Comparison of X window managers
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This article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.
| Name | Language | License | Type | Configurable titlebar buttons | Graphical configuration | Hotkeys | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Panel for window switching | Tabbed windows | Themeable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9wm | C | MIT | Stacking | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | |
| aewm | C | MIT | Stacking | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| awesome | C, Lua | GPL | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Blackbox | C++ | MIT | Stacking | No | third-party | with bbkeys | through 0.65 / from 0.70[1] | Yes | No | Yes |
| Compiz | C++ (OpenGL) | MIT | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes |
| cwm | C | ISC | Stacking | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| dwm | C | MIT | Tiling and stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes/No | Yes | Yes | |
| Enlightenment | C | BSD | Stacking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| evilwm | C | AEWM[2] | Stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | No | ?/Somewhat from 1.1.0[3] | No | Yes | |
| Fluxbox | C++ | MIT | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes[4] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FLWM | C (FLTK) | GPL | stacking | No | ||||||
| FVWM | C | GPL | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[5] | third-party[6][7] |
| i3 | C | BSD | Dynamic | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| IceWM | C++ | GPL, LGPL | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ion | C, Lua | LGPL with naming restrictions on modified versions | Tiling and stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
| JWM | C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| KWin (KDE) | C++ (Qt) | GPL | Compositing and Tiling[8] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Matchbox | C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | ||||||
| Metacity (GNOME) | C, C++ (GTK+) | GPL | Compositing or Stacking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) | C (Clutter) | GPL | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gnome Shell | No | Yes |
| mwm (Motif Window Manager) | C | The Open Group Public License | Stacking | No | Yes | |||||
| Openbox | C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes | third-party | No | Yes |
| Sawfish | Lisp, C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Template:Primitive | Yes |
| sithWM | C | GPL | Stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | |||
| spectrwm | C | BSD | Tiling and stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | solid colors |
| twm | C | MIT License | re-parenting | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | solid colors | |
| WMFS | C | BSD | Tiling | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| wmii | C | MIT | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Xfwm (Xfce) | C, C++ (GTK+) | GPL, LGPL | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| xmonad | Haskell | BSD | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes / ? | third-party | Yes | Yes |
See also
References
- ^ "NetWM - Blackbox".
Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH.
- ^ evilwm Readme
- ^ "evilwm - standards support".
evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
- ^ http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/ewmh-support.html
- ^ FvwmTabs
- ^ Fvwm Themes
- ^ FVWM-Crystal
- ^ "KDE Software Compilation 4.5 Beta2 Release Announcement".
External links
- Comparison of extensible window managers compares window managers "extensible" by user scripts, like Sawfish, xmonad, etc.
- The Comprehensive List of Window Managers for Unix