2 NEWS for veteran WindowMaker users
3 ----------------------------------
7 Multihead support. wmaker will now manage all screens that are attached to the
9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 It does so from a single process (instead of spawning a new process for each
12 screen, like fvwm does). This keeps memory usage a lot lower than fvwm.
14 State files have a suffix .n, where n is the number of the screen.
16 Since I don't have a real multiheaded machine, it probably has bugs.
21 Yet another useless superfluous animation. Find out what exactly it is
28 ~/G/L/W/exitscript will be called automatically when wmaker is exited.
33 1. Miniaturization animation is now selectable by a runtime option
36 IconificationStyle = <style>;
38 to your WindowMaker configuration file.
39 <style> can be one of: Zoom, Twist, Flip or None
40 Case doesn't matter, and default is Zoom.
44 This can be controlled by setting:
48 in your WindowMaker configuration file.
49 xxx is an integer greater than 0 and represents the number of pixels of edge
50 resistance. Setting it to 0 (default) will disable this feature.
55 A new theme named Night, is available in this distribution.
60 GIF support was added. You will need libgif 2.2 to use it.
62 cpixmap added. Syntax is the same as tpixmap or spixmap
67 getstyle will include IconBack info in Style files.
71 libPropList was updated. If you have it installed, you must upgrade or
72 WPrefs will crash because of bugs in libPropList.
80 WindowTitleBalloons = YES;
81 will enable balloons for window titles that are not fully visible.
83 MiniwindowTitleBalloons = YES;
84 will enable balloons for miniwindow titles.
86 AppIconBalloons = YES;
87 for application icons (docked or not)
93 IconPosition (the position of the icons) is specified as:
95 IconPosition = c1c2c3;
99 c1 can be t or b (meaning top or bottom)
100 c2 can be l or r (meaning left or right)
101 c3 can be v or h (meaning vertical or horizontal)
108 is the old iconPosition position.
112 will place the icons over the Dock.
117 EmulateAppIcon = YES; will make the window have an application icon.
118 Only use this option for fully specified windows (like rxvt.Rxvt).
119 NEVER use in generic window specifications (like * or rxvt).
120 You must restart the application for the attribute to take effect.
131 Boolean balues have changed!!! YES, Y and any non-zero integer will
132 mean TRUE and anything else (including True) will mean FALSE. This
133 is to conform to the OpenStep values used for booleans and
134 not cause headaches later, when GNUstep apps also starts using
135 defaults and users will try using True wich won't get recognized.
143 Clip button layout was changed. IT IS TEMPORARY AND THE DEFINITIVE LOOK
150 More bugs were fixed in it. Upgrade the library if you have an older version
151 installed, with the one included.
157 Format for property list menus has changed! The redundant array for
158 submenus was removed, so a menu that looked like:
161 ("Xterm", EXEC, "xterm"),
164 ("Gimp", EXEC, "gimp"),
173 ("Xterm", EXEC, "xterm"),
175 ("Gimp", EXEC, "gimp"),
185 NUMLOCK_HACK is back. This time it works and is enabled by default.
186 If you think you don't need it and promise me that you won't send
187 "bug" reports saying that shortcuts stop working after a while, you can
188 disable it ;) It will save some memory and CPU.
194 Removed the SwapMenuButton option and added 3 finer grained options:
196 SelectWindowsMouseButton
197 WindowListMouseButton
198 ApplicationMenuMouseButton
200 Values that can be used are Left, Middle, Right and Button1 through Button5
201 Left is equivalent to Button1, Middle to Button2 and Right to Button3
204 Removed the WorkspaceChangeDelay option and corresponding action.
205 Removed AClipColor and IClipColor
208 Added the SelectKey back
211 Changed default binding of Window commands menu from F10 to Control+Escape
218 libPropList has changed! Upgrade it before compiling wmaker.
220 Hopefully the bugs that caused wmaker to crash if an error is found
221 in the config files is fixed. If you do crash wmaker with a bad
222 file, please try to find out the smallest possible portion of the file
223 that still crashes wmaker and send it to me.
229 PixmapPath was split to PixmapPath and IconPath. PixmapPath is the path
230 for the pixmaps used as textures and IconPath is for the icons.
231 Don't forget to add IconPath to your current configuration file.
233 There's also a new library in ~/GNUstep/Library/Icons. You should place
234 your icons there, since icons are not a WindowMaker specific resource.
237 DontConfirmKill=YES; will disable the confirmation panel for Kill
245 Unhide Here in the appicon menu was changed to be the first entry.
246 This way you can unhide the appicon with a single click without
247 even moving the pointer.
253 The collect icons commands was renamed to attract icons and
254 the attract icons options was renamed to Auto attract icons.
256 The Remove Selected Icons was renamed to Remove Icon(s). It will
257 act as before if some icon is selected and will remove the clicked
258 icon (without confirmation) if it is not.
260 Added a Keep Icon(s) command that will keep the selected icons if
261 any is selected and the current one if none.
263 The Move To command was renamed to Move Icon(s) To.
268 If you have libPropList installed, you might want to reinstall it,
269 replacing with the included libPropList. It has a small bug fix.
