2 NEWS for veteran Window Maker users
3 -----------------------------------
10 Removed --single-appicon patch and replaced it with a application
11 specific collapsing option. Check inspector panel and appicon menu.
13 New options to configure the workspace mouse actions
14 ----------------------------------------------------
16 The following options were removed from the WindowMaker defaults configuration
19 SelectWindowsMouseButton, WindowListMouseButton and ApplicationMenuMouseButton.
21 They were replaced with the following 3+1:
23 MouseLeftButtonAction, MouseMiddleButtonAction and MouseRightButtonAction plus
26 In the old way because all gravitated around the workspace actions to which
27 specific mouse buttons could have been bound, it allowed one to specify in
28 the configuration file settings which would have led to weird situations
29 that also had undesirable results.
30 For example the same mouse button (for example left) could have been
31 assigned to all workspace actions: 'select windows', 'show window list menu'
32 and 'show applications menu' which of course were not only impossible to
33 accomplish while still having a properly working workspace, but they also
34 allowed one to specify some settings in the configuration file that were
35 never in fact translatable to proper workspace actions.
37 To void this kind of user interface inconsistency, the new options now
38 gravitate around the physical device (the mouse and its buttons) to which
39 specific workspace actions can be bound. This way, even if one assigns the
40 same action to all mouse buttons, that situation while gives redundant and
41 unpractical settings it will still translatable to proper workspace actions:
42 all buttons will execute the same action, but a button will execute only one
45 The new options take the following values:
46 all Mouse...ButtonAction can have one of the following values:
48 None, SelectWindows, OpenApplicationsMenu or OpenWindowListMenu
50 MouseWheelAction can be one of None or SwitchWorkspaces
52 If you had the default actions bound to mouse buttons before, then it will
53 work for you without any intervention in the configuration files.
54 Else you need to use WPrefs.app to bind the actions to the mouse buttons
55 again to your old settings. Also if you want to change the mouse wheel
56 behavior regarding workspaces you can now (use WPrefs.app to do this).
61 No Polling of Configuration Files
62 ---------------------------------
64 Running Window Maker with one of -nopolling or --no-polling command line
65 options will make it not to poll every 3 seconds for changes in its
66 configuration files (good for laptops to let them spin disks down when idle).
69 For the ones used with Jim Knoble's 'no polling' patch, this is the same,
70 except that the need to #define ENABLE_NO_POLLING in wconfig.h was removed
71 and the behaviour is always available if you use the command line option.
80 interwoven gradients rip^Winspired on blackbox. Will render a texture that
81 interweaves 2 different ones.
83 (igradient, from1, to1, thickness1, from2, to2, thickness2)
85 Will render a interwoven texture with the 2 specified gradients,
86 with each section having the specified thickness.
91 The wmagnify utility will magnify the area on teh screen where
92 your mouse pointer is located, updating it in real-time.
94 tip: maximize it horizontally, make it Omnipresent and Always at Bottom.
95 Then leave it in the bottom of the screen.
100 2 options (WorkspaceBorder and WorkspaceBorderSize) were added to allow one to
101 set a small (0..5 pixels) border for the workspace. This border will not be
102 covered by windows when maximizing, allowing one to easily access the clip
103 or map a menu using the mouse in the border area, even when there are
104 windows maximized in both horizontal and vertical directions.
105 WorkspaceBorder can be one of (None, LeftRight, TopBottom, AllDirections)
106 while WorkspaceBorderSize is the size in pixles of the border not to be
107 covered by windows when maximizing (usually a small amount 0..5 pixles).
109 Both options can be set using WPrefs.app in the "Miscelaneous Ergonomic
110 Preferences" section. WPrefs will always limit WorkspaceBorderSize in the
113 Note that if "full screen maximization" option is set for a window, that
114 window will ignore this border area, maximizing to full screen.
123 Code for converting wrlib images into X Pixmaps was optimized in many ways,
124 both in the original C code and in assembly for Pentium(tm) processors (with
125 and without MMX(tm)). Depending on the bit depth/color mode and CPU model,
126 performance increases can go up to 150%
129 Weendoze Window Cycling (alt-tab)
130 ---------------------------------
132 Window cycling was changed to weendoze style.
135 NoBorder Window Attribute
136 --------------------------
138 The NoBorder window attribute (to be put in
139 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowAttributes) was added and will remove the
140 1 pixel border around windows.
143 Removed "Keep Attracted Icons" option from Clip's menu
144 ------------------------------------------------------
146 Since this option brought more confusion than usefulness among users, and
147 since it was usable only in a very limited context, being able to fill up
148 the Clip very easily, it was removed.
149 An alternative way of gaining the same functionality is to use the "Keep icon"
150 entry in the Clip's main menu. Or select multiple icons before calling that
151 entry, to make it apply to more than one icon.
153 Note: "Keep icon", as the obsoleted "Keep Attracted Icons" had nothing to do
154 with holding icons in Clip, while the application is running. Once they
155 are attracted, they are kept until the application close. Using
156 "Keep icon", will only assure that the icon will be kept, even after the
157 application is closed.
159 Please don't ask for this option back. It's error prone, and very unintuitive.
160 Considering it's very restrictive usability, and it's very ambiguous topic, it
161 does not need a special entry in the Clip's menu, taking in count that there
162 are already better alternative ways of gaining the same functionality.
165 Removed DisplayFont Option
166 ---------------------------
168 The font for the geometry size will be controlled by the default
169 WINGs font (SystemFont in WMGLOBAL) now.
175 - added DONT_SCALE_ICONS compile time option
176 - added --dont-restore cmd line option. When passed to wmaker, it
177 wont restore the state saved previously.
184 new libPropList-0.9.1 is REQUIRED to build Window Maker 0.61.1.
185 go grab it and install it first.
191 Window Edge Attraction
192 ----------------------
194 Window edge attraction was now added.
198 will enable/disable gravity to edge's boder.
199 The strength of gravity can be controled by modify `EdgeResistance' value
200 in WindowMaker configuration file.
203 Titlebar Draw String Plugin
204 ---------------------------
206 FTitleColor, UTitleColor, PTitleColor, MenuTitleColor can be assigend with
207 drawstring plugin instead of plain color. For example:
218 will invoke function drawplainstring from libwmfun.so and pass 3 colors for
219 arguments. To code new plugin, please see plugin.h for more informations.
228 The user menu is now a compile time option disabled by default.
229 Supply --enable-usermenu to configure to enable it.
232 root menu INCOMPATIBLE changes
233 ------------------------------
235 EXEC <program> will execute the named program
237 SHEXEC <command> will execute the shell command.
239 If you want to execute something like blabla > /dev/null, then use SHEXEC
241 Dont forget to update your menus.
244 New Option For setstyle
245 -----------------------
247 The --ignore flag will tell setstyle to not change the option that is
248 specified, when modifying the Window Maker configurations. For example:
250 setstyle --ignore MenuStyle sometheme.themed will cause the MenuStyle
251 option to not be changed.
253 setstyle --ignore FTitleBack --ignore UTitleBack --ignore PTitleBack bla.themed
254 will load the theme, but keep the titlebar background related options as
258 MultiByte Text Support Changes
259 ------------------------------
261 The --enable-kanji configure option is not needed anymore and was removed.
262 To enable support for multibyte text, you must:
263 - set the LANG environment variable to the appropriate value
264 - change the font configurations to contain font sets in the appropriate
265 encodings in both ~/G/D/WindowMaker and ~/G/D/WMGLOBAL (for WPrefs)
266 - set the MultiByteText option to YES in both of the above files
272 WorkspaceNameDisplayPosition =
273 none/center/top/bottom/topleft/topright/bottomleft/bottomright
276 SmoothWorkspaceBack = YES/NO
278 will enable smoothing of scaled workspace background images.
282 Application User Menu Path Changes
283 ----------------------------------
285 Default configuration for user specific menus installed in
286 /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/UserMenus or $(datadir)/WindowMaker/UserMenus
287 and ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/UserMenus.
290 Omnipresent icons in Clip
291 -------------------------
293 Added ability to set icons docked in Clip to be omnipresent on all workspaces.
294 To set/reset this flag use the clip menu.
295 The Clip menu changed in the following way:
296 - if you bring up the menu from the Clip's main icon, it will contain as
297 before the "Rename Workspace" entry in the second position.
