Awesome
2bwm
A fast floating WM, with the particularity of having 2 borders, written over
the XCB library and derived from mcwm written by Michael Cardell.
In 2bWM everything is accessible from the keyboard but a pointing device can be
used for move, resize and raise/lower.
WARNING: This WM and this repository are experimental, 2bwm is only meant for
advanced users.
Features:
mcwm's features
You can check what mcwm already had here:
http://www.hack.org/mc/hacks/mcwm/features.html
http://www.hack.org/mc/hacks/mcwm/
- Maximize horizontally
- Maximize vertically
- 10 virtual workspaces
- Crash proof window placement
- Snappy borders
- Controlled entirely with the keyboard
2bwm features
2bwm brings a whole set of features to the table. Here is the exhaustive list:
- Teleport windows in the corners
- Teleport windows in the {top,middle,bottom} center
- Teleport windows to cover a half of the monitor
- Add offsets around the monitor
- Multiply / Divide window's width or height by 2
- Grow / Shrink windows keeping aspect ratio
- Move / Resize windows by two user defined amount
- 2 borders fully customizable that show the window status
resources comparison
When comparing compiled executables' size, 2bwm is 36KB, dwm is 33KB, dvtm 37KB, and i3 343KB.
raptor $ size /usr/local/bin/2bwm
text data bss dec hex filename
29576 2456 780 32812 802c /usr/local/bin/2bwm
raptor $ size /usr/bin/i3
text data bss dec hex filename
284247 10020 5704 299971 493c3 /usr/bin/i3
raptor $ size /usr/local/bin/dwm
text data bss dec hex filename
28802 1932 528 31262 7a1e /usr/local/bin/dwm
raptor /usr/local/bin $ size dvtm
text data bss dec hex filename
30955 2212 33408 66575 1040f dvtm
raptor /usr/local/bin $ size monsterwm
text data bss dec hex filename
17778 1428 72 19278 4b4e monsterwm
% size /usr/local/bin/w9wm
text data bss dec hex filename
35325 3360 952 39637 9ad5 /usr/local/bin/w9wm
% size /usr/local/bin/evilwm
text data bss dec hex filename
39456 2080 600 42136 a498 /usr/local/bin/evilwm
% size /usr/local/bin/openbox
text data bss dec hex filename
316466 3572 2368 322406 4eb66 /usr/local/bin/openbox
% size /usr/local/bin/ctwm
text data bss dec hex filename
336742 12076 23840 372658 5afb2 /usr/local/bin/ctwm
raptor /usr/bin $ size awesome
text data bss dec hex filename
296570 1984 1832 300386 49562 awesome
Now for memory (RAM) usage (in KB):
mcwm -- the wm 2bwm is based upon
dvtm -- a terminal multiplexer
~ > ps -eo args,size,vsize,rss
mcwm 300 2480 668
2bwm 296 2672 728
9wm 296 3816 1160
cwm 584 7044 3308
bspwm 304 2872 964
dwm 300 5400 1384
monsterwm 304 3708 1008
herbstluftwm 316 5536 1844
herbstclient --idle 312 5204 1224
ctwm 708 7112 2360
twm 964 6820 2552
i3 1400 14760 4248
openbox 1952 16412 736
dvtm 5624 9656 6256
fbpanel 3460 135928 14012
Notice that all those WM are really small and that size doesn't really matter in the end.
Panels / Status bar
2bwm does not come with any bar or panel. 2bwm will respect the
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DOCK of windows, and ignore them, thus most
panels should work. The following were tested and work with 2bwm:
Panels
Bars
Installation
2bwm depends on the XCB libraries, and some of them are quite new, so most systems won't have them installed by default. Here's a (non-exhaustive) list of the dependencies:
- xcb-randr
- xcb-keysyms
- xcb-icccm
- xcb-ewmh
- xcb-xrm (this one is quite new)
If your system doesn't provide the above, or lacks some of them, you can download them here.
Note: xcb-xrm is not oficial yet,
here's the link to the repo.
Archlinux and Voidlinux have it in their repositories as xcb-util-xrm.
To build and install xcb-xrm, clone it and do the following commands:
cd xcb-util-xrm
git submodule update --init
./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
Install it from your system's repositories in case it's available.
