FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
NAME
fvwm95 - F(?) Virtual Window Manager for X11 with Win95 look and feel
SYNOPSIS
fvwm95 [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
Fvwm95 is a window manager for X11. It is a derivative of fvwm,
which, in turn, is derivated from twm.
Like the standard Fvwm, Fvwm95 provides both a large virtual desktop
and multiple disjoint desktops which can be used separately or
together. The virtual desktop allows you to pretend that your video
screen is really quite large, and you can scroll around within the
desktop. The multiple disjoint desktops allow you to pretend that you
really have several screens to work at, but each screen is completely
unrelated to the others.
Fvwm provides keyboard accelerators which allow you to perform most
window-manager functions, including moving and resizing windows, and
operating the window-manager's menus, using keyboard shortcuts.
Fvwm has also blurred the distinction between configuration commands
and built-in commands that most window-managers make. Configuration
commands typically set fonts, colors, menu contents, key and mouse
function bindings, while built-in commands typically do things like
raise and lower windows. Fvwm makes no such distinction, and allows,
to the extent that is practical, anything to be changed at any time.
Other noteworthy differences between Fvwm and other X11 window
managers are the introduction of the SloppyFocus and per-window focus
methods. SloppyFocus is focus-follows-mouse, but focus is not removed
from windows when the mouse leaves a window and enters the root
window. When sloppy focus is used as the default focus style, it is
nice to make windows in which you do not typically type into (xmag,
xman, xgraph, xclock, xbiff, etc) click-to-focus, so that your
terminal window doesn't loose focus unnecessarily.
COPYRIGHTS
Since fvwm95 is derived from fvwm code it shares fvwm's copyrights.
fvwm is copyright 1988 by Evans and Sutherland Computer Corporation,
Salt Lake City, Utah, and 1989 by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, All rights reserved. It is also
copyright 1993 and 1994 by Robert Nation.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
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both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
supporting documentation, and that the names of Evans & Sutherland and
M.I.T. not be used in advertising in publicity pertaining to
distribution of the software without specific, written prior
permission.
ROBERT NATION, CHARLES HINES, EVANS & SUTHERLAND, AND M.I.T. DISCLAIM
ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL EVANS &
SUTHERLAND OR M.I.T. BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF
USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR
OTHER TORTUOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
ANATOMY OF A WINDOW
Fvwm95 puts a decorative 3D border around most windows. This border
consists of a bar on each side and a small "L" shaped section on each
corner. There is an additional top bar called the title bar which is
used to display the name of the window. In addition, there are up to
10 title-bar buttons. The top, side, and bottom bars are collectively
known as the side-bars.
Unless the standard defaults files are modified, pressing mouse button
1 in the title or side-bars will begin a move operation on the window.
Pressing button 1 in the corner frame pieces will begin a resize
operation. Pressing button 2 anywhere in the border brings up an
extensive list of window operations.
Up to ten title-bar buttons may exist. Their use is completely user
definable. The default configuration has a title-bar button on each
side of the title-bar. The one on the left is used to bring up a list
of window options, regardless of which mouse button is used. The one
on the right is used to iconify the window. The number of title-bar
buttons used depends on which ones have mouse actions bound to them.
See the section on the "Mouse" configuration parameter below.
THE VIRTUAL DESKTOP
Fvwm95 provides multiple virtual desktops for users who wish to use
them. The screen is a viewport onto a desktop which may be larger
than the screen. Several distinct desktops can be accessed (concept:
one desktop for each project, or one desktop for each application,
when view applications are distinct). Since each desktop can be
larger than the physical screen, windows which are larger than the
screen or large groups of related windows can easily be viewed.
The size of the virtual desktops can be changed any time, by using the
DeskTopSize built-in command. All virtual desktops must be the same
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size. The total number of distinct desktops need not be specified,
but is limited to approximately 4 billion total. All windows on a
range of desktops can be viewed in the Pager, a miniature view of the
desktops. The pager is an accessory program, called a module, which
is not essential for the window manager to operate. Windows may also
be listed, along with their geometries, in a window list, accessible
as a pop-up menu, or as a separate window, called the FvwmWinList
(another module).
"Sticky" windows are windows which transcend the virtual desktop by
"Sticking to the screen's glass." They always stay put on the screen.
This is convenient for things like clocks and xbiff's, so you only
need to run one such gadget and it always stays with you. Icons can
also be made to stick to the glass, if desired.
Window geometries are specified relative to the current viewport.
That is:
xterm -geometry +0+0
will always show up in the upper-left hand corner of the visible
portion of the screen. It is permissible to specify geometries which
place windows on the virtual desktop, but off the screen. For
example, if the visible screen is 1000 by 1000 pixels, and the desktop
size is 3x3, and the current viewport is at the upper left hand corner
of the desktop, then invoking:
xterm -geometry +1000+1000
will place the window just off of the lower right hand corner of the
screen. It can be found by moving the mouse to the lower right hand
corner of the screen and waiting for it to scroll into view.
There is currently no way to cause a window to map onto a desktop
other than the currently active desk, or is there...
A geometry specified as something like:
xterm -geometry -5-5
will generally place the window's lower right hand corner 5 pixels
from the lower right corner of the visible portion of the screen. Not
all applications support window geometries with negative offsets.
Some applications that understand standard Xt command line arguments
and X resources, like xterm and xfontsel, allow the user to specify
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the start-up desk on the command line:
xterm -xrm "*Desk:1"
will start an xterm on desk number 1. Not all applications understand
this option, however.
You could achieve the same result with the following line in your
XTerm*Desk: 1
INITIALIZATION
During initialization, fvwm95 will search for a configuration file
which describes key and button bindings, and a few other things. The
format of these files will be described later. First, fvwm95 will
search for a file named .fvwm95rc (or just .fvwmrc based on how it was
compiled - .fvwm95rc is the default) in the users home directory.
Failing that, it will look for /usr/lib/X11/fvwm/system.fvwm95rc for
system-wide defaults. If that file is not found, fvwm95 will be
basically useless.
