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fluxbox - A lightweight window manager for the X Windowing System
Contents
Bugs
If you find any bugs, please visit the #fluxbox irc channel on irc.freenode.net or submit them to the bug
tracker at http://sf.net/projects/fluxbox . Or you may subscribe to one of the mailinglists. More
information can be found on the official website.
Description
fluxbox(1) is a window manager. As such it provides configurable window decorations, a root menu to launch applications and a toolbar that shows the current workspace name, a set of application names and the current time. There is also a workspace menu to add or remove workspaces. Fluxbox can iconify (or minimize) windows to the toolbar One click and they reappear. A double-click on the titlebar of the window will shade it; i.e. the window will disappear, and only the titlebar will remain visible. There are also two areas commonly used by small applets: the ‘slit’ can be used to dock small applications; e.g. most of the “bbtools” and “Window Maker dockapps” can use the slit, and the ‘systray’ which lives in the toolbar supports standard system tray icons provided by some applications. Fluxbox uses its own graphics class to render its images on the fly. By using style files, you can determine in great detail how your desktop looks. fluxbox styles are compatible with those of Blackbox 0.65 or earlier versions, so users migrating can still use their current favourite themes. Most of the default keyboard and mouse button actions mentioned in this manual can be changed and configured in the ‘keys’ file. This powerful configuration file can also be used to automate almost any action you may want to perform, from launching applications to moving windows around the screen. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details. Fluxbox can also remember certain attributes of individual application windows and restore these settings the next time the window opens. See the fluxbox-apps(5) for details. Fluxbox supports the majority of the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification, as well as numerous other Window Hinting standards. This allows all compliant window managers to provide a common interface to standard features used by applications and desktop utilities.
Environment
HOME
fluxbox uses $HOME to find the .fluxbox/init file and to resolve style file and -directory names.
DISPLAY
When no other display was given on the command line, fluxbox will start on the display specified by
this variable.
fluxbox can also take advantage of other environment variables if they are set before fluxbox is started.
For example, if $TERM is set, then it will be available whenever fluxbox uses the shell, such as the
‘keys’ file ExecCommand or the root menu’s [exec] tag. See fluxbox-keys(5) and fluxbox-menu(5) for
details.
The ‘keys’ file also provides two commands that can alter the current environment of fluxbox: SetEnv and
Export. Any changes made by these commands will also affect the environment as seen by fluxbox and all
child processes started after that point. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details.
For more information about environment variables in general, see your shell’s manual.
Focus Model
The Focus Model defines how windows gain focus (i.e. become the active window, which receives keyboard
and mouse events). The focus model can be changed in the configuration menu (usually located under
fluxboxmenu in the Root Menu.
There are two main aspects of the focus model: how windows gain focus and how tabs gain focus. Each of
these has two options: focus follows mouse and click to focus. Focus follows mouse means that windows
will gain focus when the mouse hovers over them. Click to focus means that windows will gain focus when
the mouse clicks on them.
Thus, there are four main options when choosing a focus model. You should choose one of the first two and
one of the last two. They are:
ClickToFocus
Click to focus windows.
MouseFocus
Window focus follows mouse.
ClickTabFocus
Click to focus tabs.
MouseTabFocus
Tab focus follows mouse.
There are three more settings in the “Focus Model” menu:
FocusNewWindows
If enabled, a new window will grab X focus as soon as it is opened.
AutoRaise
If enabled, focusing on a new window will automatically raise that window above all others within
its layer. When disabled, you must explicitly raise a focused window using the window menu,
keybinding, or ClickRaises.
ClickRaises
If enabled, clicking anywhere on a window will raise it above all others within its layer.
Layers
Layers affect the way that windows will overlap each other on the screen. Windows on a higher layer will
always appear above those on a lower one, whether they are focused or not. Fluxbox uses 13 layers,
starting from 1 (highest).
There are two ways to assign a window to a different layer. When the window is open, you may select the
layer in the ‘Layer ...’ submenu of the window menu. The menu gives six choices for the layer, which
fluxbox manages by name. The names are (from highest to lowest layer):
• 2 - Above Dock
• 4 - Dock
• 6 - Top
• 8 - Normal
• 10 - Bottom
• 12 - Desktop
The other way to set the layer for a window is through the ‘apps’ file. This method is described in
fluxbox-apps(5).
