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WindowMaker FAQ ==================================================================== Last modified: Tue Apr 20 20:15:17 EST 1999 the latest info can be found at http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~grapeape/wmfaq.html or http://wm.current.nu/wmfaq/ -------------------------- Summary of Contents: 1 - Introduction 1.1 What is Window Maker? 1.2 Where can I get Window Maker? 1.3 Where are the mailing list archives? 1.4 Where is more documentation on configuring Window Maker? 1.5 What is an App Icon? 1.6 How can I get a question added to the FAQ? 1.7 How do I report bugs? 1.8 Is there an anomymous cvs server? 2 - Installation 2.1 Where can I get proplist.h? 2.2 Why do no icons show up after installing Window Maker 0.15.0 when I've followed all the directions? 2.3 How do I get libtiff to work? 2.4 How do I get libjpeg to work? 2.5 How do I get libpng to work? 2.6 How do I get libgif (or libungif) to work? 2.7 Does wmsound work with 0.1x.x? 2.8 Can I use WindowMaker with KDE or GNOME or CDE? 2.9 How do I get Window Maker working with xdm in Redhat 5.[01]? 2.10 Do I need to rerun wmaker.inst with every new version of Window Maker? 2.11 When I install Window Maker, I've used wmaker.inst correctly and I only get aroot menu with xterm and exit. How do I fix this? 2.12 How do I get Window Maker to use more than 16 colors on my SGI Indy Workstation? 2.13 Using WindowMaker with Solaris 2.6 CDE 2.14 How do I switch CDE's windowmanager to use Window Maker? 2.15 When I run wmaker it quits complaing about something "__register_frame_info". 2.16 When I run wmaker it complains about something like library is 62, caller expects 61 3 - Usage 3.1 How do I get new apps on the dock (The line of pixmaps on the right side of the screen by default) 3.2 What is the difference between the Exit and Exit Session Option? 3.3 How do I "dock" AppIcons on the Clip? 3.4 Why do none of my Key Bindings work in Window Maker 0.1x.x 3.5 How do I rename workspaces? 3.6 How can I resize a window if the window is larger than my currect desktop? 3.7 How do I "undock" AppIcons? 3.8 I docked an application but when I run it the button is permanently shaded and I can't run new instances. 3.9 When I run wmaker it complains about not being able to load any fonts. 3.10 When I set the root background with wmsetbg by hand it works, but when I do that from the configuration files it doesnt! 4 - Configuration 4.1 What are those files inside my ~/GNUstep directory? 4.2 How do I enable the normal X sloppy focus mode? 4.3 How do I get my auto-arrange icons to work? 4.4 How do I get my Meta-Tab to cycle through windows correctly? 4.5 How can I define my own Icon for a program? (instead of the Icon the Application Supplies?) 4.6 How do I get a pixmap background for my appicons (those things in the dock)? 4.7 How do you dock <insert program here> that doesn't have an appicon in the new version of Window Maker? 4.8 How do I get x11amp to not have a title bar? (or any other program for that matter?) 4.9 How do I set a pixmap background? 4.10 Can I put pixmaps in my root menu and title bars? 4.11 How do I get my Minimize Icon to look like the triangle I see in screenshots? 4.12 How do I get superfluous bells and whistles working? 4.13 How do I get my oldstyle back? 4.14 How do I get the window menu with only a two button mouse? 4.15 How do I edit my root menu? 4.16 How can I set dock/clip to use single click to launch applications, instead of double click? 5 - Other Applications 5.1 How do I assign gimp an appicon? 5.2 How do I get an appicon for XEmacs 20.3+? 5.3 Where do you get that clock program I always see on people's desktops? 5.4 How do you dock asclock? 5.5 How do you dock wmload? 5.6 What other apps exist for the dock? 5.7 How do I get an appicon for rxvt so I can dock it? 5.8 How do I get different icons for rxvt's (or xterms) running different programs? 5.9 How do I launch multiple instances of XTerm from one appicon? 5.10 How do I allow Alt+# to work in an rxvt session? (with irc for example) 5.11 Window Maker breaks scilab 5.12 Netscape icons show up in black and white 5.13 Snow flakes from xsnow don't acumulate on titlebars! 5.14 I'm using RedHat 6.0 and Netscape dies without reason. 6 - Programming 6.1 How do I get a normal X application to produce an appicon? 6.2 How do I get my tcl/tk application to produce an appicon? 6.3 What is WINGs? 6.4 Where can I get more information about WINGs? 7 - Miscellaneous Questions 7.1 Is there a pager for Window Maker? 7.2 Can I have folders like in AfterStep? 7.3 How do I use getstyle and setstyle? 7.4 Why don't you distribute {normal diff, xdelta} patches? 7.5 Will you add GNOME support? 8 - Themes 8.1 What exactly are Themes? 8.2 How do I install a Theme? 8.3 How do I make a Theme? ======================================================================== -=-=-=-=-=-=- Introduction: -=-=-=-=-=-=- 1.1 What is Window Maker? ---------------------------------- Window Maker is an elegant X11 window manger that emulates the OpenStep desktop with some noticeable enhancements. Look at http://wm.current.nu/themes/my-themes.html and http://wm.current.nu/themes/screenshots.html here for example screenshots. 1.2 Where can I get Window Maker? ---------------------------------- The official site to get new developmental versions from is ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/beta/srcs/. NOTE: Also see http://wm.current.nu/downloads.html for the latest Stable and Development versions. The development versions are usually very stable themselves, so if you want to have all the newest features, you can rather safetly go with the development versions. Just remember to save any unsaved data before you go playing around with the config files. Also, remember they are developmental versions, so your mileage may vary, don't get angry if they crash. 1.3 Where are the mailing list archives? ---------------------------------------- Phillip Smith from Netplex, our wonderful provider of windowmaker.org, has set up some new lists from the domain. Please read the information on the web pages at http://www.windowmaker.org/lists.html for information on how to subscribe, the posting guidelines, and how to access the web archives. Many thanks to Ed Orcutt who hosted the original lists from his own machine for many years and Caldera who graciously allowed Ed to continue hosting from them when he moved to his new position with them. Ed provided a very valuable service for many years and we are sad to see him go. 1.4 Where is more documentation on configuring Window Maker? ---------------------------------- Besides the mailing list archives, there are nice documents in ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/docs/, at http://wm.current.nu/downloads.html on my download page and at http://wm.current.nu/user-guide/index.htm in the online user-guide. 