FVWM
Encyclopedia
The F Virtual Window Manager (The F currently has no official meaning http://www.fvwm.org/documentation/faq/#1.1) is a virtual window manager for the X Window System
. Originally a twm
derivative, FVWM has evolved into a powerful and highly configurable environment for Unix-like
systems.
, began hacking twm
with the intent of simultaneously reducing memory usage and adding support for virtual desktops.
Already known for his rxvt
terminal emulator
, Nation worked on reducing the memory consumption of his new window manager. Deciding to test FVWM's reception, on June 1, 1993, he bundled it with a rxvt release.
In 1994 Rob Nation stopped developing FVWM and made Charles Hines the maintainer. Rob Nation's last release of FVWM was fvwm-1.24r. The post-Rob Nation version of FVWM uses a different configuration file format and has a significantly different architecture. Many Linux distributions, as a result, distributed both fvwm-1.24r and later releases of FVWM as separate programs. , fvwm-1.24r still compiles and runs on a modern Linux system without any problems. A small number of users continue to use the older FVWM release. In late 1998 the office of FVWM maintainer was abolished and further development has been conducted by a group of volunteers.
Originally, FVWM was the Feeble Virtual Window Manager, but at some point the meaning of the F was lost. When Google
published the old news group archives acquired from DejaNews, the original meaning was re-discovered; however, the FVWM developers decided they prefer the "Mysterious F" interpretation and it has stuck to this day.
Many developers have based their own projects on FVWM in order to benefit from the years of refinement and development. Many of the popular window manager
s in use today are related to FVWM: Afterstep
, Xfce
, Enlightenment
, Metisse
and many more.
Many of these features can be disabled at runtime or compile time, or dynamically for specific windows or loaded and unloaded as modules, or many other possibilities. These are not rigid features, FVWM does not dictate how the user's desktop should work or look like but provides the mechanisms to configure the desktop to work, look and behave the way the user wants it to.
Image:fvwm_family.svg|center|600px|thumb|Fvwm Family Tree, displaying some of the FVWM derivatives.
rect 15 17 228 97 twm
rect 15 117 228 197 FVWM
rect 15 278 228 358 Window Maker
rect 315 17 528 97 Bowman (window manager)
rect 315 117 528 197 FVWM95
rect 315 217 528 297 Amiwm
rect 315 417 528 497 LessTif
rect 315 517 528 597 Macintosh-Like Virtual Window Manager
rect 315 617 528 697 Scwm
rect 315 717 528 797 Xfwm
rect 570 17 783 117 AfterStep
rect 570 317 783 397 Enlightenment (window manager)
rect 570 517 783 597 HaZe
desc none
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
. Originally a twm
Twm
In computing, twm is the standard window manager for the X Window System, version X11R4 onwards...
derivative, FVWM has evolved into a powerful and highly configurable environment for Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems.
History
In 1993, Robert Nation, during his work analyzing acoustic signatures for the United States Department of DefenseUnited States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, began hacking twm
Twm
In computing, twm is the standard window manager for the X Window System, version X11R4 onwards...
with the intent of simultaneously reducing memory usage and adding support for virtual desktops.
Already known for his rxvt
Rxvt
rxvt is a terminal emulator for the X Window System , originally written by Rob Nation and later extensively modified by Mark Olesen, who took over maintenance for several years...
terminal emulator
Terminal emulator
A terminal emulator, terminal application, term, or tty for short, is a program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture....
, Nation worked on reducing the memory consumption of his new window manager. Deciding to test FVWM's reception, on June 1, 1993, he bundled it with a rxvt release.
In 1994 Rob Nation stopped developing FVWM and made Charles Hines the maintainer. Rob Nation's last release of FVWM was fvwm-1.24r. The post-Rob Nation version of FVWM uses a different configuration file format and has a significantly different architecture. Many Linux distributions, as a result, distributed both fvwm-1.24r and later releases of FVWM as separate programs. , fvwm-1.24r still compiles and runs on a modern Linux system without any problems. A small number of users continue to use the older FVWM release. In late 1998 the office of FVWM maintainer was abolished and further development has been conducted by a group of volunteers.
Originally, FVWM was the Feeble Virtual Window Manager, but at some point the meaning of the F was lost. When Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
published the old news group archives acquired from DejaNews, the original meaning was re-discovered; however, the FVWM developers decided they prefer the "Mysterious F" interpretation and it has stuck to this day.
Many developers have based their own projects on FVWM in order to benefit from the years of refinement and development. Many of the popular window manager
Window manager
A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment...
s in use today are related to FVWM: Afterstep
AfterStep
AfterStep is a stacking window manager for the X Window System. The goal of AfterStep's development is to provide for flexibility of desktop configuration, improved aesthetics and efficient use of system resources, and was used in such distributions as MachTen...
, Xfce
Xfce
Xfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris, and BSD – though recent compatibility issues have arisen with regard to BSD Unix platforms...
, Enlightenment
Enlightenment (window manager)
Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a stacking window manager for the X Window System which can be used alone or in conjunction with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE...
, Metisse
Metisse
Metisse is a 2.5D windowing system, based on the X Window System. Metisse is available as a window manager for at least Mandriva One 2007, PCLinuxOS 2007 , Sabayon Linux, and Arch Linux. It has many features that set it apart from the traditional 3D "Cube workspace"...
and many more.
Features
This is a partial list based on the documentation distributed with FVWM.Many of these features can be disabled at runtime or compile time, or dynamically for specific windows or loaded and unloaded as modules, or many other possibilities. These are not rigid features, FVWM does not dictate how the user's desktop should work or look like but provides the mechanisms to configure the desktop to work, look and behave the way the user wants it to.
