bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

Ploppz · 2016-03-13 23:31:18

I have had this problem for months: on my desktop, I have the bspwm version with the new syntax (e.g. node instead of window) (ver 0.9 right?). Using bspwm-git from AUR. `bspwm -v` says "0.9-138-g4b538bc". On my laptop I also have bspwm-git from AUR, but bspwm says it's version 0.8.8 (and it does not have the new syntax). I have tried installing bspwm then bspwm-git again, installing bspwm-git via packer and downloading it, using makepkg and pacman -U to install... I cannot upgrade to 0.9 no matter what I do. Same on another laptop on which I recently installed Arch Linux.

aoba · 2016-03-14 20:01:17

I wonder if you have an older version of bspwm somewhere in your $PATH (e.g. ~/bin)? The official bspwm package gives me a version of 0.9, and bspwm-git gives me 0.9-138-g4b538bc. The new syntax doesn't appear to have hit the repos yet.

Ploppz · 2016-03-16 14:40:31

`which bspwm` says /usr/local/bin/bspwm, while on my desktop that is /usr/bin/bspwm.

aoba · 2016-03-16 16:21:06

Yes, then - make install puts everything in /usr/local by default, which is maybe what you did. If so, you can use make uninstall (if you still have the old Makefile), or just poke around in /usr/local for bspwm, bspc, man files, etc. and remove them by hand.

Ploppz · 2016-03-16 20:34:27

Thanks! Removing the files worked.

marza · 2016-03-17 07:14:13

Not sure where to post about this, but I thought I'd start here.

I installed bspwm yesterday morning to test it out, and after some configurations and tutorials I was ready to go. This was my work computer, so I though "Yay, this is awesome, I'll just add the dotfiles to my git repo, and install it at home as well!"
Evening comes, I pull the dotfiles, install bspwm and sxhkd and do a reboot just in case. But now LightDM refused to list Bspwm in my list of sessions.. I checked that the .desktop-file existed etc. but still LightDM didn't recognize it no matter how much I tried.

Later I found out that my problem was due to the package being updated (I think I installed at work only minutes prior to the update), with an invalid .desktop-file (bug details were already submitted here: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/48609 ). So I managed to get everything working after some tinkering, but I also found out that this wasn't the only change to the update. A file called "bspwm-session" (referenced in the invalid .desktop) was also removed from the source in this commit: https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm/co … ab47f2712a

The file does some automatic configurations for you and starts sxhkd. This is probably old news to you if you're using the git version of bspwm, but if you're just upgrading normally with pacman, I think this one might break your setup even if they fix the desktop file(?). I just wanted to leave this here for anyone else with the same problems. Instructions about what you need to do are in the git commit (start sxhkd manually and any other stuff you need from the bswpm-session file). Not sure if this is something that should be added to the wiki page about upgrading from 0.9-2 to 0.9.1-1. I still havent upgraded my work computer, but I can write up some more details about it when I've done so.

aoba · 2016-03-17 16:26:12

Note that there were other changes that came with 0.9 -> 0.9.1: https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm/wi … s-in-0.9.1 . If you used the docs on github rather than the 0.9 man pages or the wiki you should be in good shape, though.

Revival-of-Lost-Art · 2016-03-18 13:32:26

I'm using bspwm for the first time and just managed to laid out the tiling window set up with the sizes and position that I want.

However, if i exit, wouldn't I have to redo everything all over again?

Is there a way to save a workspace or have bspwm somehow remember where everything was? so all i have to do is navigate to each terminal window on the screen and start up all the applications?

right now i have the workspace laid out like this:

https://u.teknik.io/561i4.jpg

is it possible to configure it to remember these positions? so i can just startx and not resize, and position every terminal all over again?

aoba · 2016-03-18 19:45:55

This idea has you launching programs one at a time, putting each into a certain spot:

#!/bin/sh

# launch first program
lilyterm &

sleep 1

# split and launch next program on the right
bspc node @/ --focus --presel-dir east --presel-ratio 0.6 && thunar &

sleep 1

# launch another program above the one on the right
bspc node @/2 --focus --presel-dir north --presel-ratio 0.3 && lilyterm &

sleep 1

# launch something above the one on the left
bspc node @/1 --focus --presel-dir north --presel-ratio 0.3 && thunar &

# ...

The big deficiency is the backgrounding (&) and sleeping combo. I used it here because node --focus and node --presel-* don't do anything if there isn't a node to focus or preselect. A better idea would be to use bspc subscribe and look for node_manage events, but you'd still have to launch the programs one after another as each window appears.