Name
fluxbox - A lightweight window manager for the X Windowing System
Online Documentation
The Official fluxbox website: http://www.fluxbox.org
The Official fluxbox wiki: http://www.fluxbox-wiki.org
Many compatible themes: http://tenr.deOptions
-displaydisplay
Start fluxbox on the specified display. Programs started by fluxbox will share the DISPLAY
environment variable also.
-h, -help
Display command line options.
-i, -info
Display useful information concerning the defaults and compiled-in options.
-loglogfile
Starting fluxbox with this option will designate a file in which you want to log events to.
-no-slit
Do not use the container for DockApps (aka the Slit)
-no-toolbar
Do not use the toolbar
-rcrcfile
Use a different config file other than the default ~/.fluxbox/init.
-v, -version
The version of fluxbox installed.
-screen all|scr,scr...
Run on specified screens only or all (by default).
-verbose
Print more information in process.
-sync
Synchronize with the X server for debugging.
-list-commands
Lists all available internal commands.
Resources
Usually the ~/.fluxbox/init resource file is created and maintained by fluxbox itself. You can use the
ConfigureMenu, mentioned above, to set most of these options. However, we’ll cover all of the resource
options that are available to the user. If you edit this file while fluxbox is running, you must
“reconfigure” to reload the resource options.
When running fluxbox in a multiple-screen environment the screen0 key can also be screen1, screen2, to
customize the behavior of fluxbox on each desktop accordingly. Here are the resources that are currently
available:
session.screen0.window.{focus|unfocus}.alpha: integer
These resources are available to the user to set different levels of transparency for different
components of fluxbox. Each one accepts a value between 0-255, 255 being opaque and 0 being
completely transparent.
Default: 255session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.autoHide: boolean
The autoHide resources allow the user to set the behavior of the toolbar and slit. This behavior can
be that they disappear when they are not being used actively by the user, or they remain visible at
all times.
Default: Falsesession.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.layer: layer
With these two resources, you can set the layer you want the toolbar and the slit to appear on.
Please read the LAYER section for more information.
Default: Docksession.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.placement: placement
These allow users to place the slit and toolbar where they like.
Possible options are:
BottomLeftBottomCenterBottomRightLeftBottomLeftCenterLeftTopRightBottomRightCenterRightTopTopLeftTopCenterTopRight
Slit default: RightBottom
Toolbar default: BottomCentersession.screen0.{slit|toolbar|tabs}.maxOver: boolean
Setting these to True will allow application windows to maximize over the complete screen. Setting to
False allows the slit, toolbar, and external tabs to hold their territory and will always be visible
when an application is maximized.
Default: Falsesession.screen0.toolbar.height: integer
Set the height of the toolbar. If the value is set to 0, the style file will gain control over the
toolbar height. It is possible to set a fixed height by changing this value to something greater than
0.
Default: 0session.screen0.toolbar.visible: boolean
The user can set whether they want to have a toolbar on screen at all. Setting to False removes the
toolbar from the screen.
Default: Truesession.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: integer
This resource sets the width percentage of the toolbar on the screen.
Default: 100session.screen0.toolbar.tools: tools
This resource specifies the tools plugged into the toolbar. Read the TOOLBAR section in this manual
for a description of each of these. They may be specified in any order, delimited by the , character.
They will appear in the order given.
Possible tools:
clockiconbarnextwindowprevwindownextworkspaceprevworkspacesystemtrayworkspacename
Default:
workspacename,prevworkspace,nextworkspace,iconbar,prevwindow,nextwindow,systemtray,clocksession.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.onhead: integer
For those that use xinerama, users can set this value to the number of the head where they would like
to see the slit and toolbar, starting from 1. Setting this to 0 will ignore xinerama information.
Default: 0 for slit, 1 for toolbar
session.screen0.iconbar.mode: pattern
This determines which windows will be displayed in the iconbar. Any window pattern is acceptable. See
the section CLIENTPATTERNS in either fluxbox-keys(5) or fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
Default: {staticgroups}(workspace)session.screen0.iconbar.usePixmap: boolean
This is also set in the Iconbar Mode menu. When set to True, this will show the native icon of
applications.
Default: Truesession.screen0.iconbar.iconTextPadding: integer
This specifies the space between the window title and the edge of the button.
Default: 10session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: position
This value should be changed in the Iconbar Mode menu.
Available options:
• Left: Fixed width, aligned left
• Relative: Width varies to fill the iconbar
• Right: Fixed width, aligned right
Default: Relativesession.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth: integer
Used to specify the iconbar button width for Left/Right alignment.