1.5 What is an appicon? ---------------------------------- An appicon is the icon (without the tiny titlebar a minimized application icon has) produced by most applications that initially is in the bottom left corner of the screen while an application is running. For an example, run xterm and notice the icon in the corner. (Make sure that you use xterm and not a default older rxvt because older versions of rxvt do not properly set their window attributes.) 1.6. How can I get a question added to the FAQ? ---------------------------------- Right now, the only method is to mail Chris Green <sprout@dok.org> or myself <largo@current.nu> the question or post it on the Window Maker Mailing list, and see if enough people have the same problem. If you are a developer and would like to be able to edit the official FAQ on Chris's site, let him know at <sprout@dok.org> He is currently pondering writing a front end that allows everyone to add entries and only require a moderator approval before being posted. 1.7. How do I report bugs? ---------------------------------- You can look at the BUGFORM file in your tarball of Window Maker. Alternatively, you can use the Window Maker Bugtracker at http://windowmaker.org/cgi-bin/bugs. 1.8. Is there an anomymous cvs server? ---------------------------------- Yes there is. To check out from cvs, first export CVSROOT=":pserver:anoncvs@cvs.net-community.com:/gnustep" cvs login 'anoncvs' is the password. Then issue the command. "wm" is the name of the module. cvs -z3 checkout -d WindowMaker wm To update your source tree, cd to the WindowMaker directory and type cvs -z3 update inside the WindowMaker directory. -=-=-=-=-=-=- Installation: -=-=-=-=-=-=- 2.1 Where can I get proplist.h? ------------------------------- You didn't read the INSTALL file, did you? Please read that now. libPropList is downloaded seperately and you need to install it _before_ attempting to configure Window Maker. You can find a gzipped tar archive of libPropList at ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/libs/ 2.2 Why do no icons show up after installing Window Maker >= 0.15.x when I've followed all the directions? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Under normal circumstances, this should not happen because Window Maker should detect if libtiff is going to be compiled in and then it will make the default theme use .tiff or .xpm icons, depending if TIFF support is compiled in or not. As of Window Maker version 0.15.0, the default setup includes .tiff icons which require you to have compiled Window Maker with libtiff support, if you want them to be used. If you are happy with the .xpm icons, then you don't need libtiff. Window Maker will detect that TIFF support is not available and use .xpm icons instead. For some help on compiling with libtiff, look at the libtiff section of this FAQ. 2.3 How do I get libtiff to work? ---------------------------------- The whole key to getting libtiff working for me was to upgrade to >= tiff-v3.4beta037-tar.gz availible at ftp.sgi.com. Rerun ./configure and make and it should work. I had previously been using tiff-v3.4-tar.gz instead so the library was there just not working. A note to keep in mind, is that the tiff libs are versioned rather oddly, version tiff-v3.4beta037 is actually newer than tiff-v3.4. Make sure to rm config.cache and rerun ./configure before attempting to compile again. Also, make sure to use gnu-make for the Window Maker compile. 2.4 How do I get libjpeg to work? ---------------------------------- The newest jpeg libs are availible at ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg/. How many of you have seen that darned "lib reports 62 caller expects 61" type of error? Well, I have more than once, and here are some answers to possibly help you out. First things first. As always, make sure there are not older copies of libjpeg floating around on your system. By default my Slackware distribution came with an old libjpeg.so.1 in the /usr/X11R6/lib/ directory. This can simply be deleted. Or if something complains after you delete it, recompile it if you can to look for the new lib in the right place, or if that fails, as a last resort, you might add a symlink to the new lib like so: ln -s /usr/local/lib/libjpeg.so.6.0.2 libjpeg.so.1 Now on to the error. This is basically caused by your application having been compiled to dynamically use the libjpeg.so shared library. When you install a new lib and then try to run your program again, it expects the lib it was compiled against, in this case the older libjpeg.so.6.0.1 and instead finds libjpeg.so.6.0.2 and reports the error. The fix is actually rather simple. Along with adding a libjpeg.so.6 symlink like so (just in case): ln -s libjpeg.so.6.0.2 libjpeg.so.6 where you installed your new lib, you simply need to recompile your app to link it against the new library. :) Make sure to rm config.cache and rerun ./configure before attempting to compile again. Also, make sure to use gnu-make for the Window Maker compile. 2.5 How do I get libpng to work? ---------------------------------- The newest png libs are availible at http://www.cdrom.com/pub/png/pngcode.html. You should also get the newest zlib libs from http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/. I had a few problems with this lib as well, basically I had an old libz.so in my /usr/X11R6/lib/ directory which configure was finding first, and which failed the test, being an older lib. Generally the same applies here as with libjpeg, make sure there are no older versions of the necessary libs floating around on your system, then try and configure and make again. Make sure to rm config.cache and rerun ./configure before attempting to compile again. Also, make sure to use gnu-make for the Window Maker compile. 2.6 How do I get libgif (or libungif) to work? ---------------------------------- The newest libgif is availible at ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/libs/giflib/. The newest libungif is availible at ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/libs/graphics/. I had a few problems with libgif... it seems that the install process didn't install the header file libgif.h, so although the Window Maker configure found the lib (libgif.so.x), when you actually try to compile, it fails when it looks for the header to include the make. I simply copied it from the libgif source directory to the system include directory. (/usr/local/include/ on my system). Make sure to rm config.cache and rerun ./configure before attempting to compile again. Also, make sure to use gnu-make for the Window Maker compile. 