Window Maker 0.20.3

[wmaker-crm.git] / README

                       Window Maker X11 Window Manager

                           <http://windowmaker.org>
                         <ftp://ftp.windowmaker.org>


                             Alfredo K. Kojima 

                                 Dan Pascu

                              Matthew Hawkins



                Congratulations! You have purchased an extremely fine
        device that would give you thousands of years of trouble-free 
        service, except that you undoubtably will destroy it via some 
        typical bonehead consumer maneuver. Which is why we ask you
        to PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THIS OWNER'S MANUAL CAREFULLY
        BEFORE YOU UNPACK THE DEVICE. YOU ALREADY UNPACKED IT, DIDN'T
        YOU? YOU UNPACKED IT AND PLUGGED IT IN AND TURNED IT ON AND 
        FIDDLED WITH THE KNOBS, AND NOW YOUR CHILD, THE SAME CHILD WHO
        ONCE SHOVED A POLISH SAUSAGE INTO YOUR VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDER
        AND SET IT ON "FAST FORWARD", THIS CHILD ALSO IS FIDDLING
        WITH THE KNOBS, RIGHT?  AND YOU'RE JUST NOW STARTING TO READ 
        THE INSTRUCTIONS, RIGHT???  WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST BREAK THESE 
        DEVICES RIGHT AT THE FACTORY BEFORE WE SHIP THEM OUT, YOU 
        KNOW THAT? 
                                -- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"


Description
===========

Window Maker is a window manager designed to emulate the look and feel of
part of the NEXTSTEP(tm) GUI. It's supposed to be relatively fast and small,
feature rich, easy to configure and easy to use, with a simple and elegant
appearance borrowed from NEXTSTEP(tm).

Window Maker was designed keeping integration with GNUstep in mind and is the
"official" window manager for it. Read more about GNUstep further on this
file.

Window Maker was previously called WindowMaker.

Window Maker has no connection with Windowmaker, the software for
making windows and doors.


Documentation
=============

* README files all over the source tree have info related to the stuff
in the directories.

* INSTALL has installation instructions and some troubleshooting tips.
You're meant to read it before installing. it was not written just to 
fill up space in the package...

* FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions. READ IT!!! FAQ.I18N is for
internationalization related questions.

* NEWS: list user visible changes from the previous version. Read it if
you are upgrading.

* MIRRORS: some alternative places where you can get Window Maker,
including platform specific packages of Window Maker.

* BUGFORM: use it to send bug reports. Please do use it.

* ChangeLog: what changed from the previous version?

* BUGS: list of known bugs


*** User Guide

The Window Maker User's Guide can be downloaded from the official ftp
or web sites.
It can also be viewed in HTML format in:
http://people.delphi.com/crc3419/WMUserGuide/index.htm

The User Guide explains how to use Window Maker, the configuration files
and options.


*** man pages

Type "man wmaker" in the shell prompt to get general help about Window Maker



Directories & Files in the Source Tree
======================================

* Install is a script for configuring and compiling Window Maker in a easy
way (not that the normal way is difficult, but...).

* AUTHORS: the credits

* TODO: plans for the future

* util/ has various utility programs.

* WPrefs.app/ is the configuration program. 

* src/wconfig.h has compile time options you can change to select some
options/features and other stuff. 

* WINGs/ NEXTSTEP lookalike widget library

* wrlib/ image processing library

* po/ has message catalogs wich are the translated versions of the messages
displayed by Window Maker.



Mailing List
============

There is a mailing list for discussing Window Maker at
wmaker@linuxcenter.com To subscribe to it, send a message containing:
        subscribe 
in the body of the message to wmaker-request@linuxcenter.com

If you got a problem, ask there (after reading the docs, of course). The
people there is more likely to be able to answer your questions than we are.
For bug reports use the BUGFORM.

If you have a problem with a precompiled version of Window Maker 
(rpm, deb etc), first ask the person who made the package.

IMPORTANT NOTE: when asking for help (in the mailing list or to the
developerts, directly) *always* send information about the system you are
using. You can use the system information section at the end of BUGFORM as a
guideline. Another thing: please don't send HTML mail.


GNUstep
=======

GNUstep is a complete object-oriented development system, based on the
OpenStep specification released by NeXT(tm) (now Apple(tm)) and Sun(tm). It
will provide everything one needs to produce cross-platform, object-oriented,
graphical (and non-graphical) applications; providing among other things,
base system libraries, a high-level GUI application framework that uses a
Display PostScript(tm)-like imaging model (DGS), objects for accessing
relational databases, distributed objects and a graphical development
environment, with a interface builder, a project management system and other
tools.

GNUstep will be used to create a user environment, with everything needed for
a complete graphical user interface, such as a file viewer, text editors and
other applications. Note that the user environment (or "desktop environment")
is only a small part of the whole GNUstep project.

For more information on the GNUstep project, visit: http://www.gnustep.org


Running multiple instances of Window Maker
==========================================

It is not a good idea to run more than one instance of Window Maker
from the same user (so that wmaker will use the same configuration
files) at the same time. You might get unexpected behaviour when Window Maker
updates it's configuration files.


