herbstluftwm is a manual tiling window manager for X11 using Xlib. The basic tiling concept is that the layout is represented by a binary tree.
herbstluftwm is written from scratch.
The program is free and open source software.
Features include:
- A layout based on splitting frames into subframes which can be split again or can be filled with windows i3/ or musca).
- Tags (or workspaces or virtual desktops or …) can be added/removed at runtime. Each tag contains an own layout.
- Exactly one tag is viewed on each monitor. The tags are monitor independent (similar toxmonad)
- Configured at runtime via ipc calls from herbstclient. So the configuration file is just a script which is run on startup. (similar to wmii or musca).
- Supports multiple monitors as a virtual concept. Monitors in herbstluftwm don’t have to match the real monitor configuration as reported by xrandr, a configuration utility to the RandR (Resize and Rotate) X Window System extension. This means you can for example split your screen in two virtual monitors to view two tags at once on a large screen.
- Seeks compliance with EWMH. This includes:
- Information about tag names and client lists is provided.
- Desktop windows from desktop environments are not managed and kept below the other windows.
- Client requests like getting focused are only processed if the setting focus_stealing_prevention is disabled.
- Scripts are included.
Website: herbstluftwm.org
Support: Documentation, GitHub Code Repository
Developer: Thorsten Wißmann and contributors
License: Simplified BSD License
herbstluftwm is written in C++ and Python. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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