2.7 Does wmsound work with 0.1x.x? ---------------------------------- As of Window Maker 0.15.x, sound is now included by default but requires the authors sound server. For more information, read the NEWS file in the Window Maker distribution. The author Anthony Quinn <southgat@frontiernet.net> has released a version that works with Window Maker >= 0.15.x. It is available from it's home page at http://www.frontiernet.net/~southgat/wmsound/ or on Largo's site at http://wm.current.nu/files.html#wmsound for your convenience. 2.8 Can I use WindowMaker with KDE or GNOME or CDE? ---------------------------------- Contrary to a lot of people thinks, KDE is NOT a window manager. KDE is a suite of various applications that includes a custom window manager (kwm). The same is true for CDE. Now, answering the question: Yes, you can use WindowMaker in these environments. To use Window Maker with GNOME, you don't need to do anything special. To use it with CDE, read the answer for "How do I switch CDE's windowmanager to use Window Maker?" To use it with KDE, read it's documentation to get rid of kwm (and possibly kpanel) and replace it with wmaker. Then, start WPrefs.app, go to "Mouse Preferences" and set the "Disable mouse actions" check box. You will need to restart Window Maker to make this change take effect. The "Disable mouse actions" change is needed to allow you to use krootwm, wich enables you to use kfm's desktop icons, but will prevent you from accessing Window Maker's Applications and Window List menus with the mouse. 2.9 How do I get Window Maker working with xdm in Redhat 5.[01]? ---------------------------------- After running wmaker.inst and letting it write to .xinitrc, cp .xinitrc .xsession and make sure that /usr/local/bin is in your $PATH for the Xserver. You can make sure of this by including a statement like export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin in your .xsession file. Make sure to chmod +x .xsession so that the Xsession script of xdm can execute it. This is how the Xsession script is designed: startup=$HOME/.xsession if [ -x "$startup" ]; then exec "$startup" elif [ -x "$HOME/.Xclients" ]; then exec "$HOME/.Xclients" elif [ -x /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients ]; then exec /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients else if [ -f "$resources" ]; then xrdb -load "$resources" fi exec xsm fi You could also have a .Xclients file as was mentioned in previous revisions of this question. 2.10 Do I need to rerun wmaker.inst with every new version of Window Maker? ---------------------------------- There is no need to do this. You can do it, but keep in mind, that all your preferences will be lost, overwritten by the defaults. You can update the files and add the changes yourself if you need to, but else in most cases is sufficient to rely on WPrefs and it will update for you the new missing options if they differ from the default ones. The way domain files are read beginning from 0.15.0 makes the need for update almost redundant. The user config files are merged with the global ones in /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Defaults. So even if new options are added, they will be reflected in the user configuration. Only if user wishes to change the default behavior, he needs to add that option to the config file. If there ever happens to be a need for all users to rerun wmaker.inst in a future version, this will be noted in the NEWS file. 2.11 When I install Window Maker, I've used wmaker.inst correctly and I only get aroot menu with xterm and exit. How do I fix this? ---------------------------------- Most likely, the problem is that Window Maker can not find a copy of the C pre processor in a directory such as /lib. The file /lib/cpp should be a symbolic link to whatever c compiler's cpp you are using. Mine reads as: cpp -> ../usr/lib/gcc-lib/i586-pc-linux-gnu/pgcc-2.90.29/cpp* There seems to be another common problem that exhibits this same behavior. If you find another solution that matches this question please email <sprout@dok.org> or <largo@current.nu>. 2.12 How do I get Window Maker to use more than 16 colors on my SGI Indy Workstation? ---------------------------------- Thanks to Peter H. Chou <pchou@leland.Stanford.EDU> for this answer: By default, the SGI X Server uses 8-bit Pseudocolor mode. To change it, edit (as root) the file /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers. Change it to read: :0 secure /usr/bin/X11/X -bs -c -class TrueColor -depth 24 2.13 Using WindowMaker with Solaris 2.6 CDE ---------------------------------- (thanks to Rob Funk, Unix God of osu.edu) Assuming you installed Window Maker according to the README's that come with the source, all you need to run Window Maker on a Solaris box is an entry in the .xinitrc. Only 0.17 - 0.19 versions have been tested, but when you run the configure script, let it make changes to the .xinitrc file. It should look something like this: #!/bin/sh # Window Maker Default .xinitrc exec /usr/local/bin/wmaker Believe it or not, that's all that it takes. This, in fact, runs WindowMaker instead of OpenWindows. In order to choose WindowMaker, you simply choose "OpenWindows Desktop" in the "Options - Session" Menus. Choose "CDE Desktop" if you want CDE. The Color schemes and settings for Window Maker are seperate from CDE. Tested on a SPARC 10, Solaris x86 should work also. (better, hopefully) 2.14 How do I switch CDE's window-manager to use Window Maker? ---------------------------------- Method 1: Peter Ilberg <peter.ilberg@natinst.com> gives us this answer: Install WM wherever you want it, mine is in /opt/WindowMaker-0.16.0 (eg. use ./configure --prefix=/opt/WindowMaker-0.16.0). Run the install script wmaker.inst in your home directory. Add the following two lines to .dtprofile in your home directory: SESSIONTYPE=xdm; export SESSIONTYPE PATH=:/usr/contrib/bin/X11:$PATH:.; export PATH This tells CDE to go looking for an .xinitrc/.xsession instead of using the default environment. Make your .xsession/.xinitrc executable (VERY IMPORTANT, wmaker.inst did NOT do this automatically for me) using eg. chmod ugo+x .xsession Your .xsession/.xinitrc should look something like this: #!