274 Removed --with-gnome and made MWM_HINTS defined by default.
275 This means that "GNOME support" will work with no additional
276 flags passed to configure.
278 Added support for KDE, by adding a DisableWorkspaceMouseActions option.
279 Set it to YES and run krootwm to be able to use everything in kfm.
282 Shortcuts for Root Menu
283 -----------------------
285 There is now a new SHORTCUT optional keyword for the menus.
286 For example, you can bind Control-F1 to xterm with:
288 "XTerm" SHORTCUT Control+F1 EXEC xterm
290 or F2 to ARRANGE_ICONS with:
292 "Arrange Icons" SHORTCUT F2 ARRANGE_ICONS
295 All commands allowed in the menu file accept the keyword, except for
302 ** Configuration of docked applications is now done in a panel instead of
305 ** Added a command menu for application icons
307 ** Shift double-click on the application icon will unhide the app
308 in the current workspace.
314 NotMiniaturizable option changed to NoMiniaturizeButton
315 NotClosable option changed to NoCloseButton
318 Speed options values are now UltraFast, Fast, Medium, Slow or UltraSlow
321 Removed the Select keyboard binding. You can access it in the window
324 Removed the ClipMaxIcons option and made it a compile time option.
326 Removed the ConstrainWindowSize option
328 Renamed NoSound to DisableSound
330 Renamed NoAutowrap to DontLinkWorkspaces
332 Renamed NoDithering to DisableDithering
334 Renamed NoAnimations to DisableAnimations
336 Removed the LeftHanded option and added a SwapMenuButton option.
337 SwapMenuButton will make the rubberband selection in the root window
338 be bound to the right button and the root menu to the left button.
341 New way to display temporary icons
342 ----------------------------------
344 The icons that are attracted by Clip, but will not be kept after the
345 application close, are now using a different color for shading, unlike previous
346 version that always used white. This will improve look for very different color
347 combinations, and allow the user to control the look of the shaded icon.
348 The color used for shading the icons is computed as follows:
350 First a color is computed depending on the IconBack type:
351 - for solid the color is the solid color itself.
352 - for simple gradients the color is (from_color + to_color)/2.
353 - for multiple gradients, the color is the first color in list.
354 - for pixmaps, the color is the solid color specified for that pixmap.
356 Then the color is made lighter by multiplying each red/green/blue filed with
357 1.7 and limiting each field to 0xff in case they exceed this value.
358 Then this new color will be used by superposing it with the icon we want to
359 shade, using a proper alpha value.
361 To control the color for shading is simple:
363 - In case of multi gradients you just need to put the first color, as the color
364 you like. WindowMaker do not use the first color in the list to directly build
365 the gradient, but only when it needs a solid color for something (like in this
368 - For pixmaps, put the needed color as the solid color the syntax for pixmaps
369 require. This color is also not used when displaying normal icons, just when
370 solid colors are needed (like this case).
372 - For solid color, or simple gradients, in case the color it uses after
373 computing is not good enough, you can always convert the solid or simple
374 gradient to a multi gradient with the same look, and use that one. In this
375 case is simple, just put the needed color as first color in list.
377 Please note that this will not slow down WindowMaker, because the IconBack is
378 read only once at startup, and then only if it is changed. After reading it WM
379 will construct the image of the tile, and use the image instead of recomputing
380 the gradient every time.
382 Here are 2 examples of converting solid or simple gradient to a same looking
385 IconBack = (solid, Blue);
387 IconBack = (mhgradient , LightBlue, Blue, Blue);
388 using LightBlue as color for shading.
390 IconBack = (dgradient, "#284569", "#082420");
392 IconBack = (mdgradient, "#183454", "#284569", "#082420");
393 looking the same, but using #183454 for shading.
396 New Sound Server Location
397 -------------------------
399 The sound server new URL is http://www.frontiernet.net/~southgat/wmsound
400 Also it seems to be running on FreeBSD too (with little changes maybe).
408 The path for the WINGs resource files was changed. If you don't
409 do make install, you must move /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Resources to
410 /usr/local/share/WINGs
416 The following new options are available:
417 NewStyle = Yes/No; (static) Replaces --enable-newstyle
418 DisableDock = Yes/No; (static) Same as -nodock command line option.
419 DisableClip = Yes/No; (static) Same as -noclip.
420 Superfluous = Yes/No; (dynamic) Replaces --enable-superfluous.
423 - The static options are only read at startup. Changing them, needs to restart,
424 so they will be accounted.
425 - DisableDock and DisableClip have lower precedence than -nodock -noclip
426 command line options. If both option/command line option are given, then the
427 command line option will be accounted.
433 The start hidden option was fixed, and made to be an application wide option.
434 It will apply to every window the application owns. Also its place in the
435 Attribute Inspector panel, changed accordingly, to reflect this.
436 The start miniaturized is however still applying to particular windows of an
437 application, unless the option is set for the class.
438 Start miniaturized, will override start hidden if both set.
441 Because of the way Netscape Communicator is implemented, it is NOT possible
442 to set the start hidden or miniatirized flags for it. This is because Netscape
443 chooses to send a second map event to the window it maps. This makes the
444 window to receive a second map request and to be unhidden or maximized back,
445 immediately after it was hidden or miniaturized by WindowMaker at startup.
