path: root/README

               xmonad : a lightweight X11 window manager.

                           http://xmonad.org

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About:

    Xmonad is a tiling window manager for X. Windows are managed using
    automatic tiling algorithms, which can be dynamically configured.
    Windows are arranged so as to tile the screen without gaps, maximising
    screen use. All features of the window manager are accessible 
    from the keyboard: a mouse is strictly optional. Xmonad is written
    and extensible in Haskell, and custom layout algorithms may be
    implemented by the user in config files. A guiding principle of the
    user interface is <i>predictability</i>: users should know in
    advance precisely the window arrangement that will result from any
    action, leading to an intuitive user interface.

    Xmonad provides three tiling algorithms by default: tall, wide and
    fullscreen. In tall or wide mode, all windows are visible and tiled
    to fill the plane without gaps. In fullscreen mode only the focused
    window is visible, filling the screen.  Alternative tiling
    algorithms are provided as extensions. Sets of windows are grouped
    together on virtual workspaces and each workspace retains its own
    layout. Multiple physical monitors are supported via Xinerama,
    allowing simultaneous display of several workspaces.

    Adhering to a minimalist philosophy of doing one job, and doing it
    well, the entire code base remains tiny, and is written to be simple
    to understand and modify. By using Haskell as a configuration
    language arbitrarily complex extensions may be implemented by the
    user using a powerful `scripting' language, without needing to
    modify the window manager directly. For example, users may write
    their own tiling algorithms.

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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
    unix            http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/unix-2.0 
    X11             http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/X11-1.2.2
    X11-extras:     http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/X11-extras-0.2

And then build with Cabal:

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

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Notes for using the darcs version

    If you're building the darcs version of xmonad, be sure to also
    use the darcs version of X11-extras, which is developed concurrently
    with xmonad.

    Not using X11-extras from darcs, is the most common reason for the
    darcs version of xmonad to fail to build.

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Running xmonad:

    Add:

         /home/dons/bin/xmonad

    to the last line of your .xsession or .xinitrc file.

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Other useful programs:

 For a program dispatch menu:

    dmenu           http://www.suckless.org/download/
 or
    gmrun           (in your package system)

 For custom status bars:

    dzen            http://gotmor.googlepages.com/dzen

 A nicer xterm replacment, that supports resizing better:

    urxvt           http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/rxvt-unicode.html

Authors:

    Spencer Janssen
    Don Stewart
    Jason Creighton