bspwm is a tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning.
The windows are represented as the leaves of a binary tree.
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 via bspc.
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 and xbindkeysrc.
There is only two splitting modes: automatic and manual.
The default mode is automatic. The manual mode is entered by sending a presel message.
Example: insertion of a new node (number 4) into the given tree in automatic mode:
b c
/ \ / \
3 a --> 4 b
^ / \ ^ / \
2 1 3 a
/ \
2 1
+-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
| | | | | |
| | 2 | | | 3 |
| | | | | |
| 3 |------------| --> | 4 |------------|
| ^ | | | ^ | | |
| | 1 | | | 1 | 2 |
| | | | | | |
+-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
Same departure, but the mode is manual, and a presel up message
was sent beforehand:
b b
/ \ / \
3 a --> c a
^ / \ / \ / \
2 1 4 3 2 1
^
+-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
| | | | | |
| | 2 | | 4 | 2 |
| | | | ^ | |
| 3 |------------| --> |------------|------------|
| ^ | | | | |
| | 1 | | 3 | 1 |
| | | | | |
+-------------------------+ +-------------------------+
The syntax for the client is bspc MESSAGE [ARGUMENTS ...].
The following messages are handled:
get SETTING
Return the value of the given setting.
set SETTING VALUE
Set the value of the given setting.
list
Output the internal representation of the window tree.
list_desktops [--quiet]
Perform a dump of each desktop for the current monitor.
list_monitors [--quiet]
Perform a dump of each monitor.
list_windows
Return the list of managed windows (i.e. their identifiers).
presel left|right|up|down
Switch to manual mode and select the splitting direction.
cancel
Switch to automatic mode.
ratio VALUE
Set the splitting ratio of the focused window.
focus left|right|up|down
Focus the neighbor window situated in the given direction.
shift left|right|up|down
Exchange the current window with the given neighbor.
push left|right|up|down
Push the fence located in the given direction.
pull left|right|up|down
Pull the fence located in the given direction.
cycle next|prev [--skip-floating|--skip-tiled|--skip-class-equal|--skip-class-differ]
Focus the next or previous window matching the given constraints.
nearest older|newer [--skip-floating|--skip-tiled|--skip-class-equal|--skip-class-differ]
Focus the nearest window matching the given constraints.
toggle_fullscreen
Toggle the fullscreen state of the current window.
toggle_floating
Toggle the floating state of the current window.
toggle_locked
Toggle the locked state of the current window (locked windows will not respond to the 'close' message).
close
Close the focused window.
kill
Kill the focused window.
send_to DESKTOP_NAME
Send the focused window to the given desktop.
send_to_monitor MONITOR_NAME
Send the focused window to the given monitor.
use DESKTOP_NAME
Select the given desktop.
use_monitor MONITOR_NAME
Select the given monitor.
alternate
Alternate between the current and the last focused window.
alternate_desktop
Alternate between the current and the last focused desktop.
alternate_monitor
Alternate between the current and the last focused monitor.
add DESKTOP_NAME ...
Make new desktops with the given names.
add_in MONITOR_NAME DESKTOP_NAME ...
Make new desktops with the given names in the given monitor.
rename_monitor CURRENT_NAME NEW_NAME
Rename the monitor named CURRENT_NAME to NEW_NAME.
rename CURRENT_NAME NEW_NAME
Rename the desktop named CURRENT_NAME to NEW_NAME.
cycle_monitor next|prev
Select the next or previous monitor.
cycle_desktop next|prev [--skip-free|--skip-occupied]
Select the next or previous desktop.
layout monocle|tiled
Set the layout of the current desktop.
cycle_layout
Cycle the layout of the current desktop.
rotate clockwise|counter_clockwise|full_cycle
Rotate the tree of the current desktop.
magnetise top_left|top_right|bottom_left|bottom_right
Move all the fences toward the given corner.
rule PATTERN floating
Make a new rule that will float the windows whose class name or instance name equals PATTERN.
reload_autostart
Reload the autostart file.
reload_settings
Reload the default settings.
reload
Reload the autostart file and the default settings.
quit
Quit.
Colors are either X color names or #RRGGBB, booleans are true or false.
focused_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused window of a focused monitor.
active_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused window of an unfocused monitor.
normal_border_color
Color of the main border of an unfocused window.
inner_border_color
Color of the inner border of a window.
outer_border_color
Color of the outer border of a window.
presel_border_color
Color of the *presel* message feedback.
focused_locked_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused locked window of a focused monitor.
active_locked_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused locked window of an unfocused monitor.
normal_locked_border_color
Color of the main border of an unfocused locked window.
urgent_border_color
Color of the border of an urgent window.
inner_border_width
main_border_width
outer_border_width
Width of the inner, main and outer borders.
window_gap
Value of the gap that separates windows.
top_padding
bottom_padding
left_padding
right_padding
Padding space added at the sides of the screen.
wm_name
The value that shall be used for the _NET_WM_NAME property of the root window.
button_modifier
The modifier mask used for mouse bindings (possible values: 'mod1' ... 'mod5').
borderless_monocle
Whether to remove borders for tiled windows in monocle mode.
focus_follows_mouse
Wether to focus the window under the mouse pointer.
button_modifier + left mouse button
Move the window under the pointer.
button_modifier + middle mouse button
Focus the window under the pointer.
button_modifier + right mouse button
Resize the window under the pointer (by moving one of its four corners).
- Configured and controlled through messages
- Multiple monitors support (via Xinerama)
- EWMH support (
tint2works) - Automatic and manual modes
- Triple window borders
dzen2 fed with the output of ewmhstatus. Example: launchpanel.
Or any EWMH compliant panel.
- libxcb
- xcb-util
- xcb-util-wm
make
make install