wmanager-loop(1) [debian man page]
WMANAGER-LOOP(1) BSD General Commands Manual WMANAGER-LOOP(1) NAME
wmanager-loop -- loop running window managers chosen with wmanager SYNOPSIS
wmanager-loop [OPTIONS ...] DESCRIPTION
The wmanager-loop program starts either the window manager specified by the WM variable or the first window manager listed in ~/.wmanagerrc (or an X terminal emulator if none), and when it exits, runs wmanager(1) to prompt the user for the next window manager. It loops doing this until the user chooses ``Exit this session'' in wmanager(1). Any options given to wmanager-loop will be passed on to wmanager(1). If the WM environment variable is set, the wmanager-loop program tries to interpret it as a window manager specification in the following ways in the specified order: o a full path to an executable file to run as the window manager; o the name of a window manager listed in the /.wmanagerrc file; e.g. ``fluxbox'' would match the following line: fluxbox=/usr/bin/startfluxbox o the program name of a window manager listed in the /.wmanagerrc file; e.g. ``startfluxbox'' would match the above example. o the start of such a program name; e.g. ``start'' would match the above example. o the end of such a program name; e.g. ``box'' would match the above example. If the WM variable is set and there is more than one line in ~/.wmanagerrc that matches the specification, wmanager-loop will exit with an error message. As mentioned above, if no window manager is specified in the WM environment variable or found in the ~/.wmanagerrc file, the wmanager-loop program attempts to start an X terminal emulator. If the WMTERM environment variable is set, the wmanager-loop program uses it as the path to the emulator. Otherwise it searches the user's path for a program named ``x-terminal-emulator'', ``urxvt'', ``rxvt'', or ``xterm'' in this order, and starts the first one found using its full path. If none of the common terminal emulators on the above list is found, the wmanager-loop program just runs ``xterm'' in the hope that something will come up on the user's display. ENVIRONMENT
The wmanager-loop program uses the following environment variables: WM The name, path, or partial path to the first window manager to execute. WMTERM The name of the X terminal emulator to execute if no window manager could be found in the ~/.wmanagerrc file. If not specified, the wmanager-loop program searches the user's path as described above. EXAMPLE
To start using wmanager-loop, create a ~/.wmanagerrc file - generally with wmanagerrc-update(1) - and add something like the following at the end of your ~/.xsession file: exec wmanager-loop -geometry +570+585 SEE ALSO
wmanager(1), wmanagerrc-update(1) HISTORY
The wmanager-loop program was written by Tommi Virtanen in 2000 and later modified by Peter Pentchev. This manual page was originally writ- ten in perldoc format by Tommi Virtanen in 2000, and converted to mdoc format and updated by Peter Pentchev in 2008. AUTHORS
Tommi Virtanen <tv@debian.org> Peter Pentchev <roam@ringlet.net> BSD
September 8, 2009 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
CHOOSEWM(1) General Commands Manual CHOOSEWM(1) NAME
choosewm - Select a window manager to be used. SYNOPSIS
choosewm [-f] [-p] [-t] choosewm [-t] -c DESCRIPTION
choosewm presents a window to let the user choose a window manager to start. By default it shows everything registered as window manager at the Debian menu system, but it allows global and local configuration to change that data. OPTIONS
-c, --config Allow the user to change the default. Beside telling choosewm to not start the chosen window manger, this mostly changes the text of some buttons and labels -f, --force Show the selection window unconditionally. -p, --print Do not start the window-manager, but print it to stdout. -t, --text Do not ask by opening an X11 window, but ask on the terminal. Needs a terminal as stdin. This is activated by default with -c and DISPLAY not set. CONFIG FILES
After reading /var/lib/choosewm/windowmanagers, treating anything before a equal (=) sign in a line a name and everything after that as window manager path, choosewm checks /etc/X11/choosewm/config and after that by default .choosewm/config in the user's $HOME-directory. Lines containing only spaces or starting with a # are ignored. Every other line may contain one of the following commands: add: name=path Add an additional window manager to the list. name will be shown in the list, path will be started. This option is only useful to add something that should be only added to this list. If you installed a window manager by hand, please consider to register it in the Debian menu instead. That way all potent enough window managers will be able to offer switch- ing to that window manager by menu. remove: path Do not list the window manager with path in the list to choose from. default: defaultwindowmanagerpath Use the window manager defaultwindowmanagerpath as default, when no last selection of the window manager is available. userconf: filename Read the user's config from $(HOME)/filename. If filename is -, no user config is read. Default is .choosewm/config dontaskfile: filename Create the file $(HOME)/filename, if the user selected to not be asked about the window manger, and do not ask if this file is present. (Unless -f is command line argument.) Default is .choosewm/dontask lastdecisionfile: filename Read the last decision from the file $(HOME)/filename, and save the decision of the user there. Default is .choosewm/lastwm inalias: oldold=newpath If the last decision is oldpath, change it to newpath. askalias: oldold=newpath If the last decision is oldpath, change it to newpath and force showing of the selection window. outalias: path=output If the user has chosen path as window manager, write instead output to the file as new last decision. sTAG: text Are used to set strings to be shown to the user in labels, buttons or headers. The CONFIGTAG variants are used with -c. The following are the currently definied Tags and their default values: sCONFIGHEADER: Choose default Window Manager sHEADER: Choose Window Manager sCONFIGWELCOME: Please choose the default window manager and whether to reask at start time. sWELCOME: Welcome, please select a Window manager to use. sCONFIGASK: _Ask when starting sASK: _Ask again at every login sCONFIGSELECT: _Select sSELECT: _Start sCONFIGCANCEL: _Cancel sCANCEL: _Log out ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
HOME The current home directory of the current user. DEFAULTWINDOWMANAGER If no default is specified in the config files nor by the user's last choice, the content of this environment variable is tried before the path /etc/alternatives/x-window-manager is pointing to is tried. FILES
/etc/X11/choosewm/config Global config file read. /var/lib/choosewm/windowmanagers Default system window manager file. /etc/alternatives/x-window-manager Default link to compute a default. $(HOME)/.choosewm/config Default user config file. $(HOME)/.choosewm/lastwm Default file to store the users default. $(HOME)/.choosewm/dontask Default file to signal not asking when existant. SEE ALSO
update-menus(1), xsession(1). AUTHOR
choosewm was written by Bernhard R. Link <brlink@debian.org>. This manual page was written by Bernhard R. Link. 2009-06-11 CHOOSEWM(1)