1 NEWS for veteran Window Maker users
2 -----------------------------------
7 Alternative way for traverse half-maximized windows
8 ---------------------------------------------------
10 For now, there could be three possible state of the window while using
11 half-maximized feature. Unmaximized window have its state saved during that
12 process, which was use to unmaximize it. For example, if there is a window,
13 which is maximized on the half left side of the screen, and while requesting
14 left-half-maximized, it become unmaximized with size and dimension restored to
17 By setting "AlternativeHalfMaximized" option to "Yes"
18 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker config file (or by using WPrefs.app and option
19 "Alternative transitions between states for half maximized windows."), there
20 would be slightly different change in window "traverse". Given layout depicted
23 ┌┬────────────────────┬┐
30 └┴┴────────────────────┘
32 Window can be moved using keyboard shortcut right-half-maximize:
34 ┌┬─────────┬──────────┬┐
41 └┴┴────────────────────┘
43 Further invoking right-half-maximize will do nothing. Note, that window always
44 can be unmaximzied using appropriate keyboard shortcut or by selecting
45 "Unmaximize" from window menu.
47 Going to opposite direction by invoking left-half-maximize, will make the window
48 maximized in both, vertical and horizontal directions:
50 ┌─────────────────────┬┐
51 ├─────────────────────┼┤
56 ├┬┬───────────────────┘│
57 └┴┴────────────────────┘
59 Further invoking left-half-maximize, will make the window maximized in half left
62 ┌──────────┬──────────┬┐
69 └┴┴────────────────────┘
71 And again, further invoking left-half-maximize, will do nothing in this mode.
73 This change affects all possible half-maximized window state also quarters.
74 Issuing bottom-left-corner will take lower left quarter of the screen (nothing
77 ┌┬────────────────────┬┐
84 └┴┴────────────────────┘
86 Issuing bottom-right-corner again will change window state to bottom half
89 ┌┬────────────────────┬┐
92 ├─────────────────────┼┤
93 ├─────────────────────┼┤
95 ├┬┬───────────────────┘│
96 └┴┴────────────────────┘
98 Invoking bottom-right-corner again:
100 ┌┬────────────────────┬┐
107 └┴┴────────────────────┘
109 Issuing bottom-right-corner again will have no effect.
112 Move half-maximized windows between the screens
113 -----------------------------------------------
115 New option was introduced to allow change of behaviour of half-maximize windows
116 in multiple displays environment. In such environment it is more natural that
117 half maximized windows would travel from one screen to another. Now it is
118 possible to make that happen by setting an option
119 "MoveHalfMaximizedWindowsBetweenScreens" to "Yes" in
120 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker config file, or by checking "Allow move
121 half-maximized windows between multiple screens." in 'Expert User Preferences"
124 For example, given there are two screens in layout where one display is on the
125 left and second display is on the right with window on first screen:
127 ┌┬────────────────┬─────────────────┬┐
134 └┴┴───────────────┴┴┴┴───────────────┘
136 It can be right-half-maximized (using previously defined key combination), so it
139 ┌┬───────┬────────┬─────────────────┬┐
146 └┴┴───────────────┴┴┴┴───────────────┘
148 In this example there is an assumption that WindowMaker is configured, that
149 maximized windows wont cover mini icons nor dock.
151 Without setting new option to true, issuing another right-half-maximize will
152 restore window dimensions and position to the original state (like on the first
153 figure). With new option set to true it will move window to second screen like:
155 ┌┬────────────────┬────────┬────────┬┐
162 └┴┴───────────────┴┴┴┴───────────────┘
164 Another activation of right-half-maxmimize:
166 ┌┬────────────────┬────────┬────────┬┐
173 └┴┴───────────────┴┴┴┴───────────────┘
175 And final activation of right-half-maxmimize:
177 ┌┬────────────────┬───────┬─────────┬┐
184 └┴┴───────────────┴┴┴┴───────────────┘
186 Where window is restored its size (but not position, since it it on different
187 head now). Moving window in directions like left-half-maximize,
188 top-half-maximize and bottom-half-maximize will behave in similar way depending
189 on the layout of displays.
191 Note, that only windows that are half-maximized vertically or horizontally can
192 be moved to another screen due to the fact, that direction of movement of
193 quarter-maximized windows is ambiguous. As for vertical/horizontal-maximize,
194 since doesn't move the window but only stretch it vertically/horizontally this
195 feature also doesn't apply.
198 Snapping a window to the top
199 ----------------------------
201 You can now choose whether snapping a window to the top edge of the screen
202 maximizes it to the top half (the previous and default behavior) or to the
203 full screen by setting "SnapToTopMaximizesFullscreen" to "NO" or "YES",
204 respectively. This setting can also be changed by unchecking or checking
205 "Snapping a window to the top maximizes it to the full screen" in the
206 "Expert User Preferences" tab in WPrefs.app.
214 You can now "snap" a window, i.e., maximize it to a side or corner of the
215 screen, by dragging it to that side or corner. It is enabled by setting
216 "WindowSnapping = YES" in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker or selecting "Maximize
217 (snap) a window to edge or corner by dragging." under "Expert User Preferences"
220 Note that if "Switch workspaces while dragging windows" is selected under
221 "Workspace Preferences" in WPrefs.app, or if "DontLinkWorkspaces = NO" in
222 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, then you may only snap a window to the top or
223 bottom of the screen.
225 You may set the distance (in pixels) from the edge or corner of the screen at
226 which a window will begin snapping using "SnapEdgeDetect" and "SnapCornerDetect"
227 in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker or setting "Distance from edge/corner to begin
228 window snap." under "Expert User Preferences" in WPrefs.app. (The defaults are
229 1 pixel and 10 pixels, respectively).
232 Dragging maximized windows
233 --------------------------
234 You can now control the behavior when a maximized window is dragged by setting
235 the "DragMaximizedWindow" option in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker or by
236 selecting an option from the "When dragging a maximized window..." pop-up button
237 under "Window Handling Preferences" in WPrefs.app.
239 There are four choices:
240 * "Move" ("...change position (normal behavior)" in WPrefs.app) is the default
241 and traditional behavior. A maximized window is moved when dragged and
242 remains maximized, i.e., it keeps its maximized geometry and can later be
244 * "RestoreGeometry" ("...restore unmaximized geometry") is the behavior standard
245 in desktop environments like GNOME, Cinnamon, and Unity. A maximized window
246 is moved when dragged and is completely unmaximized, i.e., its unmaximized
247 geometry is restored.
248 * "Unmaximize" ("...consider the window unmaximized") causes a maximized window
249 to be moved when dragged and remains partially maximized, i.e., it keeps its
250 maximized geometry, but is consider to be unmaximized. In particular, it can
251 be immediately re-maximized.
252 * "NoMove" ("...do not move the window") prevents a maximized window from being
255 Note that, to accomodate this option in the "Window Handling Preferences" tab in
256 WPrefs.app, the option to "Open dialogs in the same workspace as their owners"
257 (which sets the "OpenTransientOnOwnerWorkspace" option from
258 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker) has been moved to "Expert User Preferences".
261 Mini-Previews instead of Apercus
262 --------------------------------
264 Since the original name was not really clear because it is a French word that
265 is rarely used by British people, it was decided to change it to the more usual
266 Mini-Preview name. The setting is configurable with WPrefs in the Icon
267 Preferences tab, the size is now expressed in pixels directly.
270 Ignore Decoration Hints from GNOME applications
271 -----------------------------------------------
273 The GNOME applications ask Window Maker to get no title bar and no resize bar to
274 their windows by using "Hints". You can re-add them using the Attribute dialog
275 in the Window menu, but if you are using many GNOME applications you may want to
276 tell Window Maker to just ignore them. This is done with the new setting called
277 "IgnoreGtkHints", which is available in the "Expert" panel in WPrefs.
280 Cooperative Window Manager Replacement
281 --------------------------------------
283 The ICCCM defines a protocol for window managers to ask to replace the currently
284 running one; Window Maker now supports it. You can ask Window Maker to take the
285 place of current one by running "wmaker --replace", or any other window manager
286 can ask Window Maker to leave the place for them when started the same way.
287 Please note that this feature must be explicitely enabled at compile time because
288 by default it is not compiled in ("configure --enable-wmreplace").
293 More image format supported
294 ---------------------------
296 In addition to a more complete Netpbm image formats support, WindowMaker
297 can now load WebP images. It can also make use of the ImageMagick library
298 to support a lot more formats, like SVG, BMP, TGA...
304 A small preview of window contents can be enabled from WPrefs,
305 in Miscellaneous Ergonomic Preferences, check miniwindow apercus.
306 Apercu size can be configured using the ApercuSize variable with
308 $ wdwrite WindowMaker ApercuSize 4
310 in multiples of the icon size (in this case the apercu size will be four
311 times the icon size).
313 The default size is 2 (twice the icon size).
316 Support for up to 9-buttons mouse
317 ---------------------------------
319 The action for the newly supported buttons can be configured from WPrefs.
322 wmiv, an image viewer application
323 ---------------------------------
325 wmiv is a quick image viewer using wrlib to be run from the command line.
330 Support for generated menus in proplist format
331 ----------------------------------------------
333 The root menu now supports a OPEN_PLMENU option to construct a submenu from
334 the output of a command which is proplist format. This can be used e.g. in
335 conjunction with wmmenugen like:
338 "Generated PL Submenu", OPEN_PLMENU,
339 "|| find /usr/share/applications -type f -name '*desktop' | xargs wmmenugen -parser:xdg"
343 New window placements
344 ---------------------
346 Now it is possible to maximize windows to the top/bottom halves
347 of the screen and also to the corners (top/bottom + left/right).
349 The keyboard shortcuts can be configured with WPrefs.
352 Options to configure window/menu borders
353 ----------------------------------------
355 You can now configure the width and color of window and menu borders.
356 For example, the default settings could be configured as follows:
358 $ wdwrite WindowMaker FrameBorderWidth 1
359 $ wdwrite WindowMaker FrameBorderColor black
360 $ wdwrite WindowMaker FrameSelectedBorderColor white
363 Keyboard shortcuts to move windows between workspaces
364 -----------------------------------------------------
366 You can now bind keyboard shortcuts - or use the window dropdown menus -
367 to move windows to other workspaces. You can either move a window directly to
368 a particular workspace or to the "next" or "previous" workspace.
370 The new shortcuts can be configured in WPrefs.
373 Native support for Drawers
374 --------------------------
376 WindowMaker now supports drawers in the dock natively. You can add a dock by
377 right-clicking on a docked appicon and select "Add a drawer". You can now drag
378 appicons to this drawer.
379 You can customize how you want your drawers to auto-expand/collapse and
380 auto-raise/lower, or you can also completely disable them.
383 Improved switch panel functionality
384 -----------------------------------
386 The switch panel can be used to switch between windows of the same WM_CLASS,
387 for example between all open xterms. If the switch panel is opened as normal
388 with either the "FocusNextKey" or "FocusPrevKey" shortcut, you can switch to
389 the next (or previous) window of the same type as the focused window with the
390 "GroupNextKey" or "GroupPrevKey" shortcut. If the switch panel is opened with
391 the "GroupNextKey" or "GroupPrevKey" shortcut, it will show only windows of
392 the same type as the window which was focused at the time the panel was opened,
393 and no difference will be seen between the two types of window selection
396 The new shortcuts can be configured in WPrefs, where they are described as
397 allowing switching between windows of the same group.
399 To maintain consistency with other popular operating systems, the switch panel
400 is now configured so that it no longer automatically closes when the shift key
401 is pressed and released.
403 To configure the switch panel so that it does close on release of the shift
404 key, which was the traditional Window Maker behavior, run the following
407 $ wdwrite WindowMaker StrictWindozeCycling NO
409 If you find yourself regularly opening the switch panel just to visualize open
410 windows, you can run the following command to force the first "FocusNextKey"
411 or similar shortcut to open the panel without switching to a new window.