Dunno. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion? I generally don't keep more than 2-3 windows open on one desktop at a time, so I haven't played with this much.

PieterGen · 2016-04-05 15:51:06

Question about "full screen". I'd like to have some application play "full screen" inside its own window. The ideal would be to toggle between different "maximize" states:
1. normal
2. " full screen" inside window
3. normal full screen (so occupying the complete physical monitor.
To make it more clear what I want, I have it sketched below.

___________________________________________  ___________________________________________  ___________________________________________
|                    |                    |  |                    |                    |  |                                          |
| (1) Application    |                    |  | (2) Application    |                    |  |                                          |
| plays here         |                    |  | plays here         |                    |  |                                          |
| normally           |                    |  | "full screen"      |                    |  |              (3) Application             | 
|                    |                    |  | (so without        |                    |  |                   plays                  |
|                    |                    |  | all the chrome)    |                    |  |             "physical full screen"       |
|_________________________________________|  |_________________________________________|  |                                          |
|                                         |  |                                         |  |                                          |
|_________________________________________|  |_________________________________________|  |__________________________________________|

My use cases are:
- to play e.g a youtube " full screen" on a large monitor, while keeping screen estate to do work
- when giving presentations: make the presentation software work " full screen" (this could also be a SlideShare presentation inside a browser), while keeping some screen for other things that I want to show.

I know this is possible in XMonad and in herbstluftwm. I forgot the details, but I'm sure it has to do with disabling/ modifying EWMH specifications, per application or event or something...... EWMH prescribes, as far as I understand, that "full screen" means "take over the whole physical screen". I found this in the XMonad documentation about hooks:
fullscreenEventHook :: Event -> X AllSource An event hook to handle applications that wish to fullscreen using the _NET_WM_STATE protocol. This includes users of the gtk_window_fullscreen() function, such as Totem, Evince and OpenOffice.org. Note this is not included in ewmh.

I am new to bspwm and I am dumb, so I don't know if/how bspwm handles EWMH hints. Any info or suggestions would be welcome. If it can be done easier, that would be even better. :-)
tl;dr: how do I implement "quasi full screen behaviour" in bspwm ? Thanks!

Edit: [rant] as an aside, I am not happy with the "standard" way that applications and/or window managers do maximize and "full screen". Look at the many ways you maximize a Youtube movie:
1. maximize the window (window-manager's job) 2. "full screen" the browser, using F11 (browser's job, overriding window manger settings ? ). It is not possible (in most window managers) to have the full screen browser, so without all the tabs and stuff, in a smaller window. So here the application dicates how my windows should look. 3. "full screen" the youtube-player, by clicking the symbol or typing F (here the html-5 application overrides the general browser settings and overrides the window manager settings). So, once and for all: Managing windows should be the window manager's job and no one else' s !! [/rant] :-)

Last edited by PieterGen (2016-04-05 19:32:58)

easysid · 2016-04-27 06:02:59

How do I cancel the presel? Has the auto cancel option been deprecated?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-04-27 06:49:17

easysid wrote:

How do I cancel the presel?

Mod4+<Ctrl>+spacebar

atocanist · 2016-04-27 18:30:36

Hey, whenever I fullscreen a window with bspwm, my panel draws over the top of it.
Any quick fixes?

I've tried with dzen2, lemonbar, and yabar, can't find a solution in the bspwm docs.

I've been using

bspc node -t fullscreen

to fullscreen windows.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-04-27 18:46:23

atocanist wrote:

I've tried with dzen2, lemonbar, and yabar

Probably not much help to you but I use xfce4-panel and the fullscreen mode work just fine with that.

flannelhead · 2016-04-28 06:32:25

atocanist wrote:

Hey, whenever I fullscreen a window with bspwm, my panel draws over the top of it.
Any quick fixes?

