1 Window Maker for DEBIAN
2 =======================
4 This is Debian GNU/Linux's prepackaged version of Window Maker, yet
5 another window manager, written mostly from scratch by Alfredo Kojima
6 in an attempt to provide as much of the useful OpenStep functionality
7 as possible under X11. It is the natural step after AfterStep.
9 There are some changes in the paths, added support for Debian menu
10 system, improved user configuration (from the sysadmin point of view).
12 To run Window Maker put this at the end of ~/.xsession:
16 and remove other exec lines if present. I have done my best to
17 overcome certain glitches and gotchas regarding Window Maker
18 installation. /usr/bin/wmaker is a shell script that tries to
19 make sure things are properly set up. Take a look at it to see what's
20 going on. Please read wmaker(1x).
23 Other sources for documentation
24 -------------------------------
26 * The Window Maker web site
27 http://www.windowmaker.info/
29 You can find all sorts of information here. It's kept very up to
32 * The Window Maker manual written by Alfredo Kojima
33 ftp://ftp.windowmaker.info/pub/wmaker/docs/
35 Please note the manual documents version 0.10.x of Window Maker, and
36 many features/changes have occured since then. To find out what has
37 changed, please read file:/usr/share/doc/wmaker/NEWS.gz and
38 file:/usr/share/doc/wmaker/changelog.gz. A new version of this manual is
39 being developed. If you want to contribute to the manual please
40 contact wm-user@windowmaker.info
42 * The Window Maker mailing list
43 http://www.windowmaker.info/lists.html
45 There's a Window Maker mailing list. There you can ask questions about
46 Window Maker and *related* applications (s/n is _way_ low nowadays
47 due to unrelated discussions).
49 Please read the archives before asking!
51 * The Window Maker FAQ
52 http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~grapeape/wmfaq.html
54 This is NOT file:/usr/share/doc/wmaker/FAQ.gz, but another document.
55 It contains information about several aspects of Window Maker that are
56 not covered on the FAQ included alongside with this Readme.
58 * The Window Maker Configuration documents
59 ftp://ftp.windowmaker.info/pub/wmaker/docs/WindowMaker-*-Config.txt.gz
61 This documents the files found on ~/GNUstep/Defaults/. It's kept as
62 up to date as possible.
64 As a sidenote, I can't package these files with wmaker because they
65 don't have a copyright statement that permits redistribution.
68 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM 0.6.3 or earlier
69 ------------------------------------------
71 * The directory name has changed form gnustep to GNUstep
72 * The format of the style files and Window Maker file has
75 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM 0.14.1 or earlier (but newer than 0.6.3)
76 ------------------------------------------------------------------
78 * The Fiend has been renamed to Clip (in order to avoid hurting
79 certain people's feelings... does that ring a bell or
80 what?!?). Look up "Fiend" in the dictionary... therefore, every
81 keyword on Defaults/WindowMaker that says "Fiend" has to be
82 replaced by "Clip". The installation package tries to fix this
83 globally, i.e, both in the system wide files and the user's files.
84 * The ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Style directory is no longer
85 called that, but "Styles" instead. Update accordingly. The wrapper
86 script tries to be smart about this...
88 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM 0.15.0 or earlier
89 -------------------------------------------
91 * WindowPlaceOrigin syntax changed. The old was:
92 WindowPlaceOrigin = "64, 64"
94 WindowPlaceOrigin = (64, 64)
95 The installation package also fixes this.
97 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM 0.17.3 or earlier
98 -------------------------------------------
100 * Please note there's a new Icons directory under ~/GNUstep/Library,
101 and a new key IconPath. Read the section on paths.
103 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM 0.17.5 or earlier
104 -------------------------------------------
106 * Pandora's Box has been opened: Beware that some features of recent
107 releases may not be compatible with those of 0.17.5; PLEASE read
108 the NEWS file and the ChangeLog. If you don't have problems
109 upgrading, consider it a gift from the gods. PLEASE NOTE: WPrefs
110 is a work in progress. SAVE YOUR CONFIGURATION. READ THE READMEs.
111 * Please note that WPrefs' Menu Guru REQUIERES a menu in "Property
112 List" format to work properly. It's very likely that you have an
113 old format menu. There's a script called wm-oldmenu2new alongside
114 this file that converts your menu to the new format. It's a hack,
115 it won't be installed anywhere else.
