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GNU head This software is licensed under the MIT License which has been approved by the OSI as a valid Open Source License according to the Open Source Definition.

Template:Lowercase wmii (window manager improved 2) is a dynamic window manager for X11. It supports classic and tiling[1] window management with extended keyboard, mouse, and filesystem based remote control. It replaces the workspace paradigm with a new tagging approach.

In its default configuration, wmii's interface is similar to that of the Vi text editor; the windows are controlled with Alt+H,J,K,L and can be combined with Alt+Shift+H,J,K,L. This enables to build dynamic layouts easily in contrast to other window managers with fixed layouts such as Ion. However, the window manager offers extensive configuration through a virtual filesystem similar to that offered by Plan 9 from Bell Labs.[2] Every window, tag, and column is represented in the virtual filesystem, and windows are controlled by manipulating their file objects (in fact, the configuration file is just a script interfacing the virtual files). This RPC system allows many different configuration styles, including those provided in the base distribution in plan9port, bourne shell, Python, and Ruby.

Like the similar dwm, wmii is initially configured to use dmenu for program launching, and supports quick access to custom scripts located in a subdirectory of the user's home directory.

In its upcoming release (hg-tip), wmii supports Xinerama.[3]

See also[]

Template:Portal Similar window managers:

  • dwm - An alternate wm by the same author as wmii
  • awesome
  • Ion
  • ratpoison
  • stumpwm - The successor to ratpoison
  • rio - Plan 9 from Bell Labs' windowing system
  • WMFS - A very light window manager
  • Xmonad - A tiling window manager written in Haskell
  • Orion - A window manager written in Scheme (Scsh and Scheme 48) [4]

Related software:

  • 9P - the filesystem protocol used to implement wmii's virtual filesystem
  • Plan 9 from User Space (aka plan9port)
  • ii - an IRC client from the same developer

References[]

External links[]

Group List
Techniques Tiling · Stacking · Dynamic · Compositing · Re-parenting
Tiling Examples dwm · PWM · Ion · Wmii · Ratpoison · xmonad · Xerox Star · Windows 1.0 · GEM (2.0 and Later) · Awesome (window manager)
Stacking Examples twm · mwm · FVWM · Enlightenment · Blackbox · Presentation Manager · Windows 2.0 · Windows 95 · Windows 98 · Windows Me · Windows NT - Windows XP · Mac OS 9 and earlier · GEM 1.1 · WindowLab · Xerox Alto
Compositing Examples Beryl · Compiz · xcompmgr · Desktop Window Manager (with Windows Aero) · Metacity · KWin · Aqua (with the Quartz Compositor)
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