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labwc-config(5) | File Formats Manual | labwc-config(5) |
NAME¶
labwc - configuration files
DESCRIPTION¶
Labwc uses openbox-3.6 specification for configuration and theming, but does not support all options. The following files form the basis of the labwc configuration: rc.xml, menu.xml, autostart, shutdown and environment.
No configuration files are needed to start and run labwc.
In accordance with XDG Base Directory Specification, configuration files are searched for in the following order:
- ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/labwc
- ${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS:-/etc/xdg}/labwc
When $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is defined, it replaces (rather than augments) $HOME/.config. The same is the case for $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS and /etc/xdg.
The XDG Base Directory Specification does not specify whether or not programs should (a) allow the first-identified configuration file to supersede any others, or (b) define rules for merging the information from more than one file.
By default, labwc uses option (a), reading only the first file identified. With the --merge-config option, the search order is reserved, but every configuration file encountered is processed in turn. Thus, user-specific files will augment system-wide configurations, with conflicts favoring the user-specific alternative.
The configuration directory location can be overridden with the -C command line option.
All configuration and theme files except autostart and shutdown are re-loaded on receiving signal SIGHUP.
Environment variables may be set within environment files, wherein each line defines shell variables in the format variable=value. It is recommended to specify keyboard layout settings and cursor size/theme here; see environment variable section below for details. Within an XDG Base Directory, a file named "environment" will be parsed first, followed by any file matching the glob "environment.d/*.env". Files within the environment.d directory are parsed in alphabetical order. Unless the --merge-config option is specified, labwc will consider a particular XDG Base Directory to have provided an environment file if that directory contains either the "environment" file or at least one "environment.d/*.env" file.
Note: environment files are treated differently by Openbox, which will simply source the file as a valid shell script before running the window manager. Files are instead parsed directly by labwc, although any environment variables referenced as $VARIABLE or ${VARIABLE} will be substituted and the tilde (~) will be expanded as the user's home directory.
The autostart file is executed as a shell script after labwc has read its configuration and set variables defined in the environment file. Additionally, the environment variables WAYLAND_DISPLAY and (when labwc is built with Xwayland support) DISPLAY will be defined. This is the place for executing clients for handling background images, panels and other tasks that should run automatically when labwc launches.
The shutdown file is executed as a shell script when labwc is preparing to terminate itself. All environment variables, including WAYLAND_DISPLAY and DISPLAY, will be available to the script. However, because the script runs asynchronously with other termination tasks, the shutdown file should not assume that the display will be usable. This file is useful to perform any custom operations necessary to finalize a labwc session.
The menu.xml file defines the context/root-menus and is described in labwc-menu(5).
There is a small <theme> section in rc.xml, for example to set rounded corners, but the remainder of the theme specification and associated files are described in labwc-theme(5).
rc.xml is the main configuration file and all its options are described in detail below.
CONFIGURATION¶
This section describes rc.xml configuration options.
SYNTAX¶
Configuration must be wrapped in a <labwc_config> root-element like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <labwc_config> <!-- settings --> </labwc_config>
labwc parses XML in an element/attribute agnostic way. This is a design decision to increase config file flexibility and keep code simple. In practical terms, this means that `<a><b>c</b></a>` is usually equivalent to `<a b="c" />`. However, there are some caveats:
2. Ordering of attributes can sometimes be significant. For example, when setting fonts via attributes rather than children,
will set a font for active window titles, while
will set a font as if place were unspecified, because name and size will be processed before place.
In general, it is recommended that attributes not be used to collapse more than one level of the configuration hierarchy.
The following three are therefore treated the same:
<action>
<name>Execute</name>
<command>foot</command> </action>
<action name="Execute">
<command>foot</command> </action>
<action name="Execute" command="foot" />
The benefit of the final one is brevity whereas the advantage of the first two is that you can add ' and " within the `<command>` block, for example:
<command>sh -c 'grim -g "`slurp`"'</command>
Elements at the same level can have the same name whereas attributes cannot. Therefore, where multiple objects of the same kind are required (for example <action> and <keybind>) the top-node of the object has to be an element.
BOOLEANS¶
Note that in this manual, Boolean values are listed as [yes|no] for simplicity, but it's also possible to use [true|false] and/or [on|off]; this is for compatibility with Openbox.
