Provided by: fvwm1_1.24r-57ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
fvwm1 - F(?) Virtual Window Manager for X11, version 1.x
SYNOPSIS
fvwm1 [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
Fvwm is a window manager for X11. It is a derivative of twm, redesigned to minimize memory consumption,
provide a 3-D look to window frames, and provide a simple virtual desktop. Memory consumption is
estimated at about one-half to one-third the memory consumption of twm, due primarily to a redesign of
twm's method of storing mouse bindings. In addition, many of the configurable options of twm have been
removed.
The name "FVWM" used to stand for something, but I forgot what. (Feeble, famous, foobar? It doesn't
really matter, this is an acronym based society anyway.)
STATUS OF THIS SOFTWARE
Since the release of FVWM 2.2 in March 1999, this release is officially deprecated and no longer
supported. Please do not report any bugs in this software. Also, for Debian users, the module manpages
for this release of FVWM will be found as FvwmAudio1(1x) etc.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR XFREE86 USERS
XFree86 provides a virtual screen whose operation can be confusing when used in conjunction with fvwm.
With XFree86 all windows which appear on the virtual screen actually get drawn into video memory (whether
or not they appear on the physical screen), so the virtual screen size is limited by available video
memory.
With fvwm's virtual desktop, windows which do not appear on the screen do not actually get drawn into
video RAM. The size of the virtual desktop is limited to about 32,000 by 32,000 pixels, but it is
probably impractical to use a virtual desktop more than about 5 times the visible screen in each
direction. Note that memory usage is a function of the number of windows which exist - the size of the
desktop makes no difference.
When becoming familiar with fvwm it is recommended that you disable XFree86's virtual screen by setting
the virtual screen size to the physical screen size. After you become familiar with fvwm you may want to
re-enable XFree86's virtual screen.
COPYRIGHTS
Since fvwm is derived from twm code it shares twm's copyrights.
fvwm is copyright 1988 by Evans and Sutherland Computer Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah, and 1989 by
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, All rights reserved. It is also
copyright 1993 and 1994 by Robert Nation.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and
without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the
names of Evans & Sutherland and M.I.T. not be used in advertising in publicity pertaining to distribution
of the software without specific, written prior permission.
ROBERT NATION, EVANS & SUTHERLAND, AND M.I.T. DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE,
INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL EVANS & SUTHERLAND OR
M.I.T. BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING
FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTUOUS ACTION,
ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
ANATOMY OF A WINDOW
Fvwm puts a decorative border around most windows. This border consists of a bar on each side and a small
"L" shaped section on each corner. There is an additional top bar called the title bar which is used to
display the name of the window. In addition, there are up to 10 title-bar buttons. The top, side, and
bottom bars are collectively known as the side-bars. The corner pieces are called the frame.
Unless the standard defaults files are modified, pressing mouse button 1 in the title or side-bars will
begin a move operation on the window. Pressing button 1 in the corner frame pieces will begin a resize
operation. Pressing button 2 anywhere in the border brings up an extensive list of window operations.
Up to ten title-bar buttons may exist. Their use is completely user definable. The default configuration
has a title-bar button on each side of the title-bar. The one on the left is used to bring up a list of
window options, regardless of which mouse button is used. The one on the right is used to iconify the
window. The number of title-bar buttons used depends on which ones have mouse actions bound to them. See
the section on the "Mouse" configuration parameter below.
THE VIRTUAL DESKTOP
Fvwm provides multiple virtual desktops for users who wish to use them. The screen is a viewport onto a
desktop which may be larger than the screen. Several distinct desktops can be accessed (concept: one
desktop for each project, or one desktop for each application, when view applications are distinct).
Since each desktop can be larger than the physical screen, windows which are larger than the screen or
large groups of related windows can easily be viewed.
The size of the virtual desktops can be specified at start-up. All virtual desktops must be the same
size. The total number of distinct desktops need not be specified, but is limited to approximately 4
billion total. All windows on the current desktop can be displayed in a Pager, a miniature view of the
current desktop. Windows which are not on the current desktop can be listed, along with their geometries,
in a window list, accessible as a pop-up menu.
"Sticky" windows are windows which transcend the virtual desktop by "Sticking to the screen's glass."
They always stay put on the screen. This is convenient for things like clocks and xbiff's, so you only
need to run one such gadget and it always stays with you.
Window geometries are specified relative to the current viewport. That is:
xterm -geometry +0+0
will always show up in the upper-left hand corner of the visible portion of the screen. It is permissible
to specify geometries which place windows on the virtual desktop, but off the screen. For example, if the
visible screen is 1000 by 1000 pixels, and the desktop size is 3x3, and the current viewport is at the
upper left hand corner of the desktop, then invoking:
xterm -geometry +1000+1000
will place the window just off of the lower right hand corner of the screen. It can be found by moving
the mouse to the lower right hand corner of the screen and waiting for it to scroll into view. There is
currently no way to cause a window to map onto a desktop other than the currently active desk.
A geometry specified as something like:
xterm -geometry -5-5
will generally place the window's lower right hand corner 5 pixels from the lower right corner of the
visible portion of the screen. Not all applications support window geometries with negative offsets.
Some applications, like xterm and xfontsel, allow the user to specify the start-up desk on the command
line:
xterm -xrm "*Desk:1"
will start an xterm on desk number 1. Not all applications understand this option, however.
INITIALIZATION
During initialization, fvwm will search for a configuration file which describes key and button bindings,
and a few other things. The format of these files will be described later. First, fvwm will search for a
file named .fvwmrc in the users home directory. Failing that, it will look for
/etc/X11/fvwm/system.fvwmrc for system-wide defaults. If that file is not found, fvwm will exit.
Fvwm will set two environment variables which will be inherited by its children. These are $DISPLAY which
describes the display on which fvwm is running. $DISPLAY may be unix:0.0 or :0.0, which doesn't work too
well when passed through rsh to another machine, so $HOSTDISPLAY will also be set and will use a network-
ready description of the display. $HOSTDISPLAY will always use the TCP/IP transport protocol (even for a
local connection) so $DISPLAY should be used for local connections, as it may use Unix-domain sockets,
which are faster.
SHAPED WINDOWS
If you typically use shaped windows such as xeyes or oclock, you have several options. You can make them
all undecorated (NoBorder oclock and NoTitle oclock, for example) or you can use the default
configuration and leave them decorated, in which case a decorative border and a solid-color backdrop are
shown. Alternately, you can compile in the SHAPE extensions by changing a flag in the Makefile, in which
case you get the shaped window with no backdrop, and a title bar floats above the window. The shaped
window extensions increase the window manager's memory consumption by about 60 Kbytes when no shaped
windows are present but have little effect when shaped windows are present.
ICONS
The basic Fvwm configuration uses monochrome bitmap icons, similar to twm. If XPM extensions are compiled
in, then color icons similar to ctwm, MS-Windows, or the Macintosh icons can be used. In order to use
these options you will need the XPM package, as described in the Makefile.noImake and the Imakefile.
If both the SHAPE and XPM options are compiled in you will get shaped color icons, which are very spiffy.
MODULES
A module is a separate program which runs as a separate Unix process but transmits commands to fvwm to
execute. Future releases are expected to provide a means for these modules to extract window information
from fvwm. Users can write their own modules to do any weird or bizarre manipulations without affecting
the integrity of fvwm itself.