Sound support
=============

Sound is supported for Linux and FreeBSD systems with the use of a
separately distributed module. You can download it at:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~southgat/wmsound

Note that you must compile Window Maker with the --enable-sound configure
flag and set the DisableSound option to NO.


Performance Tuning
==================

If you want to diminish Window Maker's memory usage and improve performance,
while keeping a nice appearance and good functionality, follow the items
bellow:

- use solid textures for everything, mainly titlebars and menus. If you
  want a nice looking desktop, use the Traditional style.
- turn NewStyle and Superfluous off
- do not bind many shortcuts in the menu and keep only the essential items
  in the menu
- turn on DisableClip
- edit wconfig.h and disable the NUMLOCK_HACK and the features you
  don't use anyway (keep in mind that some of the #defines might not
  work, as they are not fully supported). Make sure to always keep
  NumLock and ScrollLock turned off.
- turn on DisableAnimations. You can also #undefine ANIMATIONS in wconfig.h
- strip down the default IconPath and PixmapPath entries to contain only 
  the paths that you really have in your system. 
- do not use large images in the root background
- remove support for image formats you don't use
- to reduce memory usage, disable the icon cache, by setting the RIMAGE_CACHE
  environment variable to 0. If you want to increase performance at the cost
  of memory usage, set it's value to a value like the number of different
  icons you use.


Keyboard Mouse Control
======================

Many people ask about adding keyboard control of mouse, like in fvwm,
but Window Maker will not have such feature. The XKB extension supports
mouse simulation from the keyboard, in a much more powerfull fashion than
any simulation done by a window manager. 

To enable it, hit the Control+Shift+NumLock or Shift+NumLock key combination. 
You should hear the speaker beeping. To disable it, do the same thing.

To control the mouse the numeric keypad is used as follows:
- 4 (left arrow), 7 (Home), 8 (up arrow), 9 (PgUp), 6 (right arrow), 
3 (PgDn), 2 (down arrow) and 1 (End) move the mouse to the corresponding
direction;
- holding one of the above keys and then holding the 5 key will move the
pointer faster;
- / will select the first mouse button (left button);
- * will select the second mouse button (middle button);
- - will select the third mouse button (right button);
- 5 will do a click with the currently selected mouse button;
- + will do a double-click with the currently selected button;
- 0 (Ins) will click and hold the currently selected button;
- . (Del) will release the currently selected button that was previously
clicked with the 0 (Ins) key.


The above key values work in a XFree86 3.2 (X11R6.1) X server but your
milleage may vary.


How to make a gdb backtrace
===========================

Backtraces can help us fix bugs that make Window Maker crash. If you
find a bug that crashes Window Maker, please send a backtrace with your
bug report.

To make a usefull backtrace, you need a core file with debugging
information produced by Window Maker when it crashes. The default
for Window Maker is to restart another window manager when it crashes,
so you will not get a core file. You need to edit the src/wconfig.h
file *after* running configure and change the line that looks like:

#undef NO_EMERGENCY_AUTORESTART

to:

#define NO_EMERGENCY_AUTORESTART

Then, in the src directory type:
make CFLAGS=-g
make install

and wait for Window Maker to be installed.

Once having Window Maker installed, start X and reproduce the bug so
that Window Maker crashes. When it does crash, type the following from
your shell:

script
gdb wmaker path_to_the_core_file

Then, in the gdb prompt type "bt". Quit from gdb by typing "quit"
and then, in the shell prompt, type "exit".

The file named typescript will contain the backtrace.



Copyrights & Disclaimers
========================

Window Maker is copyrighted by Alfredo K. Kojima and is licensed through the
GNU General Public License. Read the COPYING file for the complete license.

NeXT, OpenStep and NEXTSTEP are a trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

The authors reserve the right to make changes in the software without prior
notice.


Authors
=======

Alfredo K. Kojima <kojima@windowmaker.org>
Dan Pascu <dan@windowmaker.org>
Matt Hawkins <matt@windowmaker.org>

Please don't ask us questions before reading the documentation (esp. the
FAQ, this file and INSTALL files) and about "cool" things you see in
people's desktop screenshots.


The AUTHORS file contains a list of the people who have contributed to the
project. The name of people who have helped with localization (translation)
can be found in po/README and Window Maker/README

If you have any comments, fixes and bug reports (filled BUGFORMs) send them
to developers@windowmaker.org




Musicware
=========

If you use Window Maker and *really* like it, please consider making my day
by sending me a music CD (or a MiniDisc) of your favorite band, singer,
instrumentist, composer or whatever :^). I like listening to music and would
love to get new CDs, especially from other parts of the world. I like almost
any kind of music, from Ozzy Osbourne to Bach (mas não pagode e sertanejo
pelamordideus :), so I will be happy to receive just about anything.

Snail mail address:

Alfredo Kengi Kojima
Rua Firmino O. Bimbi, 255/25B
Porto Alegre - RS
CEP 91751-330
Brazil