path: root/README

                   xmonad : a lightweight X11 window manager.

                               http://xmonad.org

About:

Xmonad is a minimalist tiling window manager for X, written in Haskell. Windows
are managed using automatic layout algorithms, which can be dynamically
reconfigured. At any time windows are arranged so as to maximise the use of
screen real estate. All features of the window manager are accessible purely
from the keyboard: a mouse is entirely optional. Xmonad is configured in
Haskell, and custom layout algorithms may be implemented by the user in config
files. A principle of Xmonad is predictability: the user should know in advance
precisely the window arrangement that will result from any action.

By default xmonad provides three layout algorithms: tall, wide and fullscreen.
In tall or wide mode, windows are tiled and arranged to prevent overlap and
maximise screen use. Sets of windows are grouped together on virtual screens,
and each screen retains its own layout, which may be reconfigured dynamically.
Multiple physical monitors are supported via Xinerama, allowing simultaneous
display of a number of screens.

By utilising the expressivity of a modern functional language with a rich
static type system, Xmonad provides a complete, featureful window manager in
less than 500 lines of code, with an emphasis on correctness and robustness.
Internal properties of the window manager are checked using a combination of
static guarantees provided by the type system, and type-based automated
testing. A benefit of this is that the code is simple to understand, and easy
to modify.

Building:

Get the dependencies

    It is likely that you already have some of these dependencies.  To check
    whether you've got a package run 'ghc-pkg list some_package_name'

    mtl             http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/mtl-1.0
    X11             http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/X11-1.2
        (Unfortunately X11-1.2 does not work correctly on AMD64.  The latest
         darcs version from http://darcs.haskell.org/packages/X11 does.)
    X11-extras:     http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/X11-extras-0.1
    unix            http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/unix-2.0 
        (included with ghc)

    dmenu   2.*     http://www.suckless.org/download/dmenu-2.7.tar.gz
        (optional)

And then build with Cabal:

    runhaskell Setup.lhs configure --prefix=/home/dons
    runhaskell Setup.lhs build
    runhaskell Setup.lhs install

Finally, add:

         exec /home/dons/bin/xmonad

    to the last line of your .xsession file

Authors:

    Spencer Janssen
    Don Stewart
    Jason Creighton