Fvwm95 will set two environment variables which will be inherited by
its children. These are $DISPLAY which describes the display on which
fvwm95 is running. $DISPLAY may be unix:0.0 or :0.0, which doesn't
work too well when passed through rsh to another machine, so
$HOSTDISPLAY will also be set and will use a network-ready description
of the display. $HOSTDISPLAY will always use the TCP/IP transport
protocol (even for a local connection) so $DISPLAY should be used for
local connections, as it may use Unix-domain sockets, which are
faster.
Fvwm95 has a two special functions for inititalization: InitFunction
and RestartFunction, which are executed during Initialization and
Restarts (respectively). These may be customized in the user's rc
file via the AddToFunc facilitly (described later) to start up
modules, xterms, or whatever you'd like have started by fvwm95.
Fvwm95 also has a special exit function: ExitFunction, executed when
exitting or restarting before actually quitting or anything else. It
could be used to explicitly kill modules, etc.
ICONS
The basic Fvwm95 configuration uses monochrome bitmap icons, similar
to twm. If XPM extensions are compiled in, then color icons similar
to ctwm, MS-Windows, or the Macintosh icons can be used. In order to
use these options you will need the XPM package, as described in the
Fvwm.tmpl Imake configuration file.
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If both the SHAPE and XPM options are compiled in you will get shaped
color icons, which are very spiffy.
MODULES
A module is a separate program which runs as a separate Unix process
but transmits commands to fvwm95 to execute. Users can write their
own modules to do any weird or bizarre manipulations without bloating
or affecting the integrity of fvwm95 itself.
Modules MUST be spawned by fvwm95 so that it can set up two pipes for
fvwm95 and the module to communicate with. The pipes will already be
open for the module when it starts and the file descriptors for the
pipes are provided as command line arguments.
Modules can be spawned during fvwm95 at any time during the X session
by use of the Module built-in command. Modules can exist for the
duration of the X session, or can perform a single task and exit. If
the module is still active when fvwm95 is told to quit, then fvwm95
will close the communication pipes and wait to receive a SIGCHLD from
the module, indicating that it has detected the pipe closure and has
exited. If modules fail to detect the pipe closure fvwm will exit
after approximately 30 seconds anyway. The number of simultaneously
executing modules is limited by the operating system's maximum number
of simultaneously open files, usually between 60 and 256.
Modules simply transmit text commands to the fvwm95 built-in command
engine. Text commands are formatted just as in the case of a mouse
binding in the .fvwm95rc setup file. Certain auxiliary information is
also transmitted, as in the sample module FvwmButtons. The
FvwmButtons module is documented in its own man page.
ICCCM COMPLIANCE
Fvwm95 attempts to be ICCCM 1.1 compliant. In addition, ICCCM states
that it should be possible for applications to receive ANY keystroke,
which is not consistent with the keyboard shortcut approach used in
fvwm95 and most other window managers.
The ICCCM states that windows possessing the property
WM_HINTS(WM_HINTS):
Client accepts input or input focus: False
should not be given the keyboard input focus by the window manager.
These windows can take the input focus by themselves, however. A
number of applications set this property, and yet expect the window-
manager to give them the keyboard focus anyway, so fvwm95 provides a
window-style, "Lenience", which will allow fvwm95 to overlook this
ICCCM rule.
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M4 PREPROCESSING
M4 pre-processing is handled by a module in fvwm95. To get more
details, try man FvwmM4. In short, if you want fvwm95 to parse your
files with m4, then replace the word "Read" with "FvwmM4" in your
.fvwm95rc file (if it appears at all), and start fvwm95 with the
command
fvwm95 -cmd "FvwmM4 .fvwm95rc"
CPP PREPROCESSING
Cpp is the C-language pre-processor. fvwm95 offers cpp processing
which mirrors the m4 pre-processing. To find out about it, re-read
the M4 section above, but replace "m4" with "cpp".
AUTO-RAISE
Windows can be automatically raised when it receives focus, or some
number of milliseconds after it receives focus, by using the auto-
raise module, FvwmAuto.
OPTIONS
These are the command line options that are recognized by fvwm95:
-f config_command
Causes fvwm95 to use config_command instead of "Read .fvwm95rc"
as its initialization command.
-debug
Puts X transactions in synchronous mode, which dramatically slows
things down, but guarantees that fvwm95's internal error messages
are correct.
-d displayname
Manage the display called "displayname" instead of the name
obtained from the environment variable $DISPLAY.
-s On a multi-screen display, run fvwm95 only on the screen named in
the $DISPLAY environment variable or provided through the -d
option. Normally, fvwm95 will attempt to start up on all screens
of a multi-screen display.
-version
Print the version of fvwm95 to stderr.
CONFIGURATION FILES
The configuration file is used to describe mouse and button bindings,
colors, the virtual display size, and related items. The
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initialization configuration file is typically called ".fvwm95rc". By
using the "Read" built-in, it is easy to read in new configuration
files as you go.
Lines beginning with '#' will be ignored by fvwm95. Lines starting
with '*' are expected to contain module configuration commands (rather
than configuration commands for fvwm95 itself).
Fvwm95 makes no distinction between configuration commands and built-
in commands, so anything mentioned in the built-in commands section
can be placed on a line by itself for fvwm95 to execute as it reads
the configuration file, or it can be placed as an executable command
in a menu or bound to a mouse button or a keyboard key. It is left as
an exercise for the user to decide which function make sense for
initialization and which ones make sense for run-time.
BUILT IN FUNCTIONS
Fvwm95 supports a set of built-in functions which can be bound to
keyboard or mouse buttons. If fvwm95 expects to find a built-in
function in a command, but fails, it will check to see if the
specified command should have been "Function (rest of command)" or
"Module (rest of command)". This allows complex functions or modules
to be invoked in a manner which is fairly transparent to the
configuration file.
Example: the .fvwm95rc file contains the line "HelpMe". Fvwm95 will
look for a built-in command called "HelpMe", and will fail. Next it
will look for a user-defined complex function called "HelpMe". If no
such user defined function exists, Fvwm95 will try to execute a module
called "HelpMe".