413 $ wdwrite WindowMaker SwitchPanelOnlyOpen YES
418 New window placement strategy
419 -----------------------------
421 Among the window placement algorithms has arrived the "center" placement to
422 get new windows appear at the center of the screen (unless application
423 explicitly specify a position, of course).
426 Removed dependency to CPP
427 -------------------------
429 The menu files used to be pre-processed with CPP, which can be a problem because
430 modern system do not install dev tools by default, and some compilers do not
431 provide a pre-processor anyway. WindowMaker is now autonomous.
436 The references to the legacy path /usr/X11R6 have been removed because xorg
437 does not use it in favor of a standard /usr layout. Similarly, the directory
438 /etc/X11/WindowMaker is now /usr/share/WindowMaker.
441 New application Relaunching functionality
442 -----------------------------------------
444 There are now several ways to launch a new instance of an application with the
445 same command line that was originally used to start it.
447 1. By selecting Launch from the application's window menu.
448 2. By using the "Launch new instance of application" keyboard shortcut.
449 3. By clicking the application's appicon with the middle button.
450 4. By double-clicking the application's appicon while holding Control.
452 For example, if you have two xterms open, one started with "xterm" and one
453 started with "xterm -rv", using the Relaunch functionality on the first xterm
454 would run "xterm" and using it on the second would run "xterm -rv". Thus
455 Relaunching can also be thought of as "cloning" an application.
457 Application Relaunching works by examining the window's WM_COMMAND property and
458 so will not work if it is not set.
461 Options to limit the window/menu title height
462 ---------------------------------------------
464 You can now set the minimum and maximum titlebar heights.
465 For example, to force all titlebars to 24 pixels execute
466 the following commands:
468 $ wdwrite WindowMaker WindowTitleMinHeight 24
469 $ wdwrite WindowMaker WindowTitleMaxHeight 24
470 $ wdwrite WindowMaker MenuTitleMinHeight 24
471 $ wdwrite WindowMaker MenuTitleMaxHeight 24
476 New Resizing functionality
477 --------------------------
479 You can now use the mouse wheel and modifier keys to resize windows.
480 MOD+Wheel will resize windows vertically and CTRL+Wheel will resize
481 windows horizontally. MOD+CTRL+Wheel will resize both at the same time.
482 The resize step, or increment can be set in WPrefs in the "Window Handling"
483 page, or in the config file with "ResizeIncrement". If this intrudes into
484 a specific application's functionality, you can disable it on an application-
485 by-application basis by setting the "Do not bind mouse clicks" attribute in
488 New Maximize functionality
489 --------------------------
491 Maximus/Maximumize. A new tiled maximization, configured with a keyboard
492 shortcut. Using it will maximize the window to the greatest area such that it
493 will not overlap any other window of the same workspace. This can be configured
494 in WPrefs in the "Keyboard Shortcuts" page, or in the config file with
497 Left/right maximization. Now wmaker supports maximizing a window to the
498 left or right half of the screen, making it occupy 50% of the area. This is
499 useful on wide screen displays where you want to bring up two windows side-by-
500 side. The shortcut keys for this can be configured in WPrefs in the "Keyboard
501 Shortcuts" page, or in the config file with "LHMaximizeKey" and "RHMaximizeKey"
503 History and AutoComplete in the run dialog
504 ------------------------------------------
506 The "Run..." dialog now auto-completes executables in your path (triggered by
507 the TAB key) and records the history of past commands (last 500 by default).
508 It can also complete folder names if you start the complete with a "/"
509 To use it replace %a with %A in the "Run..." entry in your WMRootMenu file.
510 See commit 05720d97076ffc1569e5 for more details.
512 Automatic menu generator (wmgenmenu)
513 -----------------------------------
515 There is now a new utility to generate the Window Maker menu automatically,
516 called wmgenmenu. It searches from a list of pre-defined applications the
517 ones which exist in your $PATH and adds them to the corresponding submenus
518 ("Internet", "Terminals", "Editors" etc) of your WM menu. It also supports
519 localization (currently English and German). You can use it like:
521 $ wmgenmenu > WMRootMenu-new
522 $ cp WMRootMenu-new $HOME/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu
524 and WM will automatically detect the new menu file and use it without
525 restarting wmaker (made possible by the 'inotify' mechanism)
527 Automatic detection of menu changes (via inotify)
528 -------------------------------------------------
530 Window Maker now uses the 'inotify' mechanism from the Linux kernel
531 to automatically detect changes in the WMRootMenu file. So the
532 --no-polling option is now gone and Window Maker does not wake up
533 your CPU unnecessarily (0 wakeups when idle, instead of 4).
534 So if you edit the WMRootMenu file by hand (or by using 'wmgenmenu'),
535 there is no need to restart wmaker for the changes to take effect.
540 In addition to applications with only Withdrawn windows, Window Maker
541 will now treat any application with its WM_CLASS res_class set as
542 "DockApp". This provides an easy workaround for toolkits like gtk+ that
543 do not allow creation of windows with the initial_state member of
544 XWMHints set to WithdrawnState.
549 GNUstep Installation Directory
550 ------------------------------
552 WPrefs is now installed in /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/share by default.
553 If you use GNUstep and want it to install in /usr/GNUstep/Applications,
554 you may specify --with-gnustepdir=/usr/GNUstep
555 If the GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT environment variable is defined when configure is
556 executed, it will be used (and you don't need to use --with-gnustepdir)
558 Cached Pixmaps Directory
559 ------------------------
561 The directory where Window Maker stores the cached application pixmaps for
562 its later use has changed from ~/GNUstep/.AppInfo/WindowMaker to
563 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/CachedPixmaps for better compatibility with
564 the GNUstep path structure.
565 Also WPrefs now stores internal data in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/WPrefs
566 (it was ~/GNUstep/.AppInfo/WPrefs before)
568 X Input Methods support in WINGs
569 --------------------------------
571 Preliminary support for X Input Methods was added to textfield and text
572 widgets in WINGs. Input for text in other languages than English should
573 work now (except for kanji which will most likely not work, even though
577 Disabling the switch panel
578 --------------------------
580 To disable the panel shown during Alt-tabbing, you may put the following in
581 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker
583 SwitchPanelImages= None;
589 Alt-Tab Window Switching
590 ------------------------
592 You can change the appearance of the panel shown during Alt-Tab window switching
593 with the SwitchPanelImages option:
595 (selected_icon_tile_image, background_image, width, height)
597 selected_icon_tile_image is the image used to highlight the currently selected
598 window icon. It must be 64x64 pixels.
600 background_image is the image used in the background of the panel. It must
603 width and height are the width and size of the central part of the image.
604 When drawing the panel, the image will be split as:
614 The 4 corner images will be copied in their original sizes and the rest will
615 be scaled to the final panel size.
617 background_image, width and height are optional. If you leave them out,
618 a gray panel will be used. If your machine is not very fast, you may want
628 Support for the EWMH standard has been added. Applications from GNOME 2.x and
629 KDE 3.x should now inter-operate better with Window Maker.
631 Support for the obsolete/legacy GNOME 1.x, KDE 1.x and OpenLook(!) hints was
632 wiped out for the sake of sanity.
635 Antialiased font support
636 ------------------------
638 With the addition of Xft2 support in the WINGs library, now
639 Window Maker can display antialiased text with TrueType or any scalable fonts.
641 You can pick fonts for Window Maker in the Font configuration section of
644 Antialiased text is enabled by default, but can be disabled by adding
646 AntialiasedText = NO; in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMGLOBAL
648 This will disable antialiased text for any WINGs based application. If you
649 only want to disable them for a specific application only, like WindowMaker
650 for example, then add the same option in the applications configuration file,
651 in this case ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker
652 For WindowMaker, this can also be achieved from the Expert panel in WPrefs.
654 Note that bitmapped fonts look much better than TrueType when antialiasing is
660 Global menus allow for system wide menus that are added to every users
661 application menus. They are located in /usr/etc/WindowMaker/,
662 /usr/local/etc/WindowMaker or whatever is your sysconf directory
663 for WindowMaker. There are 2 files:
665 GlobalMenu.pre, which is added to the beginning of the menu and
666 GlobalMenu.post, which is added to the end of the menu.
668 These are to be proplist format menus, for example:
670 (("Foobar", EXEC, foobar),
671 ("Blabla", EXEC, blabla))
673 or, in case you want a submenu:
676 ("Foobar", EXEC, foobar),
677 ("Blabla", EXEC, blabla)))
683 Window Maker now uses UTF-8 internally (and thus can display UTF-8 text
684 in window titles and other places). Menus and po files must now be
685 encoded in UTF-8. If your menus contain non ASCII characters, you can convert
686 them to UTF-8 with the following command:
688 iconv -f <current-file-encoding> -t utf-8 <filename> > <filename>.utf8
692 iconv -f iso-8859-1 -t utf-8 menu > menu.utf
696 Icon Panel for Alt-Tabbing
697 --------------------------
699 A panel with icons for the windows that you can switch to will appear
700 when you press Alt-Tab. You can navigate through the windows with Alt-Tab
701 (Alt-Shift-Tab) or with the left/right keys once the panel is shown.
707 Shading/Unshading windows using mouse wheel on their titlebar
708 -------------------------------------------------------------
710 In addition to the known methods of shading/unshading a window, one can now
711 do this by using the mouse wheel on the window's titlebar. The mouse events
712 are interpreted via a mapping in the global WINGs configuration file,
713 WMGLOBAL, by the MouseWheelUp and MouseWheelDown directives which will do
714 shading and unshading respectfully.
716 However, to avoid unwanted triggers of shading/unshading the window, two
717 consecutive mouse wheel events in the same direction are required. The
718 trigger won't occur if the events are separated by more than a double-click's
719 worth of time, which is technically speaking like making a double-click with
720 the button that corresponds to the mouse wheel direction.
722 Practically speaking, this means that you have to move the mouse wheel up
723 or down quickly, like when you want to quickly scroll over something big.
726 Shared application icons
727 ------------------------
729 Real application icon sharing was implemented in place of the collapse
730 appicon thing. With this applications of the same instance.class will
731 have a single shared application icon and hiding will hide all windows
732 of the application attached to that appicon as if there is a single
733 application. This feature is enabled by default for all applications in
734 the global WMWindowAttributes defaults domain using:
736 "*" = {SharedAppIcon = Yes;};
738 If you're not satisfied with this or want the old behavior back you
739 can revert this (either in the global domain for all users or in your
740 personal WMWindowAttibutes domain) using SharedAppIcon = No; for "*"
741 It can also be enabled/disabled for individual applications as needed.
743 Setting this option can be done using the window's inspector panel in the
744 "Application Specific" section. You can set/unset it for all applications by
745 using the "Defaults for all windows" in the "Window Specification" section
747 Basically using this can have 2 major scenarios:
748 1. Leave it on by default, but disable it for the few specific
749 applications that do not behave well with it. (default)
750 2. Leave it off by default, and enable it for all applications for
751 which you want it enabled.
753 At this point all applications we tested work ok, some of them even
754 work better with this feature turned on: for example xmms and Corel's
755 WorkPerfect8 now only have 1 appicon (they used to have 2 without this
758 This feature is turned off by default for the following applications
759 because it's incompatible with them:
760 1. all GNUstep applications
761 2. applications with an application menu (wterm, Aileron, etc)
762 3. all applications with withdrawn windows only (this means all dockapps)
764 As a side note: wterm can use the shared appicon feature as long as it
765 doesn't use the appmenu (will do this by default). If you start it
766 using the appmenu (wterm -wm) it will disable the shared appicon
767 feature because apps with appmenus are incompatible with this feature.
