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rasat

Forum Fellow

From: Finland

Registered: 2002-12-27

Posts: 2,301

Website

FVWM mTabs

FVWM mTabs theme is a simplified version of FVWM KISe and myExt that uses FvwmTabs. It is a generic tabbing module for FVWM that was included in FVWM2. It can swallow any Fvwm window and treat it as a tab in a tab-manager window.

It is a new feature for many. I was not aware that Fvwm included a tabbing module until recently. FvwmTabs has not been upgraded since 2009 and was removed in 2016. The Perl language has now been upgraded, and bugs are fixed. It is an interesting addition to Fvwm's window management that reduces the use of workspaces. Convenient to have many windows in one desk.

It uses Perl-Tk, which will be replaced later. FvwmTabs will be further developed after receiving feedback from users. Version 0.9.3 is for testing and feedback.

MAIN FEATURES:
Desk Icons include:
Iconified Thumbnails, Full-Screen Maximize, Windows Overview, Tiling and Tabs.

Tab manager:
Store any number of windows, each in its own tab. AutoSwallow automatically moves applications to a specific tab when they create windows. A powerful feature when combined with AutoMoveWindows, which moves apps and tabs to a specific desk/page.

OTHER FEATURES:
Icon/Application Panel.
Pager/Task Panel.
XDG menu.
Day/Time Panel.
4-button Window Title Bar.
Auto Move Windows and FvwmTabs.
Page Indicator.

SCREENSHOTS and DOWNLOAD:
https://www.box-look.org/p/2350970

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Markku

amlug

Member

Registered: 2026-03-09

Posts: 1

Re: FVWM mTabs

This is great, knowing FvwmTabs is back. Restart preserves the tab state and other things are fixed. The AutoSwallow is interesting, speeding up apps into tabs.

Mjaakko

Member

Registered: 2023-06-19

Posts: 14

Re: FVWM mTabs

Indeed, its great.
One question, how do you autoSwallow apps into one tab manager? Now, AutoMove moves automatically Thunderbird and Evolution to different pages in my Email desk. How to load in one page and one manager.

rasat

Forum Fellow

From: Finland

Registered: 2002-12-27

Posts: 2,301

Website

Re: FVWM mTabs

At startup, Fvwm mTabs loads two tab managers: FvwmTabs [0] to Web desk and FvwmTabs [1] to Email desk.
Edit ~/.fvwm/user/Backup/FvwmTabs.conf.

The autoSwallow requires application's Class, Name, or Resource, as well as the tab manager's ID or name. To identify the application, <right-click>, select Identify, and point to it on the application.

This is my FvwmTabs.conf
For example, Chromium is automatically loaded to FvwmTabs [0] and Thunderbird to [1]. Evolution is added to autoSwallowResource, which points to FvwmTabs [1].

autoSwallowClass=Chromium 0, firefox 0, thunderbird* 1
autoSwallowName=
autoSwallowResource=evolution 1, google-chrome 0

Last edited by rasat (2026-03-10 15:57:05)

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Markku

Mjaakko

Member

Registered: 2023-06-19

Posts: 14

Re: FVWM mTabs

Thanks, autoSwallow is ok.

FvwmTabs will be further developed after receiving feedback from users. Version 0.9.3 is for testing and feedback.

1. ~/.fvwm/user/Backup/ for FvwmTabs.conf is not a backup but user's tab director. Better to rename the directory.

2. KISe has the option for both tiled and full-scale wallpaper. Would be good to have in mTabs. Tiled are nice, but I like this full-scale image... easy to add your own images.
https://github.com/rasatpc/Fvwm-KISe/bl … d-desk.jpg

Last edited by Mjaakko (2026-03-10 21:50:22)

rasat

Forum Fellow

From: Finland

Registered: 2002-12-27

Posts: 2,301

Website

Re: FVWM mTabs

1. ~/.fvwm/user/Backup/ for FvwmTabs.conf is not a backup but user's tab director. Better to rename the directory.
2. KISe has the option for both tiled and full-scale wallpaper. Would be good to have in mTabs.

Check the latest GitHub update.... Backup is changed to Tab, and "feh --bg-tile" wallpaper feature is added.

Download:
https://github.com/rasatpc/Fvwm-mTabs/a … s/main.zip

Note:
sudo pacman -Sy feh

Last edited by rasat (2026-03-12 18:37:52)

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Markku