Archlinux
Available on the AUR: 2bwm 2bwm-git
Download and extract the tarball, then install it as a package:
$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/2bwm.git
$ cd 2bwm
$ makepkg
# pacman -U 2bwm-*.pkg.tar.xz
$ cd src/2bwm/ && vim config.h
CRUX
Available through z3bra's collection: 2bwm-git
$ httpup sync http://crux.z3bra.org/ports/#2bwm-git 2bwm-git
$ cd 2bwm-git
$ ${EDITOR:=vi} config.h
$ fakeroot pkgmk -d
# pkgadd 2bwm#*.pkg.tar.gz
Using pkgsrc
$ cd /usr/pkgsrc/wm/2bwm
$ make
# make install
Gentoo/Funtoo
Here's an ebuild by crshd 2bwm
OpenBSD
Tweaks you need for 2bwm on OpenBSD: add /usr/X11R6/include to search path,
install gcc-4.7, use CC=egcc make
From sources
In case 2bwm is not packaged for your distribution, you can compile and install it right from the sources
$ git clone git://github.com/venam/2bwm.git
$ cd 2bwm
$ ${EDITOR:=vi} config.h
$ make
# make install
Troubleshooting
Clickable areas with bar
The problem with https://github.com/u-ra/bar got solved by z3bra:
sed -i 's/RELEASE/PRESS/;s/release/press' bar.c
bar from lemonboy has rencently implemented the clickable feature so you'd rather use this one instead of the one from u-ra.
White java windows
If you experience problems with java GUI you can refer to
this most probably doing
export _JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1 will resolve the problem.
Raising hidden windows
To show hidden windows you can use the hidden tool:
hidden -c|xargs 9menu -popup -label Iconics -font "terminus12-10"
Xresources configuration
These are the values 2bwm will try loading from Xresources at startup:
twobwm.border_width: number
twobwm.outer_border: number
twobwm.focus_color: #RRGGBB
twobwm.unfocus_color: #RRGGBB
twobwm.fixed_color: #RRGGBB
twobwm.unkill_color: #RRGGBB
twobwm.outer_border_color: #RRGGBB
twobwm.fixed_unkill_color: #RRGGBB
twobwm.inverted_colors: true|false
twobwm.enable_compton: true|false
Note: set enable_compton option to true in case you're using a
composition manager.
Preventing X11 Crash
To prevent X to crash you can start the X session over your favorite terminal emulator. Here's an example of a .xinitrc file that will do that:
2bwm&
exec urxvt
Screenshots:
Recommended Softwares
2bwm doesn't come with any third party software but it's nice to know what can help building up a complete working and effective system.
- bar/panel
- program launcher
- notification system
- terminal emulator
Testing
The following features are currently being implemented. Feel free to try and test them.
Text based config file
CURRENT STATE
Active development
DESCRIPTION
Make 2bwm source a plain text file to customize the application upon starting it.
GET IT
Checkout the devel branch of the repo.
One border inside the other
CURRENT STATE
Working
DESCRIPTION
Make the status border appear "within" the other border. This makes it look as if there were three borders.
GET IT
Checkout the 3bwm branch of the repo
TODO:
-
Fix the race condition bug that happens when switching workspaces too fast.
-
Bug related to gtkfilechooser dialog in telegram-desktop - needs more information to debug
-
Use the
xcb_ewmh.hfunctions instead of that ugly hardcoded ATOM enum for example instead of theATOM[atom_client_list]we could usexcb_ewmh_set_client_list -
Toggable sticky workspace per monitor
-
Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH)
- Use the new xcb-ewmh for the EWMH hints. _NET_WM_STATE, _NET_WM_STATE_STICKY, _NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_VERT, etc.
-
A separate workspace list for every monitor. (CTRL+NUM)
- get the cursor position (on which monitor)
- unmap all window that are only on this monitor
- map window on the workspace NUM that are on this monitor
- problem with curws and remapping
- curws could be associated with the focuswin instead
-
Check why the input focus doesn't work well with applications such as macopix
Authors:
venam
Big thanks for the help of the following persons:
- nifisher
- dcat
- bidulock
- Yrmt
- maxrp
- Z3bra
- cicku
- tbck
- crshd
- jolia
- anshin
- strikersh
Thanks to the UnixHub/Nixers community for the support and ideas.
Thanks to Michael Cardell for starting it all.