298 - however, if you bring up the menu from any other icon in clip, the
299 "Rename Workspace" menu entry is replaced by "Omnipresent" or
300 "Toggle Omnipresent" depending on the context.
302 This entry will work in the following way, depending on the context:
304 1. If there is no icon selected in the clip, then the menu will contain the
305 entry named "Omnipresent" which will be checked accordingly to the current
306 state of the icon (omnipresent or not), and will let you change the
307 omnipresent state of the icon you brought the menu from.
308 2. If one or more icons are already selected when the Clip menu is called, the
309 entry will be named "Toggle Omnipresent" and will apply to all selected
310 icons trying to toggle their omnipresent state. The icons which will be
311 succesfully changed to their new state as requested, will be unselected,
312 while the ones that will fail for some reason to gain their new state,
313 will remain selected.
315 In both cases if there is no success in setting what user requested a panel
316 will inform user of the failure.
317 (Note: trying to set an icon to not-omnipresent will never fail. Failures can
318 be met only when trying to set omnipresent for an icon).
320 The icons set to omnipresent will be marked with a triangle in the upper left
321 corner, having the color of the IconTitleColor.
323 An icon can be set to omnipresent, only if its position is free in all the
324 workspaces, else you will be informed of the problem and asked to fix it first.
325 Also when dragging an omnipresent icon around in Clip, all the icons docked in
326 all the workspaces are shown while the dragging is done, to let one easily see
327 where are free slots in all workspaces.
329 For advanced users, there is also a shortcut to set/reset the omnipresent
330 state of an icon: just use "Shift+MiddleButton" (button2) on the icon you want
332 In this case only the mark in the upper left corner will appear in case of
333 success, or nothing will happen if icon cannot be made omnipresent (advanced
334 users are expected to know why the icon failed to be made omnipresent, so they
335 don't need a panel to explain them why ;) ).
337 Now before you load your gun to start a flame war because this is against your
338 principles you love so much, please sit down and think that this is a feature,
339 which, if you don't use, the old behaviour of the Clip is totally preserved.
340 It just adds some extra capabilities to the Clip for people who think that this
344 XDND drop on dock support
345 -------------------------
347 Support for XDE on dock is now replaced by XDND.
348 To enable, edit src/wconfig.h
359 MenuStyle=<style>; will change the menu texture style.
362 normal (default): for the traditional one texture per item, with bevels in
365 singleTexture: for a single texture that spans the whole menu, with bevels
368 flat: singleTexture without the bevels
373 ResizebarBack=<texture>;
375 where <texture> is any of the textures you normally use in titlebars and
378 If the style file/theme does not contain a ResizebarBack option, setstyle
379 will automatically hack it so that wmaker will make the theme work like
383 New crash dialog panel
384 ----------------------
386 From now on, whenever a fatal situation appears, Window Maker will display a
387 dialog panel to the user and let him choose what to do.
389 - Abort and leave a core file (usefull for debugging and getting backtraces)
390 - Restart Window Maker (default behaviour)
391 - Start alternate window manager (the one defined as fallback, or if not
392 possible fvwm or twm in this order).
394 If it will not be able to restart or start the alternate window manager, it
395 will abort and leave the core file.
398 Application User Menu
399 ---------------------
401 Applications with an appicon can have a user defined menu.
403 This menu will emulate keyboard events, and will be sent to the applications'
404 window(s), thus the application must accept key combinations (CTRL+N for
407 To enable this feature, #define USER_MENU in src/wconfig.h and place menu
408 files in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/UserMenus (/usr/local/etc/WindowMaker/UserMenus
411 The user menu is in PropList format and the filename is in:
412 <instance name>.<class name>.menu or application's main window.
413 (Example: the menu for xcalc would be - xcalc.XCalc.menu)
415 Example user menu syntax:
419 ("Put 1", SHORTCUT, "2"),
421 ("Put 2", SHORTCUT, "2"),
422 ("Put 3,4 and 5", SHORTCUT, (3,4,5))
424 ("Exit", SHORTCUT, "Control+q")
432 Appearance Editing in WPrefs
433 ----------------------------
435 Added Appearance/Texture editing capability in WPrefs. Workspace background
436 selection is not yet finished.
442 Removed all themes from the source tree, and moved them in a separate package.
443 You can download the new package from the same place as this package:
444 ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/beta/srcs/
445 Look after WindowMaker-extra-<version-number>.tar.gz
446 Also WindowMaker-extra pack include the old WindowMaker-data.tar.gz which only
448 Look for the greatest version number when you download this package.
451 get-wraster-flags script change
452 -------------------------------
454 The name of the options passed to get-wraster-flags changed, to allow a better
455 name compatibility with the naming conventions used by other software.
456 The name change was as follows:
457 --lflags was changed in --ldflags
458 To allow backward compatibility, with already written software, the old
459 --lflags option is still recognized, but you are encouraged to move the the
470 Added 2 new cool themes (actually I added in 0.51.1, but forgot
471 to put it here...) from largo (LeetWM) and BadlandZ (STEP2000).
474 Full Screen Maximization
475 ------------------------
477 The FullMaximize window attribute will allow the window to
478 be maximized to the full size of the screen (ignoring anything
479 like titlebar, resizebar, dock, panels etc). It should be usefull
480 for programs that must use the whole screen, like games or things
481 like presentation programs.
486 KDE Application Menu script
487 ---------------------------
489 wkdemenu.pl is a converter from KDE application menu structures to wmaker
490 menu that can be used as a piped menu. Look wkdemenu.sh for how to use it.
493 Window Edge Resistance
494 ----------------------
496 Window edge resistance was now added. No, feature freeze hasn't been
497 removed. Its just part of the edge resistance rewrite ;)
503 Added SteelBlueSilk theme
505 Installation Path Changes
506 -------------------------
508 Default configuration data installed in /usr/local/etc/WindowMaker
509 or $(sysconfdir)/WindowMaker
514 Window Maker has become a GNU program (part of the GNU Project).
516 Title text drop shadow
517 ----------------------
519 drop shadow option added for titlebar text. This is a compile time
520 option which needs to be defined in src/wconfig.h after you run
521 configure and before you run make.
523 New options and syntax for your WindowMaker domain file are:
526 FShadowColor = <color>;
527 PShadowColor = <color>;
528 UShadowColor = <color>;
529 MShadowColor = <color>;
531 The shadow option is dynamic (no need for a restart).
532 MShadowColor is for the menu title text.
537 WARNING!!! libPropList was removed from the Window Maker distribution
538 and is being distributed separately. If you dont have it installed yet,
539 get it from ftp.windowmaker.org/pub/libs and install before building
543 signal handling change
544 ----------------------
545 SIGHUP will exit wmaker instead of restarting it!!! This is because
546 GNOME expects the window manager to exit instead of restarting...
547 Complaints should go to gnome people. SIGUSR1 will restart wmaker now.
552 WINGs-flags was removed, and replaced by get-wraster-flags.
553 Please remove WINGs-flags from your system, since it was obsoloted by
555 Continuing to use WINGs-flags can lead to hazardous effects, since is no
562 docklib is a little library for making dock applets. It's in the
563 docklib-0.0.tar.gz file. Unpack it and read the README file there.
569 Removed OnTopTransients option
571 Added OpenTransientOnOwnerWorkspace
577 OPEN LOOK(tm)/olwm hints support was added.
579 Read the appropriate section in the README file.
585 New option for WorkspaceBack. mpixmap is the same as spixmap, but
586 it will scale the pixmap by keeping the aspect ratio (maximize or maxpect).
587 The option only works for workspace backgrounds.
589 Also added IGNORE_PPOSITION compile time flag, which is equivalent
590 to NoPPosition from fvwm.
601 Added full support for GNOME and KWM hints.
602 Read the INSTALL file to see how enable them.
604 Everything in the so called GNOME window manager bla bla bla pseudo-spec is
607 As for KDE stuff, it implements 90% of everything kwm does, adds some
608 Window Maker specific extensions to it and still uses half of the memory
609 kwm does, which should be enough to let you dump kwm ;) For details on what
610 exactly is implemented, see comments in src/kwm.c Read the README.KDE file
611 for more information.
614 WARNING: Some KDE hints are badly designed, so doing things like using
615 kpanel's desktop switcher/pager and Window Maker's internal workspace
616 management functions to create, destroy and rename workspaces at the same
617 time might cause unknown effects. To be on the safe side, only
618 use either of them to manage workspaces. Switching workspaces is hopefully,
619 safe, so you can switch workspaces from wherever you want.