Afaict this is fixed here in the example panel script - xdo is used to put the panel just above the root window. I'm not certain if this would resolve your issue, though.

Next7 · 2016-04-28 19:53:14

Hi! How can I compose the rule for the LibreOffice in bspwm 0.9.1? I tried alternately the foollowing variants but none of them works.

bspc rule -a libreoffice desktop=^4
bspc rule -a libreoffice-writer desktop=^4
bspc rule -a libreoffice-writer:libreoffice desktop=^4

All my other rules work fine.

UPD:

Found solution.

bspc rule -a *:libreoffice desktop=^4

Last edited by Next7 (2016-04-29 10:21:11)

easysid · 2016-04-29 16:48:35

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Mod4+<Ctrl>+spacebar

Thanks. I still think auto cancel was better. Just press the same key combo to deselect.

Another question:

I have the following rule in bspwmrc

bspc rule -a Nitrogen state=floating center=true

And this mapping in sxhkdrc to toggle floating windows

# toggle floating window
super + shift + f
    bspc node -t ~floating

While the key bind works for toggling tiled windows to floating, it does not work on those windows, that are floating by rules, e.g. Nitrogen in above case.

Anyone else getting this issue?

Last edited by easysid (2016-04-29 17:23:05)

aoba · 2016-04-29 17:35:18

You can still have a preselect toggle. For example, I use:

super + alt + {Up,Down,Left,Right}
        bspc node --presel-dir '~{north,south,west,east}'

Note the ~ .

For the floating toggle, I use this:

super + control + space
        if [ -z "$(bspc query --nodes --node focused.floating)" ]; then bspc node --state floating; else bspc node --state tiled; fi

easysid · 2016-04-30 14:21:52

aoba wrote:

You can still have a preselect toggle. For example, I use:

super + alt + {Up,Down,Left,Right}
        bspc node --presel-dir '~{north,south,west,east}'

Note the ~ .

For the floating toggle, I use this:

super + control + space
        if [ -z "$(bspc query --nodes --node focused.floating)" ]; then bspc node --state floating; else bspc node --state tiled; fi

Wow. Thanks a bunch. I do not understand the second snippet though. Why can't we just toggle using ~floating, instead of querying and then toggling?

easysid · 2016-06-03 09:46:51

How can I ignore a window, so that it doesn't show up in the window list/cycle (Alt - Tab)? I am trying to get the terminal as wallpaper, but I am unable to ignore the urxvt terminal. I'd like it to sit in the background unfocussed until clicked.

Here is the current rule, lacking the ignore part

bspc rule -a URxvt:wallterm state=floating center=true sticky=true layer=below border=false

I tried wmutils, but ignw didn't seem to work.

hungerfish · 2016-06-03 18:43:53

I'm once again trying out bspwm and I was wondering if there is a way to do 'dwm-style'-tagging with bspwm?
More specifically the behaviour I'm after is the 'pulling' a tagged windows into view.
For instance I have 10 desktops in bspwm, and whilst I can switch between them and send/push windows to other desktops,
I would also like to be able to pull from other desktops, say pull in that xterm running on '1' whilst not having to leave my current desktop '5'.

easysid · 2016-06-04 05:44:49

hungerfish wrote:

I'm once again trying out bspwm and I was wondering if there is a way to do 'dwm-style'-tagging with bspwm?
More specifically the behaviour I'm after is the 'pulling' a tagged windows into view.
For instance I have 10 desktops in bspwm, and whilst I can switch between them and send/push windows to other desktops,
I would also like to be able to pull from other desktops, say pull in that xterm running on '1' whilst not having to leave my current desktop '5'.

I am not aware of dwm style tags, but you can 'mark' your windows individually, and pull them to current desktop, without leaving it. You can store a window id with the mark/tag and use it to pull the window later.

