choosewm - Select a window manager to be used.
choosewm [-f] [-p] [-t]
choosewm [-t] -c
choosewm presents a window to let the user choose a window
manager to start. By default it shows everything registered as window
manager at the Debian menu system, but it allows global and local
configuration to change that data.
- -c, --config
- Allow the user to change the default. Beside telling choosewm to not start
the chosen window manger, this mostly changes the text of some buttons and
labels
- -f, --force
- Show the selection window unconditionally.
- -p, --print
- Do not start the window-manager, but print it to stdout.
- -t, --text
- Do not ask by opening an X11 window, but ask on the terminal. Needs a
terminal as stdin. This is activated by default with -c and
DISPLAY not set.
After reading /var/lib/choosewm/windowmanagers, treating
anything before a equal (=) sign in a line a name and everything
after that as window manager path, choosewm checks
/etc/X11/choosewm/config and after that by default
.choosewm/config in the user's $HOME-directory. Lines containing only
spaces or starting with a # are ignored. Every other line may contain one of
the following commands:
- add:
name=path
- Add an additional window manager to the list. name will be shown in
the list, path will be started.
This option is only useful to add something that should be
only added to this list. If you installed a window manager by hand,
please consider to register it in the Debian menu instead. That way all
potent enough window managers will be able to offer switching to that
window manager by menu.
- remove:
path
- Do not list the window manager with path in the list to choose
from.
- default:
defaultwindowmanagerpath
- Use the window manager defaultwindowmanagerpath as default, when no
last selection of the window manager is available.
- userconf:
filename
- Read the user's config from $(HOME)/filename. If
filename is -, no user config is read.
Default is .choosewm/config
- dontaskfile:
filename
- Create the file $(HOME)/filename, if the user selected to
not be asked about the window manger, and do not ask if this file is
present. (Unless -f is command line argument.)
Default is .choosewm/dontask
- lastdecisionfile:
filename
- Read the last decision from the file $(HOME)/filename, and
save the decision of the user there.
Default is .choosewm/lastwm
- inalias:
oldold=newpath
- If the last decision is oldpath, change it to newpath.
- askalias:
oldold=newpath
- If the last decision is oldpath, change it to newpath and
force showing of the selection window.
- outalias:
path=output
- If the user has chosen path as window manager, write instead
output to the file as new last decision.
- sTAG:
text
- Are used to set strings to be shown to the user in labels, buttons or
headers. The CONFIGTAG variants are used with -c.
The following are the currently definied Tags and their
default values:
sCONFIGHEADER: Choose default Window Manager
sHEADER: Choose Window Manager
sCONFIGWELCOME: Please choose the default window manager and whether to
reask at start time.
sWELCOME: Welcome, please select a Window manager to use.
sCONFIGASK: _Ask when starting
sASK: _Ask again at every login
sCONFIGSELECT: _Select
sSELECT: _Start
sCONFIGCANCEL: _Cancel
sCANCEL: _Log out
- HOME
- The current home directory of the current user.
- DEFAULTWINDOWMANAGER
- If no default is specified in the config files nor by the user's last
choice, the content of this environment variable is tried before the path
/etc/alternatives/x-window-manager is pointing to is tried.
- /etc/X11/choosewm/config
- Global config file read.
- /var/lib/choosewm/windowmanagers
- Default system window manager file.
- /etc/alternatives/x-window-manager
- Default link to compute a default.
- $(HOME)/.choosewm/config
- Default user config file.
- $(HOME)/.choosewm/lastwm
- Default file to store the users default.
- $(HOME)/.choosewm/dontask
- Default file to signal not asking when existant.
choosewm was written by Bernhard R. Link
<brlink@debian.org>.
This manual page was written by Bernhard R. Link.