623 Workspace Specific Background Images
624 ------------------------------------
626 Use the WorkspaceSpecificBack to set background images for specific
627 workspaces. The WorkspaceBack is used as the default background image.
631 WorkspaceSpecificBack = ((solid, red), (cpixmap, ship.jpg, gray), (),
632 (dgradient, red, blue))
634 This will set the background image of workspace 1 to (solid, 0),
635 2 to ship.jpg and 4 to a gradient. Workspace 3 and other workspaces
636 will have the image defined by WorkspaceBack.
638 Note that this uses quite some memory...
644 setstyle now accepts the -nofonts flag, which will load the style
645 file ignoring all font related options.
649 setstyle -nofonts Blabla.style
652 getstyle can be used to create theme packs. See the usage in the
653 WindowMaker/README.themes file.
660 Textured gradients will tile a texture pixmap and combine it with a gradient,
661 using an arbitrary opaqueness.
663 Syntax is (thgradient, <file>, <opaqueness>, <color1>, <color2>)
664 (tvgradient, <file>, <opaqueness>, <color1>, <color2>)
665 (tdgradient, <file>, <opaqueness>, <color1>, <color2>)
667 <color1> and <color2> are the colors for the gradient,
668 <file> is the texture file and
669 <opaqueness> is the opaqueness to merge the texture witht the gradient,
670 ranging from 0 to 255.
674 (thgradient, "BlueImage.jpeg", 120, white, black)
676 The BlackTexture style and Checker theme are examples.
680 You can use any type of pixmap file for this, but small (like 64x32)
681 grayscale pixmap files should get the best results (fast and low memory
682 usage). You can use color pixmaps, but it is harder to get the desired effect
685 Be warned that this texture type is the slowest.
692 IconTitleBack and IconTitleColor control the color of the
693 miniwindow title. Both of them are colors.
696 IconTitleColor=white;
700 Since this introduces an incompatibility in themes and getting flamed by the
701 themes ppl isn't the most pleasant thing ("Whaddafuk you're thinking!? You
702 just broke 500 themes!!!" ;) the setstyle command was hacked so that it will
703 make old themes work as before, by trying to automatically set the above
704 options. Note that in some cases it will not have exactly the same results as
708 StartMaximized window attribute. Will maximize the window when it
712 AutoRaiseLower option for the Clip. This allows automatic Raise/Lower of the
713 Clip icons when the mouse pointer enter/leave the Clip. To avoid unwanted
714 raising/lowering there is a time threshold before raising/lowering.
715 The thresholds can be changed in wconfig.h by changing one or both of
716 AUTO_LOWER_DELAY and AUTO_RAISE_DELAY (expressed in miliseconds).
717 For example if you set AUTO_RAISE_DELAY to 0, then the Clip will be raised as
718 soon as the mouse pointer enters it's area. Setting AUTO_RAISE_DELAY to a very
719 big value, will make the Clip to practically do not auto raise unless clicked,
720 but to be automatically lowered after AUTO_LOWER_DELAY (ms) when leaved.
726 Starting with this version, a new format of themes is being supported.
727 Before you open pine and start composing your flame, rest assured that
728 the old format is still supported. The new format is documented
729 in the WindowMaker/README.themes file.
735 The -noext option for OPEN_MENU will strip whatever is after the last .
736 in file names that appear on the opened directory. So,
738 OPEN_MENU ~/bg WITH xv -root -quit
740 will create a menu with all the images in ~/bg without the extension.
747 Icon (miniwindow) stacking
748 --------------------------
750 If you want miniwindows to reside under normal windows, edit
751 wconfig.h and change WNormalLevel (just grep for it) to
758 If you have a 5 button mouse and want to give some utility for
759 the extra 2 buttons, edit the appropriate line in src/wconfig.h
760 Clicking Button4 in the root window will switch you to the previous
761 workspace and Button5 will do that for the next.
767 put NoWindowOverDock back
769 KeepOnBottom window attribute
772 -static command line option
773 ---------------------------
775 wmaker -static will start Window Maker in static mode. This will
776 prevent wmaker from checking or making any configuration changes.
777 That makes it possible to run wmaker before running wmaker.inst
780 Hysteresis for menu item selection
781 ----------------------------------
783 Hopefully it's intelligent enough, so you won't notice it.
785 In case you want to know what's it, it's equivalent to that
786 (insanely long) 2 second delay present in that Windoze95 menu,
787 but more usefull than annoying (I hope :). To see it, do the following
788 with your current wmaker version and later with 0.20.3:
790 - open the apps menu and stick it
791 - click in the item for the "Workspaces" submenu and hold
792 - drag the mouse to the 4th or bigger entry (like "Workspace 4") in a
793 straight line, trying to select the target item before the submenu
794 is unmapped when you dragged over other items in the main menu
801 Window shortcuts are shortcuts to arbitrary windows. You can make up to 4
802 shortcuts. To assign a previously bound shortcut to a window use the "Select
803 Shortcut" submenu in the window commands menu. If the shortcut is not yet
804 assigned for any window, you can hit the shortcut to assign it to the active
805 window. The shortcut will do the same as clicking in an entry in the window
806 list menu. The keys for the shortcuts are defined in the ~/G/D/WindowMaker
807 file or in WPrefs.app
811 WindowShortcut1Key through WindowShortcut4Key
817 The name of WindowMaker was changed to Window Maker.
819 Window creation animation disabled by default.
824 If you use it edit src/wconfig.h and #define OPTIMIZE_SHAPE or disable the
825 titlebar and resizebar for the window. OPTIMIZE_SHAPE will remove the
826 flickering for xdaliclock and other programs that change their shapes often,
827 but will increase network traffic considerably. So, if you use xdaliclock
828 from a remote machine it can get slow.
834 The applications menu will now use the shell in the SHELL environment
835 variable to execute EXEC menu commands. If it is unset (I think it's always
836 automatically set by the shell program) it will use /bin/sh
839 Extra fancy icon kaboom :)
840 --------------------------
842 Edit src/wconfig.h and #define ICON_KABOOM_EXTRA to get
843 more effects for the icon undocking animation.
845 Options for superfluous stuff are even more superfluous, so this
846 will not become runtime.
849 XDE drag and drop support
850 -------------------------
852 Support for XDE drag and drop was added (by "]d" <id@maliwan.org>).
853 To enable, edit src/wconfig.h
854 The support works with gtk 1.1.2
860 libPropList will now be built automatically by wmaker. Wich means
861 the (simplified) building process is now:
869 tar xzf libPropList.tar.gz
870 (cd libPropList; make)
874 You also don't need to worry about GNOME libPropList incompatibilities
878 Bug with focus lost in sloppy focus fixed
879 -----------------------------------------
881 The bug only occurs in sloppy or auto focus modes, with AutoFocus disabled
882 and Superfluous enabled. There is no easy/clean way to fix this, so Window
883 Maker will disable the animation of window creation if the focus mode is
884 either sloppy or auto AND AutoFocus=NO.
886 If you want the animation, enable AutoFocus or use manual focus mode
890 The NoWindowUnderDock option was removed
891 ----------------------------------------
892 To obtain the same result, use the "Keep Dock On Top" option in the dock menu.
895 Persistent Program Suplied Icons
896 --------------------------------
898 Application supplied icons are now stored, so that the dock will keep
899 showing them after the app is exited. The icons are stored at
900 ~/GNUstep/.AppInfo/WindowMaker/
906 Sound support is now on by default. Even if you don't use sound the overhead
907 is very small, and has no impact on performance. If you still want to
908 optimize it and remove a few hundred of bytes, then use --disable-sound or
909 --enable-sound=no options when you configure Window Maker.
915 Multihead support. wmaker will now manage all screens that are attached to the
917 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
920 It does so from a single process (instead of spawning a new process for each
921 screen, like fvwm does). This keeps memory usage a lot lower than fvwm.
923 State files have a suffix .n, where n is the number of the screen.
925 Since I don't have a real multiheaded machine, it probably has bugs.
930 Yet another useless superfluous animation. Find out what exactly it is
937 ~/G/L/W/exitscript will be called automatically when wmaker is exited.
943 1. Miniaturization animation is now selectable by a runtime option
946 IconificationStyle = <style>;
948 to your WindowMaker configuration file.
