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https://github.com/jcs/sdorfehs

A tiling window manager
https://github.com/jcs/sdorfehs

tiling-window-manager x11-wm

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A tiling window manager

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README 

        
## sdorfehs




#### (pronounced "starfish")



sdorfehs is a tiling window manager descended from

[ratpoison](https://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/)

(which itself is modeled after

[GNU Screen](https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/)).



sdorfehs divides the screen into one or more frames, each only displaying

one window at a time but can cycle through all available windows (those

which are not being shown in another frame).



Like Screen, sdorfehs primarily uses prefixed/modal key bindings for most

actions.

sdorfehs's command mode is entered with a configurable keystroke

(`Control+a` by default) which then allows a number of bindings accessible

with just a single keystroke or any other combination.

For example, to cycle through available windows in a frame, press

`Control+a` then `n`.



### License



sdorfehs retains ratpoison's GPL2 license.



### Compiling



Run `make` to compile, and `make install` to install to `/usr/local` by

default.



### Wiki



The

[sdorfehs Wiki](https://github.com/jcs/sdorfehs/wiki)

has tips and tricks, and information on troubleshooting problems.



## Features



sdorfehs retains most of ratpoison's features while adding some more modern

touches.



![Screenshot](https://jcs.org/images/sdorfehs-20190826.png)



### EWMH



sdorfehs strives to be a bit more

[EWMH](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-latest.html)

compliant, supporting Atoms such as `_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW` for compositors

to dim unfocused windows, and `_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN` to allow full-screen

programs like VLC and Firefox to take over the entire screen when requested

(though still allowing the standard key bindings to switch windows or kill

the program).



### Virtual Screens



sdorfehs adds virtual screens which each have their own frame configuration

and set of windows.

Windows can be moved between virtual screens with `vmove`.

By default, virtual screens can be selected (via the `vselect` command)

with `Control+a, F1` through `Control+a, F12`.



### Bar



sdorfehs has a bar window which displays status messages or the output of

certain commands.

By default, this bar is made sticky with the `barsticky` setting which

forces the bar to be permanently affixed to the top or bottom (configurable

with the `bargravity` setting) of every virtual screen displaying the

currently-focused window's title on the left side.



When the bar is sticky, it also enables a mechanism to display arbitrary

text on the right side, similar to bar programs for other window managers like

i3bar, dzen2, etc.

sdorfehs creates a

[named pipe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Named_pipe)

at `~/.config/sdorfehs/bar` and any text input into the pipe shows up on

the bar, making it easy to integrate with standard utilities which can just

echo into the pipe.

For an extremely simple example, a shell script can just echo the output of

`date` into the pipe once a second.



    while true; do

      date > ~/.config/sdorfehs/bar

      sleep 1

    done



Bar input supports some markup commands from dzen2 in the format

`^command(details)` which affect the text following the command until the

command is reset with `^command()`.

Currently supported commands:



- `^ca(btn,cmd,btn2,cmd2)`: execute `cmd` when mouse button `btn` is clicked on

this area of text, or `cmd2` if button `btn2` is clicked.

Closing the area of clickable text can be done with `^ca()`.



- `^fg(color)`: color the text following until the next `^fg()` command.

A line of text such as `hello ^fg(green)world^fg()!` will color `hello` with

the default foreground color (`set fgcolor`), then `world` in green, and the

exclamation point with the default color.

Colors can be specified as their common name (`blue`) or as a hex code

(`#0000ff`).



- `^fn(font)`: change the font of the following text.

Fonts must be specified in Xft format like `set font` such as

`^fn(noto emoji:size=13)`.

Resetting to the default font can be done with `^fn()`.



### Gaps



sdorfehs enables a configurable gap (with `set gap`) between frames by

default to look a bit nicer on larger displays.



### Secure Remote Control



sdorfehs's `-c` command line option uses a more secure IPC mechanism

than Ratpoison for sending commands to a running sdorfehs process,

such as a script controlling sdorfehs to restore a particular layout.



Ratpoison's IPC only requires that a process create a new X11 window

and set an Atom on it, which the parent Ratpoison process reads and

executes the value of that Atom.

An unprivileged application that only has an X11 connection (say a

sandboxed Firefox child process) could set the `RP_COMMAND_REQUEST`

Atom property on its existing window with a value of `0exec

something` to cause Ratpoison to read it and execute that shell

command as the user id running Ratpoison.



sdorfehs's IPC mechanism switches to a Unix socket in the

`~/.config/sdorfehs` directory which ensures the requesting process

has the ability to make socket connections and can write to that

path.