WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

flowerberg · 2010-09-13 23:33:54

Hi all,

I've been using ratpoison for quite some time and am very satisfied with it. However, I was just curious as to some other WMs that have default keybindings similar to Emacs? I know StumpWM is another option, however compiling/installing that is quite a pain (I have yet to sucessfully install it; even following the wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/StumpWM).

I have no real reason to discontinue my ratpoison use...I'm simply wonering what my options are.

Thanks all in advance,

flowerberg

olvar · 2010-09-14 00:00:51

I haven't used, and I am not really sure about the default keybindings, but I think sawfish (http://sawfish.wikia.com) is another WM that plays nice with emacs users.

By the way, what problems are you having with stumpwm? it should be working right from the aur now.

flowerberg · 2010-09-14 00:24:04

olvar wrote:

By the way, what problems are you having with stumpwm? it should be working right from the aur now.

Following the "Installing with Clisp" section, everything compiles and installs properly except when I get to stumpwm-git. It's been a couple days since I last tried but if I remember correctly, it aborts with a permission denied error when I run `makepkg -s` as user. I even decided to try `makepkg --asroot` as super user. This allowed it to compile more than as a normal user, but errored out with a similar permission denied error further along.

Any advice on this would be great as I've been wanting to give StumpWM a try for some time now.

If needed I will go through the steps again so I can produce the exact error messages...

PS. I will look into sawfish right now....thanks

olvar · 2010-09-14 00:40:32

Ok, that's the problem: there is only sbcl support in the aur package. I'll try to make it work with clisp tomorrow.

flowerberg · 2010-09-14 00:47:03

thanks olvar!!! that'd be awesome!

olvar · 2010-09-14 20:43:14

It's updated now. You should be able to install it from the AUR using clisp, although it's a bit hacky and I think you may have some problems when clisp gets updated.

hbekel · 2010-09-14 23:48:14

flowerberg wrote:

I've been using ratpoison for quite some time and am very satisfied with it. However, I was just curious as to some other WMs that have default keybindings similar to Emacs?

Incidentally I've just released xchainkeys, a standalone X11 program which implements key chaining in a similar manner to ratpoison or StumpWM.

Given that a wm is properly scriptable (such as musca), xchainkeys can be used to replace the wm's keyboard handling and implement ratpoison-style keybindings. Escaping chain prefix keys (i.e. passing through the prefix key to the currently focused window) is supported, and thus no keys are "stolen" from applications.

Here's the AUR package: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=40797.

See /usr/share/doc/xchainkeys/README for instructions on how to use it.

flowerberg · 2010-09-16 03:05:33

olvar wrote:

It's updated now. You should be able to install it from the AUR using clisp, although it's a bit hacky and I think you may have some problems when clisp gets updated.

Wonderful! worked like a charm. Writing this from StumpWM. Thanks olvar

dmz · 2010-09-16 03:10:49

hbekel wrote:

flowerberg wrote:
I've been using ratpoison for quite some time and am very satisfied with it. However, I was just curious as to some other WMs that have default keybindings similar to Emacs?
Incidentally I've just released xchainkeys, a standalone X11 program which implements key chaining in a similar manner to ratpoison or StumpWM.
Given that a wm is properly scriptable (such as musca), xchainkeys can be used to replace the wm's keyboard handling and implement ratpoison-style keybindings. Escaping chain prefix keys (i.e. passing through the prefix key to the currently focused window) is supported, and thus no keys are "stolen" from applications.
Here's the AUR package: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=40797.
See /usr/share/doc/xchainkeys/README for instructions on how to use it.

WHAT.
I love you.

olvar · 2010-09-16 11:59:51

@flowerberg np

hbekel wrote:

Incidentally I've just released xchainkeys, a standalone X11 program which implements key chaining in a similar manner to ratpoison or StumpWM.
Given that a wm is properly scriptable (such as musca), xchainkeys can be used to replace the wm's keyboard handling and implement ratpoison-style keybindings. Escaping chain prefix keys (i.e. passing through the prefix key to the currently focused window) is supported, and thus no keys are "stolen" from applications.
Here's the AUR package: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=40797.
See /usr/share/doc/xchainkeys/README for instructions on how to use it.

Nice idea. Have you thought in a way to make it interact with a running WM?
for example, how to tell dwm to change workspaces?
Maybe if an action is to send some key combination to the window manager you can
remap your keybindings in a consistent -emacsy- way.

hbekel · 2010-09-16 16:52:15

olvar wrote:

@flowerberg np
hbekel wrote:
Incidentally I've just released xchainkeys, a standalone X11 program which implements key chaining in a similar manner to ratpoison or StumpWM.
Given that a wm is properly scriptable (such as musca), xchainkeys can be used to replace the wm's keyboard handling and implement ratpoison-style keybindings. Escaping chain prefix keys (i.e. passing through the prefix key to the currently focused window) is supported, and thus no keys are "stolen" from applications.
Here's the AUR package: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=40797.
See /usr/share/doc/xchainkeys/README for instructions on how to use it.
Nice idea. Have you thought in a way to make it interact with a running WM?
for example, how to tell dwm to change workspaces?
Maybe if an action is to send some key combination to the window manager you can
remap your keybindings in a consistent -emacsy- way.

Yes, I've though about that, and it's a good idea. Unfortunately I'd have to send the key to the root window, which seems to refuse synthetic events send via XSendEvent. And using XTestFakeKeyEvent() for this purpose is not ideal since you can only send key presses and not complete events, which means you have to press and release any modifiers programatically. And that's dangerous because it may leave the keyboard in a different logical state than it's physical state, especially when the user is holding down modifiers and/or pressing and releasing them halfway through sending... e.g. you might end up with the alt key released while x thinks it's still pressed.

So currently xchainkeys can only execute commands, and the wm needs to have a command line interface to window management operations. Which, unfortunately few wms support.

Last edited by hbekel (2010-09-16 16:53:24)

valium97582 · 2010-09-18 20:41:36

Just follow the instructions on the stump wiki or the stumpwm site.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-09-13 23:33:54

WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#2 2010-09-14 00:00:51

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#3 2010-09-14 00:24:04

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#4 2010-09-14 00:40:32

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#5 2010-09-14 00:47:03

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#6 2010-09-14 20:43:14

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#7 2010-09-14 23:48:14

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#8 2010-09-16 03:05:33

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#9 2010-09-16 03:10:49

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#10 2010-09-16 11:59:51

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#11 2010-09-16 16:52:15

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

#12 2010-09-18 20:41:36

Re: WM with Emacs-style Keybindings

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