-
-
## Description
-`bspwm` is a tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning.
-
-The windows are represented as the leaves of a binary tree.
-
-## Configuration
-
-`bspwm` have only two sources of informations: the X events it receives and the messages it reads on a dedicated socket.
-
-Those messages are sent through the `bspc` program.
-
-If the `BSPWM_SOCKET` environment variable is defined, it will be used as the socket path, otherwise `/tmp/bspwm-socket` is used.
-
-The recommended way of defining keyboard shortcuts is to use `xbindkeys`.
-
-The only way to configure `bspwm` is by sending *set* messages via the client, hence `bspwm`'s configuration file is an executable called `autostart` which lives in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bspwm/`.
-
-Example configurations: [autostart](https://github.com/baskerville/bin/blob/master/bspwm_autostart) and [xbindkeysrc](https://github.com/baskerville/dotfiles/blob/master/xbindkeysrc).
-
-## Splitting Modes
-
-There is only two splitting modes: *automatic* and *manual*.
+*bspwm* is a tiling window manager that represents windows as the leaves of a full binary tree.
-The default mode is *automatic*. The *manual* mode is entered by sending a *presel* message.
+It only responds to X events, and the messages it receives on a dedicated socket.
-Example: insertion of a new node (number 4) into the given tree in
-*automatic* mode:
+*bspc* is a program that writes messages on *bspwm*'s socket.
- b c
- / \ / \
- 3 a --> 4 b
- ^ / \ ^ / \
- 2 1 3 a
- / \
- 2 1
- +-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
- | | | | | |
- | | 2 | | | 3 |
- | | | | | |
- | 3 |------------| --> | 4 |------------|
- | ^ | | | ^ | | |
- | | 1 | | | 1 | 2 |
- | | | | | | |
- +-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
+*bspwm* doesn't handle any keyboard or pointer inputs: a third party program (e.g. *sxhkd*) is needed in order to translate keyboard and pointer events to *bspc* invocations.
-Same departure, but the mode is *manual*, a `presel up` message
-was sent beforehand:
+The outlined architecture is the following:
- b b
- / \ / \
- 3 a --> c a
- ^ / \ / \ / \
- 2 1 4 3 2 1
- ^
- +-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
- | | | | | |
- | | 2 | | 4 | 2 |
- | | | | ^ | |
- | 3 |------------| --> |------------|------------|
- | ^ | | | | |
- | | 1 | | 3 | 1 |
- | | | | | |
- +-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
+```
+ PROCESS SOCKET
+sxhkd --------> bspc <------> bspwm
+```
-## Messages
-
-The syntax for the client is `bspc COMMAND ARGUMENTS...`.
-
-The following messages are handled:
-
- quit
- Quit.
-
- get SETTING
- Return the value of the given setting.
-
- set SETTING VALUE
- Set the value of the given setting.
-
- dump
- Output the internal representation of the window tree.
-
- list_monitors [--quiet]
- Perform a dump of each monitor.
-
- list [--quiet]
- Perform a dump of each desktop for the current monitor.
-
- windows
- Return the list of managed windows (i.e. their identifiers).
-
- close
- Close the focused window.
-
- kill
- Kill the focused window.
+## Configuration
- presel DIR
- Switch to manual mode and select the splitting direction.
+The default configuration file is `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bspwm/bspwmrc`: this is simply a shell script that calls *bspc*.
- ratio VALUE
- Set the splitting ratio of the focused window.
+An argument is passed to that script to indicate whether is was executed after a restart (`$1 -gt 0`) or not (`$1 -eq 0`).
- cancel
- Switch to automatic mode.
+Keyboard and pointer bindings are defined with [sxhkd](https://github.com/baskerville/sxhkd).
- focus DIR
- Focus the neighbor node situated in the given direction.
+Example configuration files can be found in the [examples](examples) directory.
- shift DIR
- Focus the neighbor node situated in the given direction.
+## Monitors, desktops and windows
- push DIR
- Push the fence located in the given direction.
+*bspwm* holds a list of monitors.
- pull DIR
- Pull the fence located in the given direction.
+A monitor is just a rectangle that contains desktops.
- nearest older|newer [--skip-floating|--skip-tiled|--skip-class-equal|--skip-class-differ]
- Focus the nearest leaf matching the given constraints.
+A desktop is just a pointer to a tree.
- cycle CYC [--skip-floating|--skip-tiled|--skip-class-equal|--skip-class-differ]
- Focus the next or previous window in the list of leaves.
+Monitors only show the tree of one desktop at a time (their focused desktop).
- rotate ROT
- Rotate the tree of the current desktop.
+The tree is a partition of a monitor's rectangle into smaller rectangular regions.