/bin/sh <some other init stuff that you want/need> exec wmaker Things to try if it doesn't work: (somewhat fuzzy and random) This should do it although I did have problems sometimes initially which I fixed by randomly trying absolute pathes for wmaker in .xsession/.xinitrc and/or making the dtprofile/.xinitrc/etc executable. It helps logging in on the console (select from CDE login screen) and start X manually using 'X'. If it works that way it should work when logging into the CDE environment. Remember to Check your paths! If it doesn't work, you can also substitute some other window manager for wmaker in the .xinitrc and see if that works. If it does you know at least that .xinitrc is getting called/executed, so your WM path is wrong or not set. Method 2: Thomas Hanselman gave this alternative answer (via Peter Ilberg): Build and install WM wherever you want, as described in Method 1. You can install and run WM just fine from your home directory. That's what I'm doing, since I don't have root access at work :(. Then, in your .Xdefaults file in your home directory, add the following line: Dtsession*wmStartupCommand: <path to Window Maker executable> Then, log out, and log back in, and, unless I've forgotten a step (or this is a custom Nortel thing), you should be in Window Maker heaven ;). Difference between the methods: (according to Thomas) I've been told that the difference between setting the resource and Peter's method is that if you override the window manager with the resouce, you still get the CDE resources read into the resource database (so you still have your color settings & such from CDE), whereas with Peter's, the CDE resource don't get read into the database. I don't know if this is true or not, however. Also, another thing to note with Window Maker and HP-UX 10.20 -- if you select "Exit Session" from the WM root menu, Window Maker and all of your applications are killed, but you may not be logged out. Again, this might be an artifact from my work environment, or the way I start Window Maker. Owen Stenseth <iplenergy.com> adds: When using this method it is possible to exit Window Maker cleanly by using the dtaction command. I use the following in my Window Maker menu: "Exit Session" EXEC dtaction ExitSession The only problem I have at the moment is I seem to get multiple copies of asclock running when I log in again. You can also use the normal "Exit Session" command from the WM root menu and place additional commands required to shutdown CDE in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/exitscript So, if you add "dtaction ExitSession" in that file, the command to shutdown CDE will be automatically executed when you exit WindowMaker. 2.15 When I run wmaker it quits complaing about something __register_frame_info. ---------------------------------- This is due to using gcc >= 2.8.0 or egcs to compile Window Maker or a library it uses, then running these precompiled binaries on a system using libraries compiled with gcc 2.7.2.x You will have to compile Window Maker yourself on this system. Please read the INSTALL file for the instructions on how to do so. 2.16 When I run wmaker it complains about something like expected libjpeg 61 got 62. ---------------------------------- Upgrade your libjpeg library and/or recompile Window Maker. 2.17 How do I fix an error such as "libwraster.so.1: cannot open shared object file" ? ---------------------------------- Like most software using GNU autoconf, Window Maker by default will install under the /usr/local prefix. This has the repercussion on many systems that the libraries that are part of Window Maker will be installed in /usr/local/lib, which is usually not in the default system LD_LIBRARY_PATH. This is why the library cannot be found. Under Linux, you will need to list this directory in /etc/ld.so.conf and run /sbin/ldconfig. Both these operations will need to be performed as the superuser. Under BSD, as the superuser you will need to run ldconfig -m /usr/local/lib which will merge this directory into the system library path. If the problem persists, you may be able to use "ldd" to track down why the library cannot be loaded (it will print a list of dynamic objects used by the executable or library listed on the command line, and where it is expecting to find it). -=-=-=- Usage: -=-=-=- 3.1 How do I get new apps on the dock (The icon or line of icons on the right side of the screen by default) ---------------------------------- Launch an application. If there is a little icon that pops up in the bottom corner of the screen, drag it over to the dock icon(s). You should see a whiteish square indicating when it is close enough to dock, and where it will be placed. To make sure this application will be there next time you start up windowmaker, exit windowmaker with the "exit session" option. 3.2 What is the difference between the 'Exit' and 'Exit Session' Options? ---------------------------------- 'Exit' exits wmaker, but leaves the other apps running, and if wmaker was not the last app launched in the .xinitrc the X server is not closed, until the last app started by .xinitrc is closed. 'Exit session' will exit wmaker, but also will close all running apps, thus the X server will be closed, and your session will end. 3.3 How do I "dock" AppIcons on the Clip? ----------------------------------------- Just drag icons near it like you would for the dock. Note that if you place the clip near the dock, you may have problems docking appicons in either. Move the clip away first. 3.4 Why do none of my Key Bindings (ie: Alt+#) work in Window Maker 0.1x.x ---------------------------------- If you are using XFree86, make sure scroll lock and numlock are off or no bindings will work (XFree bug). You can try using the XFree86 Numlock Hack by editing the line #undef NUMLOCK_HACK in $WindowMakerdir/src/wconfig.h and changing it to #define NUMLOCK_HACK. As of 0.18.0, this hack functions properly. 3.5 How do I rename workspaces? ---------------------------------- Right click on the "desktop" (root window) to show the menu (don't hold the button down). Go to the workspaces menu and hold the Control key down and click on the workspace you would like to rename and type the name. If you use the clip, use the "Rename Workspace" command in the clip menu. 3.6 How can I resize a window if the window is larger than my currect desktop? ---------------------------------- David Reviejo <dreviejo@arrakis.es> best summed up this answer: "Maybe you know: Alt+Left click and drag to move the window. Try this: Alt+Right click and drag to resize (by moving the nearest window corner) Another move/resize tip: while you are moving or resizing a window, you can change the move/resize mode by pressing the SHIFT key." 3.7 How do I "undock" AppIcons? ---------------------------------- If the program is not running, just drag the icon to the middle of your desktop (away from the dock and clip) and watch it disappear. If the program is running, hold down Meta (usually CTRL) and drag the icon off the dock. You can also right click on it and choose 'Kill', then undock as usual. 3.8 I docked an application but when I run it the button is permanently shaded and I can't run new instances. ---------------------------------- You probably docked the application with dockit. To fix it remove the icon and use the "Emulate Application Icon" checkbox in the Advanced Options section of the Attributes panel for the window. Then restart the application to get the application icon you must use to dock the application. It can also mean that you did something you shouldn't, which is changing the program that is ran from the docked icon. For example, if you docked rxvt you must NOT change it to xterm, for example. You also can't do any changes that might alter the contents of the WM_CLASS hint for the window, like the -name parameter for xterm, rxvt and other programs. 