Modules MUST be spawned by fvwm so that it can set up two pipes for fvwm and the module to communicate
with. The pipes will already be open for the module when it starts and the file descriptors for the pipes
are provided as command line arguments.
Modules can be spawned during fvwm initialization via the Module option, or at any time during the X
session by use of the Module built-in. Modules can exist for the duration of the X session, or can
perform a single task and exit. If the module is still active when fvwm is told to quit, then fvwm will
close the communication pipes and wait to receive a SIGCHLD from the module, indicating that it has
detected the pipe closure and has exited. If modules fail to detect the pipe closure fvwm will exit after
approximately 30 seconds anyway. The number of simultaneously executing modules is limited by the
operating system's maximum number of simultaneously open files, usually between 60 and 256.
Modules simply transmit text commands to the fvwm built-in command engine. Text commands are formatted
just as in the case of a mouse binding in the .fvwmrc setup file. Certain auxiliary information is also
transmitted, as in the sample module GoodStuff. The GoodStuff module is documented in its own man page.
ICCCM COMPLIANCE
Fvwm attempts to be ICCCM 1.1 compliant. As of this (1.20l) colormap handling is not completely ICCCM
compliant. In addition, ICCCM states that it should be possible for applications to receive ANY
keystroke, which is not consistent with the keyboard shortcut approach used in fvwm and most other window
managers.
M4 PREPROCESSING
If fvwm is compiled with the M4 option, fvwm uses m4(1) to preprocess its setup files before parsing.
This way you can use m4 macros to perform operations at runtime. This makes it very easy to work with
different displays with different characteristics.
For example, depending on your mood, you might want different color schemes. One way of doing this is by
using the -m4opt to specify your mood. For a sunny mood use -m4opt -DSunny; for a dark mood use -m4opt
-DDark. Your .fvwmrc file might then contain:
ifdef(`Sunny',`
StdForeColor Black
StdBackColor LightSkyBlue
HiForeColor yellow
HiBackColor PeachPuff1
PagerBackColor BlanchedAlmond ')
ifdef(`Dark',`
StdForeColor Black
StdBackColor #60a0c0
HiForeColor black
HiBackColor #c06077
PagerBackColor #5c54c0
PagerForeColor orchid
StickyForeColor Black
StickyBackColor #60c0a0 ')
The following m4 symbols are predefined by fvwm:
BITS_PER_RGB The number of significant bits in an RGB color. (log base 2 of the number of
distinct colors that can be created. This is often different from the number of
colors that can be displayed at once.)
CLASS Your visual class. Will return one of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor,
PseudoColor, TrueColor, DirectColor, or, if it cannot determine what you have,
NonStandard.
CLIENTHOST The machine that is running the clients.
COLOR This will be either 'Yes' or 'No'. This is just a wrapper around the CLASS
definition. Returns 'Yes' on *Color and 'No' on StaticGray and GrayScale.
FVWMDIR This is set to the path where the modules were configured to be installed.
FVWM_VERSION This is a string containing the version of fvwm.
HEIGHT The height of your display in pixels.
HOME The user's home directory. Obtained from the environment.
HOSTNAME The canonical hostname running the clients (ie. a fully-qualified version of
CLIENTHOST).
OPTIONS This is a string of compile time options used. Each option is separated from the
other by a space.
PLANES The number of bit planes your display supports in the default root window.
RELEASE The release number of your X server. For MIT X11R5 this is 5.
REVISION The X minor protocol revision. As seen by ProtocolRevision(3).
SERVERHOST This variable is set to the name of the machine that is running the X server.
TWM_TYPE Tells which twm offshoot is running. It will always be set to the string "fvwm"
in this program. This is useful for protecting parts of your .twmrc file that
fvwm proper won't understand (like WorkSpaces) so that it is still usable with
other twm programs.
USER The name of the user running the program. Obtained from the environment.
VENDOR The vendor of your X server. For example: MIT X Consortium.
VERSION The X major protocol version. As seen by ProtocolVersion(3).
WIDTH The width of your display in pixels.
X_RESOLUTION The X resolution of your display in pixels per meter.
Y_RESOLUTION The Y resolution of your display in pixels per meter.
You may well find that if you research the m4(1) manual well and understand the power of m4, this will be
a very useful and powerful tool. But if you use any of the symbols which are predefined by m4, you are
in severe danger! For example, Sun's m4 predefines include, so if you use that name in your .fvwmrc, you
are out of luck. The correct solution to this problem is to put a set of quotes around the troublesome
word: `include'.
To help alleviate this problem, the following options may be useful. To change the quoting characters
used by m4, use the options -m4-squote and -m4-equote. Be sure to specify both options otherwise m4 will
be confused. When these are given, a changequote macro is given before the users fvwmrc file is
processed.
NOTE: Some versions of m4 are broken with respect to changing quoting characters and included files.
When the quoting strings are longer than one character, the macro "include(<<file>>)", where "<<" and
">>" are the quoting characters, contains extra characters around the contents of the included file.
This will confuse fvwm. SunOS 4.1.3 is known to have this problem.
If you are using GNU m4 an additional option is available. By specifying -m4-prefix when starting fvwm,
m4 is instructed to prefix all builtin macros with m4_. Thus, include becomes m4_include.
The availability of the m4 preprocessing is subject to the compilation define M4.
OPTIONS
These are the command line options that are recoginzed by fvwm:
-f config_file
Causes fvwm to use config_file in the user's home directory instead of .fvwmrc as the window
manager configuration file.
-debug Puts X transactions in synchronous mode, which dramatically slows things down, but guarantees that
fvwm's internal error messages are correct.
-d displayname
Manage the display called "displayname" instead of the name obtained from the environment variable
$DISPLAY.
-s On a multi-screen display, run fvwm only on the screen named in the $DISPLAY environment variable
or provided through the -d option. Normally, fvwm will attempt to start up on all screens of a
multi-screen display.
-version
Print the version of fvwm to stderr.
The following options are available only if fvwm is compiled with the M4 option.
-no-m4 Do not use m4 to preprocess the .fvwmrc. The default is to preprocess the startup file using
m4(1).
-m4-prefix
If GNU m4 is available, cause m4 to prefix all builtin commands with m4_.
-m4opt option
Pass this option to m4. The option can be any string of characters without spaces. This option
can occur multiple times. If GNU m4 is available, DO NOT pass the -P option here. Use -m4-prefix
instead.
-m4-squote string
Use this given string as the starting quote characters. You must also specify -m4-equote.
-m4-equote string
Use this given string as the ending quote characters. You must also specify -m4-squote.
-m4prog path
Use path as the location of the desired m4 processor. By default, m4prog is set to "m4" which
must exist somewhere on the user's path. This option allows the user to explicitly choose the
version of m4 to use.
CONFIGURATION FILES
The configuration file is used to describe mouse and button bindings, colors, the virtual display size,
and related items. This section describes the configuration options. Lines beginning with '#' will be
ignored by fvwm. Lines starting with '*' are expected to contain module configuration commands (rather
than configuration commands for fvwm itself).