118 Debian specific notes
119 ---------------------
121 Debian prepackaged version of Window Maker will search
122 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker and etc/X11/WindowMaker (in that order)
123 for its configuration files. It will read defaults from files in
124 ~/GNUstep/Defaults and /etc/GNUstep/Defaults. The files in the
125 WindowMaker directories are preprocessed using cpp. It will read both
126 WindowMaker directories searching for #included files.
128 WindowMaker makes a (little) difference between Pixmaps and Icons, and
129 there are two configurable options for setting the paths Window Maker
130 would search Pixmaps and Icons in, namely, PixmapPath and
131 IconPath. The compiled in defaults are:
135 "~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Pixmaps",
136 "/usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Pixmaps",
137 "/usr/share/WindowMaker/Pixmaps",
138 "/usr/local/share/pixmaps",
139 "/usr/share/pixmaps",
140 "/usr/X11R6/include/X11/pixmaps"
145 "~/GNUstep/Library/Icons",
146 "/usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Icons",
147 "/usr/share/WindowMaker/Icons",
148 "/usr/local/share/icons",
150 "/usr/X11R6/include/X11/pixmaps"
153 Please note that the internal default doesn't include the "Pixmaps"
154 paths anymore, but you are free to modify your Window Maker file in any
155 way you see fit. Please note that the /usr/X11R6/include/X11/pixmaps
156 is not going to be supported in future releases.
158 Other Window Maker packages should put pixmaps in
159 /usr/share/WindowMaker/Pixmaps and icons in
160 /usr/share/WindowMaker/Icons, ONLY.
162 The structure Window Maker tries to use is like this:
177 Please note Icons are not considered Window Maker-only resources.
179 [*] these directories are OPEN_MENU'ed WITH the right
180 application. That means you can put the *file* "Great Debian Theme" on
181 Themes, it will show up in the menu, and will be opened using
182 setstyle, which installs it, i.e., sets that theme as the current
185 If you don't like the arrangement of the Appearance menu, you can put
186 a file "appearance.menu" in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker, and it will
187 override the default one. Look at /etc/X11/WindowMaker/appearance.menu
193 Thanks to a suggestion, there's support for Shortcuts. If you want to
194 have Shift F1 launch an XTerm, you can:
196 $ cp /usr/lib/menu/xterm /etc/menu
197 $ sensible-editor /etc/menu/xterm
203 and run update-menus.
208 This version of Window Maker is compiled with sound support. The sound
209 server is available as a separate package, but may not be in sync with
212 Changing the menus (or "WPrefs segfaults when I click the cute menu icon")
213 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
215 First of all, I have this urge to say that it doesn't segfault for
216 me. It gives me a nice warning about being unable to use my current
219 The problem is that wmaker now is capable of using a new type of menu,
220 namely a PropList menu. It looks something like this:
224 (Debian, OPEN_MENU, menu.hook),
227 (Appearance, OPEN_MENU, appearance.menu),
228 (Workspaces, WORKSPACE_MENU),
229 ("Arrange Icons", ARRANGE_ICONS),
230 ("Hide Others", HIDE_OTHERS),
231 ("Show All Windows", SHOW_ALL),
232 ("Clear Session", CLEAR_SESSION),
233 ("Save Session", EXEC, "")
235 (About..., INFO_PANEL),
239 That cute looking menu button (let's call it by its name: the Menu
240 Guru) in WPrefs expects to find a menu in this format. I considered
241 changing the menu-method to something that spits out a menu in this
242 format (it's quite easy) but there's a little tiny problem: see that
243 line that reads "OPEN_MENU" in the example above... well, it happens
244 that appearance.menu has to be in the old format. That means that if
245 I make the menu method produce a new style menu, that menu has to be
246 the root menu. And that is not a good idea (the reason is left as an
247 exercise to the reader, take into account the people that aren't using
248 menu.hook as the root menu in the first place).
250 Still want to use WPrefs to edit you menu? Cut and paste the example
251 above into ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu, start WPrefs, click the Menu
252 Guru (the 9th icon, left to right). Now go read the docs. That's the
253 reason they are there.
255 Marcelo E. Magallon <mmagallo@debian.org>, Thr, 1 Apr 1999 18:47:30 -0600