454 The NextMenuBehaviour option was renamed to WrapMenus
455 The WorkspaceTiedMiniwindows option was renamed to StickyIcons
457 The .tif files were renamed to .tiff
460 Selecting Mini Windows
461 ----------------------
463 Now miniaturized windows can be selected as well as normal windows.
464 You can do this by Shift-Click-ing them. They will be marked, and will follow
465 you through workspaces like normal selected windows do.
466 Miniaturizing a window will no longer deselect the window, but will place the
467 icon and mark it as selected.
468 The only difference between miniaturized and normal window selection is that
469 for the moment the rubber-band selecting method works only for normal windows.
472 Icon Selection Panel in Attributes Editor
473 -----------------------------------------
475 Now, selecting icons is as easy as clicking in the file name in a list.
481 IconSlideStep, IconSlideSlowDown and IconSlideDelay were merged to
484 MenuScrollStep and MenuScrollDelay were merged to MenuScrollSpeed
486 ShadeStep and ShadeDelay were merged to ShadeSpeed
489 Valid values for them are: Fast, Normal, Slow or UltraSlow
491 If you want to fine tune the values, they can be changed in wconfig.h
492 Send me your set of values with an indication of how fast is your hardware,
493 so that I can make the default values more adequate.
496 New Window Attributes
497 ---------------------
499 Added StartMiniaturized and StartHidden as window attributes and
500 removed the previous implementation. Also removed the dock menu entries.
501 They are now settable in the Attributes Panel.
503 Also added DontSaveSession attribute. This way, you won't end up with multiple
504 unwanted copies of the same app after the previous session is restored.
505 I start X with a xterm in .xinitrc instead of wmaker, wich will cause the
506 xterm restored by wmaker be duplicate. Just add -name something to the
507 xterm started form .xinitrc and mark DontSaveSession=YES for that window.
511 User Specifiable Visual IDs
512 ---------------------------
514 wmaker now supports different visuals than the default one. It isn't of much
515 use for most people, but can be usefull for lucky SGI users who want it
516 to use TrueColor instead of the default PseudoColor.
518 wmaker -visualid VISUAL_ID
520 where VISUAL_ID is the hex code for the visual you want.
522 Note: I don't have an SGI box and haven't tested it...
529 The starting workspace is identified in the following order:
530 1. If the app is omnipresent will be mapped on the current workspace.
531 2. Else if the application have a StartWorkspace option set as attribute
532 then this one will be used.
533 3. Else, if the application was started from Clip, the workspace on which
534 the Clip from where it was started is used.
535 4. Else the current workspace is used.
537 Restoring saved sessions will always use the saved workspace, no matter
538 what other options are, except onmipresent.
544 Workspace specific mini windows
545 -------------------------------
547 The minimized windows can be workspace specific, being more consistent with
548 the rest. This is because minimized window represents just another state of a
549 window (like normal or shaded), which all are workspace specific.
550 This (or the old "present anywhere") behavior can be set using an option in
551 the WindowMaker database: WorkspaceTiedMiniWindows = Yes/No;
553 New way to animate the blowing icons
554 ------------------------------------
556 There is now a compile time option that allows one to set how the icons are
557 animated when detaching from dock/clip in superfluous mode.
558 By default the classic "Falling pieces" animation is used.
559 If SPREAD_ICON is #define-ed in wconfig.h, then a "Spread in four directions"
560 animation is used instead. Take a look at the section where this is described
562 By default there is #undef SPREAD_ICON to select "Falling pieces" animation.
564 Auto Colapse for Clip
565 ---------------------
567 The clip now supports an option named "Auto Collapse" which can be set from
568 the clip main menu. When set, clip will stay collapsed, and will show itself
569 when the mouse moves over it. While the mouse is over it, or over any of the
570 icons attached to the clip, the clip will stay uncollapsed, letting you to
571 access the attached icons. This is not true for applications like asclock, or
572 applets of that kind, because the icon window do not belongs to WindowMaker,
573 but to the application itself. For such icons you must keep the mouse over the
574 icon groundplate, else it will collapse back. But usually these type of icons
575 will not stay in a collapsed clip, since one needs to see what they show.
576 When the clip is leaved it will collapse back after a delay of 1 second, unless
577 the mouse is moved back to the clip area. The delay can be set modifying
578 AUTO_COLLAPSE_DELAY in wconfig.h. Default is 1000 (ms) which means 1 second.
585 Changed name from Fiend to Clip
586 -----------------------------------
588 All occurrences of word Fiend with or without capital F were replaced with
589 the corresponding Clip (same capital).
590 This affects all configuration files under ~/GNUstep that contain this word.
591 It can be refered as "Workspace Dock" too.
594 New option in Clip menu, and extended Clip behavior
595 ---------------------------------------------------
597 The following new items are available in the dock menu:
600 2. Keep Attracted Icons
602 4. (Un)select All Icons
603 5. Remove Selected Icons
605 7. Start miniaturized (also available for regular dock)
606 8. Start hidden (also available for regular dock)
608 10. Set icon... (also available for regular dock)
611 Here is what they do:
613 1. "Attract Icons" will let the Clip to attract and attach any new appicon that
614 is created when an application starts. It will not do this if the Clip is
615 full. If the Clip is Collapsed then the appicon will be hidden after it is
617 2. "Keep Attracted Icons" will tell the Clip to keep the attracted appicons,
618 after the application is closed. Without this the appicons will vanish,
619 leaving the Clip in the original state. If you move an appicon that was
620 attracted from Clip to regular Dock, it will be kept when closed, no matter
621 what "Keep Attracted Icons" is set to in Clip.