AppsBackingStore
Causes application windows to request backing store. This option compromises the ICCCM compliance
of the window manager. While this option can speed things up in an X-terminal, where redraws of
windows are expensive, it may not help much on regular workstations.
AutoRaise delay
Enables auto-raising of windows and specifies the time delay (in milliseconds) between when a
window acquires the input focus and when it is automatically raised. This option works in focus-
follows-mouse mode, and in click-to-focus mode if the focus is changed by clicking in the
application window instead of a decoration window. In click-to-focus mode, you can suppress the
raise-on-focus behavior by specifying a negative delay value.
BackingStore
Causes fvwm decorations to request backing store. See the discussion on AppsBackingStore.
BoundaryWidth Width
Changes the boundary width on decorated windows to the specified value. The default is 6 pixels.
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying BoundaryWidth.
ButtonStyle button# WidthxHeight
Defines the rectangular decoration shape to be used in a title-bar button. button# is the title-
bar button number, and is between 0 and 9. A description of title-bar button numbers is given in
the Mouse section below. Width is the percentage of the full button width which is to be used.
Height is the percentage of the full height to be used. Negative numbers cause the shading to be
inverted.
And that's not all! If you use a line like:
ButtonStyle : 2 4 50x30@1 70x70@0 30x70@0 50x30@1
then the button 2 decoration will use a 4-point pattern consisting of a line from (x=50,y=30) to
(70,70) in the shadow color (@0), and then to (30,70) in the shadow color, and finally to (50,30)
in the highlight color (@1). Is that too confusing? See the sample system.fvwmrc.
CenterOnCirculate
When circulating, the desktop page containing the window which the pointer is moving to is
automatically selected. If CenterOnCirculate is selected then fvwm will do its best to center the
target window in the desktop viewport, rather than just lining up to the closest page.
CirculateSkip windowname
Causes windows with the indicated name to be skipped over when the circulate-up or circulate-down
functions are invoked. windowname can be a window's name or its class.
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying CirculateSkip.
CirculateSkipIcons
Causes circulate and warp operations to skip over iconified windows.
ClickTime delay
Specifies the maximum delay (in milliseconds) between a button press and a button release for the
Function built-in to consider the action a mouse click. The default delay is 150 milliseconds.
ClickToFocus
Normally keyboard input goes to the window the mouse pointer is in. If this option is set the
keyboard input stays with one window until the mouse is clicked with the pointer positioned in a
new window.
Cursor cursor_num cursor_type
This provides a very awkward way of changing cursor styles. Cursor_num tells which cursor you are
changing, and is a number between 0 and 12, as follows:
0 POSITION - used when initially placing windows.
1 TITLE - used in a window title-bar.
2 DEFAULT - used in windows that don't set their cursor.
3 SYS - used in one of the title-bar buttons.
4 MOVE - used when moving or resizing windows.
5 WAIT - used during an EXEC builtin command.
6 MENU - used in menus.
7 SELECT - used for various builtin commands such as iconify.
8 DESTROY - used for DESTROY and DELETE built-ins.
9 TOP - used in the top side-bar of a window.
10 RIGHT - used in the right side-bar of a window.
11 BOTTOM - used in the bottom side-bar of a window.
12 LEFT - used in the left side-bar of a window.
13 TOP_LEFT - used in the top left corner of a window.
14 TOP_RIGHT - used in the top right corner of a window.
15 BOTTOM_LEFT - used in the bottom left corner of a window.
16 BOTTOM_RIGHT - used in the bottom right corner of a window.
The cursor_type argument is a number which tells the cursor shape to use. The available numbers
can be found in /usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h and are currently even numbers between 0 and 152. At
the current time, the following cursor types are available:
0 X_cursor 2 arrow
4 based_arrow_down 6 based_arrow_up
8 boat 10 bogosity
12 bottom_left_corner 14 bottom_right_corner
16 bottom_side 18 bottom_tee
20 box_spiral 22 center_ptr
24 circle 26 clock
28 coffee_mug 30 cross
32 cross_reverse 34 crosshair
36 diamond_cross 38 dot
40 dotbox 42 double_arrow
44 draft_large 46 draft_small
48 draped_box 50 exchange
52 fleur 54 gobbler
56 gumby 58 hand1
60 hand2 62 heart
64 icon 66 iron_cross
68 left_ptr 70 left_side
72 left_tee 74 leftbutton
76 ll_angle 78 lr_angle
80 man 82 middlebutton
84 mouse 86 pencil
88 pirate 90 plus
92 question_arrow 94 right_ptr
96 right_side 98 right_tee
100 rightbutton 102 rtl_logo
104 sailboat 106 sb_down_arrow
108 sb_h_double_arrow 110 sb_left_arrow
112 sb_right_arrow 114 sb_up_arrow
116 sb_v_double_arrow 118 shuttle
120 sizing 122 spider
124 spraycan 126 star
128 target 130 tcross
132 top_left_arrow 134 top_left_corner
136 top_right_corner 138 top_side
140 top_tee 142 trek
144 ul_angle 146 umbrella
148 ur_angle 150 watch
152 xterm
DecorateTransients
Causes transient windows, which are normally left undecorated, to be given the usual fvwm
decorations. Note that some pop-up windows, such as the xterm menus, are not managed by the window
manager and still do not receive decorations.
DeskTopScale Scale
Defines the virtual desktop scale with respect to the screen.
DeskTopSize HorizontalxVertical
Defines the virtual desktop size in units of the physical screen size.
DontMoveOff
Prevents windows from being moved off or initially placed off of the desktop. A few programs will
not work correctly if you use this option. This only keeps windows from being completely lost off
the edge of the desktop. It insists on keeping 16 pixels on the desktop but doesn't care a bit
about keeping the whole window on the desk. See EdgeResistance if you don't like having windows
partially off the screen.
EdgeResistance scrolling moving
Tells how hard it should be to change the desktop viewport by moving the mouse over the edge of
the screen and how hard it should be to move a window over the edge of the screen.
The first parameter tells how milliseconds the pointer must spend on the screen edge before fvwm
will move the viewport. This is intended for people who use "EdgeScroll 100 100" but find
themselves accidentally flipping pages when they don't want to.
The second parameter tells how many pixels over the edge of the screen a window's edge must move
before it actually moves partially off the screen.
Note that, with "EdgeScroll 0 0", it is still possible to move or resize windows across the edge
of the current screen. By making the first parameter to EdgeResistance 10000 this type of motion
is impossible. With EdgeResistance less than 10000 but greater than 0 moving over pages becomes
difficult but not impossible.
EdgeScroll horizontal vertical
Specifies the percentage of a page to scroll when the cursor hits the edge of a page. If you don't
want any paging or scrolling when you hit the edge of a page include "EdgeScroll 0 0" in your
.fvwmrc file. If you want whole pages, use "EdgeScroll 100 100". Both horizontal and vertical
should be positive numbers.
If the horizontal and vertical percentages are multiplied by 1000 then scrolling will wrap around
at the edge of the desktop. If "EdgeScroll 100000 100000" is used fvwm will scroll by whole pages,
wrapping around at the edge of the desktop.
Font fontname
Makes fvwm use font fontname instead of "fixed" for menus, the resize indicators, and icon labels
(if IconFont is not specified).
