates additional information in the status bar,
106 such as battery life.
108 Update frequency, in seconds, of external script that populates the status bar.
110 Place the statusbar at the bottom of each region instead of the top.
112 Justify the status bar text. Possible values are
118 Enable or disable displaying the current stacking algorithm in the status bar.
120 Enable or disable displaying the clock in the status bar.
121 Disable by setting to 0
122 so a custom clock could be used in the
126 Some applications have dialogue windows that are too small to be useful.
127 This ratio is the screen size to what they will be resized.
128 For example, 0.6 is 60% of the physical screen size.
129 .It Cm keyboard_mapping
130 Clear all key bindings and load new key bindings from the specified file.
131 This allows you to load pre-defined key bindings for your keyboard layout.
133 .Sx KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES
134 section below for a list of keyboard mapping files that have been provided
135 for several keyboard layouts.
137 Select layout to use at start-of-day.
138 Defined in the format
139 ws[idx]:master_grow:master_add:stack_inc:layout:always_raise:stack_mode, e.g.
140 ws[2]:-4:0:1:0:horizontal sets worskspace 2 to the horizontal stack mode and
141 shrinks the master area by 4 ticks and adds one window to the stack, while
142 maintaining default floating window behavior.
143 Possible stack_mode values are
158 for more information.
159 Note that the stacking options are complicated and have side-effects.
160 One should familiarize oneself with these commands before experimenting with the
164 This setting is not retained at restart.
166 Allocates a custom region, removing any autodetected regions which occupy the same
168 Defined in the format screen[<idx>]:WIDTHxHEIGHT+X+Y,
169 e.g.\& screen[1]:800x1200+0+0.
171 To make a screen span multiple monitors, create a region big enough to cover
172 them all, e.g. screen[1]:2048x768+0+0 makes the screen span two monitors with
173 1024x768 resolution sitting one next to the other.
175 Set a preferred minimum width for the terminal.
176 If this value is greater than 0,
178 will attempt to adjust the font sizes in the terminal to keep the terminal
179 width above this number as the window is resized.
182 is currently supported.
185 binary must not be setuid or setgid, which it is by default on most systems.
186 Users may need to set program[term] (see the
188 section) to use an alternate copy of the
190 binary without the setgid bit set.
191 .It Cm title_class_enabled
192 Enable or disable displaying the window class in the status bar.
193 Enable by setting to 1.
194 .It Cm title_name_enabled
195 Enable or disable displaying the window title in the status bar.
196 Enable by setting to 1.
197 .It Cm urgent_enabled
198 Enable or disable the urgency hint.
199 Note that many terminal emulators require this to be enabled for it to
201 In xterm, for example, one needs to add the following line
202 .Pa xterm.urgentOnBell: true
205 .It Cm window_name_enabled
206 Enable or disable displaying the window name in the status bar.
207 Enable by setting to 1.
208 .It Cm verbose_layout
209 Enable or disable displaying the current master and stack values in the status
211 Enable by setting to 1.
214 Mod1 is generally the ALT key and Mod4 is the windows key on a PC.
218 will make the window manager focus the window
219 under the mouse when switching workspaces and creating windows.
220 .It Cm disable_border
221 Remove border when bar is disabled and there is only one window on the screen.
223 Set window border thickness in pixels.
224 Disable all borders by setting to 0.
225 .It Cm program Ns Bq Ar p
226 Define new action to spawn a program
231 .It Cm bind Ns Bq Ar x
232 Bind key combo to action
237 .It Cm quirk Ns Bq Ar c:n
238 Add "quirk" for windows with class
247 Colors need to be specified per the
249 specification and fonts need to be specified per the
253 To list the available fonts in your system see
260 application can help you to show the X Logical Font Description ("XLFD") used
261 as setting in the keyword
265 allows you to define custom actions to launch programs of your choice and then
266 bind them the same as with built-in actions.
271 The default programs are described below:
273 .Bl -tag -width "screenshot_wind" -offset indent -compact
276 .It Cm screenshot_all
278 .It Cm screenshot_wind
285 dmenu_run \-fn $bar_font \-nb $bar_color \-nf $bar_font_color \-sb $bar_border \-sf $bar_color
288 Custom programs in the configuration file are specified as follows:
290 .Dl program[<name>] = <progpath> [<arg> [... <arg>]]
293 is any identifier that does not conflict with a built-in action or keyword,
295 is the desired program, and
297 is zero or more arguments to the program.