622 3. "Collect Icons" will collect all appicons that are not yet attached to Dock
623 or Clip, and attach them to the current workspace Clip. The value of
624 "Keep Attracted Icons" will apply when applications close. If Clip is
625 collapsed, the appicons will be hidden.
626 4. "(Un)select All Icons" will select all icons in the clip if none is
627 selected, or it will deselect all selected ones. The selected icons are
628 marked using a small triangle in the bottom right corner of the appicon.
629 The color of the mark is set using SClipColor in WindowMaker domain
631 5. "Remove Selected Icons" will remove from Clip all selected icons. The ones
632 that still run, will be detached, all the others will vanish.
633 6. "Move To" will transfer all selected icons to another workspace and attach
634 them to the Clip in that workspace. If none is selected, only the one the
635 mouse was pressed on will be moved.
636 7. "Start miniaturized" will launch (or autolaunch if set) the application in
637 a miniaturized state.
638 8. "Start hidden" will launch (or autolaunch if set) the application in a
639 hidden state. Note that only one of the two can be set at a time.
640 9. "Selected" can be used to toggle the selected state of the appicon
641 individually. The same can be achieved using Shift-LeftClick on the appicon.
642 In fact the intended way of toggling the selected state is by using
643 the Shift-LeftClick on icon. The menu entry is just another way to do the
645 10. "Set icon..." will allow one to set the image for the appicon. The image
646 will be updated without restart, and also all appicons in the same
647 instance.class as the one we set for, will be updated.
649 So a simple way of avoiding the screen to be filled up with appicons is to set
650 the "Attract Icons" in the Clip. Also the "Keep Attracted Icons" can be set to
651 No, so the attracted icons will be deleted when application exits, thus leaving
652 the Clip clean. If also one to not want to see the appicons that keep filling
653 the Clip, he can set the Clip to be Collapsed.
655 Getting rid of unneeded icons in Clip is as simple as selecting them
656 individually using Shift-LeftClick, and then using the "Remove selected Icons"
660 Support for different visuals.
661 ------------------------------
663 WindowMaker is now able to support any visual, except DirectColor, in any
664 depth from 1bpp to 32bpp.
666 One can start the X server with different visuals, by passing the X server the
667 right option. For XFree 3.3.x is -cc <id>.
668 WindowMaker is not yet able to choose a different visual from the Default one
669 on a given screen, but can use any default visual it finds, except the direct
671 For example starting X like (for XFree 3.3.x, and if the driver for the
672 card supports this. Read the man page for your X server):
673 startx -- -bpp 8 -cc 0 will give you the StaticGray visual.
674 startx -- -bpp 8 -cc 1 will give the GrayScale visual
677 Wrlib code is now generic, and will support any visual except DirectColor in
678 any depth. Programs written with wrlib can work on different visuals from
679 the default visual for a given screen.
680 Behavior in different visuals can be tested using the testgrad program in
681 wrlib subdirectory in distribution.
682 testgrad -h will show the usage.
684 Multidiagonal gradients are also implemented now in wrlib, and a new algorithm
685 is used to speed up the generation of diagonal gradients.
688 New arrangement of the directory structure under ~/GNUstep/
689 ---------------------------------------------------------------
691 To better adapt to theme support the directory structure changed under
692 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker
694 1. Style directory moved to Styles.
695 2. Added the following directories: Backgrounds, IconSets, Pixmaps, Sounds and
697 3. The .style files no longer get copied in the user's Styles directory.
698 Instead they are read from the global /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Styles
701 Under ~/GNUstep/Defaults the following changes occurred:
703 1. A default WMState is installed by wmaker.inst.
704 It contains the dockit program assigned to the top icon of the dock, and
705 the wmsetbg program assigned for the drop command on both dock's and clip's
707 Double clicking the dock's main icon will bring up dockit that will let you
708 dock any application that do not have an application icon.
709 Dropping an image on dock's or clip's main icon, from an Offix DND aware
710 application, will put the image on the background tiled, and will update
711 WindowMaker domain database file.
712 2. Syntax of WMState changed a little. The old position will not be restored
713 when you will first start the new version, but after that it will be
714 normally remembered. This is because now the main clip icons is only saved
715 once, not for every workspace.
716 You should replace Fiend with Clip in any place where it appears, if you
717 want to keep the old WMState file, else it will not work.
718 3. At compile time, it will detect if you have support for tif, and will
719 install a WMWindowAttributes with corresponding image name extension
720 (.tif or .xpm). This is true only for pixmaps that come with the source
721 distribution and get installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Pixmaps
723 The menu file changed a lot. Old menu file will *not* work with new theme
724 support, so please upgrade.
727 New behavior of OPEN_MENU command
728 ---------------------------------
730 The OPEN_MENU command now supports the following syntax:
731 1. File menu handling.