949 <style> can be one of: Zoom, Twist, Flip or None
950 Case doesn't matter, and default is Zoom.
954 This can be controlled by setting:
956 EdgeResistance = xxx;
958 in your WindowMaker configuration file.
959 xxx is an integer greater than 0 and represents the number of pixels of edge
960 resistance. Setting it to 0 (default) will disable this feature.
965 A new theme named Night, is available in this distribution.
971 GIF support was added. You will need libgif 2.2 to use it.
973 cpixmap added. Syntax is the same as tpixmap or spixmap
978 getstyle will include IconBack info in Style files.
982 libPropList was updated. If you have it installed, you must upgrade or
983 WPrefs will crash because of bugs in libPropList.
991 WindowTitleBalloons = YES;
992 will enable balloons for window titles that are not fully visible.
994 MiniwindowTitleBalloons = YES;
995 will enable balloons for miniwindow titles.
997 AppIconBalloons = YES;
998 for application icons (docked or not)
1004 IconPosition (the position of the icons) is specified as:
1006 IconPosition = c1c2c3;
1010 c1 can be t or b (meaning top or bottom)
1011 c2 can be l or r (meaning left or right)
1012 c3 can be v or h (meaning vertical or horizontal)
1014 case is insensitive.
1019 is the old iconPosition position.
1023 will place the icons over the Dock.
1025 New window attribute
1026 --------------------
1028 EmulateAppIcon = YES; will make the window have an application icon.
1029 Only use this option for fully specified windows (like rxvt.Rxvt).
1030 NEVER use in generic window specifications (like * or rxvt).
1031 You must restart the application for the attribute to take effect.
1042 Boolean balues have changed!!! YES, Y and any non-zero integer will
1043 mean TRUE and anything else (including True) will mean FALSE. This
1044 is to conform to the OpenStep values used for booleans and
1045 not cause headaches later, when GNUstep apps also starts using
1046 defaults and users will try using True wich won't get recognized.
1054 Clip button layout was changed. IT IS TEMPORARY AND THE DEFINITIVE LOOK
1055 WILL BE DIFFERENT!!!
1061 More bugs were fixed in it. Upgrade the library if you have an older version
1062 installed, with the one included.
1068 Format for property list menus has changed! The redundant array for
1069 submenus was removed, so a menu that looked like:
1072 ("Xterm", EXEC, "xterm"),
1075 ("Gimp", EXEC, "gimp"),
1084 ("Xterm", EXEC, "xterm"),
1086 ("Gimp", EXEC, "gimp"),
1096 NUMLOCK_HACK is back. This time it works and is enabled by default.
1097 If you think you don't need it and promise me that you won't send
1098 "bug" reports saying that shortcuts stop working after a while, you can
1099 disable it ;) It will save some memory and CPU.
1105 Removed the SwapMenuButton option and added 3 finer grained options:
1107 SelectWindowsMouseButton
1108 WindowListMouseButton
1109 ApplicationMenuMouseButton
1111 Values that can be used are Left, Middle, Right and Button1 through Button5
1112 Left is equivalent to Button1, Middle to Button2 and Right to Button3
1115 Removed the WorkspaceChangeDelay option and corresponding action.
1116 Removed AClipColor and IClipColor
1119 Added the SelectKey back
1122 Changed default binding of Window commands menu from F10 to Control+Escape
1129 libPropList has changed! Upgrade it before compiling wmaker.
1131 Hopefully the bugs that caused wmaker to crash if an error is found
1132 in the config files is fixed. If you do crash wmaker with a bad
1133 file, please try to find out the smallest possible portion of the file
1134 that still crashes wmaker and send it to me.
1140 PixmapPath was split to PixmapPath and IconPath. PixmapPath is the path
1141 for the pixmaps used as textures and IconPath is for the icons.
1142 Don't forget to add IconPath to your current configuration file.
1144 There's also a new library in ~/GNUstep/Library/Icons. You should place
1145 your icons there, since icons are not a WindowMaker specific resource.
1148 DontConfirmKill=YES; will disable the confirmation panel for Kill
1156 Unhide Here in the appicon menu was changed to be the first entry.
1157 This way you can unhide the appicon with a single click without
1158 even moving the pointer.
1164 The collect icons commands was renamed to attract icons and
1165 the attract icons options was renamed to Auto attract icons.
1167 The Remove Selected Icons was renamed to Remove Icon(s). It will
1168 act as before if some icon is selected and will remove the clicked
1169 icon (without confirmation) if it is not.
1171 Added a Keep Icon(s) command that will keep the selected icons if
1172 any is selected and the current one if none.
1174 The Move To command was renamed to Move Icon(s) To.
1179 If you have libPropList installed, you might want to reinstall it,
1180 replacing with the included libPropList. It has a small bug fix.
1185 Removed --with-gnome and made MWM_HINTS defined by default.
1186 This means that "GNOME support" will work with no additional
1187 flags passed to configure.
1189 Added support for KDE, by adding a DisableWorkspaceMouseActions option.
1190 Set it to YES and run krootwm to be able to use everything in kfm.
1193 Shortcuts for Root Menu
1194 -----------------------
1196 There is now a new SHORTCUT optional keyword for the menus.
1197 For example, you can bind Control-F1 to xterm with:
1199 "XTerm" SHORTCUT Control+F1 EXEC xterm
1201 or F2 to ARRANGE_ICONS with:
1203 "Arrange Icons" SHORTCUT F2 ARRANGE_ICONS
1206 All commands allowed in the menu file accept the keyword, except for
1213 ** Configuration of docked applications is now done in a panel instead of
1216 ** Added a command menu for application icons
1218 ** Shift double-click on the application icon will unhide the app
1219 in the current workspace.
1225 NotMiniaturizable option changed to NoMiniaturizeButton
1226 NotClosable option changed to NoCloseButton
1229 Speed options values are now UltraFast, Fast, Medium, Slow or UltraSlow
1232 Removed the Select keyboard binding. You can access it in the window
1235 Removed the ClipMaxIcons option and made it a compile time option.
1237 Removed the ConstrainWindowSize option
1239 Renamed NoSound to DisableSound
1241 Renamed NoAutowrap to DontLinkWorkspaces
1243 Renamed NoDithering to DisableDithering
1245 Renamed NoAnimations to DisableAnimations
1247 Removed the LeftHanded option and added a SwapMenuButton option.
1248 SwapMenuButton will make the rubberband selection in the root window
1249 be bound to the right button and the root menu to the left button.
1252 New way to display temporary icons
1253 ----------------------------------
1255 The icons that are attracted by Clip, but will not be kept after the
1256 application close, are now using a different color for shading, unlike previous
1257 version that always used white. This will improve look for very different color
1258 combinations, and allow the user to control the look of the shaded icon.
1259 The color used for shading the icons is computed as follows:
1261 First a color is computed depending on the IconBack type:
1262 - for solid the color is the solid color itself.
1263 - for simple gradients the color is (from_color + to_color)/2.
1264 - for multiple gradients, the color is the first color in list.
1265 - for pixmaps, the color is the solid color specified for that pixmap.
1267 Then the color is made lighter by multiplying each red/green/blue filed with
1268 1.7 and limiting each field to 0xff in case they exceed this value.
1269 Then this new color will be used by superposing it with the icon we want to
1270 shade, using a proper alpha value.
1272 To control the color for shading is simple:
1274 - In case of multi gradients you just need to put the first color, as the color
1275 you like. WindowMaker do not use the first color in the list to directly build
1276 the gradient, but only when it needs a solid color for something (like in this
1279 - For pixmaps, put the needed color as the solid color the syntax for pixmaps
1280 require. This color is also not used when displaying normal icons, just when
1281 solid colors are needed (like this case).
1283 - For solid color, or simple gradients, in case the color it uses after
1284 computing is not good enough, you can always convert the solid or simple
1285 gradient to a multi gradient with the same look, and use that one. In this
1286 case is simple, just put the needed color as first color in list.
1288 Please note that this will not slow down WindowMaker, because the IconBack is
1289 read only once at startup, and then only if it is changed. After reading it WM
1290 will construct the image of the tile, and use the image instead of recomputing
1291 the gradient every time.
1293 Here are 2 examples of converting solid or simple gradient to a same looking
1296 IconBack = (solid, Blue);
1298 IconBack = (mhgradient , LightBlue, Blue, Blue);
1299 using LightBlue as color for shading.