- Supports any number of virtual desktops, each divided into multiple pages.
- Full EWMHExtended Window Manager HintsExtended Window Manager Hints, aka NetWM or Net WM, is an X Window System standard for window managers. It defines various interactions between window managers, utilities, and applications, all part of an entire desktop environment...
, ICCCM-2 and GNOMEGNOMEGNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
Hints support. - Full internationalisation support, including multi-byte characters and bidirectional text.
- Xft2 font support with anti-aliasingAnti-aliasingIn digital signal processing, spatial anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as aliasing when representing a high-resolution image at a lower resolution...
, drop shadows of any size, at any offset and at any direction, text rotation. - Titlebars can be disabled, or rendered on any window edge. This can be done individually for each window type.
- Titlebars have iconComputer iconA computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...
, minimize, maximize and closeCloseClose may refer to:*Close In music:*"Close", a song by Rascal Flatts from Unstoppable*"Close", a song by Soul Asylum from Candy from a Stranger*"Close", a song by Westlife from Coast to Coast...
buttons. - Animated Window Shading in all directions.
- Iconification
- Full PNG Support, including alpha blending.
- PerlPerlPerl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
library for extending FVWM using Perl, scripting and pre-processing of configuration files. - Can be extended via scripting. Preprocessing allows dynamic configurations.
- Toolkit to build dialogs, menus and applications at runtime.
- Configurable desktop panels.
- Mouse Gestures allow to draw shapes with the mouse, and bind them to commands.
- Dynamic menus; utilities to browse the filesystem, fetch headlines from the internet from menus included.
- Session management support.
- XineramaXineramaXinerama is an extension to the X Window System which enables multi-headed X applications and window managers to use two or more physical displays as one large virtual display.It was originally developed by Madeline T...
extension support to use more than one monitor. - Dynamically extensible using modules.
- Supports focus stealingFocus stealingIn computing, focus stealing is a mode error produced when a program not in focus places a window in the foreground and redirects all keyboard input to that window...
Derivatives
Image:fvwm_family.svg|center|600px|thumb|Fvwm Family Tree, displaying some of the FVWM derivatives.
rect 15 17 228 97 twm
Twm
In computing, twm is the standard window manager for the X Window System, version X11R4 onwards...
rect 15 117 228 197 FVWM
FVWM
The F Virtual Window Manager is a virtual window manager for the X Window System. Originally a twm derivative, FVWM has evolved into a powerful and highly configurable environment for Unix-like systems.- History:...
rect 15 278 228 358 Window Maker
Window Maker
Window Maker is a free and open source window manager for the X Window System, allowing graphical applications to be run on Unix-like operating-systems...
rect 315 17 528 97 Bowman (window manager)
rect 315 117 528 197 FVWM95
FVWM95
FVWM95 is a window manager for the X Window System based on the popular FVWM 2 window manager. It is similar to the original FVWM, but is designed to closely resemble the look of Windows 95....
rect 315 217 528 297 Amiwm
Amiwm
In computing, the AMIga Window Manager is a stacking window manager for the X Window System.Amwim was written by Marcus Comstedt. "The purpose of amiwm is to make life more pleasant for Amiga-freaks like myself who has/wants to use UNIX workstations once in a while."Amiwm emulates the Amiga...
- rect 315 317 528 397 FVWM-XPM
rect 315 417 528 497 LessTif
LessTif
LessTif is a free software reimplementation or clone of the Motif computer programming toolkit, developed by the Hungry Programmers.As opposed to Motif, which is distributed under a proprietary license that can require the payment of royalties, LessTif is distributed under the GNU Lesser General...
rect 315 517 528 597 Macintosh-Like Virtual Window Manager
Macintosh-Like Virtual Window Manager
MLVWM or Macintosh-Like Virtual Window Manager, is an FVWM descendant created by Takashi Hasegawa in 1997 while studying at Nagoya University and was written entirely in the C programming language...
rect 315 617 528 697 Scwm
Scwm
Scwm or Scheme Constraints Window Manager is a window manager for the X Window System. Its main features are dynamic configurability and programmability via a language based on GNU Guile and the embedded arithmetic Cassowary constraint solver. The primary developers were Greg Badros and Maciej...
rect 315 717 528 797 Xfwm
rect 570 17 783 117 AfterStep
AfterStep
AfterStep is a stacking window manager for the X Window System. The goal of AfterStep's development is to provide for flexibility of desktop configuration, improved aesthetics and efficient use of system resources, and was used in such distributions as MachTen...
rect 570 317 783 397 Enlightenment (window manager)
Enlightenment (window manager)
Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a stacking window manager for the X Window System which can be used alone or in conjunction with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE...
rect 570 517 783 597 HaZe
HaZe
HaZe is an X window manager extensively based on the Takashi Hasegawa creation known as MLVWM, the Apple Macintosh interface-mimicking window manager....
desc none
See also
- Comparison of X window managersComparison of X window managersThis article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.- See also :* Comparison of X Window System desktop environments* Window manager...
- FVWM-CrystalFVWM-CrystalFVWM-Crystal is a theme for the FVWM window manager. It uses GUI tools to edit the look of windows, instead of the use of editing a text file in FVWM. It creates an easy to use desktop environment using FVWM as its window manager and main core...
, a themeTheme (computing)In computing, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details, used to customize the look and feel of an operating system, widget set or window manager....
. - FVWM95FVWM95FVWM95 is a window manager for the X Window System based on the popular FVWM 2 window manager. It is similar to the original FVWM, but is designed to closely resemble the look of Windows 95....