Function FunctionName
Starts the definition of a complex function, composed of the fvwm built-in functions, which will
later be bound to a mouse button or key. FunctionName must be enclosed in quotes. Function
entries are included on lines following the Function keyword. The definition ends with the key
word EndFunction. Function entries are specified as shown in the following example. The first word
on each line is the built-in function which will be performed, followed the type of event which
should trigger the action (enclosed in quotes), followed by any additional arguments needed by the
built-in function. Menus can be specified by using the Popup built-in as long as the menu was
defined earlier in the configuration file.
The trigger actions which are recognized are Immediate, Motion, Click, and DoubleClick. Immediate
actions are executed as soon as the function is activated, even if a window has not been selected.
If there are actions other than immediate ones, fvwm will wait to see if the user is clicking,
double-clicking, or dragging the mouse. After the decision is made, fvwm will execute only the
built-ins from the function definition whose trigger action matches the action performed by the
user.
If the following example were bound to button 1 in a window title-bar, then, when button 1 is
pressed, fvwm would wait 150 msec to see if the button is released. If the button is not released
fvwm will start a move operation. When the move operation is complete a raise operation will be
performed. If a button release is detected then fvwm will wait another 150 msec for a second
click. If only one click is detected then the window will be raised. If two clicks are detected
the window will be alternately raised and lowered. The 150 msec wait duration can be altered using
the ClickTime option.
Function "Move-or-Raise"
Move "Motion"
Raise "Motion"
Raise "Click"
RaiseLower "DoubleClick"
EndFunction
The clicking and double clicking concepts do not carry through to using keyboard shortcuts.
Two special functions exist: InitFunction and RestartFunction. The InitFunction will be called
when fvwm is started for the first time in any X session and can be used to start modules, set
background patterns, and begin programs. The restart function will be called when fvwm is
restarted. It can be used to start modules and set background patterns but probably should not be
used to start programs.
HiBackColor colorname
Sets the background color of the selected window to colorname. When using a monochrome screen this
option is ignored and white is used.
HiForeColor colorname
Sets the color of the selected window's title to colorname. When using a monochrome screen this
option is ignored and black is used.
Icon windowname bitmap-file
Specifies the bitmap to be used for a window when it is iconified. The windowname can be an
application's window name or class name and must be enclosed in quotes. The bitmap-file is either
the full path name to a standard X11 bitmap file or a file in the IconPath or PixmapPath. The
specified bitmap/pixmap is used in preference to any icon supplied by the window itself.
If fvwm is compiled with XPM support for color icons then bitmap can be an XPM pixmap file.
windowname should be enclosed in double quotes but bitmap-file should not. Environment variables
should not be used in the bitmap-file specification.
If windowname is an empty string then the specified file is the default icon, and will be used if
no other icon bitmap or pixmap can be found:
Icon "" my-favorite-icon
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying Icon.
IconBox left top right bottom
Defines regions of the screen in which to place icons. Up to four icon boxes can be defined. If an
IconBox line is provided then icons will automatically be placed in them, if possible. Each time a
window is iconified a new place is found for it. Icon boxes are searched for space going left to
right, then top to bottom. Icons will not be auto-placed on top of other icons but they may be
placed underneath application windows. If left or right is negative, then fvwm will add the screen
width to it. If top or bottom is negative, then fvwm will add the screen height to it. NOTE: -0 is
not parsed as the right or bottom pixel on the screen. You have to use -1 instead.
If no IconBox line is provided or all icon boxes are full, then fvwm will place icons near the
current pointer location.
IconFont fontname
Makes fvwm use font fontname for icon labels. If omitted, the menu font (specified by the Font
configuration parameter) will be used instead.
IconPath path
Specifies a colon separated list of full path names of directories where bitmap (monochrome) icons
can be found. Each path should start with a slash. Note: if the M4 patches are included when fvwm
is built, then m4 will want to mangle the word "include" which will frequently show up in the
IconPath or PixmapPath command. To fix this add undefine(`include') prior to the IconPath command.
Key keyname Context Modifiers Function
Binds a keyboard key to a specified fvwm built-in function. Definition is the same as for a mouse
binding except that the mouse button number is replaced with a key name. The keyname is one of the
entries from /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h, with the leading XK_ omitted. The Context and Modifiers
fields are defined as in the mouse binding.
Binding a key to a title-bar button will not cause that button to appear unless a mouse binding
also exists.
Lenience
The ICCCM states that if an application sets the input field of the wm_hints structure to False,
then it never wants the window manager to give it the input focus. The only application that I
know of which needs this is sxpm, and that is a silly bug with a trivial fix and has no overall
effect on the program anyway. Rumor is that some older applications have problems too.
If this parameter is set then fvwm will ignore this ICCCM convention.
MenuBackColor colorname
Sets the menu background color. When using monochrome this option is ignored. This option is only
available if fvwm is compiled with MENUCOLOR defined.
MenuForeColor colorname
Sets the menu foreground color. When using monochrome this option is ignored. This option is only
available if fvwm is compiled with MENUCOLOR defined.
MenuStippleColor colorname
Sets the color for shaded out entries in menus (for functions which are not allowed on the
currently selected window). When using monochrome this option is ignored and a stipple pattern is
used. This option is only available if fvwm is compiled with MENUCOLOR defined.
Module ModuleName
Specifies a module which should be spawned during initialization. At the current time the
available modules are FvwmAudio, FvwmBacker, FvwmBanner, FvwmClean, FvwmDebug, FvwmIconBox,
FvwmIdent, FvwmPager, FvwmSave, FvwmSaveDesk, FvwmScroll, FvwmWinList, and GoodStuff. These
modules have their own man pages. Module can also be used as a built-in. Modules can be short
lived transient programs or, like GoodStuff, can remain for the duration of the X session. Modules
will be terminated by the window manager prior to restarts and quits, if possible. See the
introductory section on modules.
ModulePath
Specifies a colon separated list of paths for fvwm to search when looking for a module to load.
Individual directories do not need trailing slashes.
Mouse Button Context Modifiers Function
Defines a mouse binding. Button is the mouse button number. If Button is zero then any button will
perform the specified function. Context describes where the binding applies. Valid contexts are R
for the root window, W for an application window, T for a window title bar, S for a window side,
top, or bottom bar, F for a window frame (the corners), I for an Icon window, or 0 through 9 for
title-bar buttons, or any combination of these letters. A is for any context except for title-bar
buttons. For instance, a context of FST will apply when the mouse is anywhere in a window's border
except the title-bar buttons.
Modifiers is any combination of N for no modifiers, C for control, S for shift, M for Meta, or A
for any modifier. For example, a modifier of SM will apply when both the Meta and shift keys are
down. X11 modifiers mod1 through mod5 are represented as the digits 1 through 5.
Function is one of fvwm's built-in functions.
The title bar buttons are numbered with odd numbered buttons on the left side of the title bar and
even numbers on the right. Smaller-numbered buttons are displayed toward the outside of the window
while larger-numbered buttons appear toward the middle of the window (0 is short for 10). In
summary, the buttons are numbered:
1 3 5 7 9 0 8 6 4 2
The highest odd numbered button which has an action bound to it determines the number of buttons
drawn on the left side of the title bar. The highest even number determines the number or right
side buttons which are drawn. Actions can be bound to either mouse buttons or keyboard keys.