- magnetise COR
- Move all the fences toward the given corner.
+Each node in a tree either has zero or two children.
- send_to_monitor MONITOR_NAME
- Send the focused window to the given monitor.
+Each internal node is responsible for splitting a rectangle in half.
- send_to DESKTOP_NAME
- Send the focused window to the given desktop.
+A split is defined by two parameters: the type (horizontal or vertical) and the ratio (a real number *r* such that *0 < r < 1*).
- use_monitor MONITOR_NAME
- Select the given monitor.
+Each leaf node holds exactly one window.
- use DESKTOP_NAME
- Select the given desktop.
+## Insertion modes
- alternate
- Alternate between the current and the last focused window.
+When *bspwm* receives a new window, it inserts it into a window tree at the specified insertion point (a leaf) using the insertion mode specified for that insertion point.
- alternate_desktop
- Alternate between the current and the last focused desktop.
+The insertion mode tells *bspwm* how it should alter the tree in order to insert new windows on a given insertion point.
- alternate_monitor
- Alternate between the current and the last focused monitor.
+By default the insertion point is the focused window and its insertion mode is *automatic*.
- add_in MONITOR_NAME DESKTOP_NAME ...
- Make new desktops with the given names in the given monitor.
+### Manual mode
- add DESKTOP_NAME ...
- Make new desktops with the given names.
+The user can specify a region in the insertion point where the next new window should appear by sending a *node -p|--presel-dir DIR* message to *bspwm*.
- rename_monitor CURRENT_NAME NEW_NAME
- Rename the monitor named CURRENT_NAME to NEW_NAME.
+The *DIR* argument allows to specify how the insertion point should be split (horizontally or vertically) and if the new window should be the first or the second child of the new internal node (the insertion point will become its *brother*).
- rename CURRENT_NAME NEW_NAME
- Rename the desktop named CURRENT_NAME to NEW_NAME.
+After doing so the insertion point goes into *manual* mode.
- cycle_monitor CYC
- Select the next or previous monitor.
+Let's consider the following scenario:
- cycle_desktop CYC [--skip-free|--skip-occupied]
- Select the next or previous desktop.
-
- layout LYT
- Set the layout of the current desktop to LYT.
+```
+ a a a
+ / \ / \ / \
+ 1 b ---> c b ---> c b
+ ^ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
+ 2 3 4 1 2 3 d 1 2 3
+ ^ / \
+ 5 4
+ ^
- cycle_layout
- Cycle the layout of the current desktop.
++-----------------------+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+
+| | | | | | | | | |
+| | 2 | | 4 | 2 | | 5 | 4 | 2 |
+| | | | ^ | | | ^ | | |
+| 1 |-----------| |-----------|-----------| |-----------|-----------|
+| ^ | | | | | | | |
+| | 3 | | 1 | 3 | | 1 | 3 |
+| | | | | | | | |
++-----------------------+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+
- toggle_fullscreen
- Toggle the fullscreen state of the current window.
+ X Y Z
+```
- toggle_floating
- Toggle the floating state of the current window.
+In state *X*, the insertion point is *1*.
- toggle_locked
- Toggle the locked state of the current window (locked windows will not respond to the 'close' command).
+We send the following message to *bspwm*: *node -p north*.
- rule PATTERN floating
- Make a new rule that will float the windows whose class name or instance name equals PATTERN.
+Then add a new window: *4*, this leads to state *Y*: the new internal node, *c* becomes *a*'s first child.
- reload_autostart
- Reload the autostart file.
+Finally we send another message: *node -p west* and add window *5*.
- reload_settings
- Reload the default settings.
+The ratio of the preselection (that ends up being the ratio of the split of the new internal node) can be changed with the *node -o|--presel-ratio* message.
- reload
- Reload the autostart file and the default settings.
+### Automatic mode
-Where
+The *automatic* mode, as opposed to the *manual* mode, doesn't require any user choice. The way the new window is inserted is determined by the value of the automatic scheme and the initial polarity settings.
- DIR = left|right|up|down
- CYC = next|prev
- ROT = clockwise|counter_clockwise|full_cycle
- COR = top_left|top_right|bottom_left|bottom_right
- LYT = monocle|tiled
+#### Longest side scheme
-## Settings
+When the value of the automatic scheme is `longest_side`, the window will be attached as if the insertion point was in manual mode and the split direction was chosen based on the dimensions of the tiling rectangle and the initial polarity.
-Colors are either [X color names](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names) or '#RRGGBB', booleans are 'true' or 'false'.
+Let's consider the following scenario, where the initial polarity is set to `second_child`:
- focused_border_color
- Color of the main border of a focused window of a focused monitor.