1301 IconBack = (dgradient, "#284569", "#082420");
1303 IconBack = (mdgradient, "#183454", "#284569", "#082420");
1304 looking the same, but using #183454 for shading.
1307 New Sound Server Location
1308 -------------------------
1310 The sound server new URL is http://www.frontiernet.net/~southgat/wmsound
1311 Also it seems to be running on FreeBSD too (with little changes maybe).
1319 The path for the WINGs resource files was changed. If you don't
1320 do make install, you must move /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Resources to
1321 /usr/local/share/WINGs
1327 The following new options are available:
1328 NewStyle = Yes/No; (static) Replaces --enable-newstyle
1329 DisableDock = Yes/No; (static) Same as -nodock command line option.
1330 DisableClip = Yes/No; (static) Same as -noclip.
1331 Superfluous = Yes/No; (dynamic) Replaces --enable-superfluous.
1334 - The static options are only read at startup. Changing them, needs to restart,
1335 so they will be accounted.
1336 - DisableDock and DisableClip have lower precedence than -nodock -noclip
1337 command line options. If both option/command line option are given, then the
1338 command line option will be accounted.
1344 The start hidden option was fixed, and made to be an application wide option.
1345 It will apply to every window the application owns. Also its place in the
1346 Attribute Inspector panel, changed accordingly, to reflect this.
1347 The start miniaturized is however still applying to particular windows of an
1348 application, unless the option is set for the class.
1349 Start miniaturized, will override start hidden if both set.
1352 Because of the way Netscape Communicator is implemented, it is NOT possible
1353 to set the start hidden or miniatirized flags for it. This is because Netscape
1354 chooses to send a second map event to the window it maps. This makes the
1355 window to receive a second map request and to be unhidden or maximized back,
1356 immediately after it was hidden or miniaturized by WindowMaker at startup.
1365 The NextMenuBehaviour option was renamed to WrapMenus
1366 The WorkspaceTiedMiniwindows option was renamed to StickyIcons
1368 The .tif files were renamed to .tiff
1371 Selecting Mini Windows
1372 ----------------------
1374 Now miniaturized windows can be selected as well as normal windows.
1375 You can do this by Shift-Click-ing them. They will be marked, and will follow
1376 you through workspaces like normal selected windows do.
1377 Miniaturizing a window will no longer deselect the window, but will place the
1378 icon and mark it as selected.
1379 The only difference between miniaturized and normal window selection is that
1380 for the moment the rubber-band selecting method works only for normal windows.
1383 Icon Selection Panel in Attributes Editor
1384 -----------------------------------------
1386 Now, selecting icons is as easy as clicking in the file name in a list.
1392 IconSlideStep, IconSlideSlowDown and IconSlideDelay were merged to
1395 MenuScrollStep and MenuScrollDelay were merged to MenuScrollSpeed
1397 ShadeStep and ShadeDelay were merged to ShadeSpeed
1400 Valid values for them are: Fast, Normal, Slow or UltraSlow
1402 If you want to fine tune the values, they can be changed in wconfig.h
1403 Send me your set of values with an indication of how fast is your hardware,
1404 so that I can make the default values more adequate.
1407 New Window Attributes
1408 ---------------------
1410 Added StartMiniaturized and StartHidden as window attributes and
1411 removed the previous implementation. Also removed the dock menu entries.
1412 They are now settable in the Attributes Panel.
1414 Also added DontSaveSession attribute. This way, you won't end up with multiple
1415 unwanted copies of the same app after the previous session is restored.
1416 I start X with a xterm in .xinitrc instead of wmaker, wich will cause the
1417 xterm restored by wmaker be duplicate. Just add -name something to the
1418 xterm started form .xinitrc and mark DontSaveSession=YES for that window.
1422 User Specifiable Visual IDs
1423 ---------------------------
1425 wmaker now supports different visuals than the default one. It isn't of much
1426 use for most people, but can be usefull for lucky SGI users who want it
1427 to use TrueColor instead of the default PseudoColor.
1429 wmaker -visualid VISUAL_ID
1431 where VISUAL_ID is the hex code for the visual you want.
1433 Note: I don't have an SGI box and haven't tested it...
1440 The starting workspace is identified in the following order:
1441 1. If the app is omnipresent will be mapped on the current workspace.
1442 2. Else if the application have a StartWorkspace option set as attribute
1443 then this one will be used.
1444 3. Else, if the application was started from Clip, the workspace on which
1445 the Clip from where it was started is used.
1446 4. Else the current workspace is used.
1448 Restoring saved sessions will always use the saved workspace, no matter
1449 what other options are, except onmipresent.
1455 Workspace specific mini windows
1456 -------------------------------
1458 The minimized windows can be workspace specific, being more consistent with
1459 the rest. This is because minimized window represents just another state of a
1460 window (like normal or shaded), which all are workspace specific.
1461 This (or the old "present anywhere") behavior can be set using an option in
1462 the WindowMaker database: WorkspaceTiedMiniWindows = Yes/No;
1464 New way to animate the blowing icons
1465 ------------------------------------
1467 There is now a compile time option that allows one to set how the icons are
1468 animated when detaching from dock/clip in superfluous mode.
1469 By default the classic "Falling pieces" animation is used.
1470 If SPREAD_ICON is #define-ed in wconfig.h, then a "Spread in four directions"
1471 animation is used instead. Take a look at the section where this is described
1473 By default there is #undef SPREAD_ICON to select "Falling pieces" animation.
1475 Auto Colapse for Clip
1476 ---------------------
1478 The clip now supports an option named "Auto Collapse" which can be set from
1479 the clip main menu. When set, clip will stay collapsed, and will show itself
1480 when the mouse moves over it. While the mouse is over it, or over any of the
1481 icons attached to the clip, the clip will stay uncollapsed, letting you to
1482 access the attached icons. This is not true for applications like asclock, or
1483 applets of that kind, because the icon window do not belongs to WindowMaker,
1484 but to the application itself. For such icons you must keep the mouse over the
1485 icon groundplate, else it will collapse back. But usually these type of icons
1486 will not stay in a collapsed clip, since one needs to see what they show.
1487 When the clip is leaved it will collapse back after a delay of 1 second, unless
1488 the mouse is moved back to the clip area. The delay can be set modifying
1489 AUTO_COLLAPSE_DELAY in wconfig.h. Default is 1000 (ms) which means 1 second.
1496 Changed name from Fiend to Clip
1497 -----------------------------------
1499 All occurrences of word Fiend with or without capital F were replaced with
1500 the corresponding Clip (same capital).
1501 This affects all configuration files under ~/GNUstep that contain this word.
1502 It can be refered as "Workspace Dock" too.
1505 New option in Clip menu, and extended Clip behavior
1506 ---------------------------------------------------
1508 The following new items are available in the dock menu:
1511 2. Keep Attracted Icons
1513 4. (Un)select All Icons
1514 5. Remove Selected Icons
1516 7. Start miniaturized (also available for regular dock)
1517 8. Start hidden (also available for regular dock)
1519 10. Set icon... (also available for regular dock)
1522 Here is what they do:
1524 1. "Attract Icons" will let the Clip to attract and attach any new appicon that
1525 is created when an application starts. It will not do this if the Clip is
1526 full. If the Clip is Collapsed then the appicon will be hidden after it is
1528 2. "Keep Attracted Icons" will tell the Clip to keep the attracted appicons,
1529 after the application is closed. Without this the appicons will vanish,
1530 leaving the Clip in the original state. If you move an appicon that was
1531 attracted from Clip to regular Dock, it will be kept when closed, no matter
1532 what "Keep Attracted Icons" is set to in Clip.
1533 3. "Collect Icons" will collect all appicons that are not yet attached to Dock
1534 or Clip, and attach them to the current workspace Clip. The value of
1535 "Keep Attracted Icons" will apply when applications close. If Clip is
1536 collapsed, the appicons will be hidden.
1537 4. "(Un)select All Icons" will select all icons in the clip if none is
1538 selected, or it will deselect all selected ones. The selected icons are
1539 marked using a small triangle in the bottom right corner of the appicon.
1540 The color of the mark is set using SClipColor in WindowMaker domain
1542 5. "Remove Selected Icons" will remove from Clip all selected icons. The ones
1543 that still run, will be detached, all the others will vanish.
