SCROTWM(1)

NAME
scrotwm - window manager for X11

SYNOPSIS
scrotwm

DESCRIPTION
scrotwm is a minimalistic window manager that tries to stay out of the way so that valuable screen real estate can be used for much more important stuff. It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any configuration. It was written by hackers for hackers and it strives to be small, compact and fast.

When scrotwm starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file, scrotwm.conf. See the CONFIGURATION FILES section below.

The following notation is used throughout this page:

M   Meta
S   Shift
<Name>
    Named key
M1  Mouse button 1
M3  Mouse button 3

scrotwm is very simple in its use. Most of the actions are initiated via key or mouse bindings. See the BINDINGS section below for defaults and customizations.

CONFIGURATION FILES
scrotwm first tries to open the user specific file, ~/.scrotwm.conf. If that file is unavailable, it then tries to open the global configuration file /etc/scrotwm.conf.

The format of the file is keyword = setting. For example:

    color_focus = red

Enabling or disabling an option is done by using 1 or 0 respectively.

The file supports the following keywords:

color_focus
    Border color of the currently focussed window.
color_unfocus
    Border color of unfocussed windows.
bar_enabled
    Enable or disable status bar.
bar_border[x]
    Color of the status bar border in screen x.
bar_color[x]
    Color of the status bar window in screen x.
bar_font_color[x]
    Color of the font in status bar in screen x.
bar_font
    Status bar font.
bar_action
    External script that populates additional information in the status bar, such as battery life.
bar_delay
    Update frequency, in seconds, of external script that populates the status bar.
bar_at_bottom
    Place the statusbar at the bottom of each region instead of the top.
stack_enabled
    Enable or disable displaying the current stacking algorithm in the status bar.
clock_enabled
    Enable or disable displaying the clock in the status bar. Disable by setting to 0 so a custom clock could be used in the bar_action script.
dialog_ratio
    Some applications have dialogue windows that are too small to be useful. This ratio is the screen size to what they will be resized. For example, 0.6 is 60% of the physical screen size.
region
    Allocates a custom region, removing any autodetected regions which occupy the same space on the screen. Defined in the format screen[<idx>]:WIDTHxHEIGHT+X+Y, e.g. screen[1]:800x1200+0+0.
term_width
    Set a preferred minimum width for the terminal If this value is greater than 0, scrotwm will attempt to adjust the font sizes in the terminal to keep the terminal width above this number as the window is resized. Only xterm(1) is currently supported. The xterm(1) binary must not be setuid or setgid, which it is by default on most systems. Users may need to set program[term] (see the PROGRAMS section) to use an alternate copy of the xterm(1) binary without the setgid bit set.
title_class_enabled
    Enable or disable displaying the window class in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1
title_name_enabled
    Enable or disable displaying the window title in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1
window_name_enamed
    Enable or disable displaying the window name in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1
modkey
    Change mod key. Mod1 is generally the ALT key and Mod4 is the windows key on a PC.
focus_mode
    Using a value of follow_cursor will make the window manager focus the window under the mouse when switching workspaces and creating windows.
disable_border
    Remove border when bar is disabled and there is only one window on the screen.
program[p]
    Define new action to spawn a program p. See the PROGRAMS section below.
bind[x]
    Bind key combo to action x. See the BINDINGS section below.
quirk[c:n]
    Add "quirk" for windows with class c and name n. See the QUIRKS section below.

Colors need to be specified per the XQueryColor(3) specification and fonts need to be specified per the XQueryFont(3) specification.

To list the available fonts in your system see fc-list(1) or xlsfonts(1) manpages. The xfontsel(1) application can help you to show the X Logical Font Description ("XLFD") used as setting in the keyword bar_font.

PROGRAMS
scrotwm allows you to define custom actions to launch programs of your choice and then bind them the same as with built-in actions. See the BINDINGS section below.

The default programs are described below:

term
    xterm
screenshot_all
    screenshot.sh full
screenshot_wind
    screenshot.sh window
lock
    xlock
initscr
    initscreen.sh
menu
    dmenu_run -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_border -sf $bar_color

Custom programs in the configuration file are specified as follows:

    program[<name>] = <progpath> [<arg> [... <arg>]]

<name> is any identifier that does not conflict with a built-in action or keyword, <progpath> is the desired program, and <arg> is zero or more arguments to the program.

The following variables represent settable values in scrotwm (see the CONFIGURATION FILES section above), and may be used in the <arg> fields and will be substituted for values at the time the program is spawned:

$bar_border
$bar_color
$bar_font
$bar_font_color
$color_focus
$color_unfocus

Example:

    program[ff] = /usr/local/bin/firefox http://scrotwm.org/
    bind[ff] = Mod+f # Now Mod+F launched firefox

To undo the previous:

    bind[] = Mod+f
    program[ff] =

BINDINGS
scrotwm provides many functions (or actions) accessed via key or mouse bindings.