+```
+ 1 a a
+ ^ / \ / \
+ ---> 1 2 ---> 1 b
+ ^ / \
+ 2 3
+ ^
- active_border_color
- Color of the main border of a focused window of an unfocused monitor.
+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | | | | | | | 2 |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | 1 | | 1 | 2 | | 1 |-----------|
+ | ^ | | | ^ | | | |
+ | | | | | | | 3 |
+ | | | | | | | ^ |
+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+
- normal_border_color
- Color of the main border of an unfocused window.
-
- inner_border_color
- Color of the inner border of a window.
+ X Y Z
+```
- outer_border_color
- Color of the outer border of a window.
-
- presel_border_color
- Color of the *presel* message feedback.
+In state *X*, a new window is added.
- focused_locked_border_color
- Color of the main border of a focused locked window of a focused monitor.
+Since *1* is wide, it gets split vertically and *2* is added as *a*'s second child given the initial polarity.
- active_locked_border_color
- Color of the main border of a focused locked window of an unfocused monitor.
+This leads to *Y* where we insert window *3*. *2* is tall and is therefore split horizontally. *3* is once again added as *b*'s second child.
- normal_locked_border_color
- Color of the main border of an unfocused locked window.
+#### Alternate scheme
- urgent_border_color
- Color of the border of an urgent window.
+When the value of the automatic scheme is `alternate`, the window will be attached as if the insertion point was in manual mode and the split direction was chosen based on the split type of the insertion point's parent and the initial polarity. If the parent is split horizontally, the insertion point will be split vertically and vice versa.
- inner_border_width
- main_border_width
- outer_border_width
- Width of the inner, main and outer borders.
+#### Spiral scheme
- window_gap
- Value of the gap that separates windows.
+When the value of the automatic scheme is `spiral`, the window will *take the space* of the insertion point.
- top_padding
- bottom_padding
- left_padding
- right_padding
- Padding space added at the sides of the screen.
+Let's dive into the details with the following scenario:
- wm_name
- The value that shall be used for the _NET_WM_NAME property of the root window.
+```
+ a a a
+ / \ / \ / \
+ 1 b ---> 1 c ---> 1 d
+ / \ / \ / \
+ 2 3 4 b 5 c
+ ^ ^ / \ ^ / \
+ 3 2 b 4
+ / \
+ 3 2
- button_modifier
- The modifier mask used for mouse bindings (possible values: 'mod1' ... 'mod5').
+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ | | 2 | | | 4 | | | 5 |
+ | | ^ | | | ^ | | | ^ |
+ | 1 |-----------| | 1 |-----------| | 1 |-----------|
+ | | | | | | | | | 3 | |
+ | | 3 | | | 3 | 2 | | |-----| 4 |
+ | | | | | | | | | 2 | |
+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+ +-----------------------+
- borderless_monocle
- Whether to remove borders for tiled windows in monocle mode.
+ X Y Z
+```
- focus_follows_mouse
- Wether to focus the window under the mouse pointer.
+In state *X*, the insertion point, *2* is in automatic mode.
-## Mouse Bindings
+When we add a new window, *4*, the whole tree rooted at *b* is reattached, as the second child of a new internal node, *c*.
- button_modifier + left mouse button
- Move the window under the pointer.
+The splitting parameters of *b* (type: *horizontal*, ratio: *½*) are copied to *c* and *b* is rotated by 90° clockwise.
- button_modifier + middle mouse button
- Focus the window under the pointer.
+The tiling rectangle of *4* in state *Y* is equal to the tiling rectangle of *2* in state *X*.
- button_modifier + right mouse button
- Resize the window under the pointer (by moving one of its four corners).
+Then the insertion of *5*, with *4* as insertion point, leads to *Z*.
-## Panel
+The *spiral* automatic scheme generates window spirals that rotate clockwise (resp. anti-clockwise) if the insertion point is the first (resp. second) child of its parent.
-`dzen2` fed with the output of `ewmhstatus`. Example: [launchpanel](https://github.com/baskerville/bin/blob/master/launchpanel).
-## Required Libraries:
+## Supported protocols and standards
-libxcb, xcb-util, xcb-util-wm.
+- The RandR and Xinerama protocols.
+- A subset of the EWMH and ICCCM standards.
-## Installation
+## Community
- make
- make install
+Want to get in touch with other *bspwm* users or you need help? Join us on our:
+- Subreddit at [r/bspwm](https://www.reddit.com/r/bspwm/).
+- IRC channel at `#bspwm` on `irc.libera.chat` (maintained by [@dannycolin](https://github.com/dannycolin) / sdk on IRC).
+- Matrix room at https://matrix.to/#/#bspwm:matrix.org
projects / bspwm.git / blobdiff