Re: Window Manager configuration utilities

[Michael ROGERS <M Rogers cs ucl ac uk>]

>> This list is designed to come up with a new specification for window
>> managers to co-operate with desktop environments.  Defining the role of a
>> window manager in such a set up should be a first task.
>
>The spec must make it POSSIBLE for the WM to do the minimal possible
>thing: managing window borders. 

I agree, the window manager should restrict itself to managing windows. The 
desktop environment should restrict itself to "everything but" managing 
windows.

If we were designing a desktop GUI from the ground up, we probably wouldn't 
introduce the split between the WM and other desktop components, but since X 
has a split between the WM and all other clients, we should tailor our design 
to X. This might mean (shock horror!) that a Win95 taskbar and desktop are
not the best solution for an X desktop environment.

>We must include basic interface so that external pagers/taskbars/... can be 
>implemented in generic way that will work with any WM that supports these 
>concepts.

Why do we need external pagers? If the Gnome pager didn't exist, would we be
making allowances for generic pagers? If I invent the external root menu,
will we have to add support for that too? (Sorry, rant suppressor is back on.)

>Also, applications must be able to set things like 
>default/workspace/layer/...

This gives us two design goals: defining WM/DE interaction and extending 
WM/client interaction. Maybe these should go in separate parts of the spec?
Both are of interest to WM authors, but one is also of interest to
application authors.


Michael Rogers