732 // opens file.menu which must contain a valid menu file and inserts
733 // it in current position
735 2. Pipe menu handling.
736 // opens command and uses it's stdout to construct menu.
737 // Command's output must be a valid menu description.
739 3. Directory handling.
740 // Opens one or more directories and construct a menu with all
741 // the subdirectories and executable files in them sorted alphabetically.
742 OPEN_MENU /some/dir [/some/other/dir ...]
743 4. Directory handling with command.
744 // Opens one or more directories and construct menu with all
745 // subdirectories and readable files in them sorted alphabetically,
746 // preceding each of them with command.
747 // WITH is a required keyword!!!
748 OPEN_MENU /some/dir [/some/other/dir ...] WITH command -options
750 Please note that because of the 'WITH' keyword old menu files no longer work
751 for the OPEN_MENU with a command.
757 Theme support is now as easy as untar-ing a tarball in the right place.
758 Because of the way OPEN_MENU works, they can be installed on a global
759 shareable basis, or for personal user use.
760 Themes installed under ~/GNUstep will be available only for a user, but
761 if if they are installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker they will be seen
762 by all users. This is also true for style files, background images, pixmaps,
763 etc that get installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker.
764 Themes can be saved or loaded using the Appereance menu.
766 Also support for different IconSets is available. You can save or load a new
767 IconSet using the Appereance menu.
769 Setting background images is now as simple as putting the images in the right
770 place (~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds or
771 /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Backgrounds, or any other place in your
772 PixmapPath). Then use the Appereance menu. They will be instantly available
773 since they are opened by a OPEN_MENU command. Also the image do not need to
774 have a .jpg or any other extension. It will be recognized anyhow.
775 As an example please see the OpenStep theme supplied with WindowMaker.
776 The OpenStep image is a jpeg file without extension.
778 Please keep in mind that anything under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker will be
779 available for all users.
782 New options for wmsetbg and getstyle
783 ------------------------------------
785 wmsetbg now accepts the following options:
786 usage: wmsetbg [-options] image
791 -s scale image (default)
792 -u update WindowMaker domain database
793 -D <domain> update <domain> database
794 -c <cpc> colors per channel to use
796 By default, it will try to guess if dithering is needed or not and proceed
798 Using -d or -m will force it to dither or match colors.
800 Dithering for more than 15bpp is generally not needed, and will only result
801 in a slower processing.
802 Don't use dithering except when needed, because it is slower. Else rely on
803 wmsetbg which will detect if dithering is needed and use it.
805 -u will update the WorkspaceBack in the default database domain file in
806 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, and let WindowMaker refresh the screen.
807 Please note that this option only works under WindowMaker, and will have no
808 effect under other window managers, since it rely on WindowMaker to update
809 the image after it reads the updated defaults database.
811 -D <domain> is same as above, but will update the domain <domain> instead of
812 the default WindowMaker domain.
814 -c <cpc> will set the color per channel to use. Only needed for PseudoColor
815 visuals. WindowMaker will automatically pass the value read from the
816 WindowMaker domain database.
819 getstyle now have the -t option, that instructs it to read all options
820 related to theme. Without -t getstyle will read only style options that
821 means it will not read WorkspaceBack and IconBack.
822 Use -t when you want to make a theme and need all theme options to be saved.
823 Else it will extract just a style file.
826 Session management support
827 --------------------------
829 Two new commands are available for use in menus:
831 SAVE_SESSION and CLEAR_SESSION.
834 will take a snapshot of all running applications, and their current hints
835 (shaded, hidden, minimized, geometry and workspace they are on),
836 and save it inside the WMState file. Also the current workspace we are on is
837 saved. The applications that are running and were started from dock or clip are
838 marked, so they will be attached to the corresponding dock/clip when restored.
839 This state is restored every next session, until a new one is saved or
840 CLEAR_SESSION is used.
843 will clear any previous saved session.
845 There is also a run time option named SaveSessionOnExit = Yes/No; that allows
846 one to automatically save the state of desktop when leaving WindowMaker.
847 This way next session, the state of the desktop before last exit is restored.
849 Please note that if this option is set to Yes, than any manual saving of the
850 state, or any clearing of the state will be overridden when exiting
853 These options are available under the "Workspace" menu.
856 User WindowMaker configuration files are now merged with global ones
857 --------------------------------------------------------------------
859 When starts WindowMaker will look for database domain files under
860 $GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT/Defaults or ~/GNUstep/Deafults to be read. (In this order).
862 If they are not available then it will scan for them in
863 $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/Defaults, $GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT/Defaults or
864 /usr/local/GNUstep/Defaults (in this order).
866 Even if the file was found or not, it will always load the corresponding domain
867 file under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Defaults.
869 Then if the user file was found it will merge it over the global file, else
870 the global file will be used.
872 This way any settings that are set by the system administrator in the shared
873 file will be available for users that do not have them in their config files.
874 Any option the user have in his config file will override the one in the
877 So any new runtime options that appear in WindowMaker domain, do not need to
878 be set in all user files, except the ones the user wants a different behavior
879 from the default set for all users in the shared file.
