DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / subtle / subtle.1.en
SUBTLE(1) SUBTLE(1)

subtle - a grid-based manual tiling window manager

subtle OPTIONS

subtle is a manual tiling window manager with a rather uncommon approach of tiling: Instead of relying on predefined layouts, subtle divides the screen into a grid with customizeable slots (called gravities). For better understanding, the default config uses a 3x3 grid and maps each gravity to one key of the numpad. With those keys, windows can be moved directly to the desired gravity - the same can be done with tagging rules in the config.

Another unique concept is the strict tagging: Unlike other tiling window managers, subtle doesn´t allow weak tagging and always maps windows to virtual desktops (called views) with matching tags, regardless of the current active view.

  • -c, --config=CONFIG
    Load config
  • -d, --display=DISPLAY
    Connect to DISPLAY
  • -h, --help
    Show this help and exit
  • -k, --check
    Check config syntax
  • -n, --no-randr
    Disable RandR extension (required for Twinview)
  • -r, --replace
    Replace current window manager
  • -s, --sublets=DIR
    Load sublets from DIR
  • -v, --version
    Show version info and exit
  • -l, --level=LEVEL[,LEVEL] Set logging levels
  • -D, --debug
    Print debugging messages

subtle uses a loglevel system to distinguish between messages and to be able to turn certain messages off. The level can be set with the -l or --level= options, multiple values are comma separated without any whitespace.

  • subtle -l ruby,subtlext
  • subtle --level=ruby,subtlext

Default levels:

  • warnings Warning messages
  • sublet Sublet warnings
  • error Error messages
  • deprecated Deprecation warnings

Debugging levels:

  • events Information about handled events
  • ruby Ruby debugging messages
  • xerror X11 error messages
  • subtlext Debugging messages of subtlext
  • subtle Subsystem messages of subtle
  • debug General debugging messages

To get started with subtle just follow the install instructions, have a look in the INSTALL file in the tarball or check if there is a package for your distribution. If no package is available and you want to supply one you are welcome.

Next step after installing is configuring. subtle follows the XDG specifications, therefore can the default system config be found in $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/subtle or in /etc/xdg/subtle. If you prefer a user based config just copy the system config to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/subtle or to $HOME/.config/subtle.

If you update the config please check it with subtle -k first before starting subtle.

Inside of subtle just press Win+Return to launch a xterm which usually starts at center gravity. Once you have a client you can play with gravites to get used to the system. It´s really easy and straight forward, just try the various combinations of Win+Numpad number.

Report bugs at http://subforge.org/projects/subtle/issues
Homepage: http://subtle.subforge.org

Copyright (c) Christoph Kappel unexist@subforge.org

subtle(1), subtler(1), subtlext(1), sur(1), surserver(1)

October 2011