299 The following variables represent settable values in
302 .Sx CONFIGURATION FILES
304 and may be used in the
306 fields and will be substituted for values at the time the program is spawned:
308 .Bl -tag -width "$bar_font_color" -offset indent -compact
312 .It Cm $bar_font_color
314 .It Cm $color_unfocus
318 .Bd -literal -offset indent
319 program[ff] = /usr/local/bin/firefox http://scrotwm.org/
320 bind[ff] = Mod+f # Now Mod+F launched firefox
323 To undo the previous:
324 .Bd -literal -offset indent
330 provides many functions (or actions) accessed via key or mouse bindings.
332 The current mouse bindings are described below:
334 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
342 Resize window while maintaining it centered
345 The default key bindings are described below:
347 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
348 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Return
356 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Space
358 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Space
372 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Return
381 .Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm TAB
398 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Ar n
400 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Right
402 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Left
404 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Up
406 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Down
410 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Right
412 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Left
422 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Delete
456 The action names and descriptions are listed below:
458 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXXX" -offset indent -compact
484 Add windows to master area.
486 Remove windows from master area.
488 Add columns/rows to stacking area.
490 Remove columns/rows from stacking area.
492 Move current window to master area.
494 Focus next window in workspace.
496 Focus previous window in workspace.
498 Focus on main window in workspace.
500 Swap with next window in workspace.
502 Swap with previous window in workspace.
504 Toggle status bar in all workspaces.
506 Delete current window in workspace.
508 Destroy current window in workspace.
516 Move current window to workspace
522 Switch to next workspace with a window in it.
524 Switch to previous workspace with a window in it.
526 Switch to next workspace.
528 Switch to previous workspace.
530 Switch to last visited workspace.
532 Move pointer to next region.
534 Move pointer to previous region.
535 .It Cm screenshot_all
536 Take screenshot of entire screen (if enabled)
540 .It Cm screenshot_wind
541 Take screenshot of selected window (if enabled)
546 Toggle version in status bar.
548 Toggle focused window between tiled and floating.
555 Reinitialize physical screens
560 Minimize (unmap) currently focused window.
562 Maximize (map) window returned by dmenu selection.
564 When set tiled windows are allowed to obscure floating windows.
566 Fake a middle mouse button click (mouse button 2).
568 Shrink the width of a floating window.
570 Grow the width of a floating window.
572 Shrink the height of a floating window.
574 Grow the height of a floating window.
576 Move a floating window a step to the left.
578 Move a floating window a step to the right.
580 Move a floating window a step upwards.
582 Move a floating window a step downwards.
583 .It Cm name_workspace
584 Name the current workspace.
585 .It Cm search_workspace
586 Search for a workspace.
589 Custom bindings in the configuration file are specified as follows:
591 .Dl bind[<action>] = <keys>
594 is one of the actions listed above (or empty) and
596 is in the form of zero or more modifier keys
597 (MOD, Mod1, Shift, etc.) and one or more normal keys
598 (b, space, etc.), separated by "+".
600 .Bd -literal -offset indent
601 bind[reset] = Mod4+q # bind Windows-key + q to reset
602 bind[] = Mod1+q # unbind Alt + q
605 Multiple key combinations may be bound to the same action.
606 .Sh KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES
607 Keyboard mapping files for several keyboard layouts are listed
609 These files can be used with the
611 setting to load pre-defined key bindings for the specified
614 .Bl -tag -width "scrotwm_XX.confXXX" -offset indent -compact
615 .It Cm scrotwm_cz.conf
616 Czech Republic keyboard layout
617 .It Cm scrotwm_es.conf
618 Spanish keyboard layout
619 .It Cm scrotwm_fr.conf
620 French keyboard layout
621 .It Cm scrotwm_us.conf
622 United States keyboard layout
626 provides "quirks" which handle windows that must be treated specially
627 in a tiling window manager, such as some dialogs and fullscreen apps.
