/dk

a mirror of https://bitbucket.org/natemaia/dk/src/master/

Primary LanguageCMIT LicenseMIT

dk

A list based tiling window manager in the vein of dwm, bspwm, and xmonad.

Some basics:

  • Fully scriptable.
  • Dynamic workspaces.
  • More dynamic tile layout.
  • Gaps, fancy borders, extra layouts and more.
  • Better support for mouse and floating windows.
  • Startup script for configuration and running programs.
  • Status info is output to a file for use in bars or scripts.
  • No built-in extras (bar, font drawing, or key bindings).
  • Sane support for icccm, ewmh, and motif.

Installation

You need the xcb headers

Arch

xcb-proto xcb-util xcb-util-wm xcb-util-cursor xcb-util-keysyms

Debian/Ubuntu

build-essential libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-util-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev

Other systems should have packages with similar names.

As mentioned above dk has no keybind support so you'll need a separate
program like sxhkd to launch programs and control the window manager.

To compile run

make

Edit config.h if needed, then run (as root if needed)

make install

If at any time you want to uninstall, run

make uninstall

Usage

To start dk you can add the following to your ~/.xinitrc

exec dk

Optionally copy the example dkrc and/or sxhkdrc to ~/.config/dk/

mkdir -p ~/.config/dk
cp /usr/local/share/doc/dk/dkrc ~/.config/dk/
cp /usr/local/share/doc/dk/sxhkdrc ~/.config/dk/

Configuration

There are example dkrc and sxhkdrc files in doc/ or
/usr/local/share/doc/dk after installation.

dk looks for an rc file in the following order

$DKRC                     # user specified location
$HOME/.config/dk/dkrc     # default location

and tries to run it, it must be executable in order for this to happen.

Advanced changes and configuration like new layouts, callbacks, or commands
can be done by copying the default config header config.def.h to config.h,
editing it and recompiling. This file isn't tracked by git so you can keep your
configuration and avoid conflicts when pulling new updates.

dkcmd

Most of your interaction with the window manager will be using dkcmd
which writes one or more commands into the socket where it is then read
and parsed by the window manager (see Commands section below).

Syntax Outline

The commands have a very basic syntax and parsing, the input is broken
down into smaller pieces (tokens) which are then passed to the matching
keyword function, otherwise an error is returned.

Tokens are delimited by one or more:

  • whitespace (space or tab)

  • quotation mark (' or ")

  • equal sign (=)

This means the following inputs are all equivalent.

setting=value
setting value
setting="value"
setting = 'value'
setting "value"
setting		"value"

and result in two tokens: setting and value

Quotation exists as a way to preserve whitespace and avoid interpretation by the shell,
otherwise we have no way of determining whether an argument is a continuation of the
previous or the beginning of the next. Consider the following

title="^open files$"

If the value being matched has quotes in it, they can be escaped or strong quoted

title="^\"preserved quotes\"$"
title='^"preserved quotes"$'

For various commands dk will expect a certain data type or format to be given.

  • string: normal plain text, must be less than 256 characters.

  • boolean: true, false, 1, or 0.

  • hex: (0x/#)XXXXXXXX, used for window ids

  • integer: (+/-)1, if it is preceded by a sign it is considered relative.

  • float: (+/-)0.1, same as integer but must contain a decimal value.

  • colour: (0x/#)[AA]RRGGBB, hex value, if no alpha channel is given the colour is opaque.

Commands

dkcmd COMMAND

WM

  • quit exit dk.
  • restart re-execute dk.
  • reload re-execute dkrc.

Ws and Mon

mon and ws operate on monitors and workspaces respectively.

  • CLIENT (hex) The window id in hex to operate on, if unspecified the active window is used.
  • TARGET (integer/string) Name or number of the workspace or monitor to target or strings
    • next relative forward
    • prev relative backward
    • last last viewed
    • nextne next non-empty
    • prevne previous non-empty
ws  [SUBCOMMAND] [CLIENT] TARGET
mon [SUBCOMMAND] [CLIENT] TARGET
Subcommands

view View the TARGET, default if no subcommand is given.

ws view TARGET
ws TARGET

send Send CLIENT to the TARGET.

mon send [CLIENT] TARGET

follow Follow CLIENT to the TARGET.

ws follow [CLIENT] TARGET

Rule

rule operates on window rules.