CORE¶
<core>
<decoration>server</decoration>
<gap>0</gap>
<adaptiveSync>no</adaptiveSync>
<allowTearing>no</allowTearing>
<reuseOutputMode>no</reuseOutputMode> </core>
<core><decoration> [server|client]
<core><gap>
<core><adaptiveSync> [yes|no|fullscreen]
fullscreen enables adaptive sync whenever a window is in fullscreen mode.
<core><allowTearing> [yes|no]
<core><reuseOutputMode> [yes|no]
<core><xwaylandPersistence> [yes|no]
Note: changing this setting requires a restart of labwc.
PLACEMENT¶
<placement><policy> [center|automatic|cursor]
WINDOW SWITCHER¶
<windowSwitcher show="" preview="" outlines="" allWorkspaces="">
preview [yes|no] Preview the contents of the selected window when switching between windows. Default is yes.
outlines [yes|no] Draw an outline around the selected window when switching between windows. Default is yes.
allWorkspaces [yes|no] Show windows regardless of what workspace they are on. Default no (that is only windows on the current workspace are shown).
<windowSwitcher><fields><field content="" width="%">
content defines what the field shows and can be any of:
- •
- type Show view type ("xdg-shell" or "xwayland")
- •
- identifier Show identifier (app_id for native Wayland windows and WM_CLASS for XWayland clients)
- •
- trimmed_identifier Show trimmed identifier. Trimming removes the first two nodes of 'org.' strings.
- •
- title Show window title if different to app_id
- •
- workspace Show workspace name
- •
- state Show window state, M/m/F (max/min/full)
- •
- type_short Show view type ("W" or "X")
- •
- output Show output id, if more than one output detected
- •
- custom A printf style config that can replace all the above fields are:
- 'B' - shell type, values [xwayland|xdg-shell]
- 'b' - shell type (short form), values [X|W]
- 'S' - state of window, values [M|m|F] (3 spaces allocated)
(maximized, minimized, fullscreen) - 's' - state of window (short form), values [M|m|F] (1 space)
- 'I' - wm-class/app-id
- 'i' - wm-class/app-id trimmed, remove "org." if available
- 'W' - workspace name
- 'w' - workspace name (if more than 1 ws configured)
- 'O' - output name
- 'o' - output name (show if more than 1 monitor active)
- 'T' - title of window
- 't' - title of window (if different than wm-class/app-id)
- •
- custom - subset of printf options allowed -- man 3 printf
- random text may be inserted
- field length, example "%10" use 10 spaces, even if text uses less
- left justify text, example "%-"
- right justify text, example "%" instead of "%-"
- example, %-10 would left justify and make room for 10 characters
- •
- Only one custom format allowed now. Future enhancements may allow more than one.
width defines the width of the field expressed as a percentage of the overall window switcher width. The "%" character is required.
RESISTANCE¶
<resistance><screenEdgeStrength>
<resistance><windowEdgeStrength>
When an edge strength is positive, it indicates a distance, in pixels, that the cursor must move past any relevant encountered edge before an interactive move or resize operation will continue across that edge.
When the strength is negative, any interactive move or resize operation that brings the cursor within the absolute value of the specified distance, in pixels, from any relevant edge will snap the operation to that edge. Thus, as a move or resize approaches an edge, it will "attract" the cursor to that edge within the specified distance. As the move or resize continues past the edge, it will provide resistance until the cursor has moved beyond the distance.
A strength of zero disables the corresponding resistance effect.
The default value for both parameters is 20 pixels.
FOCUS¶
<focus><followMouse> [yes|no]
<focus><followMouseRequiresMovement> [yes|no]
<focus><raiseOnFocus> [yes|no]
WINDOW SNAPPING¶
Windows may be "snapped" to an edge or user-defined region of an output when activated with SnapToEdge actions or, optionally, by dragging windows to the edges of an output. Edge snapping causes a window to occupy half of its output, extending outward from the snapped edge.
<snapping><range>
<snapping><overlay><enabled> [yes|no]
<snapping><overlay><delay><inner>
<snapping><overlay><delay><outer>
<snapping><topMaximize> [yes|no]
<snapping><notifyClient> [always|region|edge|never]
- •
- When always is specified, any window that is snapped to either an output edge or a user-defined region will receive a tiling event.
- •
- When region is specified, only windows snapped to a user-defined region will receive an event.
- •
- When edge is specified, only windows snapped to an output edge will receive an event.
- •
- When never is specified, tiling events will never be triggered.
The default is "always".