769 If an application is a GNUstep application or if it has an appmenu, it's
770 detected automatically and the shared appicon is disabled automatically
771 without any user intervention or need to configure anything.
774 Dock/Clip stealing appicons
775 ---------------------------
777 This feature is different form the Clip's "Autoattract Icons" feature
778 as it won't attach any new icon to the dock/clip.
779 What it does, is when you start an application by other means than
780 dock/clip, like for example using the main menu or a terminal, it will
781 search the dock/clips for the presence of an appicon for that
782 application, that is not already running at that moment and will attach
783 the started application to that appicon in the dock/clip if available,
784 making it look like the dock/clip just stole the appicon for the started
785 application. There is an animation for this to offer visual feedback
795 Copy/paste launch in dock.
796 ==========================
798 For example, put netscape %s in the Docked icon for Netscape, select an url
799 somewhere and then middle-click the icon. The command will be launched with
806 Supported Xinerama features:
808 - Normal maximization of windows will maximize to only one of the screens,
809 the one where the cursor pointer is.
811 - Full Maximize command in window menu
813 - Place dialogs in the middle of the head where the pointer is
815 - Try to place windows inside one head in non-manual placement modes
821 starting with 0.70.0 libPropList is no longer required to build Window
822 Maker. PropList handling code was added to WINGs being now better
823 integrated with all the rest. For more details check the Changelog and the
827 ./WINGs/WINGs/WUtil.h
828 ./WINGs/WINGs/proplist-compat.h
834 Removed FocusFollowMouse option, only SloppyFocus present now.
836 Added None option to MoveDisplay and ResizeDisplay
845 Removed --single-appicon patch and replaced it with a application
846 specific collapsing option. Check inspector panel and appicon menu.
848 New options to configure the workspace mouse actions
849 ----------------------------------------------------
851 The following options were removed from the WindowMaker defaults configuration
854 SelectWindowsMouseButton, WindowListMouseButton and ApplicationMenuMouseButton.
856 They were replaced with the following 3+1:
858 MouseLeftButtonAction, MouseMiddleButtonAction and MouseRightButtonAction plus
861 In the old way because all gravitated around the workspace actions to which
862 specific mouse buttons could have been bound, it allowed one to specify in
863 the configuration file settings which would have led to weird situations
864 that also had undesirable results.
865 For example the same mouse button (for example left) could have been
866 assigned to all workspace actions: 'select windows', 'show window list menu'
867 and 'show applications menu' which of course were not only impossible to
868 accomplish while still having a properly working workspace, but they also
869 allowed one to specify some settings in the configuration file that were
870 never in fact translatable to proper workspace actions.
872 To void this kind of user interface inconsistency, the new options now
873 gravitate around the physical device (the mouse and its buttons) to which
874 specific workspace actions can be bound. This way, even if one assigns the
875 same action to all mouse buttons, that situation while gives redundant and
876 unpractical settings it will still translatable to proper workspace actions:
877 all buttons will execute the same action, but a button will execute only one
880 The new options take the following values:
881 all Mouse...ButtonAction can have one of the following values:
883 None, SelectWindows, OpenApplicationsMenu or OpenWindowListMenu
885 MouseWheelAction can be one of None or SwitchWorkspaces
887 If you had the default actions bound to mouse buttons before, then it will
888 work for you without any intervention in the configuration files.
889 Else you need to use WPrefs.app to bind the actions to the mouse buttons
890 again to your old settings. Also if you want to change the mouse wheel
891 behavior regarding workspaces you can now (use WPrefs.app to do this).
893 Client supplied icons
894 ---------------------
896 Window Maker saves the client supplied icons in
897 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/CachedPixmaps in XPM format for later use
898 when the app is no longer running (to have the image to display for docked
901 Until recently the XPM images saved by Window Maker were incorrect, but a
902 recent fix in the code to save XPM's fixed them. But with this fix, all
903 previously saved XPM's in that directory are no longer readable (they give
904 wrong images on screen or fail to load).
906 To avoid the need for the user to fix this by hand editing WMWindowAttributes
907 and removing all references to icons in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/CachedPixmaps
908 which can be annoying, new code was added to Window Maker to permit the
909 regeneration of images in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/CachedPixmaps if they are missing.
911 With this addition, all you need to do to fix your old broken images, is to
912 delete all *.xpm files from ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/CachedPixmaps. Next time the
913 application that is supplying an icon image will start the icon will be
914 recreated if missing, but this time it will be saved with the new XPM save
915 code which produces good XPM images.
916 All the rest of the process is transparent to the user.
918 Hermes library support
919 ----------------------
921 If configure finds hermes library (an optimized pixel format conversion
922 library) installed it will use it to do the pixel format conversion in
923 the wraster library for some cases (TrueColor visuals without dithering).
924 Currently the hermes routines cannot convert to an indexed destination,
925 so we can't use hermes for PseudoColor, GrayScale and StaticGray visuals.
926 Also hermes only does dithering for just 2 combinations of source/destination
927 bits/masks none of them useful to out needs so for dithering we still
930 The Hermes library is completely optional, you can build Window Maker
931 without having it, it just speeds up the things a little for some
934 hermes library is available here: http://www.clanlib.org/hermes/
939 No Polling of Configuration Files
940 ---------------------------------
942 Running Window Maker with one of -nopolling or --no-polling command line
943 options will make it not to poll every 3 seconds for changes in its
944 configuration files (good for laptops to let them spin disks down when idle).
947 For the ones used with Jim Knoble's 'no polling' patch, this is the same,
948 except that the need to #define ENABLE_NO_POLLING in wconfig.h was removed
949 and the behavior is always available if you use the command line option.
958 interwoven gradients rip^Winspired on blackbox. Will render a texture that
959 interweaves 2 different ones.
961 (igradient, from1, to1, thickness1, from2, to2, thickness2)
963 Will render a interwoven texture with the 2 specified gradients,
964 with each section having the specified thickness.
969 The wmagnify utility will magnify the area on the screen where
970 your mouse pointer is located, updating it in real-time.
972 tip: maximize it horizontally, make it Omnipresent and Always at Bottom.
973 Then leave it in the bottom of the screen.
978 2 options (WorkspaceBorder and WorkspaceBorderSize) were added to allow one to
979 set a small (0..5 pixels) border for the workspace. This border will not be
980 covered by windows when maximizing, allowing one to easily access the clip
981 or map a menu using the mouse in the border area, even when there are
982 windows maximized in both horizontal and vertical directions.
983 WorkspaceBorder can be one of (None, LeftRight, TopBottom, AllDirections)
984 while WorkspaceBorderSize is the size in pixels of the border not to be
985 covered by windows when maximizing (usually a small amount 0..5 pixels).
987 Both options can be set using WPrefs.app in the "Miscellaneous Ergonomic
988 Preferences" section. WPrefs will always limit WorkspaceBorderSize in the
991 Note that if "full screen maximization" option is set for a window, that
992 window will ignore this border area, maximizing to full screen.
1001 Code for converting wrlib images into X Pixmaps was optimized in many ways,
1002 both in the original C code and in assembly for Pentium(tm) processors (with
1003 and without MMX(tm)). Depending on the bit depth/color mode and CPU model,
1004 performance increases can go up to 150%
1007 Weendoze Window Cycling (alt-tab)
1008 ---------------------------------
1010 Window cycling was changed to weendoze style.
1013 NoBorder Window Attribute
1014 --------------------------
1016 The NoBorder window attribute (to be put in
1017 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowAttributes) was added and will remove the
1018 1 pixel border around windows.
1021 Removed "Keep Attracted Icons" option from Clip's menu
1022 ------------------------------------------------------
1024 Since this option brought more confusion than usefulness among users, and
1025 since it was usable only in a very limited context, being able to fill up
1026 the Clip very easily, it was removed.
1027 An alternative way of gaining the same functionality is to use the "Keep icon"
1028 entry in the Clip's main menu. Or select multiple icons before calling that
1029 entry, to make it apply to more than one icon.
1031 Note: "Keep icon", as the obsoleted "Keep Attracted Icons" had nothing to do
1032 with holding icons in Clip, while the application is running. Once they
1033 are attracted, they are kept until the application close. Using
1034 "Keep icon", will only assure that the icon will be kept, even after the
1035 application is closed.
1037 Please don't ask for this option back. It's error prone, and very unintuitive.
1038 Considering it's very restrictive usability, and it's very ambiguous topic, it
1039 does not need a special entry in the Clip's menu, taking in count that there
1040 are already better alternative ways of gaining the same functionality.
1043 Removed DisplayFont Option
1044 ---------------------------
1046 The font for the geometry size will be controlled by the default
1047 WINGs font (SystemFont in WMGLOBAL) now.
1053 - added DONT_SCALE_ICONS compile time option
1054 - added --dont-restore cmd line option. When passed to wmaker, it
1055 wont restore the state saved previously.
1062 new libPropList-0.9.1 is REQUIRED to build Window Maker 0.61.1.
1063 go grab it and install it first.
1069 Window Edge Attraction
1070 ----------------------
1072 Window edge attraction was now added.
1074 Attraction = YES/NO;
1076 will enable/disable gravity to edge's border.
1077 The strength of gravity can be controlled by modify `EdgeResistance' value
1078 in WindowMaker configuration file.
1081 Titlebar Draw String Plugin
1082 ---------------------------
1084 FTitleColor, UTitleColor, PTitleColor, MenuTitleColor can be assigned with
1085 drawstring plugin instead of plain color. For example:
1096 will invoke function drawplainstring from libwmfun.so and pass 3 colors for
1097 arguments. To code new plugin, please see plugin.h for more information.
1106 The user menu is now a compile time option disabled by default.
1107 Supply --enable-usermenu to configure to enable it.
1110 root menu INCOMPATIBLE changes
1111 ------------------------------
1113 EXEC <program> will execute the named program
1115 SHEXEC <command> will execute the shell command.
1117 If you want to execute something like blabla > /dev/null, then use SHEXEC
1119 Don't forget to update your menus.
1122 New Option For setstyle
1123 -----------------------
1125 The --ignore flag will tell setstyle to not change the option that is
1126 specified, when modifying the Window Maker configurations. For example:
1128 setstyle --ignore MenuStyle sometheme.themed will cause the MenuStyle
1129 option to not be changed.
1131 setstyle --ignore FTitleBack --ignore UTitleBack --ignore PTitleBack bla.themed
1132 will load the theme, but keep the titlebar background related options as
1136 MultiByte Text Support Changes
1137 ------------------------------
1139 The --enable-kanji configure option is not needed anymore and was removed.
1140 To enable support for multibyte text, you must:
1141 - set the LANG environment variable to the appropriate value
1142 - change the font configurations to contain font sets in the appropriate
1143 encodings in both ~/G/D/WindowMaker and ~/G/D/WMGLOBAL (for WPrefs)
1144 - set the MultiByteText option to YES in both of the above files
1150 WorkspaceNameDisplayPosition =
1151 none/center/top/bottom/topleft/topright/bottomleft/bottomright
1154 SmoothWorkspaceBack = YES/NO
1156 will enable smoothing of scaled workspace background images.
1160 Application User Menu Path Changes
1161 ----------------------------------
1163 Default configuration for user specific menus installed in
1164 /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/UserMenus or $(datadir)/WindowMaker/UserMenus
1165 and ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/UserMenus.
1168 Omnipresent icons in Clip
1169 -------------------------
1171 Added ability to set icons docked in Clip to be omnipresent on all workspaces.
1172 To set/reset this flag use the clip menu.
1173 The Clip menu changed in the following way:
1174 - if you bring up the menu from the Clip's main icon, it will contain as
1175 before the "Rename Workspace" entry in the second position.
1176 - however, if you bring up the menu from any other icon in clip, the
1177 "Rename Workspace" menu entry is replaced by "Omnipresent" or
1178 "Toggle Omnipresent" depending on the context.