3.9 When I run wmaker it complains about not being able to load any fonts. ---------------------------------- Check if the locale settings are correct. If you're not sure what to do, unset the LANG environment variable before running wmaker. TODO: give complete explanation 3.10 When I set the root background with wmsetbg by hand it works, but when I do that from the configuration files it doesnt! ---------------------------------- DOH! If you set the root background with wmsetbg by hand, it will obviously find the image, since you have explicitly specified it by hand. But if you simply put it in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker in some option like WorkspaceBack, it will not find the image because Window Maker can't read your mind to figure where you put the image. So, to fix it, you have to either place the full path for the image in the texture specification or put the path for the directory you put your background images in the PixmapPath option. You can also put all your background images in places like ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds or /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Backgrounds These directories will be listed under the "Search Path" section of WPrefs. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Configuration: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 4.1 What are those files inside my ~/GNUstep directory? ---------------------------------- ~/GNUstep/WindowMaker/WindowMaker The main config file. This file controls options such as keybindings, fonts, pixmaps, and focus modes. ~/GNUstep/WindowMaker/WMWindowAttributes The Controls "attributes" for individual applications and appicons. Options such as what icon to use are set here. For the most part, this is now best accessed via a right click on a title bar of an application and selecting "Attributes" ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMState This is the file that is automatically generated and contains the current dock settings. It is not recommended to edit this file by hand. ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu This file specifies what file to use as the root menu. In Window Maker 0.19.0 and higher, you can replace this file with the one called plmenu in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, and you can then use WPrefs to edit the menu. ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu This is the file to edit to change your root menu. ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/plmenu This is the same menu file, in property list format - WPrefs needs a menu in this format if you wish to edit it using WPrefs. 4.2 How do I enable the normal X sloppy focus mode? ---------------------------------- In the ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, change the following: FocusMode = sloppy; 4.3 How do I get my auto-arrange icons to work? ---------------------------------- In ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker set AutoArrangeIcons=Yes; and the icons should now auto-arrange. 4.4 How do I get my Meta-Tab to cycle through windows correctly? ---------------------------------- Make sure that these settings are true in your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker file: CirculateRaise = Yes; RaiseDelay = 1; This will not give you MS Windows(tm) style application switching where alt-tab is changes context. Paul Warren <<pdw@ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk>> has released a patch that will give this style of Context Switching to Window Maker. It is availible from http://ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk/~pdw/patches/ 4.5 How can I define my own Icon for a program? (instead of the Icon the Application Supplies?) ---------------------------------- You can right click on the titlebar of the running app and choose the "Attributes..." option, then click on the "Ignore client supplied icon" checkbox. Click "Apply", "Save" and close the Attributes Editor. Another method is to edit ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMWindowAttributes by hand and use the AlwaysUserIcon=YES; option for the app. For example: xmcd = { Icon = "Radio.xpm"; AlwaysUserIcon=Yes; }; 4.6 How do I get a Tile background for my AppIcons (those things in the dock)? ---------------------------------- You need to change 1 line to your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker file. IconBack = (spixmap, tile.black.xpm, white); or IconBack = (tpixmap, tile.black.xpm, white); spixmap will scale the pixmap to fit the tile, tpixmap will tile it as is. As Random@efnet says, The last parameter is the color that fills in any Transparent parts of your icon. IconBack takes other options too, search the NEWS file. 4.7 How do you dock <insert program here> that doesn't have an appicon in the new version of Window Maker? ---------------------------------- There is now an option available to emulate appicons so that Window Maker can dock just about anything now. To dock a misbehaving application, right click on the title bar and select the attributes menu. Next, select the pull down menu's "Advanced Options" item. Under the ``Advanced Options'' menu, select the ``Emulate Application Icon'' Option then Save, Apply and close the dialog. This should allow you do dock the program normally. Emulate Appicon does exactly the same thing as dockit, a small app distributed with ancient versions of Window Maker before the Attribute Editor existed (now depricated for the obvious reason). If Emulate Appicon does not work, dockit will not work either. Such applications violate the ICCCM (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual) and are considered badly coded for not setting the instance.class hints. 