Quotes are required only when needed to make fvwm95 consider two or
more words to be a single argument. Unnecessary quoting is allowed.
If you want a quote character in your text, you must escape it by
using the backslash character. For example, if you have a pop-up menu
called Window-Ops, then you don't need quotes: Popup Window-Ops, but
if you replace the dash with a space, then you need quotes: Popup
"Window Ops".
AddToMenu
Begins or adds to a menu definition. Typically a menu definition
looks like this:
AddToMenu Utilities "Utilities" Title
+ "Xterm" Exec xterm -e tcsh
+ "Rxvt" Exec rxvt
+ "Remote Logins" Popup Remote-Logins
+ "Top" Exec rxvt -T Top -n Top -e top
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+ "Calculator" Exec xcalc
+ "Xman" Exec xman
+ "Xmag" Exec xmag
+ "emacs" Exec xemacs
+ "Mail" MailFunction xmh "-font fixed"
+ "" Nop
+ "Modules" Popup Module-Popup
+ "" Nop
+ "Exit Fvwm95" Popup Quit-Verify
The menu could be invoked via
Mouse 1 R A Menu Utilities Nop
or
Mouse 1 R A Popup Utilities
There is no end-of-menu symbol. Menus do not have to be defined
in a contiguous region of the .fvwm95rc file. The quoted portion
in the above examples is the menu-label, which will appear in the
menu when the user pops it up. The remaining portion is a
built-in command which should be executed if the user selects
that menu item. An empty menu-label ("") and the Nop function
can be used to insert a separator into the menu.
If the menu name contains a substring which is set off by at
signs, then the text between the at signs is expected to be the
name of xpm-icon or bitmap-file to be drawn in the bottom left
corner of the menu, displacing appropriatingly the menu contents.
For example
AddToMenu "StartMenu@menu-linux.xpm@"
creates a menu with a picture in its bottom left corner.
If the menu name contains also a sub-string set of by '^'s, then
the text between '^'s is expected to be the name a of X11 color
and the column containing the side picture will be colorized with
that color. For example
AddToMenu "StartMenu@menu-linux.xpm@^blue^"
creates a menu with a picture in its bottom left corner and
colorizes with blue the column containing the picture.
In both cases, the name of the resulting menu is name specified,
stripped of the substrings.
If the menu-label contains a sub-string which is set off by
stars, then the text between the stars is expected to be the name
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of an xpm-icon or bitmap-file to insert in the menu. For example
+ "Calculator*xcalc.xpm*" Exec xcalc
inserts a menu item labeled "calculator" with a picture of a
calculator above it. The following:
+ "*xcalc.xpm*" Exec xcalc
Omits the "Calculator" label, but leaves the picture.
If the menu-label contains a sub-string which is set off by
percent signs, then the text between the percent signs is
expected to be the name of an xpm-icon or bitmap-file to insert
to the left of the menu label. For example
+ "Calculator%xcalc.xpm%" Exec xcalc
inserts a menu item labeled "calculator" with a picture of a
calculator to the left. The following:
+ "%xcalc.xpm%" Exec xcalc
Omits the "Calculator" label, but leaves the picture. The
pictures used with this feature should be small (perhaps 16x16).
AddToFunc
Begins or add to a function definition. Here's an example:
AddToFunc Move-or-Raise "I" Raise
+ "M" Move
+ "D" Lower
The function name is Move-or-Raise, and could be invoked from a
menu or a mouse binding or key binding:
Mouse 1 TS A Move-or-Raise
The quoted portion of the function tells what kind of action will
trigger the command which follows it. "I" stands for Immediate,
and is executed as soon as the function is invoked. "M" stands
for Motion, ie if the user starts moving the mouse. "C" stands
for Click, ie, if the user presses and releases the mouse in a
short period of time (ClickTime milliseconds). "D" stands for
double-click. The action "I" will cause an action to be
performed on the button-press, if the function is invoked with
prior knowledge of which window to act on.
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The special symbols $w and $0 through $9 are available in the
ComplexFunctions or Macros, or whatever you want to call them.
Within a macro, $w is expanded to the window-id (expressed in
hex, ie 0x10023c) of the window for which the macro was called.
$0 though $9 are the arguments to the macro, so if you call
Key F10 R A Function MailFunction xmh "-font fixed"
and MailFunction is
AddToFunc MailFunction "I" Next [$0] Iconify -1
+ "I" Next [$0] focus
+ "I" None [$0] Exec $0 $1
Then the last line of the function becomes
+ "I" None [xmh] Exec xmh -font fixed
The expansion is performed as the function is executed, so you
can use the same function with all sorts of different arguments.
I could use
Key F11 R A Function MailFunction zmail "-bg pink"
in the same .fvwm95rc, if I wanted. An example of using $w is:
AddToFunc PrintFunction "I" Raise
+ "I" Exec xdpr -id $w
Note that $$ is expanded to $.
Beep As might be expected, this makes the terminal beep.
ButtonStyle button# pixmap
Defines a pixmap to be displayed on a title-bar button. button#
is the title-bar button, and is between 0 and 9. Only one pixmap
can be specified.
ButtonStyle 2 mini-close.xpm
The pixmap specification can be given as an absolute or relative
pathname (see PixmapPath). If any of the pixmaps cannot be
found, the entire button reverts to a simple rectangle with no
pixmaps.
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ClickTime delay
Specifies the maximum delay (in milliseconds) between a button
press and a button release for the Function built-in to consider
the action a mouse click. The default delay is 150 milliseconds.
Close
If the window accepts the delete window protocol a message is
sent to the window asking it to gracefully remove itself. If the
window does not understand the delete window protocol then the
window is destroyed.
ColormapFocus [FollowsMouse | FollowsFocus]
By default, fvwm95 installs the colormap of the window that the
cursor is in. If you use ColormapFocus FollowsFocus, then the
installed colormap will be the one for the window that currently
has the keyboard focus.
CursorMove horizonal vertical
Moves the mouse pointer by horizontal pages in the X direction
and vertical pages in the Y direction. Either or both entries
may be negative. Both horizontal and vertical values are
expressed in percent of pages, so "CursorMove 100 100" means to
move down and left by one full page. "CursorMove 50 25" means to
move left half a page and down a quarter of a page. The
CursorMove function should not be called from pop-up menus.