1180 This entry will work in the following way, depending on the context:
1182 1. If there is no icon selected in the clip, then the menu will contain the
1183 entry named "Omnipresent" which will be checked accordingly to the current
1184 state of the icon (omnipresent or not), and will let you change the
1185 omnipresent state of the icon you brought the menu from.
1186 2. If one or more icons are already selected when the Clip menu is called, the
1187 entry will be named "Toggle Omnipresent" and will apply to all selected
1188 icons trying to toggle their omnipresent state. The icons which will be
1189 successfully changed to their new state as requested, will be unselected,
1190 while the ones that will fail for some reason to gain their new state,
1191 will remain selected.
1193 In both cases if there is no success in setting what user requested a panel
1194 will inform user of the failure.
1195 (Note: trying to set an icon to not-omnipresent will never fail. Failures can
1196 be met only when trying to set omnipresent for an icon).
1198 The icons set to omnipresent will be marked with a triangle in the upper left
1199 corner, having the color of the IconTitleColor.
1201 An icon can be set to omnipresent, only if its position is free in all the
1202 workspaces, else you will be informed of the problem and asked to fix it first.
1203 Also when dragging an omnipresent icon around in Clip, all the icons docked in
1204 all the workspaces are shown while the dragging is done, to let one easily see
1205 where are free slots in all workspaces.
1207 For advanced users, there is also a shortcut to set/reset the omnipresent
1208 state of an icon: just use "Shift+MiddleButton" (button2) on the icon you want
1210 In this case only the mark in the upper left corner will appear in case of
1211 success, or nothing will happen if icon cannot be made omnipresent (advanced
1212 users are expected to know why the icon failed to be made omnipresent, so they
1213 don't need a panel to explain them why ;) ).
1215 Now before you load your gun to start a flame war because this is against your
1216 principles you love so much, please sit down and think that this is a feature,
1217 which, if you don't use, the old behavior of the Clip is totally preserved.
1218 It just adds some extra capabilities to the Clip for people who think that this
1222 XDND drop on dock support
1223 -------------------------
1225 Support for XDE on dock is now replaced by XDND.
1226 To enable, edit src/wconfig.h
1237 MenuStyle=<style>; will change the menu texture style.
1240 normal (default): for the traditional one texture per item, with bevels in
1243 singleTexture: for a single texture that spans the whole menu, with bevels
1246 flat: singleTexture without the bevels
1251 ResizebarBack=<texture>;
1253 where <texture> is any of the textures you normally use in titlebars and
1256 If the style file/theme does not contain a ResizebarBack option, setstyle
1257 will automatically hack it so that wmaker will make the theme work like
1261 New crash dialog panel
1262 ----------------------
1264 From now on, whenever a fatal situation appears, Window Maker will display a
1265 dialog panel to the user and let him choose what to do.
1267 - Abort and leave a core file (useful for debugging and getting backtraces)
1268 - Restart Window Maker (default behavior)
1269 - Start alternate window manager (the one defined as fallback, or if not
1270 possible fvwm or twm in this order).
1272 If it will not be able to restart or start the alternate window manager, it
1273 will abort and leave the core file.
1276 Application User Menu
1277 ---------------------
1279 Applications with an appicon can have a user defined menu.
1281 This menu will emulate keyboard events, and will be sent to the applications'
1282 window(s), thus the application must accept key combinations (CTRL+N for
1285 To enable this feature, #define USER_MENU in src/wconfig.h and place menu
1286 files in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/UserMenus (/usr/local/etc/WindowMaker/UserMenus
1289 The user menu is in PropList format and the filename is in:
1290 <instance name>.<class name>.menu or application's main window.
1291 (Example: the menu for xcalc would be - xcalc.XCalc.menu)
1293 Example user menu syntax:
1297 ("Put 1", SHORTCUT, "2"),
1299 ("Put 2", SHORTCUT, "2"),
1300 ("Put 3,4 and 5", SHORTCUT, (3,4,5))
1302 ("Exit", SHORTCUT, "Control+q")
1310 Appearance Editing in WPrefs
1311 ----------------------------
1313 Added Appearance/Texture editing capability in WPrefs. Workspace background
1314 selection is not yet finished.
1320 Removed all themes from the source tree, and moved them in a separate package.
1321 You can download the new package from the same place as this package:
1322 ftp://ftp.windowmaker.info/pub/beta/srcs/
1323 Look after WindowMaker-extra-<version-number>.tar.gz
1324 Also WindowMaker-extra pack include the old WindowMaker-data.tar.gz which only
1326 Look for the greatest version number when you download this package.
1329 get-wraster-flags script change
1330 -------------------------------
1332 The name of the options passed to get-wraster-flags changed, to allow a better
1333 name compatibility with the naming conventions used by other software.
1334 The name change was as follows:
1335 --lflags was changed in --ldflags
1336 To allow backward compatibility, with already written software, the old
1337 --lflags option is still recognized, but you are encouraged to move the the
1348 Added 2 new cool themes (actually I added in 0.51.1, but forgot
1349 to put it here...) from largo (LeetWM) and BadlandZ (STEP2000).
1352 Full Screen Maximization
1353 ------------------------
1355 The FullMaximize window attribute will allow the window to
1356 be maximized to the full size of the screen (ignoring anything
1357 like titlebar, resizebar, dock, panels etc). It should be useful
1358 for programs that must use the whole screen, like games or things
1359 like presentation programs.
1364 KDE Application Menu script
1365 ---------------------------
1367 wkdemenu.pl is a converter from KDE application menu structures to wmaker
1368 menu that can be used as a piped menu. Look wkdemenu.sh for how to use it.
1371 Window Edge Resistance
1372 ----------------------
1374 Window edge resistance was now added. No, feature freeze hasn't been
1375 removed. Its just part of the edge resistance rewrite ;)
1381 Added SteelBlueSilk theme
1383 Installation Path Changes
1384 -------------------------
1386 Default configuration data installed in /usr/local/etc/WindowMaker
1387 or $(sysconfdir)/WindowMaker
1392 Window Maker has become a GNU program (part of the GNU Project).
1394 Title text drop shadow
1395 ----------------------
1397 drop shadow option added for titlebar text. This is a compile time
1398 option which needs to be defined in src/wconfig.h after you run
1399 configure and before you run make.
1401 New options and syntax for your WindowMaker domain file are:
1404 FShadowColor = <color>;
1405 PShadowColor = <color>;
1406 UShadowColor = <color>;
1407 MShadowColor = <color>;
1409 The shadow option is dynamic (no need for a restart).
1410 MShadowColor is for the menu title text.
1415 WARNING!!! libPropList was removed from the Window Maker distribution
1416 and is being distributed separately. If you don't have it installed yet,
1417 get it from ftp.windowmaker.info/pub/libs and install before building
1421 signal handling change
1422 ----------------------
1423 SIGHUP will exit wmaker instead of restarting it!!! This is because
1424 GNOME expects the window manager to exit instead of restarting...
1425 Complaints should go to gnome people. SIGUSR1 will restart wmaker now.
1430 WINGs-flags was removed, and replaced by get-wraster-flags.
1431 Please remove WINGs-flags from your system, since it was obsoleted by
1433 Continuing to use WINGs-flags can lead to hazardous effects, since is no
1440 docklib is a little library for making dock applets. It's in the
1441 docklib-0.0.tar.gz file. Unpack it and read the README file there.
1447 Removed OnTopTransients option
1449 Added OpenTransientOnOwnerWorkspace
1455 OPEN LOOK(tm)/olwm hints support was added.
1457 Read the appropriate section in the README file.
1463 New option for WorkspaceBack. mpixmap is the same as spixmap, but
1464 it will scale the pixmap by keeping the aspect ratio (maximize or maxpect).
1465 The option only works for workspace backgrounds.
1467 Also added IGNORE_PPOSITION compile time flag, which is equivalent
1468 to NoPPosition from fvwm.
1479 Added full support for GNOME and KWM hints.
1480 Read the INSTALL file to see how enable them.
1482 Everything in the so called GNOME window manager bla bla bla pseudo-spec is
1485 As for KDE stuff, it implements 90% of everything kwm does, adds some
1486 Window Maker specific extensions to it and still uses half of the memory
1487 kwm does, which should be enough to let you dump kwm ;) For details on what
1488 exactly is implemented, see comments in src/kwm.c Read the README.KDE file
1489 for more information.
1492 WARNING: Some KDE hints are badly designed, so doing things like using
1493 kpanel's desktop switcher/pager and Window Maker's internal workspace
1494 management functions to create, destroy and rename workspaces at the same
1495 time might cause unknown effects. To be on the safe side, only
1496 use either of them to manage workspaces. Switching workspaces is hopefully,
1497 safe, so you can switch workspaces from wherever you want.
1501 Workspace Specific Background Images
1502 ------------------------------------
1504 Use the WorkspaceSpecificBack to set background images for specific
1505 workspaces. The WorkspaceBack is used as the default background image.
1509 WorkspaceSpecificBack = ((solid, red), (cpixmap, ship.jpg, gray), (),
1510 (dgradient, red, blue))
1512 This will set the background image of workspace 1 to (solid, 0),
1513 2 to ship.jpg and 4 to a gradient. Workspace 3 and other workspaces
1514 will have the image defined by WorkspaceBack.
1516 Note that this uses quite some memory...
1522 setstyle now accepts the -nofonts flag, which will load the style
1523 file ignoring all font related options.
1527 setstyle -nofonts Blabla.style
1530 getstyle can be used to create theme packs. See the usage in the
1531 WindowMaker/README.themes file.
1538 Textured gradients will tile a texture pixmap and combine it with a gradient,
1539 using an arbitrary opaqueness.
1541 Syntax is (thgradient, <file>, <opaqueness>, <color1>, <color2>)
1542 (tvgradient, <file>, <opaqueness>, <color1>, <color2>)
1543 (tdgradient, <file>, <opaqueness>, <color1>, <color2>)
1545 <color1> and <color2> are the colors for the gradient,
1546 <file> is the texture file and
1547 <opaqueness> is the opaqueness to merge the texture with the gradient,
1548 ranging from 0 to 255.
1552 (thgradient, "BlueImage.jpeg", 120, white, black)
1554 The BlackTexture style and Checker theme are examples.
1558 You can use any type of pixmap file for this, but small (like 64x32)
1559 grayscale pixmap files should get the best results (fast and low memory
1560 usage). You can use color pixmaps, but it is harder to get the desired effect
1563 Be warned that this texture type is the slowest.
1570 IconTitleBack and IconTitleColor control the color of the
1571 miniwindow title. Both of them are colors.
1574 IconTitleColor=white;
1575 IconTitleBack=black;
1578 Since this introduces an incompatibility in themes and getting flamed by the
1579 themes ppl isn't the most pleasant thing ("Whaddafuk you're thinking!? You
1580 just broke 500 themes!!!" ;) the setstyle command was hacked so that it will
1581 make old themes work as before, by trying to automatically set the above
1582 options. Note that in some cases it will not have exactly the same results as
1586 StartMaximized window attribute. Will maximize the window when it
1590 AutoRaiseLower option for the Clip. This allows automatic Raise/Lower of the
1591 Clip icons when the mouse pointer enter/leave the Clip. To avoid unwanted
1592 raising/lowering there is a time threshold before raising/lowering.
1593 The thresholds can be changed in wconfig.h by changing one or both of
1594 AUTO_LOWER_DELAY and AUTO_RAISE_DELAY (expressed in milliseconds).
1595 For example if you set AUTO_RAISE_DELAY to 0, then the Clip will be raised as
1596 soon as the mouse pointer enters it's area. Setting AUTO_RAISE_DELAY to a very
1597 big value, will make the Clip to practically do not auto raise unless clicked,
1598 but to be automatically lowered after AUTO_LOWER_DELAY (ms) when leaved.
