basic_wm is a simple reparenting, non-compositing X window manager that demonstrates how to implement the fundamental functionality of a window manager:
- Managing the life cycle of windows
- Reparenting windows
- Basic window operations (moving, resizing, closing)
It serves as a pedagogical example for my series of articles, How X Window Managers Work, And How To Write One.
To build this example window manager, you will need:
- A C++-11 enabled C++ compiler
- GNU Make
- Xlib headers and libraries
- google-glog library
To run and test it, you will need:
- Xephyr
xinit- Random X utilities such as
xclock,xeyes, andxtermto play with
On Ubuntu/Debian, you can install these dependencies with:
sudo apt-get install \
build-essential libx11-dev libgoogle-glog-dev \
xserver-xephyr xinit x11-apps xterm
On Fedora/CentOS, you can install these with:
sudo yum install \
make gcc gcc-c++ libX11-devel glog-devel \
xorg-x11-server-Xephyr xorg-x11-apps xterm
On Arch Linux, you can install these with:
yaourt -S base-devel libx11 google-glog \
xorg-server-xephyr xorg-xinit xorg-xclock xorg-xeyes xterm
Consult your own distro's documentation for how to install these.
Once you have all the dependencies, building and running it is as simple as:
./build_and_run.sh
This will launch a simple Xephyr session like in the following screenshot:
存在小键盘的键盘，在开启NumLock时，按下的键会带上一个NumLock
我使用的是带小键盘的电脑，使用时需要先关闭所有的键盘修饰键（如 NumLock、CapsLock ）。
可以使用 xmodmap 命令查看key modifier 掩码：
xmodmap: up to 4 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):
shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
lock Caps_Lock (0x42)
control Control_L (0x25), Control_R (0x69)
mod1 Alt_L (0x40), Alt_R (0x6c), Meta_L (0xcd)
mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3
mod4 Super_L (0x85), Super_R (0x86), Super_L (0xce), Hyper_L (0xcf)
mod5 ISO_Level3_Shift (0x5c), Mode_switch (0xcb)Supported keyboard shortcuts:
- Alt + Left Click: Move window
- Alt + Right Click: Resize window
- Alt + F4: Close window
- Alt + Tab: Switch window