flwm.1

.\"Man page for flwm, by Bill Spitzak.
.TH flwm 1 "15 May 1999"
.SH NAME
\fIflwm\fR - The Fast Light Window Manager
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B flwm
[-d[isplay] host:n.n] [-g[eometry] WxH+X+Y]
[-fg color] [-bg color] [-bg2 color]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I flwm
is a very small and fast X window manager, featuring
.I no
icons and "sideways" title bars.

.SH .xinitrc / .xsession

To run flwm as your login script, you need to create or replace
~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession (or both).  Newer Linux systems with a login
panel use .xsession, older systems where X was started after login
use .xinitrc.  You may also have to pick "default" from the "type of
session" popup in your login window.

The .xinitrc or .xsession file should look like this:

.nf
#!/bin/sh
xsetroot -solid \\#006060
xrdb .Xresources
# xset, xmodmap, other configuration programs
flwm &
WindowManager=$!
# xterm, other automatically-launched programs
wait $WindowManager
.fi

.SH SWITCHES

.B -d[isplay] host:#.#
Sets the display and screen for flwm to manage

.B -v[isual] #
Visual number to use (probably only works for non-color-mapped ones)

.B -g[eometry] WxH+X+Y
Flwm will act as though the screen is only the specified area.  It
will constrain initial window positions to this area and stop them at
the edges when dragging them around.  This can be used to surround the
screen with fixed "toolbars" that are never covered by windows.  These
toolbars must be created by a program using override-redirect so that
flwm does not try to move them.

.B -m[aximum] WxH
Set the size of windows when the maximize buttons are pushed.
Normally this is the size of the screen.  This is useful for
XFree86 servers that are run with a smaller screen than display
memory.

.B -x
The menu will say "Exit" instead of "Logout" and will not ask for
confirmation.  This is a good idea if you are running flwm in some
other way than with exec at the end of .xinitrc, since it won't log
you out then.

.B -fg color, -bg color
Set the label color and the color of the window frames and the
menu.

.B -c[ursor] #
What cursor to use on the desktop (you will have to experiment to find
out what each number means)

.B -cfg color, -cbg color
Colors for the desktop and window resizing cursors

In addition to these switches there is much customization that can be
done by editing the config.h file in the source code and recompiling.
GCC is your friend.

.SH MENU ITEMS

Flwm can launch programs from its menu.  This is controlled by files
in the directory
.B ~/.wmx
(this was chosen to be compatible with wmx and wm2).

Each executable file in ~/.wmx is a program to run.  Usually these are
symbolic links to the real program or very short shell scripts.

Each subdirectory creates a child menu so you can build a hierarchy
(up to 10 deep).

Cut and paste the following lines you your shell to create some
example files:

.nf
mkdir ~/.wmx
ln -s /usr/bin/gimp ~/.wmx/"The Gimp"
cat << EOF > ~/.wmx/"Terminal"
#! /bin/sh
/usr/local/bin/rxvt -ut
EOF
chmod +x !*
.fi

RedHat users can run the program
.B flwm_wmconfig
to read the /etc/X11/wmconfig directory and produce an initial set of
menu items.

.SH MOUSE USAGE

.B Left-click
on a window border raises window.

.B Left-drag
will move the window when in the title bar, and will resize it in the
edges.  If the window cannot be resized then it will always move the
window.  What it will do is indicated by the cursor shape.

.B Middle-click
on a window border lowers it to bottom.

.B Middle-drag
anywhere on window border will move the window.

When you move a window it will stop at the edges of the screen.
Dragging about 150 pixels further will unstick it and let you drag it
off the screen.

.B Right-click
on a window border pops up the menu.

.B Any button
on the desktop will pop up the menu.

.SH BUTTONS

The empty button "iconizes" the window: it will completely vanish.  To
get it back use the menu.

The vertical-bar button "shades" (or "Venetian blinds"?) the window.
Click it again to restore the window.  You can also resize the shaded
window to a new height or "open" it by resizing horizontally.

The two buttons below it toggle maximum height and/or maximum width.

The X button at the bottom closes the window.

.SH MENU

.B Right-click
on window border, or
.B any-click
on the desktop, or typing
.B Alt+Esc
or
.B Alt+Tab
or
.B Alt+Shift+Tab
will pop up the menu.

Releasing Alt will pick the current menu item.  This makes flwm work
very much (exactly?) like the Windows 95 shortcuts.

Each main window is a menu item.  If the window is "iconized" the
little picture shows an open rectangle, otherwise it shows a filled
rectangle.  Picking a menu item deiconizes and raises that window and
warps the pointer so it is current.

.B New desktop
asks for a name of a new desktop and makes it current.  The desktop
will initially be empty (except for sticky items).

To move windows to the current desktop, pop up the menu and pick
windows off of other desktops (if using the keyboard, use left
arrow to go to the desktop names, move up and down to the other
desktop, and use right arrow to enter that desktop).  The window will
be moved from the other desktop to the current one.

To switch to another desktop, pick the title of the desktop (if using
the keyboard, use left arrow to go to the desktop names, move up and
down to the other desktop).

If a desktop is empty you can delete it.  Its sub menu will show
.B delete this desktop.
Pick that and the desktop is gone.

.B Sticky
is a special "desktop": windows on it appear on all desktops.  To make
a window "sticky" switch to the Sticky desktop and pick the window off
its current desktop (thus "moving" it to the Sticky desktop).  To
"unstick" a window go to another desktop and pick the window off the
sticky desktop menu.

.B New xterm
will run a new xterm on the current desktop.  Useful if
you accidentally close everything.  This item does not appear if a
~/.wmx directory exists.

.B Logout
will ask for confirmation and if so flwm will exit.

.B Exit
will exit flwm without confirmation.  This item will appear if flwm
was run with the -x switch.

.SH HOT KEYS

These are the defaults, the hot keys may be different depending on how
flwm was compiled:

.B Alt+Escape
Pops up the menu with the current window preselected

.B Alt+Tab
Pops up the menu with the next window preselected

.B Alt+Shift+Tab
Pops up the menu with the previous window preselected

.B Ctrl+Tab
Switch to the next desktop.

.B Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Switch to the previous desktop.

.B Ctrl+Function key
Switch to desktop N.

.B Alt+Up
Raise the current window.

.B Alt+Down
Lower the current window.

.B Alt+Delete
Close the current window (same as clicking close box).

.B Alt+Enter
"Iconizes" (hides) the current window.

.SH BUGS

It is impossible to move windows smaller than 100 pixels off
the screen.

Only obeys "keep aspect" if the aspect ratio is 1x1.

.SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This program was inspired by and much code copied from the "wm2"
window manager by Chris Cannam <cannam@zands.demon.co.uk>

Thanks to Ron Koerner for the recursive .wmx directory reading code.

.SH COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 1999 Bill Spitzak

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA.

.SH AUTHORS

Written by Bill Spitzak		spitzak@d2.com