Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

moetunes · 2011-09-04 21:16:34

I had fine tuned a couple of functions so they made fewer calls when I made the kill_client function nicer but no I didn't add anything else. The wm was using bugger all memory before and 25% of bugger all is .... bugger all, so its' all good. I run conky through dzen for a bottom bar and it uses around 270kB, which I'm using as kind of an upper limit for the wm's memory use. When I boot up and start the desktop conky now shows 2mB less memory used since I added to the kill_client function. It was showing ~36mB now it's ~34mB so I call that a net gain and I don't know how that happened
Cheers

el mariachi · 2011-09-04 21:44:08

hehe cool, maybe it needs to make fewer calls now?
also.. did you see my commit to your git repo? I never did that so I'm not sure if I did well. I just renamed bluckywm.c to beluckywm.c and changed Makefile accordingly just to keep everythin in sync

moetunes · 2011-09-04 22:05:02

el mariachi wrote:

hehe cool, maybe it needs to make fewer calls now?
also.. did you see my commit to your git repo? I never did that so I'm not sure if I did well. I just renamed bluckywm.c to beluckywm.c and changed Makefile accordingly just to keep everythin in sync

Seems you made a fork - check your git page you have a new repo called Be_Lucky_Window_Manger. I'm still learning how git works ...
Cheers

edit : there's a pull request open 'll just have to find out what to do with that now...

Last edited by moetunes (2011-09-04 22:45:35)

moetunes · 2011-09-04 23:07:59

I've merged your updates and removed the bluckywm.c file from git.
Cheers for that

el mariachi · 2011-09-05 00:17:47

np
there are some sloc to go, but if you want to keep it at 250ish kb ram-wise, there is a lot of optimising to do xD

moetunes · 2011-09-05 03:41:47

I'm using ps_mem.py to find out how much memory the window manager uses. The more you use the wm in a session the less memory it uses which is the sort of thing that keeps me working on it. With a six hour uptime I get

180.0 KiB +  26.5 KiB = 206.5 KiB	beluckywm

from beluckywm and it was 212.6 kiB after login. So it's all good
Cheers

el mariachi · 2011-09-05 12:17:18

I was thinking about what features do you still want to add?

moetunes · 2011-09-05 19:50:39

el mariachi wrote:

I was thinking about what features do you still want to add?

I've been spending most of my free time on trying to fix the destroy notify event not parsing all the desktops and creating ghost windows. It's a problem that is in catwm and since I used that as a base it is an issue in this as well. This port to xcb is mainly a distraction 'cause I've spent ages trying to fix the ghost window issue in catwm/DMiniWM and never had any luck. I might be taking a too simplistic approach on the solution but the solution should be simple from what I can see. Obviously I can't see well... But to be a good base for further expansion it needs to be fixed in both the xlib and xcb versions.
On another note : with a firefox download dialog mostly it pops up then half fades away, I have to change focus back to the firefox window then back to the popup window to select what to do so that needs fixing.
xterm and xmessage here take ~5 seconds to open, running strace on them shows that they both are spending that time "polling" (?) I'd like to fix that once I get destroy notify sorted.
If you have any ideas for the next features that would benefit the window manager then let me know, you've been doing well at that so far

Cheers

firecat53 · 2011-09-05 20:41:28

Well, I'd love to try beluckywm, but I can't the keysyms to use. I uncommented the two lines in beluckywm.c, make clean && make, edited .xinitrc to just have 'exec ~/src/bluckywm/beluckywm', started it with 'startx -- :1' from tty2, all per your instructions on the first page of this discussion. I also tried redirecting to a file instead: 'exec beluckywm > ~/log.txt'. There's no printf output either on tty2 or in the file either way after pressing the key combos. What am I missing??

Thanks,
Scott

Last edited by firecat53 (2011-09-05 20:42:14)

el mariachi · 2011-09-05 21:01:40

you need to use xorg-xev to find your keys' codes. don't forget to set the code for MOD1 (Alt) and MOD4 (windows/super key) too (all in the config.h file)

firecat53 · 2011-09-05 21:06:53

Ok, I must be missing something obvious here...how the heck do I launch xev when none of the keys work? That's the problem....I can't get any output to find out the correct setting for MOD1, MOD4, etc....

Last edited by firecat53 (2011-09-05 21:07:47)

moetunes · 2011-09-05 21:10:55

firecat53 wrote:

Well, I'd love to try beluckywm, but I can't the keysyms to use. I uncommented the two lines in beluckywm.c, make clean && make, edited .xinitrc to just have 'exec ~/src/bluckywm/beluckywm', started it with 'startx -- :1' from tty2, all per your instructions on the first page of this discussion. I also tried redirecting to a file instead: 'exec beluckywm > ~/log.txt'. There's no printf output either on tty2 or in the file either way after pressing the key combos. What am I missing??
Thanks,
Scott

Hi Scott,
First thought - You have to be in tty8 when you try for the keycodes, set a wallpaper in .xinitrc so you know you are in the running window manager.
- do you get beluckywm's startup message which is :: beluckywm : 1363x746 or whatever you screen size is on tty2?
I just did a git pull into a new directory, copied config.def.h to config.h, uncommented the line in grabkeys() and the line in keypress(), ran make, edited .xinitrc to point to the binary and started the wm on tty2 which opened tty8 and got the keycodes ok.
Let us know how it goes.
Cheers

firecat53 · 2011-09-05 21:21:50

Identical steps as you described....still nothing. I get the wallpaper, I get the ::beluckywm:1228x768 notice, but then nothing...only some X related messages. I don't know if it makes any difference, but my X tty is tty3, not tty8 (I've got the other tty's commented out in inittab)...doesn't look like it should from the code, but I'm no C programmer