1601 New ThemePack Format
1602 --------------------
1604 Starting with this version, a new format of themes is being supported.
1605 Before you open pine and start composing your flame, rest assured that
1606 the old format is still supported. The new format is documented
1607 in the WindowMaker/README.themes file.
1613 The -noext option for OPEN_MENU will strip whatever is after the last .
1614 in file names that appear on the opened directory. So,
1616 OPEN_MENU ~/bg WITH xv -root -quit
1618 will create a menu with all the images in ~/bg without the extension.
1625 Icon (miniwindow) stacking
1626 --------------------------
1628 If you want miniwindows to reside under normal windows, edit
1629 wconfig.h and change WNormalLevel (just grep for it) to
1636 If you have a 5 button mouse and want to give some utility for
1637 the extra 2 buttons, edit the appropriate line in src/wconfig.h
1638 Clicking Button4 in the root window will switch you to the previous
1639 workspace and Button5 will do that for the next.
1645 put NoWindowOverDock back
1647 KeepOnBottom window attribute
1650 -static command line option
1651 ---------------------------
1653 wmaker -static will start Window Maker in static mode. This will
1654 prevent wmaker from checking or making any configuration changes.
1655 That makes it possible to run wmaker before running wmaker.inst
1658 Hysteresis for menu item selection
1659 ----------------------------------
1661 Hopefully it's intelligent enough, so you won't notice it.
1663 In case you want to know what's it, it's equivalent to that
1664 (insanely long) 2 second delay present in that Windoze95 menu,
1665 but more useful than annoying (I hope :). To see it, do the following
1666 with your current wmaker version and later with 0.20.3:
1668 - open the apps menu and stick it
1669 - click in the item for the "Workspaces" submenu and hold
1670 - drag the mouse to the 4th or bigger entry (like "Workspace 4") in a
1671 straight line, trying to select the target item before the submenu
1672 is unmapped when you dragged over other items in the main menu
1679 Window shortcuts are shortcuts to arbitrary windows. You can make up to 4
1680 shortcuts. To assign a previously bound shortcut to a window use the "Select
1681 Shortcut" submenu in the window commands menu. If the shortcut is not yet
1682 assigned for any window, you can hit the shortcut to assign it to the active
1683 window. The shortcut will do the same as clicking in an entry in the window
1684 list menu. The keys for the shortcuts are defined in the ~/G/D/WindowMaker
1685 file or in WPrefs.app
1689 WindowShortcut1Key through WindowShortcut4Key
1695 The name of WindowMaker was changed to Window Maker.
1697 Window creation animation disabled by default.
1702 If you use it edit src/wconfig.h and #define OPTIMIZE_SHAPE or disable the
1703 titlebar and resizebar for the window. OPTIMIZE_SHAPE will remove the
1704 flickering for xdaliclock and other programs that change their shapes often,
1705 but will increase network traffic considerably. So, if you use xdaliclock
1706 from a remote machine it can get slow.
1712 The applications menu will now use the shell in the SHELL environment
1713 variable to execute EXEC menu commands. If it is unset (I think it's always
1714 automatically set by the shell program) it will use /bin/sh
1717 Extra fancy icon kaboom :)
1718 --------------------------
1720 Edit src/wconfig.h and #define ICON_KABOOM_EXTRA to get
1721 more effects for the icon undocking animation.
1723 Options for superfluous stuff are even more superfluous, so this
1724 will not become run-time.
1727 XDE drag and drop support
1728 -------------------------
1730 Support for XDE drag and drop was added (by "]d" <id@maliwan.org>).
1731 To enable, edit src/wconfig.h
1732 The support works with gtk 1.1.2
1738 libPropList will now be built automatically by wmaker. Which means
1739 the (simplified) building process is now:
1747 tar xzf libPropList.tar.gz
1748 (cd libPropList; make)
1752 You also don't need to worry about GNOME libPropList incompatibilities
1756 Bug with focus lost in sloppy focus fixed
1757 -----------------------------------------
1759 The bug only occurs in sloppy or auto focus modes, with AutoFocus disabled
1760 and Superfluous enabled. There is no easy/clean way to fix this, so Window
1761 Maker will disable the animation of window creation if the focus mode is
1762 either sloppy or auto AND AutoFocus=NO.
1764 If you want the animation, enable AutoFocus or use manual focus mode
1768 The NoWindowUnderDock option was removed
1769 ----------------------------------------
1770 To obtain the same result, use the "Keep Dock On Top" option in the dock menu.
1773 Persistent Program Supplied Icons
1774 ---------------------------------
1776 Application supplied icons are now stored, so that the dock will keep
1777 showing them after the app is exited. The icons are stored at
1778 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/CachedPixmaps
1784 Sound support is now on by default. Even if you don't use sound the overhead
1785 is very small, and has no impact on performance. If you still want to
1786 optimize it and remove a few hundred of bytes, then use --disable-sound or
1787 --enable-sound=no options when you configure Window Maker.
1793 Multihead support. wmaker will now manage all screens that are attached to the
1795 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1798 It does so from a single process (instead of spawning a new process for each
1799 screen, like fvwm does). This keeps memory usage a lot lower than fvwm.
1801 State files have a suffix .n, where n is the number of the screen.
1803 Since I don't have a real multiheaded machine, it probably has bugs.
1808 Yet another useless superfluous animation. Find out what exactly it is
1815 ~/G/L/W/exitscript will be called automatically when wmaker is exited.
1821 1. Miniaturization animation is now selectable by a run-time option
1824 IconificationStyle = <style>;
1826 to your WindowMaker configuration file.
1827 <style> can be one of: Zoom, Twist, Flip or None
1828 Case doesn't matter, and default is Zoom.
1832 This can be controlled by setting:
1834 EdgeResistance = xxx;
1836 in your WindowMaker configuration file.
1837 xxx is an integer greater than 0 and represents the number of pixels of edge
1838 resistance. Setting it to 0 (default) will disable this feature.
1843 A new theme named Night, is available in this distribution.
1849 GIF support was added. You will need libgif 2.2 to use it.
1851 cpixmap added. Syntax is the same as tpixmap or spixmap
1856 getstyle will include IconBack info in Style files.
1860 libPropList was updated. If you have it installed, you must upgrade or
1861 WPrefs will crash because of bugs in libPropList.
1869 WindowTitleBalloons = YES;
1870 will enable balloons for window titles that are not fully visible.
1872 MiniwindowTitleBalloons = YES;
1873 will enable balloons for miniwindow titles.
1875 AppIconBalloons = YES;
1876 for application icons (docked or not)
1882 IconPosition (the position of the icons) is specified as:
1884 IconPosition = c1c2c3;
1888 c1 can be t or b (meaning top or bottom)
1889 c2 can be l or r (meaning left or right)
1890 c3 can be v or h (meaning vertical or horizontal)
1892 case is insensitive.
1897 is the old iconPosition position.
1901 will place the icons over the Dock.
1903 New window attribute
1904 --------------------
1906 EmulateAppIcon = YES; will make the window have an application icon.
1907 Only use this option for fully specified windows (like rxvt.Rxvt).
1908 NEVER use in generic window specifications (like * or rxvt).
1909 You must restart the application for the attribute to take effect.
1920 Boolean values have changed!!! YES, Y and any non-zero integer will
1921 mean TRUE and anything else (including True) will mean FALSE. This
1922 is to conform to the OpenStep values used for booleans and
1923 not cause headaches later, when GNUstep apps also starts using
1924 defaults and users will try using True which won't get recognized.
1932 Clip button layout was changed. IT IS TEMPORARY AND THE DEFINITIVE LOOK
1933 WILL BE DIFFERENT!!!
1939 More bugs were fixed in it. Upgrade the library if you have an older version
1940 installed, with the one included.
1946 Format for property list menus has changed! The redundant array for
1947 submenus was removed, so a menu that looked like:
1950 ("Xterm", EXEC, "xterm"),
1953 ("Gimp", EXEC, "gimp"),
1962 ("Xterm", EXEC, "xterm"),
1964 ("Gimp", EXEC, "gimp"),
1974 NUMLOCK_HACK is back. This time it works and is enabled by default.
1975 If you think you don't need it and promise me that you won't send
1976 "bug" reports saying that shortcuts stop working after a while, you can
1977 disable it ;) It will save some memory and CPU.
1983 Removed the SwapMenuButton option and added 3 finer grained options:
1985 SelectWindowsMouseButton
1986 WindowListMouseButton
1987 ApplicationMenuMouseButton
1989 Values that can be used are Left, Middle, Right and Button1 through Button5
1990 Left is equivalent to Button1, Middle to Button2 and Right to Button3
1993 Removed the WorkspaceChangeDelay option and corresponding action.
1994 Removed AClipColor and IClipColor
1997 Added the SelectKey back
2000 Changed default binding of Window commands menu from F10 to Control+Escape
2007 libPropList has changed! Upgrade it before compiling wmaker.
2009 Hopefully the bugs that caused wmaker to crash if an error is found
2010 in the config files is fixed. If you do crash wmaker with a bad
2011 file, please try to find out the smallest possible portion of the file
2012 that still crashes wmaker and send it to me.
2018 PixmapPath was split to PixmapPath and IconPath. PixmapPath is the path
2019 for the pixmaps used as textures and IconPath is for the icons.
2020 Don't forget to add IconPath to your current configuration file.
2022 There's also a new library in ~/GNUstep/Library/Icons. You should place
2023 your icons there, since icons are not a WindowMaker specific resource.
2026 DontConfirmKill=YES; will disable the confirmation panel for Kill
2034 Unhide Here in the appicon menu was changed to be the first entry.
2035 This way you can unhide the appicon with a single click without
2036 even moving the pointer.
2042 The collect icons commands was renamed to attract icons and
2043 the attract icons options was renamed to Auto attract icons.
2045 The Remove Selected Icons was renamed to Remove Icon(s). It will
2046 act as before if some icon is selected and will remove the clicked
2047 icon (without confirmation) if it is not.
2049 Added a Keep Icon(s) command that will keep the selected icons if
2050 any is selected and the current one if none.
2052 The Move To command was renamed to Move Icon(s) To.
2057 If you have libPropList installed, you might want to re-install it,
2058 replacing with the included libPropList. It has a small bug fix.
2063 Removed --with-gnome and made MWM_HINTS defined by default.
2064 This means that "GNOME support" will work with no additional
2065 flags passed to configure.
2067 Added support for KDE, by adding a DisableWorkspaceMouseActions option.
2068 Set it to YES and run krootwm to be able to use everything in kfm.
2071 Shortcuts for Root Menu
2072 -----------------------
2074 There is now a new SHORTCUT optional keyword for the menus.
2075 For example, you can bind Control-F1 to xterm with:
2077 "XTerm" SHORTCUT Control+F1 EXEC xterm
2079 or F2 to ARRANGE_ICONS with:
2081 "Arrange Icons" SHORTCUT F2 ARRANGE_ICONS
2084 All commands allowed in the menu file accept the keyword, except for
2091 ** Configuration of docked applications is now done in a panel instead of
2094 ** Added a command menu for application icons
2096 ** Shift double-click on the application icon will unhide the app
2097 in the current workspace.
2103 NotMiniaturizable option changed to NoMiniaturizeButton
2104 NotClosable option changed to NoCloseButton
2107 Speed options values are now UltraFast, Fast, Medium, Slow or UltraSlow
2110 Removed the Select keyboard binding. You can access it in the window
2113 Removed the ClipMaxIcons option and made it a compile time option.
2115 Removed the ConstrainWindowSize option
2117 Renamed NoSound to DisableSound
2119 Renamed NoAutowrap to DontLinkWorkspaces
2121 Renamed NoDithering to DisableDithering
2123 Renamed NoAnimations to DisableAnimations
2125 Removed the LeftHanded option and added a SwapMenuButton option.
2126 SwapMenuButton will make the rubberband selection in the root window
2127 be bound to the right button and the root menu to the left button.
