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 | Memory (MB)[1] | Initial Release | Latest Stable Release |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2bwm | C | Stacking | No | Yes | Yes | ||||||||
9wm | C | MIT | Stacking | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | 0.4 | 1994 | ||
aewm | C | MIT | Stacking | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | |||
awesome | C, Lua | GPL | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 9 | 2007-09-18 | |
Blackbox | C++ | MIT | Stacking | No | third-party | with bbkeys | through 0.65 / from 0.70[2] | Yes | No | Yes | 3 | ||
bspwm | C | BSD[3] | Tiling | No | No | with sxhkd | Partial | No | No | No | 2013-04-23 | ||
Compiz | C (OpenGL) | MIT | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes | 2006 | 2016-11-11 | |
cwm | C | ISC | Stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | 2004-07-10 | |||
dwm | C | MIT | Dynamic | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 1 | 2006-07-14 | ||
Enlightenment | C | BSD | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 1997 | 2019-08[4] | |
evilwm | C | MIT[5] | Stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Partial[6] | No | No | Yes | |||
Fluxbox | C++ | MIT | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes[7] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 16 | ||
FLWM | C++ (FLTK) | GPL | Stacking | No | Yes | There is a window list menu | No | No | 1998 | ||||
FVWM | C | GPL | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[8] | third-party[9][10] | 4 | 1993-06-01 | |
i3 | C | BSD | Dynamic | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 3 | 2009-03-15 | |
IceWM | C++ | LGPL | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 4.5 | 1997 | |
Ion | C, Lua | LGPL with naming restrictions on modified versions | Tiling | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 2000 | 2009-01-10 | ||
JWM | C | MIT (Formerly GPL) | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | EWMH | Yes | No | Yes | 3 | 2003 | |
KWin (KDE) | C++ (Qt) | GPL | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 41 | 2019-01 | |
Matchbox | C | GPL | Stacking | EWMH compliance | No | No | Yes | 2007-04-13 | |||||
Metacity (GNOME) | C, C++ (GTK+) | GPL | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 2002-10 | 2016-09 | |
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) | C (Clutter) | GPL | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gnome Shell | No | Yes | 18.6 | 2011-04 | 2018-09 |
mwm (Motif Window Manager) | C | The Open Group Public License | Stacking | No | No | Yes | can change colours | 1989 | |||||
Openbox | C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | third-party | Yes | Yes | third-party | No | Yes | 7 | 2002-09-18 | |
PekWM | C++ | GPL | Stacking | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | 5.3 | ||
PlayWM | C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |||
Ratpoison | C | GPL | Tiling | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | 1 | 2000-12-04 | |
Sawfish | Lisp, C | GPL | Stacking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | primitive | Yes | 3.1 | 2000-01-01 | |
sithWM | C | GPL | Stacking | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ||||
spectrwm | C | ISC | Dynamic | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | solid colors | |||
steamcompmgr | unknown | BSD-2-clause | Compositing | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | 2013 | |||
StumpWM | Common Lisp | GPL | Tiling | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | |||
twm | C | MIT | Stacking | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | solid colors | 1.2 | 1987 | ||
WMFS | C | BSD | Tiling | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Window Maker | C | GPL | Stacking | No | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 | 1997 | |
Wingo | Go | WTFPL | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |||
wmii | C | MIT | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 2005-06-01 | ||
Xfwm (Xfce) | C, C++ (GTK+) | GPL, LGPL | Compositing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 70 | ||
xmonad | Haskell | BSD | Dynamic | Yes | No | Yes | Yes / ? | third-party | Yes | Yes | 2 | 2007-03-06 | |
uwm | C | Similar to BSD license | Stacking | 1985 | |||||||||
Name | Language | License | Type | Configurable titlebar buttons | Graphical configuration | Hotkeys | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Panel for window switching | Tabbed windows | Themeable | Memory (MB) | Initial release | Last Stable Release |
See also
References
- ^ "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops". l3net - a layer 3 networking blog. 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
- ^ "NetWM - Blackbox". Archived from the original on 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH.
- ^ "bspwm License".
- ^ https://git.enlightenment.org/core/enlightenment.git
- ^ README in EvilWM distribution
- ^ "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 Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fvwm Themes
- ^ FVWM-Crystal
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