REGIONS¶
<regions><region name="snap-1" x="10%" y="10%" width="80%" height="80%">
WORKSPACES¶
<desktops number=""><names><name>
The number attribute defines the minimum number of workspaces. Default is 1. The number attribute is optional. If the number attribute is specified, names.name is not required.
<desktops><popupTime>
<desktops><prefix>
THEME¶
<theme><name>
<theme><cornerRadius>
<theme><keepBorder> [yes|no]
<theme><dropShadows> [yes|no]
<theme><font place="">
- ActiveWindow - titlebar of active window
- InactiveWindow - titlebar of all windows that aren't focused by the cursor
- MenuItem - menu item (currently only root menu)
- OnScreenDisplay - items in the on screen display
<theme><font place=""><name>
<theme><font place=""><size>
<theme><font place=""><slant>
<theme><font place=""><weight>
MARGIN¶
<margin top="" bottom="" left="" right="" output="" />
output is optional; if this attribute is not provided (rather than leaving it an empty string) the margin will be applied to all outputs.
RESIZE¶
<resize><popupShow> [Never|Always|Nonpixel]
The different values mean:
- Never Do not render the indicator
- Always Render the indicator while moving and resizing windows
- Nonpixel Only render the indicator during resize for windows using size-hints
Default is Never.
<resize><drawContents> [yes|no]
KEYBOARD¶
<keyboard><numlock> [on|off]
<keyboard layoutScope=""> [global|window]
<keyboard><keybind key="" layoutDependent="">
- S (shift)
- C (control)
- A or Mod1 (alt)
- H or Mod3 (hyper)
- W or Mod4 (super / logo)
- M or Mod5 (meta)
Multiple modifiers can be combined like A-S-f for Alt-Shift-f. The key itself can be any unicode character or a keyname like Return.
Unlike Openbox, multiple space-separated key combinations and key-chains are not supported. The application "wev" (wayland event viewer) is packaged in a lot of distributions and can be used to view all available keynames.
layoutDependent [yes|no] Make this specific keybind depend on the currently active keyboard layout. If enabled, a keybind using a key which does not exist in the currently active layout will not be executed. The physical key to trigger a keybind may also change along with the active layout. If set to "no" (or is absent) the keybind will be layout agnostic. Default is no.
<keyboard><keybind key="" onRelease="yes|no">
The example below will trigger the launch of rofi when the super key is pressed & released, without interference from other multi-key combinations that include the super key:
<keybind key="Super_L" onRelease="yes">
<action name="Execute" command="rofi -show drun"/> </keybind>
<keyboard><keybind key=""><action name="">
<keyboard><default />
A-Tab - next window
W-Return - alacritty
A-F3 - run bemenu
A-F4 - close window
W-a - toggle maximize
A-<arrow> - move window to edge
W-<arrow> - resize window to fill half the output
<keyboard><repeatRate>
<keyboard><repeatDelay>
MOUSE¶
<mouse><doubleClickTime>
<mouse><scrollFactor>
<mouse><context name=""><mousebind button="" direction="" action=""><action>
Define a mouse binding. Supported context-names include:
- TitleBar: The decoration on top of the window, where the window buttons and the window title are shown.
- Title: The area of the titlebar (including blank space) between the window buttons, where the window title is displayed.
- WindowMenu: The button on the left.
- Iconify: The button that looks like an underline.
- Maximize: The button that looks like a box.
- Close: The button that looks like an X.
- Top: The top edge of the window's border.
- Bottom: The bottom edge of the window's border.
- Left: The left edge of the window's border.
- Right: The right edge of the window's border.
- TRCorner: The top-right corner of the window's border.
- TLCorner: The top-left corner of the window's border.
- BLCorner: The bottom-left corner of the window's border.
- BRCorner: The bottom-right edge of the window's border.
- Client: The client area of a window, inside its decorations. Events bound to Client are also passed to applications.
- Frame: Any part of a window, but events bound to Frame are not passed through to the application.
- Desktop: The desktop background, where no windows are present.
- Root: A synonym for Desktop (for compatibility).
- All: Anywhere on the screen.
Supported mouse buttons are:
- Left
- Middle
- Right
- Side
- Extra
- Forward
- Back
- Task
Supported scroll directions are:
- Up
- Down
- Left
- Right
Mouse buttons and directions can be combined with modifier-keys (shift (S), super/logo (W), control (C), alt (A), meta (M) and hyper (H)), for example: <mousebind button="A-Right" action="Press">
Supported mouse actions include:
- Press: Pressing the specified button down in the context.