4.8 How do I get x11amp to not have a title bar? (or any other program for that matter?) ---------------------------------- Right Click on the title bar and choose "Attributes". Click on Panel 2 and click the the "Disable titlebar" and "Disable resizebar" options. Click "Save", "Apply" and then close the Attributes panel. By Default, to get back to the attributes menu once you've removed the titlebar, hit the key F10 while the window is focused. Here is an example entry in ~/GNUstep/WMWindowAttributes for x11amp. x11amp={ Icon="x11amp.xpm"; NoTitlebar=Yes; NoResizebar=Yes; NoAppIcon=Yes; }; 4.9 How do I set a pixmap background? ---------------------------------- Here is the in depth explanation straight from the NEWS file: wmsetbg now accepts the following options: usage: wmsetbg [-options] image options: -d dither image -m match colors -t tile image -s scale image (default) -u update Window Maker domain database -D <domain> update <domain> database -c <cpc> colors per channel to use By default, it will try to guess if dithering is needed or not and proceed accordingly. Using -d or -m will force it to dither or match colors. Dithering for more than 15bpp is generally not needed, and will only result in a slower processing. Don't use dithering except when needed, because it is slower. Else rely on wmsetbg which will detect if dithering is needed and use it. -u will update the WorkspaceBack in the default database domain file in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, and let Window Maker refresh the screen. Please note that this option only works under Window Maker, and will have no effect under other window managers, since it rely on Window Maker to update the image after it reads the updated defaults database. -D <domain> is same as above, but will update the domain <domain> instead of the default Window Maker domain. -c <cpc> will set the color per channel to use. Only needed for PseudoColor visuals. Window Maker will automatically pass the value read from the Window Maker domain database. The following line is straight from your WindowMaker-0.15.x ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file and should all be on one line. "Images" OPEN_MENU BACKGROUNDS_DIR ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds WITH wmsetbg -u -t This should give you an idea on how to add other entries for different image directories. See the help info at the top of the ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file for more information. If you for some reason would like to set your background image with XV, for instance to use an image format not yet supported by wmsetbg or to use one of XV's special modes, edit the file ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/autostart and insert the line xv -root -quit -maxpect ~/background.jpg or xv -root -quit -max ~/background.jpg you can also try variations of this to get different tiling and other effects (where X is a number 1-9 I believe): 'xv -root -quit -rmodeX ~/background.jpg' If you would like xv functionality in your menu, heres a nice little tip from Alfredo: Add the following line to your ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file. (all on one line) "More Backgrounds" OPEN_MENU /home/whoever/backgrounds xv -root -maxpect -quit 4.10 Can I put pixmaps in my root menu and title bars? ---------------------------------- With the release of WindowMaker-0.14.1, you can now put pixmaps anywhere you would have either a gradient or a color. This means now that MenuTextBack=(tpixmap, foo.xpm, acolor); in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker will put the correct pixmap tiled in your menu. FTitleBack = (spixmap, foo.xpm, black); Would have the effect of streching a pixmap to fit the titlebar of the active window. You can use png, gif, ppm, tiff, jpeg and xpm images interchangeably in Window Maker if you have compiled in support for those formats. 4.11 How do I get my Minimize Icon to look like the triangle I see in screenshots? ---------------------------------- This involves a minor source tweak. Instructions are available at http://wm.current.nu/tips.html#titlebar_icons Example screenshot at http://wm.current.nu/themes/images/screenshots/Midnight3.jpg 4.12 How do I get superfluous bells and whistles working? ---------------------------------- Add Superfluous=YES; to your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/Windowmaker file. This option was added as a runtime option in Window Maker >= 0.16.1. 4.13 How do I get the classic NeXT(tm)-like style back? ---------------------------------- Add NewStyle=NO; to your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/Windowmaker file. This option was added as a runtime option in Window Maker >= 0.16.1 4.14 How do I get the window menu with only a two button mouse? ---------------------------------- Jim Noble <jmknoble@ntrnet.net> writes: If you've got a two-button mouse under some versions of Solaris x86, there's no way (that i'm aware of) to emulate a 3-button mouse. The right button can be either MB2 or MB3, but chording doesn't work. ApplicationMenuMouseButton = Left; and WindowListMouseButton = Right; in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker ought to allow the left button to activate the root menu, and the right button (as MB2) to activate the windows menu. 4.15 How do I edit my root menu? ---------------------------------- You can now use WPrefs.app (see http://wm.current.nu/features/configuration.html for more info) if you have the new PropList style menu, or you can manually edit the oldstyle menu file ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu (or you can also manually edit the newstyle menu file) ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu and save your changes. Window Maker should detect the change and automatically update. If you are having a problem getting it to reload the menu, try touch ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu (or 'touch ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu' for the newstyle menu) to force the modification time into the future. 4.16 How can I set dock/clip to use single click to launch applications, instead of double click? ---------------------------------- You cannot do this. This is because single click is used to select app-icons, or to raise/lower the app-icon or the dock/clip. If this is impelmented then you will be unable to select or raise/lower dock/clip or app-icons, without also launching the application it represents. So don't ask for this to be implemented, because it will not be. Double click is used for a reason, is not just some weird idea we got in a morning when we wake up too early. 4.18 How do I restore the configuration app to the dock? ----------------------------------] You should start it from a terminal using its full path name, which is /usr/local/GNUstep/Apps/WPrefs.app/WPrefs by default. 