881 Also it is possible for the user to not have any personal domain databases, and
882 the global shared ones will be used, but it still needs to have the directory
883 structure, so WMState gets written on session exit.
884 So all it needs to have is ~/GNUstep/Defaults directory available.
887 New behavior of the Slide Icons
888 -------------------------------
890 Animation constants are now runtime.
894 IconSlideSlowDown = 50;
896 To better adapt both slow and fast machines the behavior of sliding icons
897 changed in the following manner:
899 Old one was to keep moving the icon with a constant step (default 5 pixels)
900 until it reached the destination.
902 Now it will use a new parameter named IconSlideSlowDown to speed up or slow
905 Instead of moving it with a constant step it will use IconSlideSlowDown to
906 divide the distance to the destination, and use this value as the first step.
907 Then is will compute the remaining distance and will again use
908 IconSlideSlowDown to divide it and get the new step. And so on.
909 When the step to move becomes smaller than IconSlideStep, IconSlideStep will
910 be used further until the destination is reached.
912 This way a nice deceleration effect is achieved, since while the icon
913 approaches destination, it will use smaller steps, gibing the illusion that
914 the icons is moving slower.
916 IconSlideDelay will give the pause between steps, and is expressed in ms.
918 Giving large values to IconSlideSlowDown (>1024 for 1024x768 screen) will
919 result in the old "constant step advance" behavior, since the computed step
920 will always be smaller than IconSlideStep, and the last will be used instead.
922 Making IconSlideSlowDown = 0 or 1, will result in an instant jump to the
923 destination without any animation.
929 Because the icon images on screen automatically update after any change in
930 WMWindowAttributes domain file, the use of both Save and Apply buttons is no
931 longer needed. If one wants to just apply the setting to the current window
932 only, he will only use the Apply button.
933 If he wants them saved for all applications in the same instance and/or class
934 the using the Save button will write them to disk, and automatically
935 WindowMaker will update all the icons that need to be updated on screen.
941 Some basic sound support is now part of WindowMaker. The sound server is not
942 yet part of WindowMaker distribution, so you need to download it separately.
943 This is because is linux specific, and need some changes before it can be
945 Until them if you have a linux system and want to use sound, use the
946 wmsound-0.5 available at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/7874
947 Download that package, and only build the sound server there.
948 DO NO APPLY ANY PATCHES FROM THERE!, because they are already applied.
949 Just build the sound and copy the executable in /usr/local/bin
950 Follow the rest of the install steps described there, except the patch-ing
953 To enable sound for WindowMaker pass --enable-sound to configure.
955 Also use NoSound = Yes/No; to enable/disable sound at runtime without killing
958 If you cannot set the sound to work yet, then is not for you.
959 Wait until the sound server will be fixed and will be part of WindowMaker.
962 New entries in WindowMaker domain database
963 ------------------------------------------
965 The following entries have been added to the runtime options:
967 SaveSessionOnExit = No;
969 will autosave (or not) the session state on exit.
971 WindowPlaceOrigin = "64, 64";
973 will offset all windows in auto or cascade placement mode with the value
974 (in pixels) before placing them on screen. First is horizontal direction and
976 This do not apply to windows that request a specific position on screen.
977 This is useful if you want your Clip on the top left corner to not be
978 overlapped by mapping windows.
979 It will let it to have a row and a column of docked appicons near the screen
980 edge, that will not be overlapped by windows.
981 If you set it to "128, 128" it will have 2 rows and 2 columns not overlapped.
986 Enable/disable sound at runtime without the need of killing the sound server.
989 MenuScrollDelay = 10;
992 Constants for the menu scrolling animation.
996 IconSlideSlowDown = 50;
998 Constants for the icons sliding on screen. Explained above.
1003 Animation parameters for shading a window. How many steps it will take, and the
1004 delay between steps in ms.
1006 DoubleClickTime = 250;
1008 The time for the double click to be considered so. Expressed in ms.
1010 SClipColor = "#6f8ae2";
1012 Color for selected icons in Clip.
1014 All delays are expressed in ms.
1021 *** Enhanced fiend clone.
1023 Here are the new fiend features:
1024 1. Keys for raising/lowering the fiend, and their default values:
1025 FiendLowerKey = None;
1026 FiendRaiseKey = None;
1027 FiendRaiseLowerKey = None;
1029 All reside in WindowMaker configuration file.
1031 2. Added posibility to launch the workspace menu with button1 click on the
1032 idle indicator of fiend, or with button3 click on workspace name on the
1035 3. Added Control-button1-click on fiend's idle indicator, to create a new
1036 workspace and move to it. Same action as New item in Workspace menu.
1038 4. Fiend's idle indicator do have a color that reflects its normal/collapsed
1041 5. The delay between changing workspaces from fiend is now a runtime option:
1043 WorkspaceChangeDelay = 700;
1045 in WindowMaker configuration file.
1047 6. Application icons can be moved between dock and fiend now.
1049 7. The way workspaces are changed is controlled now by two runtime options:
1051 AdvanceToNewWorkspace=Yes/No;
1052 CycleWorkspaces=Yes/No;
1054 Both apply to either fiend navigating buttons or to next/prev worksapace
1055 keybindings. Both default to No, and are in WindowMaker configuration file.