2130 New way to display temporary icons
2131 ----------------------------------
2133 The icons that are attracted by Clip, but will not be kept after the
2134 application close, are now using a different color for shading, unlike previous
2135 version that always used white. This will improve look for very different color
2136 combinations, and allow the user to control the look of the shaded icon.
2137 The color used for shading the icons is computed as follows:
2139 First a color is computed depending on the IconBack type:
2140 - for solid the color is the solid color itself.
2141 - for simple gradients the color is (from_color + to_color)/2.
2142 - for multiple gradients, the color is the first color in list.
2143 - for pixmaps, the color is the solid color specified for that pixmap.
2145 Then the color is made lighter by multiplying each red/green/blue filed with
2146 1.7 and limiting each field to 0xff in case they exceed this value.
2147 Then this new color will be used by superposing it with the icon we want to
2148 shade, using a proper alpha value.
2150 To control the color for shading is simple:
2152 - In case of multi gradients you just need to put the first color, as the color
2153 you like. WindowMaker do not use the first color in the list to directly build
2154 the gradient, but only when it needs a solid color for something (like in this
2157 - For pixmaps, put the needed color as the solid color the syntax for pixmaps
2158 require. This color is also not used when displaying normal icons, just when
2159 solid colors are needed (like this case).
2161 - For solid color, or simple gradients, in case the color it uses after
2162 computing is not good enough, you can always convert the solid or simple
2163 gradient to a multi gradient with the same look, and use that one. In this
2164 case is simple, just put the needed color as first color in list.
2166 Please note that this will not slow down WindowMaker, because the IconBack is
2167 read only once at startup, and then only if it is changed. After reading it WM
2168 will construct the image of the tile, and use the image instead of recomputing
2169 the gradient every time.
2171 Here are 2 examples of converting solid or simple gradient to a same looking
2174 IconBack = (solid, Blue);
2176 IconBack = (mhgradient , LightBlue, Blue, Blue);
2177 using LightBlue as color for shading.
2179 IconBack = (dgradient, "#284569", "#082420");
2181 IconBack = (mdgradient, "#183454", "#284569", "#082420");
2182 looking the same, but using #183454 for shading.
2185 New Sound Server Location
2186 -------------------------
2188 The sound server new URL is http://www.frontiernet.net/~southgat/wmsound
2189 Also it seems to be running on FreeBSD too (with little changes maybe).
2197 The path for the WINGs resource files was changed. If you don't
2198 do make install, you must move /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Resources to
2199 /usr/local/share/WINGs
2205 The following new options are available:
2206 NewStyle = Yes/No; (static) Replaces --enable-newstyle
2207 DisableDock = Yes/No; (static) Same as -nodock command line option.
2208 DisableClip = Yes/No; (static) Same as -noclip.
2209 Superfluous = Yes/No; (dynamic) Replaces --enable-superfluous.
2212 - The static options are only read at startup. Changing them, needs to restart,
2213 so they will be accounted.
2214 - DisableDock and DisableClip have lower precedence than -nodock -noclip
2215 command line options. If both option/command line option are given, then the
2216 command line option will be accounted.
2222 The start hidden option was fixed, and made to be an application wide option.
2223 It will apply to every window the application owns. Also its place in the
2224 Attribute Inspector panel, changed accordingly, to reflect this.
2225 The start miniaturized is however still applying to particular windows of an
2226 application, unless the option is set for the class.
2227 Start miniaturized, will override start hidden if both set.
2230 Because of the way Netscape Communicator is implemented, it is NOT possible
2231 to set the start hidden or miniaturized flags for it. This is because Netscape
2232 chooses to send a second map event to the window it maps. This makes the
2233 window to receive a second map request and to be unhidden or maximized back,
2234 immediately after it was hidden or miniaturized by WindowMaker at startup.
2243 The NextMenuBehaviour option was renamed to WrapMenus
2244 The WorkspaceTiedMiniwindows option was renamed to StickyIcons
2246 The .tif files were renamed to .tiff
2249 Selecting Mini Windows
2250 ----------------------
2252 Now miniaturized windows can be selected as well as normal windows.
2253 You can do this by Shift-Click-ing them. They will be marked, and will follow
2254 you through workspaces like normal selected windows do.
2255 Miniaturizing a window will no longer deselect the window, but will place the
2256 icon and mark it as selected.
2257 The only difference between miniaturized and normal window selection is that
2258 for the moment the rubber-band selecting method works only for normal windows.
2261 Icon Selection Panel in Attributes Editor
2262 -----------------------------------------
2264 Now, selecting icons is as easy as clicking in the file name in a list.
2270 IconSlideStep, IconSlideSlowDown and IconSlideDelay were merged to
2273 MenuScrollStep and MenuScrollDelay were merged to MenuScrollSpeed
2275 ShadeStep and ShadeDelay were merged to ShadeSpeed
2278 Valid values for them are: Fast, Normal, Slow or UltraSlow
2280 If you want to fine tune the values, they can be changed in wconfig.h
2281 Send me your set of values with an indication of how fast is your hardware,
2282 so that I can make the default values more adequate.
2285 New Window Attributes
2286 ---------------------
2288 Added StartMiniaturized and StartHidden as window attributes and
2289 removed the previous implementation. Also removed the dock menu entries.
2290 They are now settable in the Attributes Panel.
2292 Also added DontSaveSession attribute. This way, you won't end up with multiple
2293 unwanted copies of the same app after the previous session is restored.
2294 I start X with a xterm in .xinitrc instead of wmaker, which will cause the
2295 xterm restored by wmaker be duplicate. Just add -name something to the
2296 xterm started form .xinitrc and mark DontSaveSession=YES for that window.
2300 User Specifiable Visual IDs
2301 ---------------------------
2303 wmaker now supports different visuals than the default one. It isn't of much
2304 use for most people, but can be useful for lucky SGI users who want it
2305 to use TrueColor instead of the default PseudoColor.
2307 wmaker -visualid VISUAL_ID
2309 where VISUAL_ID is the hex code for the visual you want.
2311 Note: I don't have an SGI box and haven't tested it...
2318 The starting workspace is identified in the following order:
2319 1. If the app is omnipresent will be mapped on the current workspace.
2320 2. Else if the application have a StartWorkspace option set as attribute
2321 then this one will be used.
2322 3. Else, if the application was started from Clip, the workspace on which
2323 the Clip from where it was started is used.
2324 4. Else the current workspace is used.
2326 Restoring saved sessions will always use the saved workspace, no matter
2327 what other options are, except omnipresent.
2333 Workspace specific mini windows
2334 -------------------------------
2336 The minimized windows can be workspace specific, being more consistent with
2337 the rest. This is because minimized window represents just another state of a
2338 window (like normal or shaded), which all are workspace specific.
2339 This (or the old "present anywhere") behavior can be set using an option in
2340 the WindowMaker database: WorkspaceTiedMiniWindows = Yes/No;
2342 New way to animate the blowing icons
2343 ------------------------------------
2345 There is now a compile time option that allows one to set how the icons are
2346 animated when detaching from dock/clip in superfluous mode.
2347 By default the classic "Falling pieces" animation is used.
2348 If SPREAD_ICON is #define-ed in wconfig.h, then a "Spread in four directions"
2349 animation is used instead. Take a look at the section where this is described
2351 By default there is #undef SPREAD_ICON to select "Falling pieces" animation.
2353 Auto Collapse for Clip
2354 ----------------------
2356 The clip now supports an option named "Auto Collapse" which can be set from
2357 the clip main menu. When set, clip will stay collapsed, and will show itself
2358 when the mouse moves over it. While the mouse is over it, or over any of the
2359 icons attached to the clip, the clip will stay uncollapsed, letting you to
2360 access the attached icons. This is not true for applications like asclock, or
2361 applets of that kind, because the icon window do not belongs to WindowMaker,
2362 but to the application itself. For such icons you must keep the mouse over the
2363 icon groundplate, else it will collapse back. But usually these type of icons
2364 will not stay in a collapsed clip, since one needs to see what they show.
2365 When the clip is leaved it will collapse back after a delay of 1 second, unless
2366 the mouse is moved back to the clip area. The delay can be set modifying
2367 AUTO_COLLAPSE_DELAY in wconfig.h. Default is 1000 (ms) which means 1 second.
2374 Changed name from Fiend to Clip
2375 -----------------------------------
2377 All occurrences of word Fiend with or without capital F were replaced with
2378 the corresponding Clip (same capital).
2379 This affects all configuration files under ~/GNUstep that contain this word.
2380 It can be referred as "Workspace Dock" too.
2383 New option in Clip menu, and extended Clip behavior
2384 ---------------------------------------------------
2386 The following new items are available in the dock menu:
2389 2. Keep Attracted Icons
2391 4. (Un)select All Icons
2392 5. Remove Selected Icons
2394 7. Start miniaturized (also available for regular dock)
2395 8. Start hidden (also available for regular dock)
2397 10. Set icon... (also available for regular dock)
2400 Here is what they do:
2402 1. "Attract Icons" will let the Clip to attract and attach any new appicon that
2403 is created when an application starts. It will not do this if the Clip is
2404 full. If the Clip is Collapsed then the appicon will be hidden after it is
2406 2. "Keep Attracted Icons" will tell the Clip to keep the attracted appicons,
2407 after the application is closed. Without this the appicons will vanish,
2408 leaving the Clip in the original state. If you move an appicon that was
2409 attracted from Clip to regular Dock, it will be kept when closed, no matter
2410 what "Keep Attracted Icons" is set to in Clip.
2411 3. "Collect Icons" will collect all appicons that are not yet attached to Dock
2412 or Clip, and attach them to the current workspace Clip. The value of
2413 "Keep Attracted Icons" will apply when applications close. If Clip is
2414 collapsed, the appicons will be hidden.
2415 4. "(Un)select All Icons" will select all icons in the clip if none is
2416 selected, or it will deselect all selected ones. The selected icons are
2417 marked using a small triangle in the bottom right corner of the appicon.
2418 The color of the mark is set using SClipColor in WindowMaker domain
2420 5. "Remove Selected Icons" will remove from Clip all selected icons. The ones
2421 that still run, will be detached, all the others will vanish.
2422 6. "Move To" will transfer all selected icons to another workspace and attach
2423 them to the Clip in that workspace. If none is selected, only the one the
2424 mouse was pressed on will be moved.
2425 7. "Start miniaturized" will launch (or autolaunch if set) the application in
2426 a miniaturized state.
2427 8. "Start hidden" will launch (or autolaunch if set) the application in a
2428 hidden state. Note that only one of the two can be set at a time.
2429 9. "Selected" can be used to toggle the selected state of the appicon
2430 individually. The same can be achieved using Shift-LeftClick on the appicon.
2431 In fact the intended way of toggling the selected state is by using
2432 the Shift-LeftClick on icon. The menu entry is just another way to do the
2434 10. "Set icon..." will allow one to set the image for the appicon. The image
2435 will be updated without restart, and also all appicons in the same
2436 instance.class as the one we set for, will be updated.
2438 So a simple way of avoiding the screen to be filled up with appicons is to set
2439 the "Attract Icons" in the Clip. Also the "Keep Attracted Icons" can be set to
2440 No, so the attracted icons will be deleted when application exits, thus leaving
2441 the Clip clean. If also one to not want to see the appicons that keep filling
2442 the Clip, he can set the Clip to be Collapsed.
2444 Getting rid of unneeded icons in Clip is as simple as selecting them
2445 individually using Shift-LeftClick, and then using the "Remove selected Icons"
2449 Support for different visuals.
2450 ------------------------------
2452 WindowMaker is now able to support any visual, except DirectColor, in any
2453 depth from 1bpp to 32bpp.