1544 6. "Move To" will transfer all selected icons to another workspace and attach
1545 them to the Clip in that workspace. If none is selected, only the one the
1546 mouse was pressed on will be moved.
1547 7. "Start miniaturized" will launch (or autolaunch if set) the application in
1548 a miniaturized state.
1549 8. "Start hidden" will launch (or autolaunch if set) the application in a
1550 hidden state. Note that only one of the two can be set at a time.
1551 9. "Selected" can be used to toggle the selected state of the appicon
1552 individually. The same can be achieved using Shift-LeftClick on the appicon.
1553 In fact the intended way of toggling the selected state is by using
1554 the Shift-LeftClick on icon. The menu entry is just another way to do the
1556 10. "Set icon..." will allow one to set the image for the appicon. The image
1557 will be updated without restart, and also all appicons in the same
1558 instance.class as the one we set for, will be updated.
1560 So a simple way of avoiding the screen to be filled up with appicons is to set
1561 the "Attract Icons" in the Clip. Also the "Keep Attracted Icons" can be set to
1562 No, so the attracted icons will be deleted when application exits, thus leaving
1563 the Clip clean. If also one to not want to see the appicons that keep filling
1564 the Clip, he can set the Clip to be Collapsed.
1566 Getting rid of unneeded icons in Clip is as simple as selecting them
1567 individually using Shift-LeftClick, and then using the "Remove selected Icons"
1571 Support for different visuals.
1572 ------------------------------
1574 WindowMaker is now able to support any visual, except DirectColor, in any
1575 depth from 1bpp to 32bpp.
1577 One can start the X server with different visuals, by passing the X server the
1578 right option. For XFree 3.3.x is -cc <id>.
1579 WindowMaker is not yet able to choose a different visual from the Default one
1580 on a given screen, but can use any default visual it finds, except the direct
1582 For example starting X like (for XFree 3.3.x, and if the driver for the
1583 card supports this. Read the man page for your X server):
1584 startx -- -bpp 8 -cc 0 will give you the StaticGray visual.
1585 startx -- -bpp 8 -cc 1 will give the GrayScale visual
1588 Wrlib code is now generic, and will support any visual except DirectColor in
1589 any depth. Programs written with wrlib can work on different visuals from
1590 the default visual for a given screen.
1591 Behavior in different visuals can be tested using the testgrad program in
1592 wrlib subdirectory in distribution.
1593 testgrad -h will show the usage.
1595 Multidiagonal gradients are also implemented now in wrlib, and a new algorithm
1596 is used to speed up the generation of diagonal gradients.
1599 New arrangement of the directory structure under ~/GNUstep/
1600 ---------------------------------------------------------------
1602 To better adapt to theme support the directory structure changed under
1603 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker
1605 1. Style directory moved to Styles.
1606 2. Added the following directories: Backgrounds, IconSets, Pixmaps, Sounds and
1608 3. The .style files no longer get copied in the user's Styles directory.
1609 Instead they are read from the global /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Styles
1612 Under ~/GNUstep/Defaults the following changes occurred:
1614 1. A default WMState is installed by wmaker.inst.
1615 It contains the dockit program assigned to the top icon of the dock, and
1616 the wmsetbg program assigned for the drop command on both dock's and clip's
1618 Double clicking the dock's main icon will bring up dockit that will let you
1619 dock any application that do not have an application icon.
1620 Dropping an image on dock's or clip's main icon, from an Offix DND aware
1621 application, will put the image on the background tiled, and will update
1622 WindowMaker domain database file.
1623 2. Syntax of WMState changed a little. The old position will not be restored
1624 when you will first start the new version, but after that it will be
1625 normally remembered. This is because now the main clip icons is only saved
1626 once, not for every workspace.
1627 You should replace Fiend with Clip in any place where it appears, if you
1628 want to keep the old WMState file, else it will not work.
1629 3. At compile time, it will detect if you have support for tif, and will
1630 install a WMWindowAttributes with corresponding image name extension
1631 (.tif or .xpm). This is true only for pixmaps that come with the source
1632 distribution and get installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Pixmaps
1634 The menu file changed a lot. Old menu file will *not* work with new theme
1635 support, so please upgrade.
1638 New behavior of OPEN_MENU command
1639 ---------------------------------
1641 The OPEN_MENU command now supports the following syntax:
1642 1. File menu handling.
1643 // opens file.menu which must contain a valid menu file and inserts
1644 // it in current position
1646 2. Pipe menu handling.
1647 // opens command and uses it's stdout to construct menu.
1648 // Command's output must be a valid menu description.
1650 3. Directory handling.
1651 // Opens one or more directories and construct a menu with all
1652 // the subdirectories and executable files in them sorted alphabetically.
1653 OPEN_MENU /some/dir [/some/other/dir ...]
1654 4. Directory handling with command.
1655 // Opens one or more directories and construct menu with all
1656 // subdirectories and readable files in them sorted alphabetically,
1657 // preceding each of them with command.
1658 // WITH is a required keyword!!!
1659 OPEN_MENU /some/dir [/some/other/dir ...] WITH command -options
1661 Please note that because of the 'WITH' keyword old menu files no longer work
1662 for the OPEN_MENU with a command.
1668 Theme support is now as easy as untar-ing a tarball in the right place.
1669 Because of the way OPEN_MENU works, they can be installed on a global
1670 shareable basis, or for personal user use.
1671 Themes installed under ~/GNUstep will be available only for a user, but
1672 if if they are installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker they will be seen
1673 by all users. This is also true for style files, background images, pixmaps,
1674 etc that get installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker.
1675 Themes can be saved or loaded using the Appereance menu.
1677 Also support for different IconSets is available. You can save or load a new
1678 IconSet using the Appereance menu.
1680 Setting background images is now as simple as putting the images in the right
1681 place (~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds or
1682 /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Backgrounds, or any other place in your
1683 PixmapPath). Then use the Appereance menu. They will be instantly available
1684 since they are opened by a OPEN_MENU command. Also the image do not need to
1685 have a .jpg or any other extension. It will be recognized anyhow.
1686 As an example please see the OpenStep theme supplied with WindowMaker.
1687 The OpenStep image is a jpeg file without extension.
1689 Please keep in mind that anything under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker will be
1690 available for all users.
1693 New options for wmsetbg and getstyle
1694 ------------------------------------
1696 wmsetbg now accepts the following options:
1697 usage: wmsetbg [-options] image
1702 -s scale image (default)
1703 -u update WindowMaker domain database
1704 -D <domain> update <domain> database
1705 -c <cpc> colors per channel to use
1707 By default, it will try to guess if dithering is needed or not and proceed
1709 Using -d or -m will force it to dither or match colors.
1711 Dithering for more than 15bpp is generally not needed, and will only result
1712 in a slower processing.
1713 Don't use dithering except when needed, because it is slower. Else rely on
1714 wmsetbg which will detect if dithering is needed and use it.
1716 -u will update the WorkspaceBack in the default database domain file in
1717 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, and let WindowMaker refresh the screen.
1718 Please note that this option only works under WindowMaker, and will have no
1719 effect under other window managers, since it rely on WindowMaker to update
1720 the image after it reads the updated defaults database.
1722 -D <domain> is same as above, but will update the domain <domain> instead of
1723 the default WindowMaker domain.
1725 -c <cpc> will set the color per channel to use. Only needed for PseudoColor
1726 visuals. WindowMaker will automatically pass the value read from the
1727 WindowMaker domain database.
1730 getstyle now have the -t option, that instructs it to read all options
1731 related to theme. Without -t getstyle will read only style options that
1732 means it will not read WorkspaceBack and IconBack.
1733 Use -t when you want to make a theme and need all theme options to be saved.
1734 Else it will extract just a style file.
1737 Session management support
1738 --------------------------
1740 Two new commands are available for use in menus:
1742 SAVE_SESSION and CLEAR_SESSION.
1745 will take a snapshot of all running applications, and their current hints
1746 (shaded, hidden, minimized, geometry and workspace they are on),
1747 and save it inside the WMState file. Also the current workspace we are on is
1748 saved. The applications that are running and were started from dock or clip are
1749 marked, so they will be attached to the corresponding dock/clip when restored.
1750 This state is restored every next session, until a new one is saved or
1751 CLEAR_SESSION is used.
1754 will clear any previous saved session.
1756 There is also a run time option named SaveSessionOnExit = Yes/No; that allows
1757 one to automatically save the state of desktop when leaving WindowMaker.