MWMBorders
Substitutes MWM style 1 pixel wide relief lines instead of fvwm's 2 pixel borders.
MWMButtons
Disables button press feedback for all decorations except the title bar and title-bar buttons, as
in MWM.
MWMDecorHints
Causes fvwm to read the MOTIF_WM_HINTS atom from application windows and to parse and attempt to
replicate the Motif behavior with regard to window decorations. Note that mwm allows function
hints to affect window decorations but these effects are not replicated by this option.
MWMFunctionHints
Causes fvwm to read the MOTIF_WM_HINTS atom from application windows and to parse and attempt to
replicate the Motif behavior with regard to allowed window functions. Unlike mwm, which simply
removes prohibited functions from the window's menus, fvwm simply shades out the prohibited
functions. Also, because fvwm implements some functions in user defined macros that mwm implements
internally, the mapping of prohibited functions is partially based on the menu item label.
MWMHintOverride
If MWMFunctionHints is used then maximization and iconfication are prohibited for transients.
Also, windows can specify that the window manager should not destroy or delete them. Since these
MWM rules are kind of stupid, especially with regard to the transient windows, I provide this
MWMHintOverride option. When it is used menu items will be shaded out if MWM would prohibit their
use, but the user can go ahead and select that item and it will operate as expected.
The override should be used cautiously because some applications will break if you override their
mwm hints.
MWMMenus
Substitutes MWM look and feel menus in place of the standard fvwm versions. This option also
triggers a few other mwm-style options, such as centering the size/resize window on the screen,
instead of leaving it in the upper left, and switches the resize-on-initial-placement trigger
action to shift-button-1 instead of the twm style press-button-2
NoBorder windowname
Keeps fvwm from putting decorative borders on windows named windowname. This command has no effect
on the title-bar. This is handy for clocks and similar gadgets that you don't want to take up too
much space. windowname can be a window's name or its class.
If you specify both NoBorder windowname and NoTitle windowname for the same window in your .fvwmrc
file the window will be completely undecorated.
Windowname can contain the wildcards "*" and "?" which match window names in the normal Unix
filename matching manner. Actual "*", "?", and "\" characters in a window name can be entered by
preceding the character with a "\".
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying NoBorder.
NoBoundaryWidth Width
Changes the width of the decorations for windows with no titles and no borders. The default is 1.
Any positive or zero value is acceptable. Decorations for these undecorated windows have the same
context as the side-bars on normally decorated windows.
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying NoBoundaryWidth.
NoPPosition
Instructs fvwm to ignore the PPosition field when adding new windows. Adherence to the PPosition
field is required for some applications, but if you don't have one of those its a real headache.
NoTitle windowname
Keeps fvwm from putting a title-bar in the decorations for windows named windowname. This is handy
for clocks and similar gadgets that you don't want to take up too much space. windowname can be a
window's name or its class.
Windowname can contain the wildcards "*" and "?" which match window names in the normal Unix
filename matching manner. Actual "*", "?", and "\" characters in a window name can be entered by
preceding the character with a "\".
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying NoTitle.
OpaqueMove percentage
Tells fvwm the maximum size window with which opaque window movement should be used. The
percentage is percent of the total screen area. With "OpaqueMove 0" all windows will be moved
using the traditional rubber-band outline. With "OpaqueMove 100" all windows will be move as solid
windows. The default is "OpaqueMove 5", which allows small windows to be moved in an opaque manner
but large windows are moved as rubber-bands.
OpaqueResize
Causes resize operations to be done with the window itself instead of an outline.
Pager X_Location Y_Location
Enables a paging style of moving across the desktop. A Pager window (not a pop-up) will appear at
(X_Location, Y_Location). Miniature versions of all the non-sticky windows on the virtual desktop
are shown in the pager. The color of the miniature version is the same as the color of the full-
size window's border.
In the Pager window, pressing mouse button 1 will move the desktop viewport to the selected page
(in click-to-focus mode; it will also move the keyboard focus to the window whose miniature you
click on). Pressing button 2 on a window in the pager will begin a window move, using the
miniature to quickly move the window anywhere on the desktop. Pressing button 3 will move the
top-left corner of the viewport to the location of the button press, even if it does not line up
with a page. Dragging button 3 will cause the selected viewport to scroll as you move the
pointer. The Pager is automatically sticky but does not automatically stay on top.
PagerForeColor colorname
Causes the pager foreground color to be colorname instead of black. This is the color used to
highlight the current viewport in the pager window. On a monochrome screen this option is
ignored. If the NO_PAGER option is set when building fvwm this option is unavailable.
PagerBackColor colorname
Causes the pager background color to be colorname instead of white. On a monochrome screen this
option is ignored. If the NO_PAGER option is set when building fvwm this option is unavailable.
PagerFont fontname
Makes fvwm use font fontname for writing window icon names in the window's representation in the
pager. If this option is omitted no names are written in the pager windows.
PagingDefault pagingdefaultvalue
Tells fvwm if it should start up with paging enabled or disabled. "PagingDefault 0" will start
fvwm with paging disabled; "PagingDefault 1" will start fvwm with paging enabled by default.
PixmapPath path
Specifies a colon separated list of full path names of directories where pixmap (color) icons can
be found. Each path should start with a slash.
Popup PopupName
Starts the definition of a pop-up menu which will later be bound to a mouse button or key.
PopupName must be enclosed in quotes. Menu entries are included on lines following the Popup
keyword. The menu definition ends with the key word EndPopup. Menu entries are specified as shown
in the following example. The first word on each line is the built-in function which will be
performed, followed by the caption (enclosed in quotes) which will be shown in the menu, followed
by any additional arguments needed by the built-in function. Sub-menus can be specified by using
the Popup built-in as long as the sub-menu was defined earlier in the configuration file.
Popup "Window Ops"
Title "Window Ops"
Move "Move"
Resize "Resize"
Raise "Raise"
Lower "Lower"
Iconify "(De)Iconify"
Nop " "
Destroy "Destroy"
Title "HARDCOPY"
Exec "Hardcopy" exec xdpr &
Exec "Hardcopy RV" exec xdpr -rv &
EndMenu
Note that if a tab character is embedded in the caption of a menu entry then the text following
the tab will be entered into a second column in the menu and the entire menu will be left-
adjusted. This is intended for shortcut labeling. The tab character must really be a tab. If it is
expanded into spaces it will not work! For example:
Popup "Window Ops"
Title "Window Ops Alt-F1"
.
.
.
Is the start of a left adjusted menu. Alt-F1 will be placed toward the right side of the menu.
Shortcut keys may be specified in the menu definition by preceding the character with an
ampersand. The ampersand will not be displayed but the character after it will be displayed
underlined, and if the user presses the corresponding key then that item will be activated as if
the user had clicked on it with the mouse. Only alphabetic and numeric characters may be used as
shortcut keys. The shift state of the keyboard is ignored when testing shortcut characters. For
example:
Popup "Window Ops"
Maximize "Ma&ximise" 100 100
EndMenu
When this menu is popped up the 'x' will be underlined and pressing the 'x' key will cause the
current window to be maximized. Shortcut keys are not operative unless MENU_HOTKEYS was defined
when building fvwm. If WINDOWLIST_HOTKEYS was also defined then hot keys are automatically added
to the WindowList when it is displayed.