Default: 128session.screen0.strftimeFormat: date
This adjusts the way the current time is displayed in the toolbar. The strftime(3) format is used.
Default: %k:%Msession.screen0.tabs.intitlebar: boolean
This specifies whether tabs should be embedded in the titlebar or placed outside the window.
Default: Truesession.screen0.tab.placement: placement
This specifies where external tabs will appear on the window. It has the same possible values as
sesion.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.placement.
Default: TopLeftsession.screen0.tab.width: integer
This specifies the width of external tabs in pixels.
Default: 64session.screen0.focusModel: ClickToFocus|MouseFocus|StrictMouseFocus
This controls how windows gain focus via the mouse. With ‘ClickToFocus’, the user must click on the
window. With ‘MouseFocus’, windows gain focus whenever the mouse moves over them, but only when the
mouse is moving. With ‘StrictMouseFocus’, windows gain focus whenever the mouse enters any exposed
area, even if this is due to layer changes, window movement, changing desktops, closing windows, etc.
Default: ClickToFocussession.screen0.autoRaise: boolean
When True, this setting automatically raises any window that gains focus.
Default: Truesession.autoRaiseDelay: integer
Adjusts the delay (in milli-sec) before focused windows will raise when using the Autoraise option.
Default: 250session.screen0.clickRaises: boolean
This setting allows a user to click anywhere on a window to bring it on top of other windows.
Otherwise, only the titlebar will work.
Default: Truesession.screen0.workspacewarping: boolean
This setting enables a user to change workspaces by dragging a window across the edge of the screen.
Default: Truesession.screen0.showwindowposition: boolean
Setting this resource to True shows the user, in a little window, the exact position of the
application window while the user is dragging it. Allows a precise placement of windows on a screen.
Default: Falsesession.screen0.defaultDeco: string
This specifies the default window decorations, according to the same options available to the [Deco]
option in the ‘apps’ file, described in fluxbox-apps(5).
Default: NORMALsession.screen0.menuDelay: integer
This sets the delay in milliseconds for submenus to open when you hover over them or to close when
you hover over another item.
Default: 200session.screen0.focusNewWindows: boolean
This sets whether or not new windows will become focused automatically.
Default: Truesession.screen0.workspaceNames: names
Here is where the user can name their workspaces, in a comma-delimited list. However it is
recommended to use the tool available in the Workspace Menu to set these.
Default: Workspace1,Workspace2,Workspace3,Workspace4session.screen0.edgeSnapThreshold: integer
When moving a window across your screen, fluxbox is able to have it ‘snap’ to the edges of the screen
and other windows for easy placement. This variable tells fluxbox the distance (in pixels) at which
the window will jump to the edge.
Default: 10session.screen0.windowPlacement: strategy
This resource specifies where to place new windows when not otherwise specified (by the program or
the ‘apps’ file, for example).
Available strategies:
• RowSmartPlacement: tries to place windows in rows without overlapping
• ColSmartPlacement: tries to place windows in columns without overlapping
• CascadePlacement: places windows below the titlebar of the previous one
• UnderMousePlacement: places new windows underneath the mouse
Default: RowSmartPlacementsession.screen0.rowPlacementDirection: LeftToRight|RightToLeft
These settings control the direction in which windows are tiled using the RowSmartPlacement and
ColSmartPlacement strategies described above.
Default: LeftToRightsession.screen0.colPlacementDirection: TopToBottom|BottomToTop
These settings control the direction in which windows are tiled using the RowSmartPlacement and
ColSmartPlacement strategies described above.
Default: TopToBottomsession.screen0.fullMaximization: boolean
If this setting is enabled, windows will maximize over the toolbar, slit, and any other window that
creates a strut, no matter what their individual settings are.
Default: Falsesession.screen0.opaqueMove: boolean
When moving a window, setting this to True will draw the window contents as it moves (this is nasty
on slow systems). If False, it will only draw an outline of the window border.
Default: Truesession.screen0.workspaces: integer
Set this to the number of workspaces the users wants.
Default: 4session.cacheLife: minutes
This tells fluxbox how long unused pixmaps may stay in the X server’s memory.
Default: 5session.cacheMax: KbSize
This tells fluxbox how much memory it may use to store cached pixmaps on the X server. If your
machine runs short of memory, you may lower this value.
