Re: GTK window manager...

[Havoc Pennington <rhp zirx pair com>]

Hi,

Maybe the WM authors on the list can give you more details, but you aren't
going to be able to write a window manager in Gtk. Lots of the Xlib stuff
you need just isn't available, Gdk hides it all.

I would suggest: start with FVWM2, remove all cruft that duplicates Gnome
functionality, add a little module that uses Gtk for dialogs and stuff.
However, I think someone has already done this. At least, I remember a
post about a hacked FVWM designed to be the "Gnome WM."

You might be less enthused about my second suggestion, but here it is
anyway: work on Gnome integration for SCWM. It is already stripped down to
a bare minimum of C code; everything is implemented in Scheme instead. It
is Gnome compliant, and you can use guile-gtk to throw up dialogs and
stuff in Gtk. It's well-documented too. But I'm sure it could use some
work to create a minimal Scheme module that is user-friendly, uses
guile-gtk for all dialogs and configuration, and generally interoperates
well with Gnome. "Gnome mode" for scwm...

If you start a new window manager you should pretty much figure from the
start it's for your own amusement and education; from a community point of
view, there is no good reason to start your own vs. extending E, SCWM,
windowmaker, or whatever. You aren't going to get less bloated than icewm
or wm2, and if you think you are you are either a very good programmer or
you are dreaming. So, don't expect much enthusiasm.

Havoc