RandomPlacement
Causes windows which would normally require user placement to be automatically placed in ever-so-
slightly random locations. For the best of all possible worlds use both RandomPlacement and
SmartPlacement.
SaveUnders
Causes the fvwm decoration frames to request save-unders. This can significantly improve the
performance during opaque moves but it causes a significant increase in memory usage.
SloppyFocus
This focusing mode is like focus-follows-mouse (the default) except that the focus will not be
removed from a window until your mouse enters a new window. Exiting a window to enter the root
window will leave the focus unchanged.
SmartPlacement
Causes windows which would normally require user placement to be automatically placed in a smart
location - a location in which they do not overlap any other windows on the screen. If no such
position can be found user placement or random placement will be used as a fall-back method. For
the best of all possible worlds use both RandomPlacement and SmartPlacement.
StartsOnDesk windowname desk-number
This command causes windows whose name or class is windowname to be initially placed on desktop
number desk-number. windowname should be enclosed in double quotes. If the window requires
interactive placement, an outline will be displayed on the current desk but the window will appear
on the specified desk.
Windowname can contain the wildcards "*" and "?" which match window names in the normal Unix
filename matching manner. Actual "*", "?", and "\" characters in a window name can be entered by
preceding the character with a "\".
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying StartsOnDesk.
StaysOnTop windowname
These windows always try to stay on top of the other windows. This might be handy for clocks or
mailboxes that you would always like to be visible. If the window is explicitly lowered it will
not try to force its way back to the top until it is explicitly raised. windowname can be a
window's name or its class.
Windowname can contain the wildcards "*" and "?" which match window names in the normal Unix
filename matching manner. Actual "*", "?", and "\" characters in a window name can be entered by
preceding the character with a "\".
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying StaysOnTop.
StdBackColor colorname
Sets the background color for menus and non-selected windows to colorname. When using a monochrome
screen this option is ignored and white is used.
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying StdBackColor.
StdForeColor colorname
Sets the foreground color for menus and non-selected window titles to colorname. When using a
monochrome screen this option is ignored and black is used.
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying StdForeColor.
StickyBackColor colorname
Sets the background color for non-selected sticky windows to colorname. When using a monochrome
screen this option is ignored and white is used. Only available if -DMORE_COLORS is used when
compiling.
StickyForeColor colorname
Sets the foreground color for non-selected sticky window titles to colorname. When using a
monochrome screen this option is ignored and black is used. Only available if -DMORE_COLORS is
used when compiling.
Sticky windowname
Sticky windows "stick to the screen's glass." That is, they don't move the the viewport into the
virtual desktop changes. windowname can be a window's name or its class.
Windowname can contain the wildcards "*" and "?" which match window names in the normal Unix
filename matching manner. Actual "*", "?", and "\" characters in a window name can be entered by
preceding the character with a "\".
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying Sticky.
StickyIcons
Causes icons to always stick to the screen's glass. That is, icons always follow you around the
desktop. When a window is de-iconified it gets un-stuck. Some people find this a useful way of
moving windows around.
StubbornIcons
Changes de-iconification behavior a bit. Instead of having windows always de-iconify themselves on
the current page they de-iconify into their original position.
StubbornIconPlacement
When used with IconBoxes, causes icons to avoid placing themselves underneath existing windows.
StubbornPlacement
When using SmartPlacement, causes new windows to avoid placing themselves over icons.
Style windowname options
This command is intended to replace the commands NoBorder, NoTitle, StartsOnDesk, Sticky,
StaysOnTop, Icon, WindowListSkip, CirculateSkip, SuppressIcons, BoundaryWidth, NoBoundaryWidth,
StdForeColor, and StdBackColor with a single flexible and comprehensive command. This command is
used to set attributes of a window to values other than the default or to set the window manager
default styles.
windowname can be a window's name, class, or resource string. It can contain the wildcards *
and/or ?, which are matched in the usual Unix filename manner.
options is a comma separated list containing some or all of the keywords BorderWidth,
HandleWidth,NoIcon/Icon, NoTitle/Title, NoHandles/Handles, WindowListSkip/WindowListHit,
CirculateSkip/CirculateHit, StaysOnTop/StaysPut, Sticky/Slippery, StartIconic/StartNormal, Color,
ForeColor, BackColor, StartsOnDesk/StartsAnyWhere, IconTitle/NoIconTitle, and NoButton/Button.
In the above list some options are listed as style-option/opposite-style-option. The opposite-
style-option for entries that have them describes the fvwm default behavior and can be used if you
want to change the fvwm default behavior.
Icon takes an (optional) unquoted string argument which is the icon bitmap or pixmap to use.
StartsOnDesk takes a numeric argument which is the desktop number on which the window should be
initially placed.
BorderWidth takes a numeric argument which is the width of the border to place the window if it
does not have resize-handles.
HandleWidth takes a numeric argument which is the width of the border to place the window if it
does have resize-handles.
Button and NoButton take a numeric argument which is the number of the title-bar button which is
to be included/omitted.
Color takes two arguments. The first is the window-label text color and the second is the window
decoration's normal background color. The two colors are separated with a slash. If the use of a
slash causes problems then the separate ForeColor and BackColor options can be used.
An example:
# Change default fvwm behavior to no title-bars on windows!
# Also define a default icon.
Style "*" NoTitle,Icon unknown1.xpm, BorderWidth 4,HandleWidth 5
# now, window specific changes:
Style "Fvwm*" NoHandles,Sticky,WindowListSkip,BorderWidth 0
Style "Fvwm Pager" StaysOnTop, BorderWidth 0
Style "*lock" NoHandles,Sticky,StaysOnTop,WindowListSkip
Style "xbiff" Sticky, WindowListSkip
Style "GoodStuff" NoHandles,Sticky,WindowListSkip
Style "sxpm" NoHandles
Style "makerkit"
# Put title-bars back on xterms only!
Style "xterm" Title, Color black/grey
Style "rxvt" Icon term.xpm
Style "xterm" Icon rterm.xpm
Style "xcalc" Icon xcalc.xpm
Style "xbiff" Icon mail1.xpm
Style "xmh" Icon mail1.xpm, StartsOnDesk 2
Style "xman" Icon xman.xpm
Style "matlab" Icon math4.xpm, StartsOnDesk 3
Style "xmag" Icon magnifying_glass2.xpm
Style "xgraph" Icon graphs.xpm
Style "GoodStuff" Icon toolbox.xpm
Style "Maker" StartsOnDesk 1
Style "signal" StartsOnDesk 3
Note that all properties for a window will be OR'ed together. In the above example "FvwmPager"
gets the property StaysOnTop via an exact window name match but also gets NoHandles, Sticky, and
WindowListSkip by a match to "Fvwm*". It will get NoTitle by virtue of a match to "*". If
conflicting styles are specified for a window, then the last style specified will be used.
If the NoIcon attribute is set then the specified window will simply disappear when it is
iconified. The window can be recovered through the window-list. If Icon is set without an argument
then the NoIcon attribute is cleared but no icon is specified. An example which allows only the
FvwmPager module icon to exist:
Style "*" NoIcon
Style "Fvwm Pager" Icon
SuppressIcons
Prevents icon windows from being created or drawn. When used with the window-list this provides a
sort of icon manager.