Default: 200session.colorsPerChannel: integer
This tells fluxbox how many colors to take from the X server on pseudo-color displays. A channel
would be red, green, or blue. fluxbox will allocate this variable ^ 3 and make them always available.
Value must be between 2-6. When you run fluxbox on an 8bpp display, you must set this resource to 4.
Default: 4session.doubleClickInterval: integer
Adjust the delay in milliseconds between mouse clicks for fluxbox to consider a double click.
Default: 250session.forcePseudoTransparency: boolean
If you have Xorg’s composite extension enabled, this setting will force the menu, windows, toolbar,
and slit to use pseudo-transparency instead of true transparency.
Default: Falsesession.ignoreBorder: boolean
This configures the ability to move windows by dragging the border.
Default: Falsesession.tabPadding: integer
This specifies the spacing between tabs.
Default: 0session.tabsAttachArea: Window|Titlebar
With this set to ‘Window’, windows may be grouped by dragging one tab with the middle mouse button
and dropping it anywhere on another window. With ‘Titlebar’, the user must drop the tab on the target
window’s titlebar.
Default: Windowsession.titlebar.{left|right}: buttons
The buttons or icons to place in the titlebar of decorated windows. You may specify any number,
space-delimited.
The available options are:
CloseMaximizeMenuIconMinimizeShadeStickLHalfRHalf
Default left: Stick
Default right: ShadeMinimizeMaximizeCloseLHalf and RHalf are buttons to quickly place a window into the left and right half of the current
monitor.
All of the location resources following require a pathname to their specific files. This is where you can
specify different files. Most of the defaults will be located in the user’s ~/.fluxbox directory.
session.appsFile: location
Location of persistent application settings, or the ‘apps’ file. See the Remember... item in the
WindowMenu section above or fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
session.groupFile: location
Deprecated, auto-grouping is now done in the ‘apps’ file, see fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
session.keyFile: location
Location of the keyboard mapping settings, or the ‘keys’ file. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details.
session.menuFile: location
Location of the Root Menu file. See fluxbox-menu(5) for details.
session.slitlistFile: location
Location of the file used to remember slit client ordering. See SLIT above for details.
session.styleFile: location
Location of the currently selected style. See fluxbox-style(5) for details.
session.styleOverlay: location
Location of the style overlay file. See fluxbox-style(5) for details.
session.screen0.windowMenu: location
This optionally specifies the location of a user-defined window menu. If left blank, it will use
~/.fluxbox/windowmenu.
Default: blanksession.menuSearch: nowhere|itemstart|somewhere
This setting controls the way the menu search feature works.
Available options:
• nowhere: disables the menu search
• itemstart: typed text matches at the start of a menu items
• somewhere: typed text matches somewhere in a menu item
+ Default: itemstartSee Also
fluxbox-apps(5) fluxbox-keys(5) fluxbox-style(5) fluxbox-menu(5) fluxbox-remote(1) fbsetroot(1) fbsetbg(1) fbrun(1) startfluxbox(1)
Signals
fluxbox responds to the following signals:
• SIGUSR1 restarts fluxbox.
• SIGUSR2 Forces reloading of configuration.
Starting Fluxbox
fluxbox(1) comes with a program called startfluxbox(1) usually located wherever you installed fluxbox. This script provides you with many options and variables that can be set when starting fluxbox. To actually call fluxbox and begin using it, you should place “exec startfluxbox” in your ~/.xinitrc as the last executed command. This is assuming that the location of fluxbox(1) and startfluxbox(1) are in your shell’s $PATH. Also note that you may need to create the ~/.xinitrc file or your setup may use ~/.xsession instead, depending on your X setup. Some X login managers like gdm(1) or kdm(1) may simply provide a “Fluxbox” session for you without having to alter any settings. By using fluxbox -i you’ll see the defaults used by fluxbox(1). These are what fluxbox looks for upon startup. In the list of “Defaults:” you’ll see a menu file location, this is where you can provide a system-wide menu file for your users. On exit or restart, fluxbox will save user defaults in the file ~/.fluxbox/init. Resources in this file can also be edited by hand, see the RESOURCES section for more details. fluxbox(1) also has many tools to edit these; look through the main menu once fluxbox has started to find different ways of managing your session.
Styles
fluxbox enables you to use specialized files that contain X(1) resources to specify colors, textures,
pixmaps and fonts, and thus the overall look of your window borders, menus and the toolbar.
