evilwm—minimalist window manager for X11
evilwm is a minimalist window manager for the X Window
System. It features plenty of reconfigurable mouse and keyboard controls
while providing a clean display, uncluttered by less useful window furniture
(like title bars).
- --display
display
- specifies the X display to run on. Usually this can be inferred from the
DISPLAY environment variable.
- --term
termprog
- specifies an alternative program to run when spawning a new terminal
(defaults to xterm, or x-terminal-emulator in Debian). Separate arguments
with whitespace, and escape needed whitespace with a backslash. Remember
that special characters will also need to be protected from the
shell.
- --fn
fontname
- specify a font to use when resizing or displaying window titles.
- --fg
colour
- --fc
colour
- --bg
colour
- frame colour of currently active, fixed active, and inactive windows
respectively. Either specify an X11 colour name like
goldenrod, or a hex triplet like
#DAA520.
- --bw
borderwidth
- width of window borders in pixels.
- --snap
distance
- enable snap-to-border support. distance is the proximity in pixels
to snap to.
- --wholescreen
- ignore monitor geometry and use the whole screen dimensions. This is the
old behaviour from before multi-monitor support was implemented, and may
still be useful, eg when one large monitor is driven from multiple
outputs.
- --numvdesks
value
- number of virtual desktops to provide. Defaults to 8. Any extras will only
be accessible by pagers or using Control+Alt+(Left/Right).
- --nosoliddrag
- draw a window outline while moving or resizing.
- --mask1
modifier[+modifier]…
- --mask2
modifier[+modifier]…
- --altmask
modifier[+modifier]…
- override the default keyboard modifiers used to grab keys for window
manager functionality.
- mask1 is used for most keyboard controls
(default: control+alt), and mask2 is used
for mouse button controls and cycling windows (default: alt).
altmask is used to modify the behaviour of
certain controls (default: shift). Modifiers may be separated with +
signs. Valid modifiers are 'shift', 'control', 'alt',
'mod1'…'mod5'.
- --bind
key[+modifier]…=[function[,flag]…]
- bind a key pressed with specified modifiers to a window manager function.
key is an X11 keysym name, modifiers are as above, but may
also include 'mask1', 'mask2' and 'altmask' to refer to the
globally-configured combinations. See FUNCTIONS for a list of available
functions and the flags they recognise. If function is empty, a
bind is removed.
- --bind
button=[function[,flag]…]
- bind a mouse button to a window manager function. While modifiers can be
specified, they will be ignored; the button on its own will trigger if
pressed within a window's frame, or with 'mask2' held anywhere within a
window. Function and flags is as with key binds above. Valid buttons are
'button1'…'button5'.
- --app
name/class
- match an application by instance name and class (for help in finding
these, use the xprop tool to extract the WM_CLASS
property).
- Subsequent --geometry,
--dock,
--vdesk and
--fixed options will apply to this
match.
- -g,
--geometry geometry
- apply a geometry (using a standard X geometry string) to applications
matching the last --app.
- --dock
- specify that application should be considered to be a dock, even if it
lacks the appropriate property.
- -v,
--vdesk vdesk
- specify a default virtual desktop for applications matching the last
--app. Note that virtual desktops are
numbered from zero.
- -f,
--fixed
- specify that application is to start with a fixed client window.
- -h,
--help
- show help
- -V,
--version
- show program version
evilwm will also read options, one per line, from a file
called .evilwmrc in the user's home directory. Options listed in a
configuration file should omit the leading dash(es). Options specified on
the command line override those found in the configuration file.
In evilwm, the focus follows the mouse pointer, and focus
is not lost if you stray onto the root window. The current window border is
shaded gold (unless it is fixed, in which case blue), with other windows
left as a dark grey.
You can use the mouse to manipulate windows either by
click/dragging the single-pixel border (easier when they align with a screen
edge), or by holding down Alt and doing so anywhere in the window. The
controls are:
- Button 1
- Move window.
- Button 2
- Resize window.
- Button 3
- Lower window.
Most keyboard controls are used by holding down Control and Alt,
then pressing a key. Available functions are:
- Return
- Spawn new terminal.
- Escape
- Delete current window. Hold Shift as well to force kill a client.
- Insert
- Lower current window.
- H, J, K, L
- Move window left, down, up or right (16 pixels). Holding Shift resizes the
window instead.
- Y, U, B, N
- Move window to the top-left, top-right, bottom-left or bottom-right of the
current monitor.
- I
- Show information about current window.
- Equals
- Maximise current window vertically on current monitor (toggle). Holding
Shift toggles horizontal maximization.
- X
- Maximise current window to current monitor (toggle).
- D
- Toggle visible state of docks, eg pagers and launch bars.
If compiled with virtual desktop support, these functions are also
available:
- F
- Fix or unfix current window. Fixed windows remain visible when you switch
virtual desktop.