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying SuppressIcons.
WindowFont fontname
Makes fvwm use font fontname instead of "fixed" for the window title bar.
WindowListSkip windowname
Causes windows with the indicated name to be left out of the window list.
Windowname can contain the wildcards "*" and "?" which match window names in the normal Unix
filename matching manner. Actual "*", "?", and "\" characters in a window name can be entered by
preceding the character with a "\".
The Style command provides another (more general) method for specifying WindowListSkip.
XORvalue number
Changes the value with which bits are XOR'ed when doing rubber-band window moving or resizing.
Setting this value is a trial-and-error process.
BUILT IN FUNCTIONS
Fvwm supports a set of built-in functions which can be bound to keyboard or mouse buttons:
Beep Makes the computer beep.
CirculateDown [ name window_name ]
Causes the pointer to move to the next window in the list of windows for which CirculateSkip has
not not been specified.
If the optional arguments are supplied then the focus will move to the first window whose name (or
icon name or class) matches window_name. The optional argument name is required if window_name is
supplied and is enclosed in quotes. This argument is the name which appears in menus if the
function is called from a menu, but serves no purpose if the function is not called from a menu.
CirculateUp [ name window_name ]
Causes the pointer to move to the previous window in the list of windows for which CirculateSkip
has not not been specified.
If the optional arguments are supplied then the focus will move to the first window whose name (or
icon name or class) matches window_name. The optional argument name is required if window_name is
supplied and is enclosed in quotes. This argument is the name which appears in menus if the
function is called from a menu, but serves no purpose if the function is not called from a menu
Here's an example that move the focus to an xterm window when Alt-F1 is pressed:
Key F1 A M CirculateUp "whatever" xterm
Close If the window accepts the delete window protocol a message is sent to the window asking it to
gracefully remove itself. If the window does not understand the delete window protocol then the
window is destroyed.
CursorMove horizonal vertical
Moves the mouse pointer by horizontal pages in the X direction and vertical pages in the Y
direction. Either or both entries may be negative. Both horizontal and vertical values are
expressed in percent of pages, so "CursorMove 100 100" means to move down and left by one full
page. "CursorMove 50 25" means to move left half a page and down a quarter of a page. The
CursorMove function should not be called from pop-up menus.
Delete Sends a message to a window asking that it remove itself, frequently causing the application to
exit.
Desk arg1 arg2
Changes to another desktop (workspace, room).
If arg1 is non zero then the next desktop number will be the current desktop number plus arg1.
Desktop numbers can be negative.
If arg1 is zero then the new desktop number will be arg2.
The number of active desktops is determined dynamically. Only desktops which contain windows or
are currently being displayed are active. Desktop numbers must be between 2147483647 and
-2147483648 (is that enough?).
Destroy
Destroys a window. Guaranteed to get rid of the window, but is a fairly violent way to terminate
an application.
Exec name command
Executes command. command is not quoted but name is. name is the name that appears in a menu, if
that is where the function is called from. name is required even if the function is not called
from a menu.
The following example binds function key F1 in the root window, with no modifiers, to the exec
function. The program rxvt will be started with an assortment of options.
Key F1 R N Exec "rxvt" exec rxvt -fg yellow -bg blue -e /bin/tcsh &
Focus Moves the viewport or window as needed to make the selected window visible. Sets the keyboard
focus to the selected window. Raises the window if needed to make it visible. Warps the pointer
into the selected window in focus-follows-mouse mode. Does not de-iconify. This function is
primarily for use with a module such as FvwmWinList.
Function
Used to bind a previously defined function to a key or mouse button.
The following example binds mouse button 1 to a function called "Move-or-Raise", whose definition
was provided as an example earlier in this man page. After performing this binding fvwm will
execute to move-or-raise function whenever button 1 is pressed in a window title-bar.
Mouse 1 T A Function "Move-or-Raise"
GotoPage x y
Moves the desktop viewport to page (x,y). The upper left page is (0,0), the upper right is (N,0),
where N is one less than the current number of horizontal pages specified in the DeskTopSize
command. The lower left page is (0,M), and the lower right page is (N,M), where M is the desktop's
vertical size as specified in the DeskTopSize command. The GotoPage function should not be used in
a pop-up menu.
Iconify [ value ]
Iconifies a window if it is not already iconified or de-iconifies it if it is already iconified.
If the optional argument value is positive the only iconification will be allowed. It the optional
argument is negative only de-iconification will be allowed.
Lower Allows the user to lower a window.
Maximize [ horizontal vertical ]
Without its optional arguments Maximize causes the window to alternately switch from a full-screen
size to its normal size.
With the optional arguments horizontal and vertical, which are expressed as percentage of a full
screen, the user can control the new size of the window. If horizontal is greater than 0 then the
horizontal dimension of the window will be set to horizontal*screen_width/100. The vertical
resizing is similar. For example, the following will add a title-bar button to switch a window to
the full vertical size of the screen:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 0 100
The following causes windows to be stretched to the full width:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 100 0
This makes a window that is half the screen size in each direction:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 50 50
Values larger than 100 can be used with caution.
If the letter "p" is appended to each coordinate (horizontal and/or vertical), then the scroll
amount will be measured in pixels.
Module name ModuleName
Specifies a module which should be spawned. Modules can be short lived transient programs or can
remain for the duration of the X session. Modules will be terminated by the window manager prior
to restarts and quits, if possible. name is a double-qouted string which has absolutely no
significance, but must exist.
Move [ x y ]
Allows the user to move a window. If called from somewhere in a window or its border, then that
window will be moved. If called from the root window then the user will be allowed to select the
target window.
If the optional arguments x and y are provided, then the window will be moved so that its upper
left corner is at location (x,y). The units of x and y are percent-of-screen, unless a letter "p"
is appended to each coordinate, in which case the location is specified in pixels.
Examples:
Mouse 1 T A Move
Mouse 2 T A Move 10 10
Mouse 3 T A Move 10p 10p
In the first example, an interactive move is indicated. In the second, the window whose title-bar
is selected will be moved so that its upper left hand corner is 10 percent of the screen width in
from the left of the screen, and 10 percent down from the top. The final example moves the window
to coordinate (10,10) pixels.
Nop Does nothing. This is used to insert a blank line or separator in a menu. If the menu item
specification is Nop " ", then a blank line is inserted. If it looks like Nop "", then a separator
line is inserted.
Popup This built-in has two purposes: to bind a menu to a key or mouse button, and to bind a sub-menu
into a menu. The formats for the two purposes differ slightly.
To bind a previously defined pop-up menu to a key or mouse button:
The following example binds mouse buttons 2 and 3 to a pop-up called "Window Ops", whose
definition was provided as an example earlier in this man page. The menu will pop up if the
buttons 2 or 3 are pressed in the window frame, side-bar, or title-bar, with no modifiers (none
of shift, control, or meta).
Mouse 2 FST N Popup "Window Ops"
Mouse 3 FST N Popup "Window Ops"
Pop-ups can be bound to keys through the use of the key modifier. Pop-ups can be operated
without using the mouse by binding to keys and operating via the up arrow, down arrow, and enter
keys.