4.19 How do I define my own icon for a program? I don't like the one it supplies. ---------------------------------- Right-click the titlebar of the running application and start the Attributes Editor. Check the "Ignore client supplied icon" box. "Apply" and "Save", and close the Attributes Editor. Another method is to edit ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMWindowAttributes by hand and use the AlwaysUserIcon=YES; option for the app. For example: xmcd = { Icon = "Radio.xpm"; AlwaysUserIcon=Yes; }; -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Other Applications: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 5.1 How do I assign gimp an appicon? ---------------------------------- Window Maker now can assign Icons from within the windowmanager, to do so, right click on the title bar of an app or hit F10 while the desired app is focused, choose "Attributes...", click on the "4" Button, enter the icon file name (make sure this is in your pixmap path, or you can type in the full path without using ~/ type path names), click "Update", "Apply", "Save" and then close the Attributes Editor. You can also enter the following line in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/WMWindowAttributes: gimp={Icon="gimp.xpm";}; 5.2 How do I get an appicon for XEmacs 20.3+? ---------------------------------- Thanks to Michael Hafner <hayfi@rz.fh-augsburg.de> for this answer. You don't need to patch the XEmacs code, just run ./configure --with-session=yes (in addition to any other options you use) in your XEmacs 20.3+ sourcedir and rebuild it. Then XEmacs shows an appicon when running and you can easily dock it. 5.3 Where do you get that clock program I always see on people's desktops? ---------------------------------- Its called asclock. It was included with each version of Window Maker until version 0.17.5, and was no longer included in 0.18.0 and above. You could find it in ./WindowMaker-0.xx.x/misc/asclock.tgz and it was prepatched to be able to dock. Some other (older) versions you might find on the net don't dock. Since it was pulled from the distribution (probably to save space), I've included it at http://wm.current.nu/files.html#asclock for your convenience. 5.4 How do you dock asclock? ---------------------------------- asclock -shape -iconic -12 & Drag it from the top right corner of the clock to the dock. Right click on the icon and select autolaunch. You have to drag the appicon by clicking on the edge of the icon, because the actual pixmap belongs to the app itself, and any clicks on the pixmap are interpreted by the app rather than X or the window manager. Therefor, you need to click somewhere on the appicon where the background tile shows through (usually the edges), and drag it that way. 5.5 How do you dock wmload? ---------------------------------- wmload -withdrawn -shape & Then dock it similar to asclock. 5.6 What other apps exist for the dock? ---------------------------------- Several Nice applications are available: wmmixer and wmcd and wmmount http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/2471/linux.htm#xapps ascd,WMRack,asmixer,asmodem, and others ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/wmaker/contrib/srcs/apps/ wmavgload, wmmount, and wmload ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/wmaker/contrib/srcs/utils/ wmppp-wmifs, wmtime, wmmon and other nifty apps http://windowmaker.mezaway.org/ A huge index of most available dockapps is available at: http://www.bensinclair.com/dockapp/ 5.7 How do I get an appicon for rxvt so I can dock it? ---------------------------------- The default rxvt that comes with most distribtions is an outdated version of rxvt. The newest development version of rxvt is availible from ftp://ftp.math.fu-berlin.de/pub/rxvt/devel/. As of the time of this writing, the version is 2.4.7 and it natively produces an appicon without a patch. John Eikenberry has also created an rpm which is available from ftp://ftp.coe.uga.edu/users/jae/windowmaker/ For your convenience, I have rxvt-2.4.7.tar.gz at http://wm.current.nu/files/rxvt-2.4.7.tar.gz for download. As of version 2.4.7, rxvt includes Window Maker support as well as John Eikenberry's NeXT scrollbar hack. 5.8 How do I get different icons for rxvt's (or xterms) running different programs? ---------------------------------- The simplest way is to run each rxvt with a different -name parameter. For example, I want to run an rxvt for irc and one for mail. This is an example of what I'd do: for the irc rxvt: rxvt -name "irc" -e "irc" for the mail rxvt: rxvt -name "mail" -e "pine" This would result in each rxvt now having the instance and class of irc.Xterm and mail.Xterm respectively, so that Window Maker can now set Attributes for them individually. 5.9 How do I launch multiple instances of XTerm from one appicon? ---------------------------------- The easiest way to accomplish this is to dock XTerm as normal. Then Go to the 'Attributes menu' -> 'Application Specific' and select 'no application icon' for XTerm. You can also right-click on the docked appicon and select settings. Change the 'Application Path with arguments' section to foo.sh where foo.sh is the following script #!/bin/sh exec xterm This should allow unlimited XTerms without appicon clutter. 5.10 How do I allow Alt+# to work in an rxvt session? (with irc for example) ---------------------------------- First, Launch a unique instance of rxvt or xterm. This can be done using the -name option of rxvt. For example: rxvt -name foo -e irc Then, go to the Attributes menu (right click on titlebar (or hit F10) and choose 'Attributes...') Then choose 'Advanced Options' from the listbox and enable 'Don't Bind Keyboard shortcuts'. Click 'Save' and 'Apply' and you should be able to run your session without the shortcuts. 5.11 Window Maker breaks scilab ---------------------------------- If you refer to the problem of the "graphics" window of scilab not showing up in Window Maker, this is caused by a bug in scilab. You can see the cause of the problem by yourself, by running xprop on the graphic window: WM_NORMAL_HINTS(WM_SIZE_HINTS): user specified location: 136679205, 1074468360 user specified size: 400 by 300 program specified minimum size: 400 by 300 Now, when scilab opens it's window, Window Maker nicely does exactly what it is told, that is, map the window at position 136679205, 1074468360 which obviously falls outside the screen no matter how big is your monitor ;) Meanwhile, the workaround for this is to open the window list menu (click on the root window with the middle mouse button) and click on the ScilabGraphic entry. The window should be brought to your reach. Then, open the window commands menu (right click on window's titlebar) and open the Attributes panel. Go to the "Advanced Options" section, check the "Keep inside screen" option and save. If you can recompile Scilab, this came from a Scilab developer: replace size_hints.flags = USPosition | USSize | PMinSize; with size_hints.flags = /** USPosition |**/ USSize | PMinSize; in routines/xsci/jpc_SGraph.c 5.12 Netscape shows black and white icons ---------------------------------- This is because Netscape uses monochrome icons when running under olwm and you are using the OPEN LOOK emulation option. If you do not use any XView apps anyway, recompile Window Maker without the --enable-openlook option. If you need OPEN LOOK emulation, you will have to get used to the monochrome icons or change then manually in the Attributes panel for each window. I have also seen this happen on some systems if you run Netscape in a high colour depth (32bpp) regardless of whether you're using openlook or not. That is a Netscape bug. Therefore, bug Netscape. 