DefaultColors winfore winback titlefore titleback
Sets the default color schemes. Here winback defines the
background (border) color of all windows, including the menu
windows; /fIwinfore/fP is used for the menu text; titleback
specifies the background color for title bars of non selected
windows; titlefore is the color used in the title text of non
selected windows.
Delete
Sends a message to a window asking that it remove itself,
frequently causing the application to exit.
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Desk arg1 arg2
Changes to another desktop (workspace, room).
If arg1 is non zero then the next desktop number will be the
current desktop number plus arg1. Desktop numbers can be
negative.
If arg1 is zero then the new desktop number will be arg2.
The number of active desktops is determined dynamically. Only
desktops which contain windows or are currently being displayed
are active. Desktop numbers must be between 2147483647 and
-2147483648 (is that enough?).
DeskTopSize HorizontalxVertical
Defines the virtual desktop size in units of the physical screen
size.
Destroy
Destroys an application window, which usually causes the
application to crash and burn.
DestroyFunc
Deletes a function, so that subsequent references to it are no
longer valid. You can use this to change the contents of a
function during an fvwm95 session. The function can be rebuilt
using AddToFunc.
DestroyFunc "PrintFunction"
DestroyMenu
Deletes a menu, so that subsequent references to it are no longer
valid. You can use this to change the contents of a menu during
an fvwm95 session. The menu can be rebuilt using AddToMenu.
DestroyMenu "Utilities"
DestroyModuleConfig
Deletes module configuration entries, so that new configuration
lines may be entered instead. You can use this to change the the
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way a module runs during an fvwm session without restarting.
Wildcards can be used for portions of the name as well.
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmFormFore
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmButtons*
EdgeResistance scrolling moving
Tells how hard it should be to change the desktop viewport by
moving the mouse over the edge of the screen and how hard it
should be to move a window over the edge of the screen.
The first parameter tells how milliseconds the pointer must spend
on the screen edge before fvwm95 will move the viewport. This is
intended for people who use "EdgeScroll 100 100" but find
themselves accidentally flipping pages when they don't want to.
The second parameter tells how many pixels over the edge of the
screen a window's edge must move before it actually moves
partially off the screen.
Note that, with "EdgeScroll 0 0", it is still possible to move or
resize windows across the edge of the current screen. By making
the first parameter to EdgeResistance 10000 this type of motion
is impossible. With EdgeResistance less than 10000 but greater
than 0 moving over pages becomes difficult but not impossible.
EdgeScroll horizontal vertical
Specifies the percentage of a page to scroll when the cursor hits
the edge of a page. If you don't want any paging or scrolling
when you hit the edge of a page include "EdgeScroll 0 0" in your
.fvwm95rc file. If you want whole pages, use "EdgeScroll 100
100". Both horizontal and vertical should be positive numbers.
If the horizontal and vertical percentages are multiplied by 1000
then scrolling will wrap around at the edge of the desktop. If
"EdgeScroll 100000 100000" is used fvwm95 will scroll by whole
pages, wrapping around at the edge of the desktop.
Exec command
Executes command. Exec does not require an additional 'exec' at
the beginning or '&' at the end of the command.
The following example binds function key F1 in the root window,
with no modifiers, to the exec function. The program rxvt will
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be started with an assortment of options.
Key F1 R N Exec rxvt -fg yellow -bg blue -e /bin/tcsh
ExecUseShell [shell]
Makes the Exec command use the specified shell, or the value of
the $SHELL environment variable if no shell is specified, instead
of the default Bourne shell (/bin/sh).
ExecUseShell
ExecUseShell /usr/local/bin/tcsh
Focus
Moves the viewport or window as needed to make the selected
window visible. Sets the keyboard focus to the selected window.
Raises the window if needed to make it visible. Does not warp
the pointer into the selected window (see WarpToWindow function).
Does not de-iconify.
Function FunctionName
Used to bind a previously defined function to a key or mouse
button.
The following example binds mouse button 1 to a function called
"Move-or-Raise", whose definition was provided as an example
earlier in this man page. After performing this binding fvwm95
will execute to move-or-raise function whenever button 1 is
pressed in a window title-bar.
Mouse 1 T A Function Move-or-Raise
The keyword "Function" may be omitted if "FunctionName" does not
coincide with an fvwm95 built-in function name
GotoPage x y
Moves the desktop viewport to page (x,y). The upper left page is
(0,0), the upper right is (N,0), where N is one less than the
current number of horizontal pages specified in the DeskTopSize
command. The lower left page is (0,M), and the lower right page
is (N,M), where M is the desktop's vertical size as specified in
the DeskTopSize command. The GotoPage function should not be
used in a pop-up menu.
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HilightColors textcolor backgroundcolor
Specified the text and background colors for the title bar on the
window which currently has the keyboard focus (selected window).
IconFont fontname
Makes fvwm95 use font fontname for icon labels. If omitted, the
menu font (specified by the MenuFont configuration parameter)
will be used instead.
Iconify [ value ]
Iconifies a window if it is not already iconified or de-iconifies
it if it is already iconified. If the optional argument value is
positive the only iconification will be allowed. It the optional
argument is negative only de-iconification will be allowed.
IconPath path
Specifies a colon separated list of full path names of
directories where bitmap (monochrome) icons can be found. Each
path should start with a slash. Environment variables can be
used here as well (i.e. $HOME or ${HOME}).
Note: if the FvwmM4 is used to parse your rc files, then m4 may
want to mangle the word "include" which will frequently show up
in the IconPath or PixmapPath command. To fix this add
undefine(`include') prior to the IconPath command, or better use
the '-m4-prefix' option to force all m4 directives to have a
prefix of "m4_" (see the FvwmM4 man page).
Key keyname Context Modifiers Function
Binds a keyboard key to a specified fvwm95 built-in function, or
removes the binding if Function is '-'. Definition is the same
as for a mouse binding except that the mouse button number is
replaced with a key name. The keyname is one of the entries from
/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h, with the leading XK_ omitted. The
Context and Modifiers fields are defined as in the Mouse binding.