The current mouse bindings are described below:

M1  Focus window
M-M1
    Move window
M-M3
    Resize window
M-S-M3
    Resize window while maintaining it centered

The default key bindings are described below:

M-S-<Return>
    term
M-p menu
M-S-q
    quit
M-q restart scrotwm
M-<Space>
    cycle_layout
M-S-<Space>
    reset_layout
M-h master_shrink
M-l master_grow
M-, master_add
M-. master_del
M-S-,
    stack_inc
M-S-.
    stack_del
M-<Return>
    swap_main
    M-j, M-<TAB> focus_next
    M-k, M-S-<TAB> focus_prev
M-m focus_main
M-S-j
    swap_next
M-S-k
    swap_prev
M-b bar_toggle
M-x wind_del
M-S-x
    wind_kill
M-<n>
    ws_n
M-S-<n>
    mvws_n
M-<Right>
    ws_next
M-<Left>
    ws_prev
M-a ws_prior
M-S-<Right>
    screen_next
M-S-<Left>
    screen_prev
M-s screenshot_all
M-S-s
    screenshot_wind
M-S-v
    version
M-t float_toggle
M-S <Delete>
    lock
M-S-i
    initscr

The action names and descriptions are listed below:

term
    Spawn a new terminal (see PROGRAMS above)
menu
    Menu (see PROGRAMS above)
quit
    Quit scrotwm
restart
    Restart scrotwm
cycle_layout
    Cycle layout
reset_layout
    Reset layout
master_shrink
    Shrink master area
master_grow
    Grow master area
master_add
    Add windows to master area
master_del
    Remove windows from master area
stack_inc
    Add columns/rows to stacking area
stack_del
    Remove columns/rows from stacking area
swap_main
    Move current window to master area
focus_next
    Focus next window in workspace
focus_prev
    Focus previous window in workspace
focus_main
    Focus on main window in workspace
swap_next
    Swap with next window in workspace
swap_prev
    Swap with previous window in workspace
bar_toggle
    Toggle status bar in all workspaces
wind_del
    Delete current window in workspace
wind_kill
    Destroy current window in workspace
ws_n
    Switch to workspace n, where n is 1 through 10
mvws_n
    Move current window to workspace n, where n is 1 through 10
ws_next
    Switch to next workspace with a window in it
ws_prev
    Switch to previous workspace with a window in it
ws_prior
    Switch to last visited workspace
screen_next
    Move pointer to next region
screen_prev
    Move pointer to previous region
screenshot_all
    Take screenshot of entire screen (if enabled) (see PROGRAMS above)
screenshot_wind
    Take screenshot of selected window (if enabled) (see PROGRAMS above)
version
    Toggle version in status bar
float_toggle
    Toggle focused window between tiled and floating
lock
    Lock screen (see PROGRAMS above)
initscr
    Reinitialize physical screens (see PROGRAMS above)

Custom bindings in the configuration file are specified as follows:

    bind[<action>] = <keys>

<action> is one of the actions listed above (or empty) and <keys> is in the form of zero or more modifier keys (MOD, Mod1, Shift, etc.) and one or more normal keys (b, space, etc.), separated by "+". For example:

    bind[reset] = Mod4+q # bind Windows-key + q to reset
    bind[] = Mod1+q # unbind Alt + q

Multiple key combinations may be bound to the same action.

QUIRKS
scrotwm provides "quirks" which handle windows that must be treated specially in a tiling window manager, such as some dialogs and fullscreen apps.

The default quirks are described below:

Firefox-bin:firefox-bin
    TRANSSZ
Firefox:Dialog
    FLOAT
Gimp:gimp
    FLOAT + ANYWHERE
MPlayer:xv
    FLOAT + FULLSCREEN
OpenOffice.org 2.4:VCLSalFrame
    FLOAT
OpenOffice.org 3.1:VCLSalFrame
    FLOAT
pcb:pcb
    FLOAT
xine:Xine Window
    FLOAT + ANYWHERE
xine:xine Panel
    FLOAT + ANYWHERE
xine:xine Video Fullscreen Window
    FULLSCREEN + FLOAT
Xitk:Xitk Combo
    FLOAT + ANYWHERE
Xitk:Xine Window
    FLOAT + ANYWHERE
XTerm:xterm
    XTERM_FONTADJ

The quirks themselves are described below:

FLOAT
    This window should not be tiled, but allowed to float freely.
TRANSSZ
    Adjusts size on transient windows that are too small using dialog_ratio (see CONFIGURATION FILES).
ANYWHERE
    Allow window to position itself, uncentered.
XTERM_FONTADJ
    Adjust xterm fonts when resizing.
FULLSCREEN
    Remove border to allow window to use full screen size.

Custom quirks in the configuration file are specified as follows:

    quirk[<class>:<name>] = <quirk> [+ <quirk> ...]

<class> and <name> specify the window to which the quirk(s) apply, and <quirk> is one of the quirks from the list above. For example:

    quirk[MPlayer:xv] = FLOAT + FULLSCREEN # let mplayer play
    quirk[pcb:pcb] = NONE  # remove existing quirk

You can obtain <class> and <name> by running xprop(1) and then clicking on the desired window. In the following example the main window of Firefox was clicked:

    $ xprop | grep WM_CLASS
    WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Navigator", "Firefox"

Note that grepping for WM_CLASS flips class and name. In the example above the quirk entry would be:

    quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT

SIGNALS
Sending scrotwm a HUP signal will retstart it.

FILES
~/.scrotwm.conf
    scrotwm user specific settings.
/etc/scrotwm.conf
    scrotwm global settings.

HISTORY
scrotwm was inspired by xmonad & dwm.

AUTHORS
-nosplit

scrotwm was written by Marco Peereboom <marco@peereboom.us>, Ryan Thomas McBride <mcbride@countersiege.com> and Darrin Chandler <dwchandler@stilyagin.com>.

BUGS
Currently the menu, invoked with M-p, depends on dmenu.