Scott

edit: i'm in #archlinux right now if that'd be better for this discussion

Last edited by firecat53 (2011-09-05 21:23:49)

moetunes · 2011-09-05 21:25:26

@firecat53 you don't get keysyms you get keycodes to use - in xcb keycodes to keysyms isn't developed yet

moetunes · 2011-09-07 00:43:26

WOOT
I've fixed up the destroy notify event making ghost/zombie windows.
For those interested in the code the original catwm remove_window() function didn't save the desktop if there was only one window.
Of course I kept testing my fixes using just one window on the desktop...
Once I twigged to that it was a simple fix
Cheers

moetunes · 2011-09-07 04:43:53

There were a couple of bugs with the above fix which are now sorted so all's good.
I'm happy enough now to start pushing development in new directions as I feel the base is solid now.
Cheers

Last edited by moetunes (2011-09-07 04:44:27)

gtklocker · 2011-09-07 05:55:52

Did a couple of modifications: https://github.com/moetunes/Be_Lucky_Wi … ger/pull/2

moetunes · 2011-09-07 07:00:11

gtklocker wrote:

Did a couple of modifications: https://github.com/moetunes/Be_Lucky_Wi … ger/pull/2

What's with the cutterwm stuff ?

/* cutterwm... a well thought experiment. NOT. */

I'm sure you have a point gtklocker but ??
If it's not a merge request rename it if you like but spell my name right please
Cheers

Last edited by moetunes (2011-09-07 07:52:08)

el mariachi · 2011-09-07 10:25:47

moe: cool! I'll be busy for the next couple of days, but after that I'll get back to you on beluckywm also: why are you keeping catwm, dminiwm and belucky? isn't dmini almost the same thing as cat?

@gtklocker: I also don't get the point of your merge request :S

moetunes · 2011-09-07 10:59:27

el mariachi wrote:

moe: cool! I'll be busy for the next couple of days, but after that I'll get back to you on beluckywm also: why are you keeping catwm, dminiwm and belucky? isn't dmini almost the same thing as cat?

I haven't used the fix on beluckywm much so your mileage might vary with it. As I said in post #58 this xcb port was a distraction until I sorted out the ghost windows bug and today while working on DMiniWM to update it like we have beluckywm now I found the fix. xcb is a lower api than xlib so is not as friendly (or well documented) as xlib and the apparent benefits don't outweigh the hurdles it brings. keysyms is an example. Since pyknite seems to have lost interest I've been working on it for myself and sharing it when I thought it was worthwhile. Since it's easier with xlib I'm going to focus on DMiniWM now that it's what I'd call stable.
Cheers

Last edited by moetunes (2011-09-07 11:22:56)

el mariachi · 2011-09-07 12:00:23

I see.. you're giving me an excuse to learn C I'll keep using this, as it is stable enough for me.
That means that you don't find belucky to be faster than dmini? Or jsut that the speed gain is not worth it?

moetunes · 2011-09-08 03:13:48

I'm sure it was a firefox update(and the speed improvements it had) when I started using beluckywm regularly that had me convinced xcb was a good thing 'cause now that I'm using DMiniWM regularly again it seems just as quick. There might be some speed advantage with xcb but it's not discernable with my naked eyes. How can you measure how quick a window opens? I dunno. As the one banging on the keyboard to fix/add stuff I'm going to go with the better documented api at least until xcb matures or there is a measure of any speed advantage it has. If you want to continue with this I'd be happy to help where I can.
Cheers

Last edited by moetunes (2011-09-08 08:54:12)

mhertz · 2011-09-09 15:39:32

Again, great job you've done with this!

I tested it out some days ago, and everything was stable and still only using about 350kb pss mem!

The only suggestion I could possibly think off, would be to if possible change the grid layout to a gappless grid layout?

Anyway, i'm not an auto-tiling guy myself, so this is just a general suggestion!

This little gem is hugelly under-rated imho! Lighter than dwm(~40%) and allready containing all the usefull features you'ed normally need to patch in to get!

Edit: Sorry, wrong thread I guess, as I was reffering to dminiwm and not beluckywm... (Nothing whatsoever against beluckywm, but i've just not tried it really yet, as I didn't wanted to bother with finding keycodes with xev and such, when it was just a quick test and not something i'd normally use, since I preffer manual tiling...)

Last edited by mhertz (2011-09-09 15:44:26)

el mariachi · 2011-09-09 16:01:28

moe: thanks! I'll use dmini for the time being and leave belucky for when I have some hacking skills

moetunes · 2011-09-09 19:50:15

@mhertz I don't get any gaps in grid mode so I thought I already have a gapless grid layout
What's a gapless grid layout?
Cheers

Arch Linux

#51 2011-09-04 21:16:34

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#52 2011-09-04 21:44:08

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#53 2011-09-04 22:05:02

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#54 2011-09-04 23:07:59

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#55 2011-09-05 00:17:47

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#56 2011-09-05 03:41:47

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#57 2011-09-05 12:17:18

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#58 2011-09-05 19:50:39

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#59 2011-09-05 20:41:28

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#60 2011-09-05 21:01:40

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#61 2011-09-05 21:06:53

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#62 2011-09-05 21:10:55

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#63 2011-09-05 21:21:50

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#64 2011-09-05 21:25:26

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#65 2011-09-07 00:43:26

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#66 2011-09-07 04:43:53

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#67 2011-09-07 05:55:52

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#68 2011-09-07 07:00:11

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#69 2011-09-07 10:25:47

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#70 2011-09-07 10:59:27

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#71 2011-09-07 12:00:23

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#72 2011-09-08 03:13:48

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#73 2011-09-09 15:39:32

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#74 2011-09-09 16:01:28

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

#75 2011-09-09 19:50:15

Re: Simple Dynamic Tiling WM using XCB

Board footer