2455 One can start the X server with different visuals, by passing the X server the
2456 right option. For XFree 3.3.x is -cc <id>.
2457 WindowMaker is not yet able to choose a different visual from the Default one
2458 on a given screen, but can use any default visual it finds, except the direct
2460 For example starting X like (for XFree 3.3.x, and if the driver for the
2461 card supports this. Read the man page for your X server):
2462 startx -- -bpp 8 -cc 0 will give you the StaticGray visual.
2463 startx -- -bpp 8 -cc 1 will give the GrayScale visual
2466 Wrlib code is now generic, and will support any visual except DirectColor in
2467 any depth. Programs written with wrlib can work on different visuals from
2468 the default visual for a given screen.
2469 Behavior in different visuals can be tested using the testgrad program in
2470 wrlib subdirectory in distribution.
2471 testgrad -h will show the usage.
2473 Multidiagonal gradients are also implemented now in wrlib, and a new algorithm
2474 is used to speed up the generation of diagonal gradients.
2477 New arrangement of the directory structure under ~/GNUstep/
2478 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2480 To better adapt to theme support the directory structure changed under
2481 ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker
2483 1. Style directory moved to Styles.
2484 2. Added the following directories: Backgrounds, IconSets, Pixmaps, Sounds and
2486 3. The .style files no longer get copied in the user's Styles directory.
2487 Instead they are read from the global /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Styles
2490 Under ~/GNUstep/Defaults the following changes occurred:
2492 1. A default WMState is installed by wmaker.inst.
2493 It contains the dockit program assigned to the top icon of the dock, and
2494 the wmsetbg program assigned for the drop command on both dock's and clip's
2496 Double clicking the dock's main icon will bring up dockit that will let you
2497 dock any application that do not have an application icon.
2498 Dropping an image on dock's or clip's main icon, from an Offix DND aware
2499 application, will put the image on the background tiled, and will update
2500 WindowMaker domain database file.
2501 2. Syntax of WMState changed a little. The old position will not be restored
2502 when you will first start the new version, but after that it will be
2503 normally remembered. This is because now the main clip icons is only saved
2504 once, not for every workspace.
2505 You should replace Fiend with Clip in any place where it appears, if you
2506 want to keep the old WMState file, else it will not work.
2507 3. At compile time, it will detect if you have support for tif, and will
2508 install a WMWindowAttributes with corresponding image name extension
2509 (.tif or .xpm). This is true only for pixmaps that come with the source
2510 distribution and get installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Pixmaps
2512 The menu file changed a lot. Old menu file will *not* work with new theme
2513 support, so please upgrade.
2516 New behavior of OPEN_MENU command
2517 ---------------------------------
2519 The OPEN_MENU command now supports the following syntax:
2520 1. File menu handling.
2521 // opens file.menu which must contain a valid menu file and inserts
2522 // it in current position
2524 2. Pipe menu handling.
2525 // opens command and uses it's stdout to construct menu.
2526 // Command's output must be a valid menu description.
2528 3. Directory handling.
2529 // Opens one or more directories and construct a menu with all
2530 // the subdirectories and executable files in them sorted alphabetically.
2531 OPEN_MENU /some/dir [/some/other/dir ...]
2532 4. Directory handling with command.
2533 // Opens one or more directories and construct menu with all
2534 // subdirectories and readable files in them sorted alphabetically,
2535 // preceding each of them with command.
2536 // WITH is a required keyword!!!
2537 OPEN_MENU /some/dir [/some/other/dir ...] WITH command -options
2539 Please note that because of the 'WITH' keyword old menu files no longer work
2540 for the OPEN_MENU with a command.
2546 Theme support is now as easy as untar-ing a tarball in the right place.
2547 Because of the way OPEN_MENU works, they can be installed on a global
2548 shareable basis, or for personal user use.
2549 Themes installed under ~/GNUstep will be available only for a user, but
2550 if if they are installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker they will be seen
2551 by all users. This is also true for style files, background images, pixmaps,
2552 etc that get installed under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker.
2553 Themes can be saved or loaded using the Appearance menu.
2555 Also support for different IconSets is available. You can save or load a new
2556 IconSet using the Appearance menu.
2558 Setting background images is now as simple as putting the images in the right
2559 place (~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds or
2560 /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Backgrounds, or any other place in your
2561 PixmapPath). Then use the Appearance menu. They will be instantly available
2562 since they are opened by a OPEN_MENU command. Also the image do not need to
2563 have a .jpg or any other extension. It will be recognized anyhow.
2564 As an example please see the OpenStep theme supplied with WindowMaker.
2565 The OpenStep image is a jpeg file without extension.
2567 Please keep in mind that anything under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker will be
2568 available for all users.
2571 New options for wmsetbg and getstyle
2572 ------------------------------------
2574 wmsetbg now accepts the following options:
2575 usage: wmsetbg [-options] image
2580 -s scale image (default)
2581 -u update WindowMaker domain database
2582 -D <domain> update <domain> database
2583 -c <cpc> colors per channel to use
2585 By default, it will try to guess if dithering is needed or not and proceed
2587 Using -d or -m will force it to dither or match colors.
2589 Dithering for more than 15bpp is generally not needed, and will only result
2590 in a slower processing.
2591 Don't use dithering except when needed, because it is slower. Else rely on
2592 wmsetbg which will detect if dithering is needed and use it.
2594 -u will update the WorkspaceBack in the default database domain file in
2595 ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, and let WindowMaker refresh the screen.
2596 Please note that this option only works under WindowMaker, and will have no
2597 effect under other window managers, since it rely on WindowMaker to update
2598 the image after it reads the updated defaults database.
2600 -D <domain> is same as above, but will update the domain <domain> instead of
2601 the default WindowMaker domain.
2603 -c <cpc> will set the color per channel to use. Only needed for PseudoColor
2604 visuals. WindowMaker will automatically pass the value read from the
2605 WindowMaker domain database.
2608 getstyle now have the -t option, that instructs it to read all options
2609 related to theme. Without -t getstyle will read only style options that
2610 means it will not read WorkspaceBack and IconBack.
2611 Use -t when you want to make a theme and need all theme options to be saved.
2612 Else it will extract just a style file.
2615 Session management support
2616 --------------------------
2618 Two new commands are available for use in menus:
2620 SAVE_SESSION and CLEAR_SESSION.
2623 will take a snapshot of all running applications, and their current hints
2624 (shaded, hidden, minimized, geometry and workspace they are on),
2625 and save it inside the WMState file. Also the current workspace we are on is
2626 saved. The applications that are running and were started from dock or clip are
2627 marked, so they will be attached to the corresponding dock/clip when restored.
2628 This state is restored every next session, until a new one is saved or
2629 CLEAR_SESSION is used.
2632 will clear any previous saved session.
2634 There is also a run time option named SaveSessionOnExit = Yes/No; that allows
2635 one to automatically save the state of desktop when leaving WindowMaker.
2636 This way next session, the state of the desktop before last exit is restored.
2638 Please note that if this option is set to Yes, than any manual saving of the
2639 state, or any clearing of the state will be overridden when exiting
2642 These options are available under the "Workspace" menu.
2645 User WindowMaker configuration files are now merged with global ones
2646 --------------------------------------------------------------------
2648 When starts WindowMaker will look for database domain files under
2649 $GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT/Defaults or ~/GNUstep/Defaults to be read. (In this order).
2651 If they are not available then it will scan for them in
2652 $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/Defaults, $GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT/Defaults or
2653 /usr/local/GNUstep/Defaults (in this order).
2655 Even if the file was found or not, it will always load the corresponding domain
2656 file under /usr/local/share/WindowMaker/Defaults.
2658 Then if the user file was found it will merge it over the global file, else
2659 the global file will be used.
2661 This way any settings that are set by the system administrator in the shared
2662 file will be available for users that do not have them in their config files.
2663 Any option the user have in his config file will override the one in the
2666 So any new run-time options that appear in WindowMaker domain, do not need to
2667 be set in all user files, except the ones the user wants a different behavior
2668 from the default set for all users in the shared file.
2670 Also it is possible for the user to not have any personal domain databases, and
2671 the global shared ones will be used, but it still needs to have the directory
2672 structure, so WMState gets written on session exit.
2673 So all it needs to have is ~/GNUstep/Defaults directory available.
2676 New behavior of the Slide Icons
2677 -------------------------------
2679 Animation constants are now run-time.
2683 IconSlideSlowDown = 50;
2685 To better adapt both slow and fast machines the behavior of sliding icons
2686 changed in the following manner:
2688 Old one was to keep moving the icon with a constant step (default 5 pixels)
2689 until it reached the destination.
2691 Now it will use a new parameter named IconSlideSlowDown to speed up or slow
2694 Instead of moving it with a constant step it will use IconSlideSlowDown to
2695 divide the distance to the destination, and use this value as the first step.
2696 Then is will compute the remaining distance and will again use
2697 IconSlideSlowDown to divide it and get the new step. And so on.
2698 When the step to move becomes smaller than IconSlideStep, IconSlideStep will
2699 be used further until the destination is reached.
2701 This way a nice deceleration effect is achieved, since while the icon
2702 approaches destination, it will use smaller steps, gibing the illusion that
2703 the icons is moving slower.
2705 IconSlideDelay will give the pause between steps, and is expressed in ms.
2707 Giving large values to IconSlideSlowDown (>1024 for 1024x768 screen) will
2708 result in the old "constant step advance" behavior, since the computed step
2709 will always be smaller than IconSlideStep, and the last will be used instead.
2711 Making IconSlideSlowDown = 0 or 1, will result in an instant jump to the
2712 destination without any animation.
2718 Because the icon images on screen automatically update after any change in
2719 WMWindowAttributes domain file, the use of both Save and Apply buttons is no
2720 longer needed. If one wants to just apply the setting to the current window
2721 only, he will only use the Apply button.
2722 If he wants them saved for all applications in the same instance and/or class
2723 the using the Save button will write them to disk, and automatically
2724 WindowMaker will update all the icons that need to be updated on screen.
2730 Some basic sound support is now part of WindowMaker. The sound server is not
2731 yet part of WindowMaker distribution, so you need to download it separately.
2732 This is because is Linux specific, and need some changes before it can be
2734 Until them if you have a Linux system and want to use sound, use the
2735 wmsound-0.5 available at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/7874
2736 Download that package, and only build the sound server there.
2737 DO NO APPLY ANY PATCHES FROM THERE!, because they are already applied.
2738 Just build the sound and copy the executable in /usr/local/bin
2739 Follow the rest of the install steps described there, except the patch-ing
2742 To enable sound for WindowMaker pass --enable-sound to configure.
2744 Also use NoSound = Yes/No; to enable/disable sound at run-time without killing
2747 If you cannot set the sound to work yet, then is not for you.
2748 Wait until the sound server will be fixed and will be part of WindowMaker.
2751 New entries in WindowMaker domain database
2752 ------------------------------------------
2754 The following entries have been added to the run-time options:
2756 SaveSessionOnExit = No;
2758 will autosave (or not) the session state on exit.
2760 WindowPlaceOrigin = "64, 64";
2762 will offset all windows in auto or cascade placement mode with the value
2763 (in pixels) before placing them on screen. First is horizontal direction and
2765 This do not apply to windows that request a specific position on screen.
2766 This is useful if you want your Clip on the top left corner to not be
2767 overlapped by mapping windows.
2768 It will let it to have a row and a column of docked appicons near the screen
2769 edge, that will not be overlapped by windows.
2770 If you set it to "128, 128" it will have 2 rows and 2 columns not overlapped.
2775 Enable/disable sound at run-time without the need of killing the sound server.
2778 MenuScrollDelay = 10;
2781 Constants for the menu scrolling animation.
2785 IconSlideSlowDown = 50;
2787 Constants for the icons sliding on screen. Explained above.
2792 Animation parameters for shading a window. How many steps it will take, and the
2793 delay between steps in ms.