629 The default quirks are described below:
631 .Bl -tag -width "OpenOffice.org N.M:VCLSalFrame<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
632 .It Firefox\-bin:firefox\-bin
639 FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
640 .It OpenOffice.org 2.4:VCLSalFrame
642 .It OpenOffice.org 3.1:VCLSalFrame
650 .It xine:xine Video Fullscreen Window
660 The quirks themselves are described below:
662 .Bl -tag -width "XTERM_FONTADJ<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
664 This window should not be tiled, but allowed to float freely.
666 Adjusts size on transient windows that are too small using dialog_ratio
668 .Sx CONFIGURATION FILES ) .
670 Allow window to position itself, uncentered.
672 Adjust xterm fonts when resizing.
674 Remove border to allow window to use full screen size.
676 On exit force focus on previously focused application not previous application
680 Custom quirks in the configuration file are specified as follows:
682 .Dl quirk[<class>:<name>] = <quirk> [ + <quirk> ... ]
687 specify the window to which the quirk(s) apply, and
689 is one of the quirks from the list above.
691 .Bd -literal -offset indent
692 quirk[MPlayer:xv] = FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
693 quirk[pcb:pcb] = NONE # remove existing quirk
700 by running xprop(1) and then clicking on the desired window.
701 In the following example the main window of Firefox was clicked:
702 .Bd -literal -offset indent
703 $ xprop | grep WM_CLASS
704 WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Navigator", "Firefox"
707 Note that grepping for WM_CLASS flips class and name.
708 In the example above the quirk entry would be:
709 .Bd -literal -offset indent
710 quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT
714 also automatically assigns quirks to windows based on the value
715 of the window's _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE property as follows:
717 .Bl -tag -width "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
718 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DOCK
720 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR
722 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_UTILITY
724 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_SPLASH
726 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG
730 In all other cases, no automatic quirks are assigned to the window.
731 Quirks specified in the configuration file override the automatic quirks.
734 partially implements the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification.
735 This enables controlling windows as well as
737 itself from external scripts and programs.
740 responding to certain ClientMessage events.
741 From the terminal these events
742 can be conveniently sent using tools such as
747 actual format of these ClientMessage events, see the EWMH specification.
749 The id of the currently focused window is stored in the _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW
750 property of the root window.
751 This can be used for example to retrieve the
752 title of the currently active window with
756 .Bd -literal -offset indent
757 $ WINDOWID=`xprop \-root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | grep \-o "0x.*"`
758 $ xprop \-id $WINDOWID WM_NAME | grep \-o "\\".*\\""
761 A window can be focused by sending a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message
766 (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be focused):
767 .Bd -literal -offset indent
768 $ wmctrl \-i \-a 0x4a0000b
771 Windows can be closed by sending a _NET_CLOSE_WINDOW client message
776 (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be closed):
777 .Bd -literal -offset indent
778 $ wmctrl \-i \-c 0x4a0000b
781 Windows can be floated and un-floated by adding or removing the
782 _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE atom from the _NET_WM_STATE property of the window.
783 This can be achieved by sending a _NET_WM_STATE client message to the
785 For example, the following toggles the floating state of
788 to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window floated
790 .Bd -literal -offset indent
791 $ wmctrl \-i \-r 0x4a0000b \-b toggle,_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE
794 Floating windows can also be resized and moved by sending a
795 _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW client message to the root window.
799 to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of
800 the window to be resize/moved):
801 .Bd -literal -offset indent
802 $ wmctrl \-i \-r 0x4a0000b \-e 0,100,50,640,480
805 This moves the window to (100,50) and resizes it to 640x480.
807 Any _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW events received for stacked windows are ignored.
811 a HUP signal will restart it.
813 .Bl -tag -width "/etc/scrotwm.confXXX" -compact
814 .It Pa ~/.scrotwm.conf
816 user specific settings.
817 .It Pa /etc/scrotwm.conf
823 was inspired by xmonad & dwm.
829 .Bl -tag -width "Ryan Thomas McBride Aq mcbride@countersiege.com " -offset indent -compact
830 .It Cm Marco Peereboom Aq marco@peereboom.us
831 .It Cm Ryan Thomas McBride Aq mcbride@countersiege.com
832 .It Cm Darrin Chandler Aq dwchandler@stilyagin.com
833 .It Cm Pierre-Yves Ritschard Aq pyr@spootnik.org
834 .It Cm Tuukka Kataja Aq stuge@xor.fi
835 .It Cm Jason L. Wright Aq jason@thought.net
838 Currently the menu, invoked with