The following example binds the built in window list to pop up
when Alt-Ctrl-Shift-F11 is hit, no matter where the mouse pointer
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is:
Key F11 A SCM WindowList
Binding a key to a title-bar button will not cause that button to
appear unless a mouse binding also exists.
KillModule name
Causes the module which was invoked with name name to be killed.
name may include wild-cards.
Lower
Allows the user to lower a window.
Maximize [ horizontal vertical ]
Without its optional arguments Maximize causes the window to
alternately switch from a full-screen size to its normal size.
With the optional arguments horizontal and vertical, which are
expressed as percentage of a full screen, the user can control
the new size of the window. If horizontal is greater than 0 then
the horizontal dimension of the window will be set to
horizontal*screen_width/100. The vertical resizing is similar.
For example, the following will add a title-bar button to switch
a window to the full vertical size of the screen:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 0 100
The following causes windows to be stretched to the full width:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 100 0
This makes a window that is half the screen size in each
direction:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 50 50
Values larger than 100 can be used with caution.
If the letter "p" is appended to each coordinate (horizontal
and/or vertical), then the scroll amount will be measured in
pixels.
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Menu menu-name double-click-action
Causes a previously defined menu to be popped up in a "sticky"
manner. That is, if the user invokes the menu with a click
action instead of a drag action, the menu will stay up. The
command double-click-action will be invoked if the user double-
clicks when bringing the menu up.
MenuFont fontname
Makes fvwm95 use font fontname for menu entries. If omitted, the
fixed font will be used instead.
Module ModuleName
Specifies a module which should be spawned during initialization.
At the current time the available modules (included with fvwm95)
are FvwmAudio (makes sounds to go with window manager actions),
FvwmAuto (an auto raise module), FvwmBacker (to change the
background when you change desktops), FvwmBanner (to display a
spiffy XPM), FvwmButtons (brings up a customizable tool bar),
FvwmCpp (to preprocess your the mwm IconBox), FvwmIdent (to get
window info), FvwmM4 (to preprocess your .fvwm95rc with m4),
FvwmPager (a mini version of the desktop), FvwmSave (saves the
desktop state in .xinitrc style), FvwmSaveDesk (saves the desktop
state in fvwm95 commands), FvwmScroll (puts scrollbars on any
window), FvwmTalk (to interactively run fvwm commands),
FvwmTaskBar (a Win95-like taskbar), and FvwmWinList (a window
list). These modules have their own man pages. There are other
modules out on there as well.
Modules can be short lived transient programs or, like
FvwmButtons, can remain for the duration of the X session.
Modules will be terminated by the window manager prior to
restarts and quits, if possible. See the introductory section on
modules. The keyword "module" may be omitted if ModuleName is
distinct from all built-in and function names.
ModulePath
Specifies a colon separated list of paths for fvwm95 to search
when looking for a module to load. Individual directories do not
need trailing slashes. Environment variables can be used here as
well (i.e. $HOME or ${HOME}).
Mouse Button Context Modifiers Function
Defines a mouse binding, or removes the binding if Function is
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zero then any button will perform the specified function.
Context describes where the binding applies. Valid contexts are
R for the root window, W for an application window, T for a
window title bar, S for a window side, top, or bottom bar, F for
a window frame (the corners), I for an Icon window, or 0 through
9 for title-bar buttons, or any combination of these letters. A
is for any context except for title-bar buttons. For instance, a
context of FST will apply when the mouse is anywhere in a
window's border except the title-bar buttons.
Modifiers is any combination of N for no modifiers, C for
control, S for shift, M for Meta, or A for any modifier. For
example, a modifier of SM will apply when both the Meta and Shift
keys are down. X11 modifiers mod1 through mod5 are represented
as the digits 1 through 5.
Function is one of fvwm95's built-in functions.
The title bar buttons are numbered with odd numbered buttons on
the left side of the title bar and even numbers on the right.
Smaller-numbered buttons are displayed toward the outside of the
window while larger-numbered buttons appear toward the middle of
the window (0 is short for 10). In summary, the buttons are
numbered:
1 3 5 7 9 0 8 6 4 2
The highest odd numbered button which has an action bound to it
determines the number of buttons drawn on the left side of the
title bar. The highest even number determines the number or
right side buttons which are drawn. Actions can be bound to
either mouse buttons or keyboard keys.
Move [ x y ]
Allows the user to move a window. If called from somewhere in a
window or its border, then that window will be moved. If called
from the root window then the user will be allowed to select the
target window.
If the optional arguments x and y are provided, then the window
will be moved so that its upper left corner is at location (x,y).
The units of x and y are percent-of-screen, unless a letter "p"
is appended to each coordinate, in which case the location is
specified in pixels.
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Examples:
Mouse 1 T A Move
Mouse 2 T A Move 10 10
Mouse 3 T A Move 10p 10p
In the first example, an interactive move is indicated. In the
second, the window whose title-bar is selected will be moved so
that its upper left hand corner is 10 percent of the screen width
in from the left of the screen, and 10 percent down from the top.
The final example moves the window to coordinate (10,10) pixels.
Nop Does nothing. This is used to insert a blank line or separator
in a menu. If the menu item specification is Nop " ", then a
blank line is inserted. If it looks like Nop "", then a
separator line is inserted. Can also be used as the double-click
action for Menu.
Next [conditions] command
Performs command (typically Focus) on the next window which
satisfies all conditions. Conditions include "iconic",
"!iconic", "CurrentDesk", "Visible", "!Visible", and
"CurrentScreen". In addition, the condition may include a window
name to match to. The window name may include the wildcards *
and ?. The window name, class, and resource will be considered
when attempting to find a match.
None [arguments] command
Performs command if no window which satisfies all conditions
exists. Conditions include "iconic", "!iconic", "CurrentDesk",
"Visible", "!Visible", and "CurrentScreen". In addition, the
condition may include a window name to match to. The window name
may include the wildcards * and ?. The window name, class, and
resource will be considered when attempting to find a match.