1758 This way next session, the state of the desktop before last exit is restored.
1760 Please note that if this option is set to Yes, than any manual saving of the
1761 state, or any clearing of the state will be overridden when exiting
1764 These options are available under the "Workspace" menu.
1767 User WindowMaker configuration files are now merged with global ones
1768 --------------------------------------------------------------------
1770 When starts WindowMaker will look for database domain files under
1771 $GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT/Defaults or ~/GNUstep/Deafults to be read. (In this order).
1773 If they are not available then it will scan for them in
1774 $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/Defaults, $GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT/Defaults or
1775 /usr/local/GNUstep/Defaults (in this order).
1777 Even if the file was found or not, it will always load the corresponding domain
1778 file under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Defaults.
1780 Then if the user file was found it will merge it over the global file, else
1781 the global file will be used.
1783 This way any settings that are set by the system administrator in the shared
1784 file will be available for users that do not have them in their config files.
1785 Any option the user have in his config file will override the one in the
1788 So any new runtime options that appear in WindowMaker domain, do not need to
1789 be set in all user files, except the ones the user wants a different behavior
1790 from the default set for all users in the shared file.
1792 Also it is possible for the user to not have any personal domain databases, and
1793 the global shared ones will be used, but it still needs to have the directory
1794 structure, so WMState gets written on session exit.
1795 So all it needs to have is ~/GNUstep/Defaults directory available.
1798 New behavior of the Slide Icons
1799 -------------------------------
1801 Animation constants are now runtime.
1805 IconSlideSlowDown = 50;
1807 To better adapt both slow and fast machines the behavior of sliding icons
1808 changed in the following manner:
1810 Old one was to keep moving the icon with a constant step (default 5 pixels)
1811 until it reached the destination.
1813 Now it will use a new parameter named IconSlideSlowDown to speed up or slow
1816 Instead of moving it with a constant step it will use IconSlideSlowDown to
1817 divide the distance to the destination, and use this value as the first step.
1818 Then is will compute the remaining distance and will again use
1819 IconSlideSlowDown to divide it and get the new step. And so on.
1820 When the step to move becomes smaller than IconSlideStep, IconSlideStep will
1821 be used further until the destination is reached.
1823 This way a nice deceleration effect is achieved, since while the icon
1824 approaches destination, it will use smaller steps, gibing the illusion that
1825 the icons is moving slower.
1827 IconSlideDelay will give the pause between steps, and is expressed in ms.
1829 Giving large values to IconSlideSlowDown (>1024 for 1024x768 screen) will
1830 result in the old "constant step advance" behavior, since the computed step
1831 will always be smaller than IconSlideStep, and the last will be used instead.
1833 Making IconSlideSlowDown = 0 or 1, will result in an instant jump to the
1834 destination without any animation.
1840 Because the icon images on screen automatically update after any change in
1841 WMWindowAttributes domain file, the use of both Save and Apply buttons is no
1842 longer needed. If one wants to just apply the setting to the current window
1843 only, he will only use the Apply button.
1844 If he wants them saved for all applications in the same instance and/or class
1845 the using the Save button will write them to disk, and automatically
1846 WindowMaker will update all the icons that need to be updated on screen.
1852 Some basic sound support is now part of WindowMaker. The sound server is not
1853 yet part of WindowMaker distribution, so you need to download it separately.
1854 This is because is linux specific, and need some changes before it can be
1856 Until them if you have a linux system and want to use sound, use the
1857 wmsound-0.5 available at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/7874
1858 Download that package, and only build the sound server there.
1859 DO NO APPLY ANY PATCHES FROM THERE!, because they are already applied.
1860 Just build the sound and copy the executable in /usr/local/bin
1861 Follow the rest of the install steps described there, except the patch-ing
1864 To enable sound for WindowMaker pass --enable-sound to configure.
1866 Also use NoSound = Yes/No; to enable/disable sound at runtime without killing
1869 If you cannot set the sound to work yet, then is not for you.
1870 Wait until the sound server will be fixed and will be part of WindowMaker.
1873 New entries in WindowMaker domain database
1874 ------------------------------------------
1876 The following entries have been added to the runtime options:
1878 SaveSessionOnExit = No;
1880 will autosave (or not) the session state on exit.
1882 WindowPlaceOrigin = "64, 64";
1884 will offset all windows in auto or cascade placement mode with the value
1885 (in pixels) before placing them on screen. First is horizontal direction and
1887 This do not apply to windows that request a specific position on screen.
1888 This is useful if you want your Clip on the top left corner to not be
1889 overlapped by mapping windows.
1890 It will let it to have a row and a column of docked appicons near the screen
1891 edge, that will not be overlapped by windows.
1892 If you set it to "128, 128" it will have 2 rows and 2 columns not overlapped.
1897 Enable/disable sound at runtime without the need of killing the sound server.
1900 MenuScrollDelay = 10;
1903 Constants for the menu scrolling animation.
1907 IconSlideSlowDown = 50;
1909 Constants for the icons sliding on screen. Explained above.
1914 Animation parameters for shading a window. How many steps it will take, and the
1915 delay between steps in ms.
1917 DoubleClickTime = 250;
1919 The time for the double click to be considered so. Expressed in ms.
1921 SClipColor = "#6f8ae2";
1923 Color for selected icons in Clip.
1925 All delays are expressed in ms.
1932 *** Enhanced fiend clone.
1934 Here are the new fiend features:
1935 1. Keys for raising/lowering the fiend, and their default values:
1936 FiendLowerKey = None;
1937 FiendRaiseKey = None;
1938 FiendRaiseLowerKey = None;
1940 All reside in WindowMaker configuration file.
1942 2. Added posibility to launch the workspace menu with button1 click on the
1943 idle indicator of fiend, or with button3 click on workspace name on the
1946 3. Added Control-button1-click on fiend's idle indicator, to create a new
1947 workspace and move to it. Same action as New item in Workspace menu.
1949 4. Fiend's idle indicator do have a color that reflects its normal/collapsed
1952 5. The delay between changing workspaces from fiend is now a runtime option:
1954 WorkspaceChangeDelay = 700;
1956 in WindowMaker configuration file.
1958 6. Application icons can be moved between dock and fiend now.
1960 7. The way workspaces are changed is controlled now by two runtime options:
1962 AdvanceToNewWorkspace=Yes/No;
1963 CycleWorkspaces=Yes/No;
1965 Both apply to either fiend navigating buttons or to next/prev worksapace
1966 keybindings. Both default to No, and are in WindowMaker configuration file.
1968 8. Also added posibility to advance to new workspace, no matter what value
1969 AdvanceToNewWorkspace have, with Control-button1-click on "next workspace"
1973 *** Theme support ***
1975 Spixmap and tpixmap now work. Their syntax is:
1977 SomeStyleOption = (spixmap, file, color);
1978 SomeStyleOption = (tpixmap, file, color);
1980 - spixmap means scaled pixmap, so the image in the file will be scaled to
1981 adapt to the destination's size.
1982 - tpixmap means tiled pixmap, and the image from file will be tiled in the
1985 file is searched in the PixmapPath, but can be a full path name.
1987 Color is used depending on which Style option is applied.
1988 For example in case of titlebars, color is used for miniwindows titles color.
1989 You are not restricted in selecting that color, but is better to put one
1990 that matches the overall color of the image.
1992 Currently they apply to all the options that accept (solid, color), or any
1994 This means they also apply to WorkspaceBack and IconBack, which allows theme
1995 support with the simple use of the setstyle and getstyle utilities.
1996 There is no need for an extra theme manager, just to include the needed
1997 options in the style files.
1999 In case of WorkspaceBack, color is used to be set in the background until
2000 the image gets loaded and displayed. This is to avoid the stippled screen
2001 the X server shows, in case the image is big and loads slow.
2002 There is a small utility in the util directory, named wmsetbg which is
2003 used to set the background image. This is needed for windowmaker not to
2004 freeze while loading and scaling the image.
2005 Currently it is hardcoded in windowmaker to use wmsetbg to set the background
2006 image, and is better to use it since is smaller that other image manipulation
2007 programs, and it is compiled with support for same image types as windowmaker.
2008 Since it comes and is installed with WindowMaker, there will be no need to
2009 download and use an external app, which also may not have support for the same
2010 image types as windowmaker.