- 1—8
- Switch to specific virtual desktop (internally, desktops are numbered from
zero, so this actually switches to desktops 0—7; this only becomes
important if you use application matching).
- Left
- Switch to next lower numbered virtual desktop.
- Right
- Switch to next higher numbered virtual desktop.
- A
- Switch to the previously selected virtual desktop.
In addition to the above, Alt+Tab can be used to cycle through
windows.
To make evilwm reread its config, send a HUP signal to the
process. To make it quit, kill it, ie send a TERM signal.
The keyboard and mouse button controls can be configured with the
--bind option to a number of built-in
functions. Typically, these functions respond to an additional set of flags
that modify their behaviour.
- delete
- Delete a window. This is the co-operative way of closing applications, as
it sends the client a signal indicating that they should shut down.
- dock
- When called with the toggle flag, toggles
visibility of any window claiming to be a dock.
- fix
- With the toggle flag, toggle whether a
window is fixed (visible on all virtual desktops) or not.
- info
- Shows extra information about the current window for as long as the key is
held.
- kill
- Kill a window. A more forceful way of closing an application if it is not
responding to delete requests.
- lower
- Lower the current window.
- move
- When bound to a button, moves a window with the mouse.
- When bound to a key, if the relative flag
is specified, moves a window in the direction indicated by other flags:
up, down,
left or
right. Without the
relative flag, moves a window in the
direction specified by other flag to the edge of the monitor.
- next
- Cycle to the next window.
- raise
Raises the current window.
- resize
- When bound to a button, resizes a window with the mouse.
- When bound to a key, if the relative flag
is specified, modifies the width or height of the window as indicated by
other flags: up (reduce height),
down (increase height),
left (reduce width) or
right (increase width). If instead the
toggle flag is specified, maximises along
axes specified by other flags: horizontal,
vertical or both.
- spawn
- Start a terminal.
- vdesk
- With the toggle flag specified, switch to
the previously visible vdesk. With the
relative flag set, either increase vdesk
number (with up flag) or decrease it (with
down flag).
- If neither flag is specified, a numerical argument indicates which vdesk
to switch to.
These are the default lists of modifiers, button and keyboard
binds. The built-in binds use the globally-configurable modifier
combinations 'mask1', 'mask2' and 'altmask', making a sweeping change to a
different modifier combination easy.
Note that 'mod1' typically refers to the Alt key.
-
mask1 control+mod1
mask2 mod1
altmask shift
-
bind button1=move
bind button2=resize
bind button3=lower
-
bind mask1+Return=spawn
bind mask1+Escape=delete
bind mask1+altmask+Escape=kill
bind mask1+Insert=lower
bind mask1+KP_Insert=lower
bind mask1+i=info
bind mask2+Tab=next
bind mask1+h=move,relative+left
bind mask1+j=move,relative+down
bind mask1+k=move,relative+up
bind mask1+l=move,relative+right
bind mask1+y=move,top+left
bind mask1+u=move,top+right
bind mask1+b=move,bottom+left
bind mask1+n=move,bottom+right
bind mask1+altmask+h=resize,relative+left
bind mask1+altmask+j=resize,relative+down
bind mask1+altmask+k=resize,relative+up
bind mask1+altmask+l=resize,relative+right
bind mask1+equal=resize,toggle+v
bind mask1+altmask+equal=resize,toggle+h
bind mask1+x=resize,toggle+v+h
bind mask1+d=dock,toggle
bind mask1+f=fix,toggle
bind mask1+1=vdesk,0
bind mask1+2=vdesk,1
bind mask1+3=vdesk,2
bind mask1+4=vdesk,3
bind mask1+5=vdesk,4
bind mask1+6=vdesk,5
bind mask1+7=vdesk,6
bind mask1+8=vdesk,7
bind mask1+Left=vdesk,relative+down
bind mask1+Right=vdesk,relative+up
bind mask1+a=vdesk,toggle
Copyright (C) 1999-2022 Ciaran Anscomb
<evilwm@6809.org.uk>
This is free software. You can do what you want to it, but if it
breaks something, you get to pay for the counselling. The code was
originally based on aewm, so this is distributed under the same terms, which
follow.
Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Decklin Foster.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR "AS IS", WITHOUT
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR
BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM.
You are granted permission to copy, publish, distribute, and/or
sell copies of this program and any modified versions or derived works,
provided that this copyright and notice are not removed or altered.
Portions of the code were based on 9wm, which contains this
license:
-
9wm is free software, and is Copyright (c) 1994 by David Hogan.
Permission is granted to all sentient beings to use this
software, to make copies of it, and to distribute those copies,
provided that:
(1) the copyright and licence notices are left intact
(2) the recipients are aware that it is free software
(3) any unapproved changes in functionality are either
(i) only distributed as patches
or (ii) distributed as a new program which is not called 9wm
and whose documentation gives credit where it is due
(4) the author is not held responsible for any defects
or shortcomings in the software, or damages caused by it.
There is no warranty for this software. Have a nice day.