The default installation of fluxbox provides some of these style files. See fluxbox-style(5) to
accommodate the growing number of style components.
StyleOverlay
In addition to the style file, the overlay file, whose location is specified by
session.screen0.styleOverlay (default: ~/.fluxbox/overlay) can be used to set style resources that
override all styles. For more information about which parts of fluxbox can be controlled by the overlay
file, see fluxbox-style(5).
Synopsis
fluxbox [-rc rcfile] [-no-slit] [-no-toolbar] [-log logfile] [-display display] [-screen all|scr,scr...]
[-verbose] [-sync]
fluxbox [-v | -version] | [-h | -help] | [-i | -info] | [-list-commands]
Tab Options
This section of fluxbox configuration menu lets you configure many features of tabs. Inside of it there
are three main options:
Placement
You can choose where the external tabs will be positioned relative to the window. For these options
to work, TabsinTitlebar must be off.
TabsinTitlebar
When this option is on, tabs are fixed in window titlebar and the width varies according to the
amount of windows grouped.
MaximizeOver
When this option is on, maximizing a window will disregard the size and location of external tabs,
which means they may be pushed out of the screen entirely.
ExternalTabWidth
This specifies in pixels the width of external tabs.
The Slit
The slit is a special fluxbox window frame that can contain dockable applications, such as “bbtools” or
“window maker dockapps”.
When applications are run in the slit they have no window borders of their own; instead they are framed
in the slit, and they are always visible in the current workspace.
Most dockable applications use the -w option to run in the slit. For example, you could put in your
~/.fluxbox/startup:
bbmail -w &
bbpager -w &
wmdrawer &
exec fluxbox
To use the slit you must have it compiled into fluxbox. This is the default setting.
SlitMenu
This menu can be opened by right-clicking on the slit (though not on an application running within the
slit), or from the ConfigurationMenu.
All changes take effect immediately. Here are the settings:
Placement
This lets you set the position of the slit.
Layer
See LAYERS for details on the layer order.
Autohide
If this is enabled the slit will disappear after a defined time when the mouse pointer leaves the
slit. It will slide in when the cursor hits the remaining edge of the slit. See the
session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
MaximizeOver
Enabling this option will allow windows to maximizing over the slit. With this switched off they will
only expand to the edge of the slit. This option may be overridden by the “Full Maximization” from
the ConfigurationMenu. If that option is enabled, this option will have no effect..
Alpha
This sets the alpha value for the slit. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right mouse
button to increase the value. 0 is invisible, 255 is not transparent at all.
Clients
This submenu lets you reorder the the applications running in the slit. You are able to hide apps
from the slit by unselecting them in the list showing. This will not kill the app. You can make them
re-appear by selecting them in the list. The "Save SlitList" option saves the new order to you
slitlist located in ~/.fluxbox/slitlist. See the next section for details.
SlitlistFile
fluxbox’s slitlist file is available for those that use dockapps in the slit. This file helps fluxbox
keep track of the order of the dockapps when in the slit. The file is generally located at
~/.fluxbox/slitlist.
A simple procedure for getting the slit sequences the way you like it is: 1. Run fluxbox with no
pre-loaded dockapps 2. Run dockapps individually in the order you want them 3. Add dockapps to your
startfluxbox(1) script
This sequence will be saved by default to ~/.fluxbox/slitlist and will be remembered for future instances
of fluxbox.
Users are free to manually edit the slitlist file. It is a simple list of window names, as given by
xprop(1), one per dockapp. Similar to the init file it should not be edited while fluxbox is running.
Otherwise changes may get overwritten.
The user also has the option of choosing a different path for the slitlist file, by setting the
session.session0.slitlistFile resource.
Toolbar
The toolbar is a small area to display information like a clock, workspace name, a system tray or a
taskbar (iconbar) that can contain the running programs. The color, look, font etc. is defined in the
STYLE.
The tools in the toolbar can be enabled/disabled in the ‘init’ file with the
session.screen0.toolbar.tools resource. See the RESOURCES section for details on how to alter this value.
The possible tools are:
Clock
This will show an area to display a clock and the date according to the format specification listed
in "man strtftime"
Iconbar
This is the area that contains all windows (all running applications, all minimized windows or maybe
no window, all depending on the Toolbar Settings).
Systemtray
The Systemtray can hold applications that are made to use it.
WorkspaceName
This displays the name of the current workspace. Also, one is able to switch to the workspace left of
the current one with a left click and to the workspace right of the current one with a right click.