#!/bin/bash
# tagfetch.sh
# script to tag and fetch windows

[[ $# -ne 2 ]] && exit 101
# create a directory for storing id info
tagdir="/tmp/tagdir"
[[ -d $tagdir ]] || mkdir "$tagdir"
# use 1 file per tag
tagfile="$tagdir/$2"
case $1 in
    tag)
        echo -n $(bspc query -N -n) > "$tagfile"
        ;;
    fetch)
        [[ -f $tagfile ]] && bspc node $(< $tagfile) -d $(bspc query -D -d)
        ;;
esac

You can then bind it to sxhkd to mark, and fetch windows, like so

# tag
super + ctrl + {1-9}
    tagfetch.sh tag {1-9}
#fetch
super + shift + {1-9}
    tagfetch.sh fetch {1-9}

Edit1: Removed xdotool in favour of bspc query.
Edit2: Streamlined the script

Last edited by easysid (2016-06-07 13:05:10)

hungerfish · 2016-06-04 11:19:10

Just what I was looking for, thanks easysid!!!
This was kinda essential for my workflow and I was beginning to miss it, but for now at least, I am content
Also maybe of note, setting a window to sticky causes it to be 'dragged along' when you switch desktops, which is kinda the reverse to what I was after, but now we have both

easysid · 2016-06-04 12:01:11

hungerfish wrote:

Just what I was looking for, thanks easysid!!!
This was kinda essential for my workflow and I was beginning to miss it, but for now at least, I am content
Also maybe of note, setting a window to sticky causes it to be 'dragged along' when you switch desktops, which is kinda the reverse to what I was after, but now we have both

Glad that I could help

A little modification to the script would allow same mark to be set for multiple windows, enabling them to be dragged together as a group.

I am not sure that using a file is the best way of implementing this, but I don't see how to communicate the tag information to bspwm. Maybe someone will point out an improvement.

Last edited by easysid (2016-06-04 12:04:27)

ufufu · 2016-07-17 00:55:24

Hey everybody, I'm having issues with resizing windows. Specifically, expanding and contracting them. I'm using the sxhkdrc from the git repository's example folder, where the following rules are defined:

# expand a window by moving one of its side outward
super + alt + {h,j,k,l}
        bspc node -z {left -20 0,bottom 0 20,top 0 -20,right 20 0}

# contract a window by moving one of its side inward
super + alt + shift + {h,j,k,l}
        bspc node -z {right -20 0,top 0 20,bottom 0 -20,left 20 0}

However, these commands do not do anything. I've run them on the terminal and get an "Invalid syntax" error.

For reference, this is what the commands looked like before the latest update (these worked fine):

super + alt + {h,j,k,l}
        bspc window -e {left -10,down +10,up -10,right +10}

super + alt + shift + {h,j,k,l}
        bspc window -e {right -10,up +10,down -10,left +10}

I also tried running these commands in the terminal, replacing window with node. This, too, did not work. The last thing I tried was reading Message Translation Guide at https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm/bl … ANGELOG.md and changed window -e DIR RATIO appropriately, still with no luck.

Does anyone know what is going wrong?

Arch Linux

#1601 2016-03-13 23:31:18

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1602 2016-03-14 20:01:17

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1603 2016-03-16 14:40:31

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1604 2016-03-16 16:21:06

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1605 2016-03-16 20:34:27

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1606 2016-03-17 07:14:13

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1607 2016-03-17 16:26:12

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1608 2016-03-18 13:32:26

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1609 2016-03-18 19:45:55

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1610 2016-04-05 15:51:06

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1611 2016-04-27 06:02:59

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1612 2016-04-27 06:49:17

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1613 2016-04-27 18:30:36

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1614 2016-04-27 18:46:23

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1615 2016-04-28 06:32:25

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1616 2016-04-28 19:53:14

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1617 2016-04-29 16:48:35

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1618 2016-04-29 17:35:18

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1619 2016-04-30 14:21:52

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1620 2016-06-03 09:46:51

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1621 2016-06-03 18:43:53

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1622 2016-06-04 05:44:49

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1623 2016-06-04 11:19:10

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1624 2016-06-04 12:01:11

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

#1625 2016-07-17 00:55:24

Re: bspwm — A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

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