  • MATCH one or more regex strings to be used when matching window properties.
  • SETTING one or more window setting to be applied when a matched window is encountered.
rule [SUBCOMMAND] MATCH SETTING
Subcommands

apply applies RULE to all matching windows, if RULE is * apply all rules and MATCH is ignored.

rule apply RULE [MATCH]

remove removes RULE, if RULE is * remove all rules and MATCH is ignored.

rule remove RULE [MATCH]
Settings

class instance title type (string) regex to match the window class, instance, title, and
type respectively (may be prefixed with match_ for clarity). Regex matching is always done case insensitive
with extended regex mode enabled.

rule [SUBCOMMAND] class="^firefox$" instance="^navigator$" title="^mozilla firefox$" type=dialog [SETTING]

type currently only supports dialog and splash windows, all others are treated as normal windows.

ws (integer/string) determine what workspace the window should be on.

rule MATCH ws=1      # using index
rule MATCH ws=term   # using name

mon (integer/string) determine what monitor the window should be on.

rule MATCH mon=1          # using index
rule MATCH mon=HDMI-A-0   # using name

x y w width h height bw border_width (integer/string) determine the window location and size.

  • x change the x coordinate, can be an integer or one of the following.

    • center left and right gravitate on the x coordinate.

  • y change the y coordinate, can be an integer or one of the following.

    • center top and bottom gravitate on the y coordinate.

  • w width change the window width.

  • h height change the window height.

  • bw border_width change the window border width.

rule MATCH x=20 y=100 w=1280 h=720 bw=0         # using absolute values
rule MATCH x=center y=center w=1280 h=720 bw=0  # using gravities

callback (string) determine a callback function to be invoked on window open and close. These are defined in the config header and compiled into the source, one example is provided.

rule MATCH callback=albumart

float stick (boolean) determine if the window should be floating or stick respectively.

rule MATCH float=true stick=true

ignore (boolean) determine if the window should ignore configure request events.

rule MATCH ignore=true

focus (boolean) determine if the window should be focused and view it's workspace.
If mon is also set it will be activated first before viewing the workspace.

rule MATCH focus=true

Set

set operates on workspace or global configuration settings.

  • SETTING one or more settings to be changed.
  • WS the workspace which subcommand should apply to, if unspecified the current is used.
    _ is a special workspace used to define default values for new workspaces which
    haven't been created yet.
set [WS] SETTING
set ws=_ [apply] SETTING
Settings

numws (integer) change the number of workspaces to allocate.

set numws=10

name (string) change the WS name.

set ws=1 name="term"

static_ws (boolean) disable dynamic workspaces for multi-head systems.

set static_ws=false

mon (integer/string) change which monitor WS should be on (requires static_ws=true).

set ws=1 mon=HDMI-A-0
set ws=1 mon=1

master stack (integer) change the number of windows to occupy the master area (tile layout).

set [WS] stack  3            # absolute values have no signs
set [WS] master +1 stack -1  # relative change with signed integers (+/-)

msplit ssplit (float) change the workspace master or stack split ratios respectively.

set [WS] msplit +0.1
set [WS] ssplit 0.55

gap (integer) change the workspace gap width.

set [WS] gap 10

tile_hints (boolean) obey size hints in tiled layouts.

set tile_hints=true

tile_tohead (boolean) place new windows at the head of the list in tiled layouts.

set tile_tohead=true

smart_gap (boolean) remove gaps on workspaces with only one tiled window.

set smart_gap=true

smart_border (boolean) remove borders on workspaces with only one tiled window.

set smart_border=true

focus_urgent (boolean) focus windows that request it through client messages.

set focus_urgent=true

focus_open (boolean) disable focus-on-open.

set focus_open=false

focus_mouse (boolean) disable focus-follows-mouse.

set focus_mouse=false

win_minxy (integer) amount of window (in pixels) to be kept on the screen when moving.

set win_minxy=20

win_minwh (integer) minimum window size.

set win_minwh=50

apply when changing the default _ workspace apply settings to existing real workspaces.

set ws=_ apply SETTING

layout (string) change the workspace window layout.

