w9wm(1x)

🌸 w9wm — 8-1/2-like Window Manager for X 🌸

okay bestie, buckle up, we're talking about w9wm (that's the w9wm(1x) manual, hi 💖). it's a window manager for X that's out here doing its very best impression of Plan 9's 8-1/2 window manager — like, the policies, the whole vibe — but it also sprinkled on some extra candy: virtual screens and keyboard shortcuts. iconic behavior honestly.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

w9wm [ -grey ] [ -version ] [ -font fname ] [ -nokeys ] [ -nostalgia ] [
-debug ] [ -pass ] [ -term termprog ] [ -virtuals n ] [ exit | restart ]

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so w9wm emulates the window management policies of Plan 9's 8-1/2 window manager, no cap, and then adds candy stuff like virtual screens and keyboard shortcuts. and then — the flags. here's the full roster, every single one, don't skip:

• -grey — makes the background light grey, exactly like 8-1/2 does. use this one for maximum authenticity ✨
• -font fname — sets the font in w9wm's menu to fname, overriding the default.
• -nokeys — inhibits keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Tab and Shift+Ctrl+Tab). bye bye shortcuts 🙈
• -nostalgia — applies some genuinely useless modifications to w9wm's look & feel (the windows border and the cursor appearance). it's giving nostalgia, that's the whole point 💀
• -debug — triggers debug mode.
• -pass — uses click-to-focus-passes-through-click, which means clicking on a nonactive window with whatever mouse button activates it and follows the click to this window.
• -term termprog — specifies an alternative program to run when the New menu item is selected.
• -virtuals n — sets the number of virtual screens used.
• -version — prints the current version on standard error, then exits.

ok so important: to make w9wm exit, you have to run w9wm exit on the command line. there is no exit menu item. none. not a thing. 😭

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🦋 the whole click-to-type situation 🦋

w9wm is click-to-type. it has a notion of the current window, which is usually on top, and it always has its border darkened. characters you type at the keyboard go to the current window, and mouse clicks outside the current window get swallowed up by w9wm entirely. like, eaten. gone.

to make another window the current one, click on it with button 1, or type Ctrl+Tab. (heads up, this shortcut is not "stable", which means the author could change it in case it eventually gets annoying. lowkey fair.)

and unlike other X window managers, w9wm implements mouse focus: mouse events are sent only to the current window. periodt.

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🎀 the button 3 menu 🎀

press button 3 outside the current window and you get a menu of window operations.

the first one is New — it attempts to spawn a 9term process (or xterm if 9term isn't available). the new 9term will request that its outline be swept using button 3 of the mouse, by changing the cursor. (xterm defaults to a fixed size, so it wants to be dragged; pressing button 3 places it.)

then the next four menu items are: Reshape, Move, Delete, and Hide.

all of these operations change the cursor into a target, prompting you to click button 3 on one of the windows to select it for the operation. at this stage, clicking button 1 or 2 will abort the operation. otherwise:

• if the operation was Resize, you're prompted to sweep out the new outline with button 3.
• if it was Move, you should keep the button held down after the initial click that selected the window, and drag the window to the right place before releasing.

in either case, button 1 or 2 will abort the operation.

if the Delete operation is selected, the window will be deleted when the button is released. this typically kills the client that owns the window 💀. the Hide operation just makes the window invisible. while hidden, the window's name appears on the bottom of the button 3 menu, and selecting that item brings the window back (unhides it). this operation replaces the iconification feature that other window managers provide. slay.

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🌈 virtual screens 🌈

a menu is provided to switch from a virtual screen to another. this popup is triggered with button 2, which displays a menu looking like the previous one but with four entries: One, Two, Three, and Four. selecting one of these entries will switch you to another virtual screen. hopping dimensions, fr fr.

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🍓 the button 1 program menu 🍓

there's also a menu to run programs, and it lives on button 1. hold both "shift" and "left ctrl" keys and press button 1. w9wm will then display a menu that lets you exec programs specified in the $HOME/.w9wmrc file.

put each command in one line. w9wm does not yet support args for these commands — write a one-line shell script if you need this. 🫶

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💀 BUGS AND LIMITATIONS 💀

ngl, there are some:

• is not completely compatible with 8-1/2.
• there is currently a compiled-in limit of 32 hidden windows.
• also, you cannot put more than 32 commands in your .w9wmrc file.

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

9term(1), 9wm(1), 9menu(1), xterm(1).

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and that's the whole page bestie 💖 this was the w9wm(1x) manual — go forth and manage your windows, you're the main character now 👑💅