1057 8. Also added posibility to advance to new workspace, no matter what value
1058 AdvanceToNewWorkspace have, with Control-button1-click on "next workspace"
1062 *** Theme support ***
1064 Spixmap and tpixmap now work. Their syntax is:
1066 SomeStyleOption = (spixmap, file, color);
1067 SomeStyleOption = (tpixmap, file, color);
1069 - spixmap means scaled pixmap, so the image in the file will be scaled to
1070 adapt to the destination's size.
1071 - tpixmap means tiled pixmap, and the image from file will be tiled in the
1074 file is searched in the PixmapPath, but can be a full path name.
1076 Color is used depending on which Style option is applied.
1077 For example in case of titlebars, color is used for miniwindows titles color.
1078 You are not restricted in selecting that color, but is better to put one
1079 that matches the overall color of the image.
1081 Currently they apply to all the options that accept (solid, color), or any
1083 This means they also apply to WorkspaceBack and IconBack, which allows theme
1084 support with the simple use of the setstyle and getstyle utilities.
1085 There is no need for an extra theme manager, just to include the needed
1086 options in the style files.
1088 In case of WorkspaceBack, color is used to be set in the background until
1089 the image gets loaded and displayed. This is to avoid the stippled screen
1090 the X server shows, in case the image is big and loads slow.
1091 There is a small utility in the util directory, named wmsetbg which is
1092 used to set the background image. This is needed for windowmaker not to
1093 freeze while loading and scaling the image.
1094 Currently it is hardcoded in windowmaker to use wmsetbg to set the background
1095 image, and is better to use it since is smaller that other image manipulation
1096 programs, and it is compiled with support for same image types as windowmaker.
1097 Since it comes and is installed with WindowMaker, there will be no need to
1098 download and use an external app, which also may not have support for the same
1099 image types as windowmaker.
1107 The fiend clone is a dock extender, that lets you dock more than the default
1108 10-12 icons in the dock. It actually lets you dock how many icons you like,
1109 with a current default of 25 per workspace. The fiend have different docked
1110 icons on every workspace. Also the fiend main icon shows you the workspace
1111 you're on and lets you navigate through the workspaces with the small green
1112 buttons on the low right corner.
1113 To save screen space the fiend can be collapsed to the main icon either
1114 from the fiend menu (available with right click on the fiend icons), or
1115 with a double left click on the main fiend icon, which is a toggle for
1116 the collapsed/uncollapsed state.
1117 Collapsed state is marked by a different title color.
1118 Pressing on the small buttons on the low right corner, the workspaces are
1119 changed in increments of 1 to the left or right, but keeping the button
1120 pressed over them will continuously advance through workspaces until the
1121 mouse is moved away from the buttons or the button is released.
1122 The delay between workspace changes is set by FIEND_WKS_CHANGE_DELAY in
1123 src/wconfig.h, and defaults to 700 ms.
1124 Unlike the dock, fiend can hold icons in any directions, and can be placed
1125 in any position on screen.
1127 When an icons is to be docked, but the position can be either in the dock
1128 or in the fiend, the dock will be used first, and the icon will be docked
1131 Here are the new runtime options introduced by the fiend:
1132 Files are located in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/
1134 In WMWindowAttributes:
1135 "Logo.WMFiend" = {Icon = "Cone.xpm";}; - icon for the fiend
1138 FiendMaxIcons = 25; - the max number of icons in fiend per
1140 FiendTitleFont = "-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*";
1141 - the font used to show the current
1143 FiendTitleColor = black; - color for the uncollapsed fiend title
1144 CFiendTitleColor = "#616161"; - color for the collapsed fiend title
1145 AFiendColor = "#00ba70"; - color for the workspace changing
1146 buttons, when active
1147 IFiendColor = "#008000"; - color for the workspace changing
1150 For the ones who don't want to use fiend, there is a option to wmaker named
1151 -nofiend that can be feed to the command line when starting wmaker.
1152 (This is the equivalent for -nodock, but removes fiend clone).
1154 The syntax of WMState file have changed, but you don't have to worry because
1155 WindowMaker will know to read the old format and will save it and further
1156 will use the new one. You do not need to change your file, for the new version
1162 *** Enhanced Attribute editor.
1164 Now you can save defaults for all windows.
1165 Please note that only Icon, KeepInsideScree, and sometimes NoAppIcon
1166 can be useful in a normal environment. But others may have other opinion ;)
1167 If you set AlwaysUserIcon default for all windows, note that apps like
1168 asclock, wmload, wmmail, wmrack, will show that icon instead of their
1171 Now Attribute editor also counts for defaults saved for all windows,
1172 (not only the default "No" for all options hardcoded in WindowMaker),
1173 when saving options for some instance.class specification. This is to
1174 save disk space by saving only the options that differs from global defaults
1175 (either defaults for all windows or the hardcoded valued in WindowMaker).
1177 Attribute Editor now updates on the fly the appicon image or creates/deletes
1178 the appicon if you set that options in the Inspector panel and Apply them.
1179 Modifying Icon file, NoAppIcon or AlwaysUserIcon and Applying them will
1180 result in the image update for the app-icon.