  • tile default tile layout
  • rtile tile layout with master area on the right
  • mono windows arranged maximized and stacked
  • grid all windows try to occupy equal space
  • spiral windows shrink by 1/2 towards the center of the screen
  • dwindle windows shrink by 1/2 towards the bottom right of the screen
  • none floating, no layout
set [WS] layout mono

border change the window border sizes and colours.

  • w width (integer) change the overall window border width.
  • ow outer outer_width (integer) change the outer border width (greater than 0 makes double borders).
  • colour color (string) change the border (overall and outer) colour for various window states.
    • f focus (colour) the active window border overall colour.
    • r urgent (colour) urgent window border overall colour.
    • u unfocus (colour) normal window border overall colour.
    • of outer_focus (colour) the active window outer border colour.
    • or outer_urgent (colour) urgent window outer border colour.
    • ou outer_unfocus (colour) normal window outer border colour.
set border w=5 ow=3 colour f='#6699cc' u='#444444' r='#ee5555' of='#222222' ou='#222222' or='#222222'

pad change the workspace padding.

  • l left (integer) change the workspace left side padding.
  • r right (integer) change the workspace right side padding.
  • t top (integer) change the workspace top padding.
  • b bottom (integer) change the workspace bottom padding.
set [WS] pad l=50 r=50 t=50 b=50

mouse change the mouse binds for move and resize (global, does not take a workspace).

  • mod (string) change the modifier used in combination with move resize buttons.

    • alt mod1 Alt key (default).
    • super mod4 Win key.
    • ctrl control Ctrl key.

  • move resize (string) change the button used for move and resize respectively.

    • button1 left mouse button.
    • button2 right mouse button.
    • button3 middle mouse button.
set mouse move=button1 resize=button2 mod=mod1

Win

win operates on windows.

  • CLIENT (hex) the window id, if unspecified the current window is used.
win [CLIENT] ACTION
Settings

cycle cycle windows in place.

win cycle

float change the window floating state.

win [CLIENT] float

full change the window fullscreen state.

win [CLIENT] full

fakefull change the window fake fullscreen state (allow moving, resizing, and tiling when fullscreen).

win [CLIENT] fakefull

stick change the window sticky state.

win [CLIENT] stick

swap change the window between it's current location and master.

win [CLIENT] swap

kill close the window.

win [CLIENT] kill

focus (integer/string) change the focused window.

  • next focus the next window.
  • prev focus the previous window.
win CLIENT focus  # focus window by id
win focus next    # focus the next window
win focus +2      # focus two windows ahead

mvstack (integer/string) move a tiled window around the stack.

  • up move the tiled window up the stack.
  • down move the tiled window down the stack.
win [CLIENT] mvstack up

resize change the window size, location, and border width.

  • x change the x coordinate, can be an integer or one of the following.

    • center left and right gravitate on the x coordinate.

  • y change the y coordinate, can be an integer or one of the following.

    • center top and bottom gravitate on the y coordinate.

  • w width change the window width.

  • h height change the window height.

  • bw border_width change the window border width.

win [CLIENT] resize x=100 y=100 w=1280 h=720 bw=1
win [CLIENT] resize x=center y=center w=1280 h=720 bw=1

Status

status print status information to a file or stdout.

status [TYPE] [FILE] [NUM]
Subcommands

type (string) the type of status info to output.

  • ws output workspace info.
  • win output current window title.
  • layout output current workspace layout name.
  • bar output simple info for use in bars (win, layout, and ws combined).
  • full output the full wm and managed client state.
status type=ws [FILE] [NUM]

file (string) the location of the status file.

status file=/tmp/dk.status [TYPE] [NUM]

num (integer) the number of times to output, -1 is infinite and default if not specified.

status [TYPE] [FILE]        # output forever
status num=1 [TYPE] [FILE]  # output once

Todo

  • Simplification.

Contributing

I'm very open to contributions or ideas.

To enable internal stderr debug output

make debug

To leave debug symbols in (for gdb, valgrind, etc.).

make nostrip

Credits

See the LICENSE file for a list of authors/contributors.

Non contributors that I owe a huge thanks to: dwm, bspwm, xmonad, evilwm, monsterwm-xcb, 4wm, and frankenwm.