PrevWorkspace
This displays an arrow that allows one to switch to the workspace left of the current one.
NextWorkspace
This displays an arrow that allows one to switch to the workspace right of the current one.
PrevWindow
This displays an arrow that switches focus to the previous visible window on the current workspace.
NextWindow
This displays an arrow that switches focus to the next visible window on the current workspace.
Other aspects of the toolbar can be configured in two ways: through the toolbar menu, which is accessible
in the Configuration part of the RootMenu or with a middle click on the edge the toolbar, or by editing
the init file (see the RESOURCES section for more information about that).
ToolbarMenu
This menu can be opened by right-clicking on the toolbar (though not on a window’s name in the iconbar),
or from the ConfigurationMenu.
All changes take effect immediately. Here are the settings:
Visible
Sets the toolbar either to visible or invisible.
Autohide
If this is enabled the toolbar will disappear after a defined time when the mouse pointer leaves the
toolbar. It will slide in when the cursor hits the remaining edge of the toolbar. See the
session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
Toolbarwidthpercentage
Sets the width of the toolbar in a percentage of your total screen size. Use the left mouse button to
decrease and the right mouse-button to increase the value. The value can be from 1-100.
MaximizeOver
Enabling this option will allow windows to maximize over the toolbar. With this switched on they will
only expand to the edge of the bar. This option may be overridden by the “Full Maximization” from the
ConfigurationMenu. If that option is enabled, this option will have no effect..
Layer...
This sets the layer on which the toolbar is set. With this you can set the toolbar to "Always on
top".
Placement
Sets the toolbar to any edge of the screen, either centered or aligned with a corner.
Alpha
This sets the alpha value for the toolbar. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right mouse
button to increase the value. 0 is invisible, 255 is not transparent at all.
IconbarMode
Specifies various modes of the iconbar’s operation.
The first section outlines what types of windows will be shown in the iconbar:
None:
Will not show any windows
Icons:
Shows windows from all workspaces that are iconified (or, minimized)
NoIcons:
Shows windows from all workspaces that are not iconified
WorkspaceIcons:
Shows windows from the current workspace that are iconified
WorkspaceNoIcons:
Shows windows from the current workspace that are not iconified
Workspace:
Shows all windows (iconified or not) from the current workspace
AllWindows:
Shows all windows (iconified or not) from all workspaces
The next section specifies the alignment of the window names shown in the iconbar. The width is
specified via the session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth resource:
Left:
All icons will be left-aligned with the width set in the ‘init’ file
Relative:
All icons will be sized evenly to fill the iconbar completely
Right:
All icons will be right-aligned with the width set in the ‘init’ file
The last option in this submenu is:
ShowPictures:
If enabled the iconbar will show the application’s icon (if provided by the application)
Clock
Lets you switch between the 00:00am - 11:59pm and 00:00 - 23:59 notation
EditClockFormat
clicking this entry will pop up a dialog window in which the clock format can be set according to manstrftime (or mandate).
Using Fluxbox
When using fluxbox for the first time, users who are more accustomed to full desktop environments such as
KDE or Gnome may be a little surprised by the minimal screen content. fluxbox is designed to be fast and
powerful, so it may take a bit of getting used to — however, the rewards are worthwhile.
In this section, we’ll give a quick summary of the common things. However, we recommend that you consult
the referenced sections of this manual to further develop your understanding of what you can do with
fluxbox.
RootWindow(Main)
Looking at the fluxbox desktop immediately after startup you’ll generally see only one thing: the
toolbar. If you right-click (mouse button 3) somewhere on the desktop, you can access the Root Menu. A
middle-click (mouse button 2) on the desktop shows you the Workspace Menu.
RootMenuandWorkspaceMenu
From the RootMenu you can launch applications and configure fluxbox. The WorkspaceMenu shows all windows
and on which workspaces they are. See section MENUS on how to customize these menus.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains any combination of the following tools, by default in this order:
• WorkspaceName: Name of the current visible workspace
• WorkspaceArrows: Previous/Next Workspace
• Iconbar: List of windows managed by fluxbox
• WindowArrows: Previous/Next Application Window
• SystemTray: Area for applets
• Clock: Date and Time
The contents and behavior of the toolbar can be configured, see the TOOLBAR section for details.