2795 DoubleClickTime = 250;
2797 The time for the double click to be considered so. Expressed in ms.
2799 SClipColor = "#6f8ae2";
2801 Color for selected icons in Clip.
2803 All delays are expressed in ms.
2810 *** Enhanced fiend clone.
2812 Here are the new fiend features:
2813 1. Keys for raising/lowering the fiend, and their default values:
2814 FiendLowerKey = None;
2815 FiendRaiseKey = None;
2816 FiendRaiseLowerKey = None;
2818 All reside in WindowMaker configuration file.
2820 2. Added possibility to launch the workspace menu with button1 click on the
2821 idle indicator of fiend, or with button3 click on workspace name on the
2824 3. Added Control-button1-click on fiend's idle indicator, to create a new
2825 workspace and move to it. Same action as New item in Workspace menu.
2827 4. Fiend's idle indicator do have a color that reflects its normal/collapsed
2830 5. The delay between changing workspaces from fiend is now a run-time option:
2832 WorkspaceChangeDelay = 700;
2834 in WindowMaker configuration file.
2836 6. Application icons can be moved between dock and fiend now.
2838 7. The way workspaces are changed is controlled now by two run-time options:
2840 AdvanceToNewWorkspace=Yes/No;
2841 CycleWorkspaces=Yes/No;
2843 Both apply to either fiend navigating buttons or to next/prev workspace
2844 keybindings. Both default to No, and are in WindowMaker configuration file.
2846 8. Also added possibility to advance to new workspace, no matter what value
2847 AdvanceToNewWorkspace have, with Control-button1-click on "next workspace"
2851 *** Theme support ***
2853 Spixmap and tpixmap now work. Their syntax is:
2855 SomeStyleOption = (spixmap, file, color);
2856 SomeStyleOption = (tpixmap, file, color);
2858 - spixmap means scaled pixmap, so the image in the file will be scaled to
2859 adapt to the destination's size.
2860 - tpixmap means tiled pixmap, and the image from file will be tiled in the
2863 file is searched in the PixmapPath, but can be a full path name.
2865 Color is used depending on which Style option is applied.
2866 For example in case of titlebars, color is used for miniwindows titles color.
2867 You are not restricted in selecting that color, but is better to put one
2868 that matches the overall color of the image.
2870 Currently they apply to all the options that accept (solid, color), or any
2872 This means they also apply to WorkspaceBack and IconBack, which allows theme
2873 support with the simple use of the setstyle and getstyle utilities.
2874 There is no need for an extra theme manager, just to include the needed
2875 options in the style files.
2877 In case of WorkspaceBack, color is used to be set in the background until
2878 the image gets loaded and displayed. This is to avoid the stippled screen
2879 the X server shows, in case the image is big and loads slow.
2880 There is a small utility in the util directory, named wmsetbg which is
2881 used to set the background image. This is needed for WindowMaker not to
2882 freeze while loading and scaling the image.
2883 Currently it is hardcoded in WindowMaker to use wmsetbg to set the background
2884 image, and is better to use it since is smaller that other image manipulation
2885 programs, and it is compiled with support for same image types as WindowMaker.
2886 Since it comes and is installed with WindowMaker, there will be no need to
2887 download and use an external app, which also may not have support for the same
2888 image types as WindowMaker.
2896 The fiend clone is a dock extender, that lets you dock more than the default
2897 10-12 icons in the dock. It actually lets you dock how many icons you like,
2898 with a current default of 25 per workspace. The fiend have different docked
2899 icons on every workspace. Also the fiend main icon shows you the workspace
2900 you're on and lets you navigate through the workspaces with the small green
2901 buttons on the low right corner.
2902 To save screen space the fiend can be collapsed to the main icon either
2903 from the fiend menu (available with right click on the fiend icons), or
2904 with a double left click on the main fiend icon, which is a toggle for
2905 the collapsed/uncollapsed state.
2906 Collapsed state is marked by a different title color.
2907 Pressing on the small buttons on the low right corner, the workspaces are
2908 changed in increments of 1 to the left or right, but keeping the button
2909 pressed over them will continuously advance through workspaces until the
2910 mouse is moved away from the buttons or the button is released.
2911 The delay between workspace changes is set by FIEND_WKS_CHANGE_DELAY in
2912 src/wconfig.h, and defaults to 700 ms.
2913 Unlike the dock, fiend can hold icons in any directions, and can be placed
2914 in any position on screen.
2916 When an icons is to be docked, but the position can be either in the dock
2917 or in the fiend, the dock will be used first, and the icon will be docked
2920 Here are the new run-time options introduced by the fiend:
2921 Files are located in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/
2923 In WMWindowAttributes:
2924 "Logo.WMFiend" = {Icon = "Cone.xpm";}; - icon for the fiend
2927 FiendMaxIcons = 25; - the max number of icons in fiend per
2929 FiendTitleFont = "-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*";
2930 - the font used to show the current
2932 FiendTitleColor = black; - color for the uncollapsed fiend title
2933 CFiendTitleColor = "#616161"; - color for the collapsed fiend title
2934 AFiendColor = "#00ba70"; - color for the workspace changing
2935 buttons, when active
2936 IFiendColor = "#008000"; - color for the workspace changing
2939 For the ones who don't want to use fiend, there is a option to wmaker named
2940 -nofiend that can be feed to the command line when starting wmaker.
2941 (This is the equivalent for -nodock, but removes fiend clone).
2943 The syntax of WMState file have changed, but you don't have to worry because
2944 WindowMaker will know to read the old format and will save it and further
2945 will use the new one. You do not need to change your file, for the new version
2951 *** Enhanced Attribute editor.
2953 Now you can save defaults for all windows.
2954 Please note that only Icon, KeepInsideScreen, and sometimes NoAppIcon
2955 can be useful in a normal environment. But others may have other opinion ;)
2956 If you set AlwaysUserIcon default for all windows, note that apps like
2957 asclock, wmload, wmmail, wmrack, will show that icon instead of their
2960 Now Attribute editor also counts for defaults saved for all windows,
2961 (not only the default "No" for all options hardcoded in WindowMaker),
2962 when saving options for some instance.class specification. This is to
2963 save disk space by saving only the options that differs from global defaults
2964 (either defaults for all windows or the hardcoded valued in WindowMaker).
2966 Attribute Editor now updates on the fly the appicon image or creates/deletes
2967 the appicon if you set that options in the Inspector panel and Apply them.
2968 Modifying Icon file, NoAppIcon or AlwaysUserIcon and Applying them will
2969 result in the image update for the app-icon.
2971 Note that if you apply but not save these options, the miniwindow image will
2972 not be updated. This is because app-icon is always on screen so it can be
2973 updated, but miniwindow image is read from the defaults database and from disk
2974 every time you minimize the window and is destroyed when you restore.
2979 *** Attribute editor is working ;).
2981 How it works is quite obvious.
2982 Anyway, here is a short description.
2984 Save - only save the configuration in defaults database and updates
2986 Apply - only applies the values to the current window
2987 Revert - reverts the values from the defaults database
2989 Note that Save and Revert count for the window specification
2990 (instance & class), that are selected, and save/use the values for/from
2993 The Update button will show the icon who's name was typed in the textfield
2994 If the textfield is empty, will try to use the default icon.
2995 Also saving with and empty textfield for icon, uses the default icon.
2997 The Default button will use the icon in the textfield as default icon
2998 and save that value in WMWindowAttributes (Note that in this case is no
2999 need to press the Save button!). Also if the textfield is empty it will
3000 try to use the old default icon, if available.
3002 *** Now menus are saved between sessions, or over a restart.
3004 Just stick them to the desktop, and you will find them over sessions
3005 until you close them.
3006 Please note that only the root_menu, the window switch_menu and the
3007 workspaces_menu can be saved this way.
3009 *** Changed the lousy Windoze menu behavior.
3011 This applies to 'NextMenuBehaviour = NO;'
3013 Now the items are no more automatically selected if you launch the menu
3014 and the mouse is over some item, if you use a short click to launch the
3015 menu (shorter than the default DBL click time).
3016 If you use a longer click or keep the mouse pressed, the item under mouse
3017 will be selected after that delay, and launched when you will release the
3019 If the click was short, a second one is needed to launch the item.
3021 *** Auto-arrange icons is now a run-time option
3024 AutoArrangeIcons = YES/NO;
3027 *** Added configurable horizontal resize threshold
3030 HorizontalResizeThreshold = <n>;
3032 This will make the n pixels at the exterior side of the corner handle
3033 of the resize bar to restrict to horizontal only resize.
3034 Also you can use Shift-click&drag anywhere on the corner handle to
3035 restrict the resize only to horizontal.
3036 Note that the Shift-click&drag does not depend of the configured threshold
3037 and works completely independent.
3039 *** New option for OPEN_MENU (pipe from command)
3041 OPEN_MENU | /foo/bar/script
3043 will make a menu that is dynamically constructed by /foo/bar/script
3048 *** New option for OPEN_MENU
3050 OPEN_MENU /foo/bar/pics xv -root -quit
3052 will make a menu with all files in /foo/bar/pics and precede them
3053 with EXEC xv -root -quit
3055 thus, making a menu with entries like:
3058 "marble.gif" EXEC xv -root -quit marble.gif
3059 "water.jpg" EXEC xv -root -quit water.jpg
3063 *** Multicolor gradients
3065 (mhgradient, colorX, color1, color2, color3, ..., colorn)
3066 (mvgradient, colorX, color1, color2, color3, ..., colorn)
3068 You can put any number of colors >= 2.
3070 colorX is a special color that is used as the solid color of the
3071 texture when wmaker needs a solid color (like in miniwindow title and
3074 *** PixmapPath format changed
3078 PixmapPath = "/usr/local/share/pixmaps:~/foobar";
3082 PixmapPath = ("/usr/local/share/pixmaps", "~/foobar");
3085 *** Added OffiX DND in dock
3087 Use the "Set drop arguments..." command in the menu and put a %d
3088 where the dropped object string should be substituted, like:
3092 *** Escape thingies for menu and dock commands:
3094 %w - substitute with current selected X window ID
3095 %s - substitute with current selection
3096 %d - substitute with last dropped object
3097 %a(some text) - opens a input box with "some text" as a title. Then,
3098 the text typed will be substituted there
3100 \r, \n - substitute with corresponding characters
3103 *** The WMState file format has changed a little.
3104 The Command field for the dock application list is now a normal string,
3105 instead of a list. So, remove the parentheses and the commas for the command
3106 and join all the parts. Example:
3110 Command = ( xterm," -geometry", "+10+10" );
3114 Command = "xterm -geometry +10+10";
3119 AutoFocus = NO; disables automatic focusing of windows
3120 when they are first mapped
3125 titlebar gradients are in a single piece now
3127 the WMDock file was merged into the WMState file. You can insert this
3128 file in WMState and set it's key to Dock. For example, if your WMDock
3132 Applications = { {Command = (); }};
3137 and WMState contains:
3140 Workspaces = ( "Workspace 1" );
3143 then you can merge both and have:
3146 Workspaces = ( "Workspace 1" );
3148 Applications = { {Command = (); }};
3156 The configuration format has changed!! Forget everything about the old
3159 dockapp was removed and the old version will not work anymore.
3161 the dialogs require tcl/tk. they will be rewritten in plain C
3164 These are some tips for people upgrading from older versions and don't want
3165 too many unused files around. There is no problem if you decide to keep
3168 you can rm -r ~/gnustep if you don't want anything from there
3170 remove the files in /usr/local/share/WindowMaker before installation
3172 the /usr/local/share/pixmaps directory can be removed