To bind a previously defined pop-up menu to another menu, for use as a sub-menu:
The following example defines a sub menu, "Quit-Verify" and binds it into a main menu, called
"Utilities":
Popup "Quit-Verify"
Title "Really Quit Fvwm?"
Quit "Yes, Really Quit"
Restart "Restart Fvwm" fvwm
Nop ""
Nop "No, Don't Quit"
EndPopup
Popup "Utilities"
Title "Utilities"
Exec "Xterm" exec xterm &
Exec "Rxvt" exec rxvt &
Exec "Top" exec rxvt -T Top -n Top -e top &
Exec "Calculator" exec xcalc &
Exec "Xman" exec xman &
Exec "Xmag" exec xmag &
Nop ""
Popup "Exit Fvwm" Quit-Verify
EndPopup
Sub-menus must be defined prior to the main menu in which they are bound. Sub-menu nesting can
be arbitrarily deep.
Quit Exits fvwm, generally causing X to exit too.
Raise Allows the user to raise a window.
RaiseLower
Alternately raises and lowers a window.
Refresh
Causes all windows on the screen to redraw themselves.
Resize [ x y ]
Allows the user to resize a window.
If the optional arguments x and y are provided, then the window will be moved so that its upper
left corner is at location (x,y). The units of x and y are percent-of-screen, unless a letter "p"
is appended to each coordinate, in which case the location is specified in pixels.
Restart name WindowManagerName
Causes fvwm to restart itself if WindowManagerName is "fvwm", or to switch to an alternate window
manager if WindowManagerName is other than "fvwm". If the window manager is not in your default
search path, then you should use the full path name for WindowManagerName.
WindowManagerName is not quoted but name is. name is the name that appears in a menu, if that is
where the function is called from. name is required even if the function is not called from a
menu.
This command should not have a trailing ampersand or any command line arguments and should not
make use of any environmental variables. Of the following examples, the first three are sure
losers, but the third is OK:
Key F1 R N Restart " " fvwm &
Key F1 R N Restart " " $(HOME)/bin/fvwm
Key F1 R N Restart " " twm -f .mystartupfile
Key F1 R N Restart " " /home/nation/bin/fvwm
Stick Makes a window sticky if it is not already sticky, or non-sticky if it is already sticky.
Scroll horizonal vertical
Scrolls the virtual desktop's viewport by horizontal pages in the x-direction and vertical pages
in the y-direction. Either or both entries may be negative. Both horizontal and vertical values
are expressed in percent of pages, so "Scroll 100 100" means to scroll down and left by one full
page. "Scroll 50 25" means to scroll left half a page and down a quarter of a page. The scroll
function should not be called from pop-up menus. Normally, scrolling stops at the edge of the
desktop.
If the horizontal and vertical percentages are multiplied by 1000 then scrolling will wrap around
at the edge of the desktop. If "Scroll 100000 0" is executed over and over fvwm will move to the
next desktop page on each execution and will wrap around at the edge of the desktop, so that every
page is hit in turn.
If the letter "p" is appended to each coordinate (horizontal and/or vertical), then the scroll
amount will be measured in pixels.
Title Does nothing. This is used to insert a title line in a popup or menu.
TogglePage
Temporarily disables edge scrolling. Edge scrolling can be re-enabled by calling this again.
Wait name
This built-in is intended to be used in fvwm functions only. It causes execution of a function to
pause until a new window name name appears. Fvwm remains fully functional during a wait. This is
particularly useful in the InitFunction if you are trying to start windows on specific desktops:
Function "InitFunction"
Exec "I" exec xterm -geometry 80x64+0+0
Wait "I" xterm
Desk "I" 0 2
Exec "I" exec xmh -font fixed -geometry 507x750+0+0 &
Wait "I" xmh
Desk "I" 0 0
EndFunction
The above function starts an xterm on the current desk, waits for it to map itself, then switches
to desk 2 and starts an xmh. After the xmh window appears control moves to desk 0.
Warp [ name window_name ]
Same as CirculateDown but de-iconifies any iconified windows as it focuses on them.
WindowsDesk new_desk
Moves the selected window the the desktop specified as new_desk.
WindowList arg1 arg2
Generates a pop-up menu (and pops it up) in which the title and geometry of each of the windows
currently on the desk top are shown. The geometry of iconified windows is shown in brackets.
Selecting an item from the window list pop-up menu will cause that window to be moved onto the
desktop if it is currently not on it, will move the desktop viewport to the page containing the
upper left hand corner of the window, will de-iconify the window if it is iconified, and will
raise the window.
If arg1 is an even number then the windows will be listed using the window name (the name that
shows up in the title-bar). If it is odd then the window's icon name is used.
If arg1 is less than 2 then all windows on all desktops (except those listed in WindowListSkip
directives) will be shown.
If arg1 is 2 or 3 then only windows on the current desktop will be shown.
If arg1 is 4 or 5 then only windows on desktop number arg2 will be shown.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
All (I think) window manager operations can be performed from the keyboard so mouseless operation should
be possible. In addition to scrolling around the virtual desktop by binding the Scroll built-in to
appropriate keys, pop-ups, move, resize, and most other built-ins can be bound to keys. Once a built-in
function is started the pointer is moved by using the up, down, left, and right arrows, and the action is
terminated by pressing return. Holding down the shift key will cause the pointer movement to go in
larger steps and holding down the control key will cause the cursor movement to go in smaller steps.
Standard emacs and vi cursor movement controls (^n, ^p, ^f, ^b, and ^j, ^k, ^h, ^l) can be used instead
of the arrow keys.
SUPPLIED CONFIGURATION
A sample configuration file, system.fvwmrc, is supplied with the fvwm distribution. It is well commented
and can be used as a source of examples for fvwm configuration.
USE ON MULTI-SCREEN DISPLAYS
If the -s command line argument is not given, fvwm will automatically start up on every screen on the
specified display. After fvwm starts each screen is treated independently. Restarts of fvwm need to be
performed separately on each screen. The use of EdgeScroll 0 0 is strongly recommended for multi-screen
displays.
You may need to quit on each screen to quit from the X session completely.
Multi-screen support is only available if fvwm is compiled with -DMULTIPLE_SCREENS
BUGS
As of fvwm 0.99 there were exactly 39.342 unidentified bugs. Identified bugs have mostly been fixed,
though. Since then 9.34 bugs have been fixed. Assuming that there are at least 10 unidentified bugs for
every identified one, that leaves us with 39.342 - 9.32 + 10 * 9.34 = 123.402 unidentified bugs. If we
follow this to its logical conclusion we will have an infinite number of unidentified bugs before the
number of bugs can start to diminish, at which point the program will be bug-free. Since this is a
computer program infinity = 3.4028e+38 if you don't insist on double-precision. At the current rate of
bug discovery we should expect to achieve this point in 3.37e+27 years. I guess I better plan on passing
this thing on to my children....
Binding a key to a window decoration but not to the window itself is discouraged because when the key-
press event finally gets to the window it will be marked as SYNTHETIC and will be ignored by many
applications.
Bug reports can be sent to fvwm@wonderland.org.
AUTHOR
Robert Nation with help from many people, based on twm code, which was written by Thomas LaStrange.
3rd Berkeley Distribution Jan 28, 1994 FVWM(1)