Slit
Initially you won’t be able to see the slit. It is there, but it isn’t being used yet, which confuses
some people initially. Think of it as a dock where you can place smaller programs. If you’ve looked at
any screenshots on the official fluxbox web site, you will have noticed some small programs on the edge
of some of the screens. These were more than likely docked programs in the slit. To learn more about the
slit, we have an entire SLIT section below that goes into detail about the options you have.
Layers
fluxbox manages the following layers (from highest to lowest):
• Above Dock
• Dock
• Top
• Normal
• Bottom
• Desktop
Windows on a higher layer will always appear above those on a lower one. These layers can be used on
application windows, the slit or the toolbar. You can assign applications to a certain layer by
specifying it in the ‘apps’ file or through the WindowMenu. We discuss the ‘apps’ file in
fluxbox-apps(5). We discuss the WindowMenu in the MENUS section. We discuss layers in more detail in the
LAYERS section.
FocusModel
The window that has the focus is the one that receives key and mouse events. The focus model is
selectable via the Configuration menu located in the root menu. We’ll discuss the different types of
focus below in the FOCUSMODEL section.
Windows
A left-click (mouse button 1) on any part of the window’s border will raise it. Dragging then moves the
window to another part of the desktop. A right click and drag on the border resizes the window. Dragging
the resize grips at the left and right bottom corners also will resize the window. Middle clicking on a
border or titlebar will immediately lower the window. Right clicking on the titlebar opens the Window
menu. The commands unique to this menu are discussed in detail in the WindowMenu section.
Tabs
fluxbox allows windows to be ‘grouped’ by middle clicking and holding on a window’s tab and dragging it
onto another window. This ‘tabbing’ allows you to put multiple applications in one location on the
desktop and do several operations (for example, moving or resizing) to all windows in the group. By
default, tabs are located just above the window, but they may be embedded in the titlebar or moved to
other locations on the outside of the window. Configuration is discussed in TAB OPTIONS section.
You can also set up automatic grouping using the ‘apps’ file. See GROUPSECTIONS in fluxbox-apps(5) for
details.
KeyBindings
There are a number of key bindings set up by default, which can be configured and extended to just about
anything you can imagine with the keyboard. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details on how to do this.
The default bindings set up by fluxbox are as follows:
Mouse clicks on the empty desktop:
• Left-click (Button 1): hides all fluxbox menus
• Middle-click (Button 2): shows the Workspace Menu
• Right-click (Button 3): shows the Root Menu
• Scrollwheel (Buttons 4 and 5): jump to the previous/next workspace
Mouse gestures on a window:
• ALT+DragLeft-click anywhere on a window moves the window.
• ALT+DragRight-click anywhere on a window resizes the window.
• ALT+Middle-click anywhere on a window lowers the current window.
Mouse gestures on a window’s titlebar:
• CTRL+DragLeft-click on a window’s titlebar lets you drag to attach the window to another’s tab group
• DoubleLeft-click on a window’s titlebar shades the window
• Middle-click on a window’s titlebar lowers the window
• Right-click on a window’s titlebar pops up the WindowMenu
Mouse gestures on the toolbar:
• Scrollwheel on the toolbar cycles through windows
Keyboard bindings:
• ALT+Tab / ALT+Shift+Tab: Cycle through windows
• WIN+Tab / WIN+Shift+Tab: Cycle through tabs
• WIN+1 - WIN+9: Select the 1st → 9th tab in the current window
• ALT+F1: Run xterm(1) to open a new terminal
• ALT+F2: Run fbrun(1) for a small “run program” dialog
• ALT+F4: Close the current window
• ALT+F5: Kill the current window (like xkill(1))
• ALT+F9: Minimize (iconify) the current window
• ALT+F10: Maximize the current window
• ALT+F11: Full-screen the current window
• ALT+Space: Open the WindowMenu
• CTRL+ALT+Del: Exit fluxbox (log out)
• CTRL+ALT+Left / CTRL+ALT+Right: Go to the previous/next workspace
• WIN+Left / WIN+Right: Send the current window to the previous/next workspace, but remain on this
workspace
• CTRL+WIN+Left / CTRL+WIN+Right: Take the current window to the previous/next workspace, and switch to
that workspace
• CTRL+F1 - CTRL+F12: Switch to the 1st → 12th workspace
• WIN+F1 - WIN+F12: Send the current window to a specific workspace
• CTRL+WIN+F1 - CTRL+WIN+F12: Take the current window to a specific workspace
Emojis
PNG Icons