OpaqueMoveSize percentage
Tells fvwm95 the maximum size window with which opaque window
movement should be used. The percentage is percent of the total
screen area. With "OpaqueMove 0" all windows will be moved using
the traditional rubber-band outline. With "OpaqueMove 100" all
windows will be move as solid windows. The default is
"OpaqueMove 5", which allows small windows to be moved in an
opaque manner but large windows are moved as rubber-bands.
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PipeRead cmd
Causes fvwm95 to read commands outputted from the program named
cmd. Useful for building up dynamic menu entries based on a
directories contents, for example.
PixmapPath path
Specifies a colon separated list of full path names of
directories where pixmap (color) icons can be found. Each path
should start with a slash. Environment variables can be used
here as well (i.e. $HOME or ${HOME}).
Popup PopupName
This built-in has two purposes: to bind a menu to a key or mouse
button, and to bind a sub-menu into a menu. The formats for the
two purposes differ slightly.
To bind a previously defined pop-up menu to a key or mouse
button:
The following example binds mouse buttons 2 and 3 to a pop-up
called "Window Ops". The menu will pop up if the buttons 2 or
3 are pressed in the window frame, side-bar, or title-bar, with
no modifiers (none of shift, control, or meta).
Mouse 2 FST N Popup "Window Ops"
Mouse 3 FST N Popup "Window Ops"
Pop-ups can be bound to keys through the use of the Key built
in. Pop-ups can be operated without using the mouse by binding
to keys and operating via the up arrow, down arrow, and enter
keys.
To bind a previously defined pop-up menu to another menu, for use
as a sub-menu:
The following example defines a sub menu, "Quit-Verify" and
binds it into a main menu, called "RootMenu":
AddToMenu Quit-Verify "Really Quit Fvwm?" Title
+ "Yes, Really Quit" Quit
+ "Restart Fvwm95" Restart fvwm95
+ "Restart Fvwm2" Restart fvwm2
+ "Restart Fvwm 1.xx" Restart fvwm
+ "" Nop
+ "No, Don't Quit" Nop
AddToMenu RootMenu "Root Menu" Title
- 20 - Formatted: November 14, 2025
FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
+ "Open an XTerm Window" Popup NewWindowMenu
+ "Login as Root" Exec xterm -fg green -T Root -n Root -e su -
+ "Login as Anyone" Popup AnyoneMenu
+ "Remote Hosts" Popup HostMenu
+ "" Nop
+ "X utilities" Popup Xutils
+ "" Nop
+ "Fvwm Modules" Popup Module-Popup
+ "Fvwm Window Ops" Popup Window-Ops
+ "" Nop
+ "Previous Focus" Prev [*] Focus
+ "Next Focus" Next [*] Focus
+ "" Nop
+ "Refresh screen" Refresh
+ "Recapture screen" Recapture
+ "" Nop
+ "Reset X defaults" Exec xrdb -load $HOME/.Xdefaults
+ "" Nop
+ "" Nop
+ "Quit" Popup Quit-Verify
Popup differs from Menu in that pop-ups do not stay up if the user
simply clicks. These are Twm style popup-menus, which are a little
hard on the wrist. Menu provides Motif or Microsoft-Windows style
menus which will stay up on a click action.
Prev Performs command (typically Focus) on the previous window which
satisfies all conditions. Conditions include "iconic",
"!iconic", "CurrentDesk", "Visible", "!Visible", and
"CurrentScreen". In addition, the condition may include a window
name to match to. The window name may include the wildcards *
and ?. The window name, class, and resource will be considered
when attempting to find a match.
Quit Exits fvwm95, generally causing X to exit too.
Raise
Allows the user to raise a window.
RaiseLower
Alternately raises and lowers a window.
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Read filename
Causes fvwm95 to read commands from the file named filename.
Recapture
Causes fvwm95 to recapture all of its windows. This ensures that
the latest style parameters will be used. The recapture
operation is visually disturbing.
Refresh
Causes all windows on the screen to redraw themselves.
Resize [ x y ]
Allows the user to resize a window.
If the optional arguments x and y are provided, then the window
will be resized so that its dimensions are x by y). The units of
x and y are percent-of-screen, unless a letter "p" is appended to
each coordinate, in which case the location is specified in
pixels.
Restart WindowManagerName
Causes fvwm95 to restart itself if WindowManagerName is "fvwm95",
or to switch to an alternate window manager if WindowManagerName
is other than "fvwm95". If the window manager is not in your
default search path, then you should use the full path name for
WindowManagerName.
This command should not have a trailing ampersand or any command
line arguments and should not make use of any environmental
variables. Of the following examples, the first two are sure
losers, but the third is OK:
Key F1 R N Restart fvwm &
Key F1 R N Restart $(HOME)/bin/fvwm
Key F1 R N Restart /home/nation/bin/fvwm
SendToModule modulename string
Sends an arbitrary string (no quotes required) to all modules
matching modulename, which may contain wildcards. This only
makes sense +if the module is set up to understand and deal with
- 22 - Formatted: November 14, 2025
FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
these strings though... Can be used for module to module
communication, or implementation of more complex commands in
modules.
Scroll horizonal vertical
Scrolls the virtual desktop's viewport by horizontal pages in the
x-direction and vertical pages in the y-direction. Either or
both entries may be negative. Both horizontal and vertical
values are expressed in percent of pages, so "Scroll 100 100"
means to scroll down and left by one full page. "Scroll 50 25"
means to scroll left half a page and down a quarter of a page.
The scroll function should not be called from pop-up menus.
Normally, scrolling stops at the edge of the desktop.
If the horizontal and vertical percentages are multiplied by 1000
then scrolling will wrap around at the edge of the desktop. If
"Scroll 100000 0" is executed over and over fvwm95 will move to
the next desktop page on each execution and will wrap around at
the edge of the desktop, so that every page is hit in turn.
If the letter "p" is appended to each coordinate (horizontal
and/or vertical), then the scroll amount will be measured in
pixels.
Stick
Makes a window sticky if it is not already sticky, or non-sticky
if it is already sticky.
