Cwm (window manager)

Last updated

cwm
Original author(s) Marius Aamodt Eriksen
Developer(s) Marius Aamodt Eriksen, Andy Adamson, Niels Provos, Martin Murray, Dimitris Economou, Antti Nykänen
Initial release10 July 2004;19 years ago (2004-07-10)
Stable release
3 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 28 August 2005
Repository
Written in C
Operating system Unix-like
Type Window manager
License ISC License
Website www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/xenocara/app/cwm/   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

cwm (Calm Window Manager) [2] is a stacking window manager for the X Window System. While it is primarily developed as a part of OpenBSD's base system, [3] portable versions are available on other Unix-like operating systems.

Contents

History

Development of cwm started from patches to evilwm by Marius Aamodt Eriksen. [4] To ease the implementation of new features, cwm was eventually rewritten using some code from 9wm. [5] The last release by the original author came out in August 2005. [4]

In April 2007, cwm was imported into OpenBSD source tree. [6] By January 2008, a substantial part of the original source code, including all of the 9wm code, was rewritten. [7]

cwm has been distributed with OpenBSD since version 4.2, where it replaced wm2. [8] A third-party Linux port also exists. [9]

Description

cwm is a stacking window manager oriented towards heavy keyboard usage, [10] [11] small footprint and ease of use. While it lacks explicit virtual desktops functionality, it can be emulated by using the window groups mechanism. [12] cwm does not draw window decorations except for a border around windows.

cwm includes several menus: [11]

All these menus operate in a "search as you type" manner. [11]

cwm allows raising, hiding, switching between, and searching for windows using just the keyboard, making it suitable to use as terminal emulator multiplexer. [13] Furthermore, it allows manipulating pointing devices, such as mice, with the keyboard. [2]

Additional key bindings and configuration options can be specified in the configuration file ~/.cwmrc.

Reception

cwm is generally well received in software minimalist communities. [11]

cwm is noted to be used mainly due to its status as one of the default window managers in OpenBSD, [14] though other reasons are sometimes cited. [15] [16] cwm is also praised for its flexibility, ease of use, and the fact that it can be used without a mouse. [13] [17]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "cwm". Archived from the original on 8 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 Czarkoff, Dmitrij D. (22 November 2011), "Introduction: calm window manager", OSNews , retrieved 23 November 2011
  3. ↑ "The X Window System", OpenBSD Frequently Asked Questions, OpenBSD , retrieved 7 May 2016
  4. 1 2 Eriksen, Marius Aamodt, Old home page, archived from the original on 18 November 2011, retrieved 16 November 2011
  5. ↑ "cwm — a lightweight and efficient window manager for X11", OpenBSD manual pages, The OpenBSD project, retrieved 16 November 2011, The from-scratch rewrite borrowed some code from 9wm, however that code has since been removed or rewritten.
  6. ↑ "xenocara/app/cwm/calmwm.c", OpenBSD CVS, OpenBSD, 27 April 2007, retrieved 30 April 2017
  7. ↑ OpenBSD CVS log, The OpenBSD CVS , retrieved 16 November 2011
  8. ↑ "OpenBSD 4.2", OpenBSD , 1 November 2007, retrieved 30 April 2017
  9. ↑ Neukirchen, Leah, portable version of OpenBSD's cwm(1) window manager, GitHub , retrieved 16 November 2011
  10. ↑ Adriaanse, Jasper Lievisse (11 July 2007), cwm in Xenocara, OpenBSD Journal , retrieved 5 October 2011
  11. 1 2 3 4 O'Higgins, Niall (9 July 2007), Keyboard-only X, cwm hacks and Vimperator , retrieved 16 November 2011
  12. ↑ Gouveia, Rodolfo (2 May 2009), Getting started with cwm, OpenBSD Journal , retrieved 5 October 2011
  13. 1 2 O'Higgins, Niall (19 June 2007), Typing, window managers and sore hands , retrieved 5 October 2011
  14. ↑ Skinwalker (13 September 2011), OpenBSD – EEEPC , retrieved 16 November 2011
  15. ↑ Mandla, K. (18 June 2010), Short and sweet: cwm , retrieved 16 November 2011
  16. ↑ Pfennigs, Thilo (3 May 2008), Virtualized servers & OpenBSD , retrieved 16 November 2011
  17. ↑ Lucas, Michael W. (31 May 2011), my .cwmrc , retrieved 16 November 2011
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