1182 Note that if you apply but not save these options, the miniwindow image will
1183 not be updated. This is because app-icon is always on screen so it can be
1184 updated, but miniwindow image is read from the defaults database and from disk
1185 every time you minimize the window and is destroyed when you restore.
1190 *** Atribute editor is working ;).
1192 How it works is quite obvious.
1193 Anyway, here is a short description.
1195 Save - only save the configuration in defaults database and updates
1197 Apply - only applies the values to the current window
1198 Revert - reverts the values from the defaults database
1200 Note that Save and Revert count for the window specification
1201 (instance & class), that are selected, and save/use the values for/from
1204 The Update button will show the icon who's name was typed in the textfield
1205 If the textfield is empty, will try to use the default icon.
1206 Also saving with and empty textfield for icon, uses the default icon.
1208 The Default button will use the icon in the textfield as default icon
1209 and save that value in WMWindowAttributes (Note that in this case is no
1210 need to press the Save button!). Also if the textfield is empty it will
1211 try to use the old default icon, if available.
1213 *** Now menus are saved between sessions, or over a restart.
1215 Just stick them to the desktop, and you will find them over sessions
1216 until you close them.
1217 Please note that only the root_menu, the window switch_menu and the
1218 workspaces_menu can be saved this way.
1220 *** Changed the lousy Windoze menu behaviour.
1222 This applies to 'NextMenuBehaviour = NO;'
1224 Now the items are no more automatically selected if you launch the menu
1225 and the mouse is over some item, if you use a short click to launch the
1226 menu (shorter than the default DBL click time).
1227 If you use a longer click or keep the mouse pressed, the item under mouse
1228 will be selected after that delay, and launched when you will release the
1230 If the click was short, a second one is needed to launch the item.
1232 *** Autoarrange icons is now a runtime option
1235 AutoArrangeIcons = YES/NO;
1238 *** Added configurable horizontal resize threshold
1241 HorizontalResizeThreshold = <n>;
1243 This will make the n pixels at the exterior side of the corner handle
1244 of the resize bar to restrict to horizontal only resize.
1245 Also you can use Shift-click&drag anywhere on the corner handle to
1246 restrict the resize only to horizontal.
1247 Note that the Shift-click&drag does not depend of the configured threshold
1248 and works completely independent.
1250 *** New option for OPEN_MENU (pipe from command)
1252 OPEN_MENU | /foo/bar/script
1254 will make a menu that is dinamically constructed by /foo/bar/script
1259 *** New option for OPEN_MENU
1261 OPEN_MENU /foo/bar/pics xv -root -quit
1263 will make a menu with all files in /foo/bar/pics and precede them
1264 with EXEC xv -root -quit
1266 thus, making a menu with entries like:
1269 "marble.gif" EXEC xv -root -quit marble.gif
1270 "water.jpg" EXEC xv -root -quit water.jpg
1274 *** Multicolor gradients
1276 (mhgradient, colorX, color1, color2, color3, ..., colorn)
1277 (mvgradient, colorX, color1, color2, color3, ..., colorn)
1279 You can put any number of colors >= 2.
1281 colorX is a special color that is used as the solid color of the
1282 texture when wmaker needs a solid color (like in miniwindow title and
1285 *** PixmapPath format changed
1289 PixmapPath = "/usr/local/share/pixmaps:~/foobar";
1293 PixmapPath = ("/usr/local/share/pixmaps", "~/foobar");
1296 *** Added OffiX DND in dock
1298 Use the "Set drop arguments..." command in the menu and put a %d
1299 where the dropped object string should be substituted, like:
1303 *** Escape thingies for menu and dock commands:
1305 %w - substitute with current selected X window ID
1306 %s - substitute with current selection
1307 %d - substitute with last dropped object
1308 %a(some text) - opens a input box with "some text" as a title. Then,
1309 the text typed will be substituted there
1311 \r, \n - substitute with corresponding characters
1314 *** The WMState file format has changed a little.
1315 The Command field for the dock application list is now a normal string,
1316 instead of a list. So, remove the parentheses and the commas for the command
1317 and join all the parts. Example:
1321 Command = ( xterm," -geometry", "+10+10" );
1325 Command = "xterm -geometry +10+10";
1330 AutoFocus = NO; disables automatic focusing of windows
1331 when they are first mapped
1336 titlebar gradients are in a single piece now
1338 the WMDock file was merged into the WMState file. You can insert this
1339 file in WMState and set it's key to Dock. For example, if your WMDock
1343 Applications = { {Command = (); }};
1348 and WMState contains:
1351 Workspaces = ( "Workspace 1" );
1354 then you can merge both and have:
1357 Workspaces = ( "Workspace 1" );
1359 Applications = { {Command = (); }};
1367 The configuration format has changed!! Forget everything about the old
1370 dockapp was removed and the old version will not work anymore.
1372 the dialogs require tcl/tk. they will be rewritten in plain C
1375 These are some tips for people upgrading from older versions and don't want
1376 too many unused files around. There is no problem if you decide to keep
1379 you can rm -r ~/gnustep if you don't want anything from there
1381 remove the files in /usr/local/share/WindowMaker before installation
1383 the /usr/local/share/pixmaps directory can be removed