StickyColors textcolor backgroundcolor
Specified the text and background colors for the title bar of
sticky windows.
Style windowname options
This command is intended to replace the old fvwm 1.xx global
commands NoBorder, NoTitle, StartsOnDesk, Sticky, StaysOnTop,
Icon, WindowListSkip, CirculateSkip, SuppressIcons,
BoundaryWidth, NoBoundaryWidth, StdForeColor, and StdBackColor
with a single flexible and comprehensive window(s) specific
command. This command is used to set attributes of a window to
values other than the default or to set the window manager
default styles.
windowname can be a window's name, class, or resource string. It
- 23 - Formatted: November 14, 2025
FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
can contain the wildcards * and/or ?, which are matched in the
usual Unix filename manner. They are searched in the reverse
order stated, so that Style commands based on the name override
or augment those based on the class, which override or augment
those based on the resource string.
Note - windows that have no name (WM_NAME) are given a name of
"Untitled", and windows that don't have a class (WM_CLASS,
res_class) are given Class = "NoClass" and those that don't have
a resource (WM_CLASS, res_name) are given Resource =
"NoResource".
options is a comma separated list containing some or all of the
keywords BorderWidth, HandleWidth, NoIcon/Icon, TitleIcon,
IconBox, NoTitle/Title, NoHandles/Handles,
WindowListSkip/WindowListHit, CirculateSkip/CirculateHit,
StaysOnTop/StaysPut, Sticky/Slippery, StartIconic/StartNormal,
ForeColor, BackColor, StartsOnDesk/StartsAnyWhere,
IconTitle/NoIconTitle, MWMDecor/NoDecorHint,
MWMFunctions/NoFuncHint, HintOverride/NoOverride,
NoButton/Button, OLDecor/NoOLDecor, StickyIcon/SlipperyIcon,
SmartPlacement/DumbPlacement, RandomPlacement/ActivePlacement,
DecorateTransient/NakedTransient, SkipMapping/ShowMapping,
UseStyle, NoPPosition/UsePPosition, Lenience/NoLenience,
MouseFocus|FocusFollowsMouse/SloppyFocus/ClickToFocus.
In the above list some options are listed as style-
option/opposite-style-option. The opposite-style-option for
entries that have them describes the fvwm95 default behavior and
can be used if you want to change the fvwm95 default behavior.
Icon takes an (optional) unquoted string argument which is the
icon bitmap or pixmap to use.
IconBox takes four numeric arguments:
IconBox l t r b
Where l is the left coordinate, t is the top, r is right and b is
bottom. Negative coordinates indicate distance from the right or
bottom of the screen. The iconbox is a region of the screen will
fvwm will attempt to put icons for this window, as long as they
do not overlap other icons.
StartsOnDesk takes a numeric argument which is the desktop number
on which the window should be initially placed. Note that
standard Xt programs can also specify this via a resource (eg "-
xrm '*Desk: 1'").
BorderWidth takes a numeric argument which is the width of the
border to place the window if it does not have resize-handles.
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FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
HandleWidth takes a numeric argument which is the width of the
border to place the window if it does have resize-handles.
Button and NoButton take a numeric argument which is the number
of the title-bar button which is to be included/omitted.
StickyIcon makes the window sticky when its iconified. It will
deiconify on top the active desktop.
MWMDecor makes fvwm95 attempt to recognize and respect the mwm
decoration hints that applications occasionally use.
MWMFunctions makes fvwm95 attempt to recognize and respect the
mwm prohibited operations hints that applications occasionally
use. HintOverride makes fvwm shade out operations that mwm would
prohibit, but it lets you perform the operation anyway.
OLDecor makes fvwm attempt to recognize and respect the olwm and
olvwm hints that many older XView and OLIT applications use.
UseStyle takes one arg, which is the name of another style. That
way you can have unrelated window names easily inherit similiar
traits without retyping. For example: 'Style "rxvt" UseStyle
"XTerm"'.
SkipMapping tells fvwm95 not to switch to the desk the window is
on when it gets mapped initially (useful with StartsOnDesk).
Lenience instructs fvwm95 to ignore the convention in the ICCCM
which states that if an application sets the input field of the
wm_hints structure to False, then it never wants the window
manager to give it the input focus. The only application that I
know of which needs this is sxpm, and that is a silly bug with a
trivial fix and has no overall effect on the program anyway.
Rumor is that some older applications have problems too.
ClickToFocus instructs fvwm95 to give the focus to the window
when it is clicked in. MouseFocus (or its alias
FocusFollowsMouse) tells fvwm95 to give the window the focus as
soon as the pointer enters the window, and take it away when the
pointer leaves the window. SloppyFocus is similiar, but doesn't
give up the focus if the pointer leaves the window to pass over
the root window or a ClickToFocus window (unless you click on it,
that is), which makes it possible to move the mouse out of the
way without losing focus.
NoPPosition instructs fvwm95 to ignore the PPosition field when
adding new windows. Adherence to the PPosition field is required
for some applications, but if you don't have one of those its a
real headache.
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FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
RandomPlacement causes windows which would normally require user
placement to be automatically placed in ever-so-slightly random
locations. For the best of all possible worlds use both
RandomPlacement and SmartPlacement.
SmartPlacement causes windows which would normally require user
placement to be automatically placed in a smart location - a
location in which they do not overlap any other windows on the
screen. If no such position can be found user placement or
random placement (if specified) will be used as a fall-back
method. For the best of all possible worlds use both
RandomPlacement and SmartPlacement.