2018 The fiend clone is a dock extender, that lets you dock more than the default
2019 10-12 icons in the dock. It actually lets you dock how many icons you like,
2020 with a current default of 25 per workspace. The fiend have different docked
2021 icons on every workspace. Also the fiend main icon shows you the workspace
2022 you're on and lets you navigate through the workspaces with the small green
2023 buttons on the low right corner.
2024 To save screen space the fiend can be collapsed to the main icon either
2025 from the fiend menu (available with right click on the fiend icons), or
2026 with a double left click on the main fiend icon, which is a toggle for
2027 the collapsed/uncollapsed state.
2028 Collapsed state is marked by a different title color.
2029 Pressing on the small buttons on the low right corner, the workspaces are
2030 changed in increments of 1 to the left or right, but keeping the button
2031 pressed over them will continuously advance through workspaces until the
2032 mouse is moved away from the buttons or the button is released.
2033 The delay between workspace changes is set by FIEND_WKS_CHANGE_DELAY in
2034 src/wconfig.h, and defaults to 700 ms.
2035 Unlike the dock, fiend can hold icons in any directions, and can be placed
2036 in any position on screen.
2038 When an icons is to be docked, but the position can be either in the dock
2039 or in the fiend, the dock will be used first, and the icon will be docked
2042 Here are the new runtime options introduced by the fiend:
2043 Files are located in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/
2045 In WMWindowAttributes:
2046 "Logo.WMFiend" = {Icon = "Cone.xpm";}; - icon for the fiend
2049 FiendMaxIcons = 25; - the max number of icons in fiend per
2051 FiendTitleFont = "-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*";
2052 - the font used to show the current
2054 FiendTitleColor = black; - color for the uncollapsed fiend title
2055 CFiendTitleColor = "#616161"; - color for the collapsed fiend title
2056 AFiendColor = "#00ba70"; - color for the workspace changing
2057 buttons, when active
2058 IFiendColor = "#008000"; - color for the workspace changing
2061 For the ones who don't want to use fiend, there is a option to wmaker named
2062 -nofiend that can be feed to the command line when starting wmaker.
2063 (This is the equivalent for -nodock, but removes fiend clone).
2065 The syntax of WMState file have changed, but you don't have to worry because
2066 WindowMaker will know to read the old format and will save it and further
2067 will use the new one. You do not need to change your file, for the new version
2073 *** Enhanced Attribute editor.
2075 Now you can save defaults for all windows.
2076 Please note that only Icon, KeepInsideScree, and sometimes NoAppIcon
2077 can be useful in a normal environment. But others may have other opinion ;)
2078 If you set AlwaysUserIcon default for all windows, note that apps like
2079 asclock, wmload, wmmail, wmrack, will show that icon instead of their
2082 Now Attribute editor also counts for defaults saved for all windows,
2083 (not only the default "No" for all options hardcoded in WindowMaker),
2084 when saving options for some instance.class specification. This is to
2085 save disk space by saving only the options that differs from global defaults
2086 (either defaults for all windows or the hardcoded valued in WindowMaker).
2088 Attribute Editor now updates on the fly the appicon image or creates/deletes
2089 the appicon if you set that options in the Inspector panel and Apply them.
2090 Modifying Icon file, NoAppIcon or AlwaysUserIcon and Applying them will
2091 result in the image update for the app-icon.
2093 Note that if you apply but not save these options, the miniwindow image will
2094 not be updated. This is because app-icon is always on screen so it can be
2095 updated, but miniwindow image is read from the defaults database and from disk
2096 every time you minimize the window and is destroyed when you restore.
2101 *** Atribute editor is working ;).
2103 How it works is quite obvious.
2104 Anyway, here is a short description.
2106 Save - only save the configuration in defaults database and updates
2108 Apply - only applies the values to the current window
2109 Revert - reverts the values from the defaults database
2111 Note that Save and Revert count for the window specification
2112 (instance & class), that are selected, and save/use the values for/from
2115 The Update button will show the icon who's name was typed in the textfield
2116 If the textfield is empty, will try to use the default icon.
2117 Also saving with and empty textfield for icon, uses the default icon.
2119 The Default button will use the icon in the textfield as default icon
2120 and save that value in WMWindowAttributes (Note that in this case is no
2121 need to press the Save button!). Also if the textfield is empty it will
2122 try to use the old default icon, if available.
2124 *** Now menus are saved between sessions, or over a restart.
2126 Just stick them to the desktop, and you will find them over sessions
2127 until you close them.
2128 Please note that only the root_menu, the window switch_menu and the
2129 workspaces_menu can be saved this way.
2131 *** Changed the lousy Windoze menu behaviour.
2133 This applies to 'NextMenuBehaviour = NO;'
2135 Now the items are no more automatically selected if you launch the menu
2136 and the mouse is over some item, if you use a short click to launch the
2137 menu (shorter than the default DBL click time).
2138 If you use a longer click or keep the mouse pressed, the item under mouse
2139 will be selected after that delay, and launched when you will release the
2141 If the click was short, a second one is needed to launch the item.
2143 *** Autoarrange icons is now a runtime option
2146 AutoArrangeIcons = YES/NO;
2149 *** Added configurable horizontal resize threshold
2152 HorizontalResizeThreshold = <n>;
2154 This will make the n pixels at the exterior side of the corner handle
2155 of the resize bar to restrict to horizontal only resize.
2156 Also you can use Shift-click&drag anywhere on the corner handle to
2157 restrict the resize only to horizontal.
2158 Note that the Shift-click&drag does not depend of the configured threshold
2159 and works completely independent.
2161 *** New option for OPEN_MENU (pipe from command)
2163 OPEN_MENU | /foo/bar/script
2165 will make a menu that is dinamically constructed by /foo/bar/script
2170 *** New option for OPEN_MENU
2172 OPEN_MENU /foo/bar/pics xv -root -quit
2174 will make a menu with all files in /foo/bar/pics and precede them
2175 with EXEC xv -root -quit
2177 thus, making a menu with entries like:
2180 "marble.gif" EXEC xv -root -quit marble.gif
2181 "water.jpg" EXEC xv -root -quit water.jpg
2185 *** Multicolor gradients
2187 (mhgradient, colorX, color1, color2, color3, ..., colorn)
2188 (mvgradient, colorX, color1, color2, color3, ..., colorn)
2190 You can put any number of colors >= 2.
2192 colorX is a special color that is used as the solid color of the
2193 texture when wmaker needs a solid color (like in miniwindow title and
2196 *** PixmapPath format changed
2200 PixmapPath = "/usr/local/share/pixmaps:~/foobar";
2204 PixmapPath = ("/usr/local/share/pixmaps", "~/foobar");
2207 *** Added OffiX DND in dock
2209 Use the "Set drop arguments..." command in the menu and put a %d
2210 where the dropped object string should be substituted, like:
2214 *** Escape thingies for menu and dock commands:
2216 %w - substitute with current selected X window ID
2217 %s - substitute with current selection
2218 %d - substitute with last dropped object
2219 %a(some text) - opens a input box with "some text" as a title. Then,
2220 the text typed will be substituted there
2222 \r, \n - substitute with corresponding characters
2225 *** The WMState file format has changed a little.
2226 The Command field for the dock application list is now a normal string,
2227 instead of a list. So, remove the parentheses and the commas for the command
2228 and join all the parts. Example:
2232 Command = ( xterm," -geometry", "+10+10" );
2236 Command = "xterm -geometry +10+10";
2241 AutoFocus = NO; disables automatic focusing of windows
2242 when they are first mapped
2247 titlebar gradients are in a single piece now
2249 the WMDock file was merged into the WMState file. You can insert this
2250 file in WMState and set it's key to Dock. For example, if your WMDock
2254 Applications = { {Command = (); }};
2259 and WMState contains:
2262 Workspaces = ( "Workspace 1" );
2265 then you can merge both and have:
2268 Workspaces = ( "Workspace 1" );
2270 Applications = { {Command = (); }};
2278 The configuration format has changed!! Forget everything about the old
2281 dockapp was removed and the old version will not work anymore.
2283 the dialogs require tcl/tk. they will be rewritten in plain C
2286 These are some tips for people upgrading from older versions and don't want
2287 too many unused files around. There is no problem if you decide to keep
2290 you can rm -r ~/gnustep if you don't want anything from there
2292 remove the files in /usr/local/share/WindowMaker before installation
2294 the /usr/local/share/pixmaps directory can be removed