5.13 Snow flakes from xsnow don't acumulate on titlebars! ---------------------------------- Because of the way xsnow is coded, it seems that it can't "see" windows with the SaveUnder attribute turned on. So, if snow accumulation on windows is vital for you, disable SaveUnders in WPrefs, in the advanced options section. 5.14 I'm using RedHat 6.0 and Netscape dies without reason. ---------------------------------- Er... well, I don't know why you're looking in this Window Maker FAQ for a RedHat/Netscape problem, but anyway, the answer is in: http://www.redhat.com/cgi-bin/support?solution&11-990511-0082&100-926468988&14-0&15-0&25-&3-&30- -=-=-=-=-=-=- Programming: -=-=-=-=-=-=- 6.1 How do I get a normal X application to produce an appicon? ---------------------------------- You must define the WM_CLASS (XSetClassHint()) and the CLIENT_LEADER or XWMHints.window_group properties, which are automatically set by most applications that use Xt (Motif, Athena ...), but if you use plain Xlib you must set them by hand. Also you must make a call to XSetCommand(dpy, leader, argv, argc); Take a look at Window Maker-0.1x.x/test/test.c that is an example for writing such an app (which also have an app menu). 6.2 How do I get my tcl/tk application to produce an appicon? ---------------------------------- Oliver Graf <ograf@fga.de> writes: The main window (normally this is called '.' [dot] in tk) should use the following lines: wm command . [concat $argv0 $argv] wm group . . All child windows attached to the same app-icon should use: toplevel .child wm group .child . where .child should be replaced by the actual window path. Replace '.' with the actual main-window path and 'wm group .child .' should be added for each 'toplevel .child' call. 6.3 What is WINGs? ---------------------------------- WINGs Is Not GNUstep. ;) It is the Widget Library written for the widgets in Window Maker. It is currently under heavy development but several people have started writing applications in it. Its goal is to emulate the NeXT(tm)-style widgets. http://www.ozemail.com.au/~crn/wm/wings.html is the closest thing to an information center about WINGs by <crn@ozemail.com.au>. 6.4 Where can I get more information about WINGs? ---------------------------------- Nic Berstein <nic@postilion.org> has created a WINGs Developement list. The purpose of this list is to provide a forum for support, ideas, suggestions, bug reports etc. for the WINGs widget set library. To subscribe to this list, send a message with the word ``subscribe'' in the _BODY_ of the message to: <wings-request@postilion.org>. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Miscellaneous Questions: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 7.1 Is there a pager for Window Maker? ---------------------------------- Not at the moment because there is not a pressing need for a pager. The concept of multiple desktops does exist and there are currently 3 ways to switch between them. First, the Alt+Number combination will switch between desktops. The Workspaces menu will also let you switch workspaces. Lastly, the Clip will also scroll one through workspaces. For those that would like to send an application to a specific workspace, either drag it to an edge of the desktop onto the next workspace or you can right click on the titlebar, choose "Move to..." and choose the appropriate workspace. BUT, Window Maker does support KDE and GNOME protocols, including the workspace management stuff, so you can use Window Maker in these environments and use their pagers. 7.2 Can I have folders like in AfterStep? ---------------------------------- No. Window Maker does however support the collapsable Clip per desktop for a similar functionality. 7.3 How do I use getstyle and setstyle? ---------------------------------- To capture the current Window Maker style, use the command getstyle > current.style To replace the current style, use the command setstyle filename.style 7.4 Why don't you distribute {normal diff, xdelta} patches? ---------------------------------- Whenever possible plain diff patches are distributed. If the new version has new binary files, normal diff won't be able to handle them, so a patch package is distributed, instead. We don't use xdelta because: - most systems do not have xdelta installed; - xdelta is picky and require the file to be patched to be exactly the same as the one used to make the patch. The patch package scheme used is much more flexible. We do not distribute a simple diff with the binary files separately (and variations, like uuencoding the binary files) because: - it is more complicated and error prone to require the user to manually move the files to the correct places; - the current patch package scheme *does* distribute the binary files and diff files separately. If the user wants to install everything by hand, nobody will object to that; - sooner or later someone will certainly ask for a script to automate the file moving stuff. So we hacked a script (mkpatch) that automatically creates a patch package with the normal text diff file, a list of removed files and the binary files that have changed or been added, plus a script that does the patching automatically. If you don't like the script, you can apply the patch and move the files manually. Or download the whole distribution. 7.5 Will you add GNOME or KDE support? ---------------------------------- Support for GNOME (and KDE) hints is included since 0.50.0. You have to enable them at compile-time using the appropriate arguments to ./configure. Please read the INSTALL file for more details. -=-=-=-=- Themes: -=-=-=-=- 8.1 What exactly are themes? ---------------------------------- Themes are a great aspect of Window Maker allowing a user to simply save the entire 'look' of their desktop in a Archive to distribute freely among friends, fellow users and/or the whole net in general. :) See the theme-HOWTO at http://wm.current.nu/themes/theme-HOWTO.html for an in-depth walk-through on making a Theme archive. 8.2 How do I install a Theme? ---------------------------------- This should be as simple as untarring the Theme.tar.gz into one of two places. You can untar it to the global /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/* directory, and have it be accessable to all users, or you can untar it to your own ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/ directory for your own personal use. Use your favorite variation of the following: gzip -dc "Theme.tar.gz" | tar xvf - *(directory may differ on some systems) 8.3 How do I make a Theme? ---------------------------------- There is a neat little file called README.themes distributed with Window Maker that explains everything in intricate detail. You can also read http://wm.current.nu/themes/themepacks.html ==================================================================== and they lived happily ever after. ==================================================================== (The End.)