An example:
# Change default fvwm95 behavior to no title-bars on windows!
# Also define a default icon.
Style "*" NoTitle,Icon unknown1.xpm, BorderWidth 4,HandleWidth 5
# now, window specific changes:
Style "Fvwm*" NoHandles,Sticky,WindowListSkip,BorderWidth 0
Style "Fvwm Pager" StaysOnTop, BorderWidth 0
Style "*lock" NoHandles,Sticky,StaysOnTop,WindowListSkip
Style "xbiff" Sticky, WindowListSkip
Style "FvwmButtons" NoHandles,Sticky,WindowListSkip
Style "sxpm" NoHandles
Style "makerkit"
# Put title-bars back on xterms only!
Style "xterm" Title
Style "rxvt" Icon term.xpm
Style "xterm" Icon rterm.xpm
Style "xcalc" Icon xcalc.xpm
Style "xbiff" Icon mail1.xpm
Style "xmh" Icon mail1.xpm, StartsOnDesk 2
Style "xman" Icon xman.xpm
Style "matlab" Icon math4.xpm, StartsOnDesk 3
Style "xmag" Icon magnifying_glass2.xpm
Style "xgraph" Icon graphs.xpm
Style "FvwmButtons" Icon toolbox.xpm
Style "Maker" StartsOnDesk 1
Style "signal" StartsOnDesk 3
Note that all properties for a window will be OR'ed together. In
the above example "FvwmPager" gets the property StaysOnTop via an
exact window name match but also gets NoHandles, Sticky, and
WindowListSkip by a match to "Fvwm*". It will get NoTitle by
virtue of a match to "*". If conflicting styles are specified
for a window, then the last style specified will be used.
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FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
If the NoIcon attribute is set then the specified window will
simply disappear when it is iconified. The window can be
recovered through the window-list. If Icon is set without an
argument then the NoIcon attribute is cleared but no icon is
specified. An example which allows only the FvwmPager module
icon to exist:
Style "*" NoIcon
Style "Fvwm Pager" Icon
Title
Does nothing. This is used to insert a title line in a popup or
menu.
WarpToWindow x y
Warps the cursor to the associated window. The parameters x and
y default to percentage of window down and in from the upper left
hand corner (or number of pixels down and in if 'p' is appended
to the numbers).
Wait name
This built-in is intended to be used in fvwm95 functions only.
It causes execution of a function to pause until a new window
name name appears. Fvwm95 remains fully functional during a wait.
This is particularly useful in the InitFunction if you are trying
to start windows on specific desktops:
AddToFunc InitFunction "I" exec xterm -geometry 80x64+0+0
+ "I" Wait xterm
+ "I" Desk 0 2
+ "I" Exec xmh -font fixed -geometry 507x750+0+0
+ "I" Wait xmh
+ "I" Desk 0 0
The above function starts an xterm on the current desk, waits for
it to map itself, then switches to desk 2 and starts an xmh.
After the xmh window appears control moves to desk 0.
WindowList options
Generates a pop-up menu (and pops it up) in which the title and
(optionally) the geometry of each of the windows currently on the
desk top are shown. The geometry of iconified windows is shown in
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FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
brackets. Selecting an item from the window list pop-up menu
will cause that window to be moved onto the desktop if it is
currently not on it, will move the desktop viewport to the page
containing the upper left hand corner of the window, will de-
iconify the window if it is iconified, and will raise the window.
The WindowList command can take an optional argument list of one
or more of the following options, separated by spaces:
ShowAllDesks - All windows on all desktops (except those listed
in WindowSkipList directives) will be shown. This is the default.
ShowCurrentDesk - Only windows on the current desktop will be
shown.
ShowDesk n - Only windows on desktop number n will be shown.
ShowGeometry - When specified, the geometry of each window will
be added to the list. This option is off by default.
UseWindowNames - The windows are listed using the window
(titlebar) name. This is the default
UseIconNames - The window's icon names is used instead of the
title name.
WindowFont fontname
Makes fvwm95 use font fontname instead of "fixed" for window
title-bars.
WindowsDesk new_desk
Moves the selected window the the desktop specified as new_desk.
XORvalue number
Changes the value with which bits are XOR'ed when doing rubber-
band window moving or resizing. Setting this value is a trial-
and-error process.
+ Used to continue adding to the last specified function or menu.
See the discussion for AddToFunc and AddToMenu.
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FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
All (I think) window manager operations can be performed from the
keyboard so mouseless operation should be possible. In addition to
scrolling around the virtual desktop by binding the Scroll built-in to
appropriate keys, pop-ups, move, resize, and most other built-ins can
be bound to keys. Once a built-in function is started the pointer is
moved by using the up, down, left, and right arrows, and the action is
terminated by pressing return. Holding down the shift key will cause
the pointer movement to go in larger steps and holding down the
control key will cause the cursor movement to go in smaller steps.
Standard emacs and vi cursor movement controls (^n, ^p, ^f, ^b, and
^j, ^k, ^h, ^l) can be used instead of the arrow keys.
SUPPLIED CONFIGURATION
A sample configuration file, .fvwm95rc, is supplied with the fvwm95
distribution. It is well commented and can be used as a source of
examples for fvwm95 configuration.
USE ON MULTI-SCREEN DISPLAYS
If the -s command line argument is not given, fvwm95 will
automatically start up on every screen on the specified display.
After fvwm95 starts each screen is treated independently. Restarts of
fvwm95 need to be performed separately on each screen. The use of
EdgeScroll 0 0 is strongly recommended for multi-screen displays.
You may need to quit on each screen to quit from the X session
completely.
BUGS
As of fvwm 0.99 there were exactly 39.342 unidentified bugs.
Identified bugs have mostly been fixed, though. Since then 9.34 bugs
have been fixed. Assuming that there are at least 10 unidentified
bugs for every identified one, that leaves us with 39.342 - 9.32 + 10
* 9.34 = 123.402 unidentified bugs. If we follow this to its logical
conclusion we will have an infinite number of unidentified bugs before
the number of bugs can start to diminish, at which point the program
will be bug-free. Since this is a computer program infinity =
3.4028e+38 if you don't insist on double-precision. At the current
rate of bug discovery we should expect to achieve this point in
3.37e+27 years. I guess I better plan on passing this thing on to my
children....
Known bugs can be found in the BUGS file in the distribution, and in
the TO-DO list.
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FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century) FVWM95-2.xx(late 20th century)
AUTHOR
Robert Nation with help from many people, based on twm code, which was
written by Tom LaStrange. Rob has since 'retired' from working on
fvwm though, so Charles Hines maintains it's care and feeding
currently.
- 30 - Formatted: November 14, 2025
