dwm is a minimalist dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed by Suckless that has influenced the development of several other X window managers, including xmonad and awesome . It is externally similar to wmii , but internally much simpler. dwm is written purely in C for performance and lacks any configuration interface besides editing the source code. One of the project's guidelines is that the source code is intended never to exceed 2000 SLOC , and options meant to be user-configurable are all contained in a single header file .
9-509: Dwm supports multiple workspaces and, unlike ratpoison , allows moving and resizing windows with the mouse. Older versions of dwm displayed their stdin in a status bar, along the edge of the screen. Recent versions instead display the root window 's name, which can be set by independent processes. This is often used to show information that would appear in the notification area of other desktop environments —a clock, system load info, laptop battery and network status, music player information and
18-419: A patch exists to enable TrueType fonts using Xft . dmenu is similar in function to application launchers such as Katapult or GNOME Do for Linux or LaunchBar or Quicksilver for Mac OS X in that it allows quick launching of programs from a graphical environment using the keyboard. In addition to dwm, dmenu is often used with other window managers like xmonad , or Openbox , and other software like
27-527: Is controlled via a config file . Mark Pilgrim praised it for being "minimalist" and "configurable." Jeff Covey, in 2002, found it was "lightning fast and perfectly stable." Peter Seebach remarked that "the convenience and performance are impressive; the learning curve, however, daunts many users." Similarly, Brian Proffitt observes that "the key commands are well explained in this window manager's man pages, and whatever you do, read these first. The keyboard commands do make sense after some use but initially
36-1005: The GNU Screen terminal multiplexer . While ratpoison is written in C , Betts' StumpWM re-implements a similar window manager in Common Lisp . The name "ratpoison" reflects its major design goal: to let the user manage application windows without using a mouse . Unlike other tiling window managers like Ion , ratpoison completely ignores the mouse (or "rat"), and avoids window decorations as much as possible. The default keybindings are specifically designed to not conflict with Emacs . ratpoison relies on key chords similar to Emacs to control window management, with all window interactions being done through shortcuts. Each window occupies an entire frame and cannot overlap. Windows can be split either horizontally or vertically. Multiple workspaces and session management are supported. An application menu can be used for navigation to programs. Configuration
45-504: The uzbl web browser. i3 uses dmenu as the default program launcher. dwm has been an influential project; many other window managers are based on dwm's source code or inspired by it. An extensive list of forks and patches can be found at the official site. Below is a list of a few notable examples: Ratpoison ratpoison is a tiling window manager for the X Window System primarily developed by Shawn Betts. The user interface and much of their functionality are inspired by
54-427: The dwm project. When invoked, usually by a user-configured key combination , dmenu displays a horizontal menu of its stdin stream at the top edge of the screen. This is usually used to pipe in a list of executable names from the user's $ PATH , but dmenu can be used for any purpose where a menu is required. The user can start typing a program name, and dmenu will narrow the list to show only substring matches for what
63-489: The learning curve is pretty steep." In the same vein, Bruce Byfield found it (and stumpwm ) "virtually unusable until you read the documentation." MakeTechEasier gave a positive review of ratpoison in 2013, although noting its steep learning curve. Bryan Lunduke of NetworkWorld gave a negative review, criticizing the key bindings and the difficulty of working with multi-window programs such as GIMP . Config file Too Many Requests If you report this error to
72-399: The like. This status line is often complemented with dmenu , a textual application launcher from the same developers as dwm. dwm uses a focus-follows-mouse model and lacks any window decoration other than a border to show focus. Since dwm's configurability amounts to patching the source code, many other options are possible. dmenu is a keyboard-driven menu utility developed as part of
81-455: The user typed. The user can also use the arrow keys to navigate the menu. When a choice is made, dmenu sends the selected text to stdout , which is usually piped into a shell to launch the program. Command-line options can alter the font and colors of the menu, make the search case-insensitive , as well as switch the menu to a vertical orientation or place it at the bottom of the screen. By default, only X Font Server fonts are supported although
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