- Release: Releasing the specified button in the context.
- Click: Pressing and then releasing inside of the the context.
- DoubleClick: Two presses within the doubleClickTime.
- Drag: Pressing the button within the context, then moving the cursor.
- Scroll: Scrolling in specified direction in the context.
<mouse><default />
TOUCH¶
<touch deviceName="" mapToOutput="" />
<touch deviceName="" />
<touch mapToOutput="" />
TABLET¶
<tablet mapToOutput="" rotate="0" mouseEmulation="no">
<area top="0.0" left="0.0" width="0.0" height="0.0" />
<map button="Tip" to="Left" />
<map button="Stylus" to="Right" />
<map button="Stylus2" to="Middle" /> </tablet>
<tablet mapToOutput="" />
<tablet rotate="" /> [0|90|180|270]
See also calibrationMatrix in libinput section below for advanced transformation.
<tablet><area top="mm" left="mm" width="mm" height="mm" />
The active tablet area can be specified by setting the top/left coordinate (in mm) and/or width/height (in mm). If width or height are omitted or default (0.0), width/height will be set to the remaining width/height seen from top/left.
Aspect ratio example: The dimensions of the tablet are 215mm x 115mm and the output has a resolution of 3440x1440. When setting height to "90", because 215 x 1440 / 3440 = 90, the responsive tablet area height will be truncated to match the 21:9 aspect ratio of the output. By additionally setting top to "12.5", the active area is centered vertically on the tablet surface.
<tablet mouseEmulation="" /> [yes|no]
Use the ToggleTabletMouseEmulation action for toggling between mouse emulation on and off.
<tablet><map button="" to="" />
Supported map buttons are:
- Stylus
- Stylus2
- Stylus3
The stylus buttons can be mapped to:
- Right
- Middle
- Side
The tip cannot be remapped.
When using mouse emulation, all pen buttons emulate regular mouse buttons. The tip, stylus and pad buttons can be mapped to all available mouse buttons. If not specified otherwise, the tip is mapped to left mouse click, the first pen button (Stylus) is mapped to right mouse button click and the second pen button (Stylus2) emulates a middle mouse button click.
Supported map buttons for mouse emulation are:
- Tip
- Stylus
- Stylus2
- Stylus3
- Pad
- Pad2..Pad9
See mouse section above for all supported mouse buttons.
LIBINPUT¶
<libinput>
<device category="CATEGORY">
<naturalScroll></naturalScroll>
<leftHanded></leftHanded>
<pointerSpeed></pointerSpeed>
<accelProfile></accelProfile>
<tap>yes</tap>
<tapButtonMap></tapButtonMap>
<tapAndDrag></tapAndDrag>
<dragLock></dragLock>
<middleEmulation></middleEmulation>
<disableWhileTyping></disableWhileTyping>
<clickMethod></clickMethod>
<sendEventsMode></sendEventsMode>
<calibrationMatrix></calibrationMatrix>
</device> </libinput>
<libinput><device>
CATEGORY Defines a category of devices (by type or name) to apply the settings that follow. The category attribute as optional. If no category attribute is provided, a 'default' device profile will created that will act as the fallback for all libinput devices. Category can be set to any of the following types:
- touch - Devices which have a defined width/height, but do not support multitouch (i.e. they cannot track multiple locations where the screen has been touched). Drawing tablets typically fall into this type.
- touchpad - Same as 'touch' but support multitouch. This typically includes laptop track pads with two-finger scroll and swipe gestures.
- non-touch - Anything not described above, for example traditional mouse pointers.
- default - Defines a device-category applicable to all devices not matched by anything else. This can be useful for a fallback, or if you want the same settings to be applied to all devices.
If the provided category value is different from all of the above key words, it will be used to match the device name directly.
A list of device names can be obtained by running libinput list-devices (you may need to be root or a part of the input group to perform this).
<libinput><device><naturalScroll> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><leftHanded> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><pointerSpeed> [-1.0 to 1.0]
<libinput><device><accelProfile> [flat|adaptive]
<libinput><device><tap> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><tapButtonMap> [lrm|lmr]
<libinput><device><tapAndDrag> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><dragLock> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><middleEmulation> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><disableWhileTyping> [yes|no]
<libinput><device><clickMethod> [none|buttonAreas|clickfinger]
The click methods available are:
- buttonAreas - The bottom of the touchpad is divided into distinct regions corresponding to left, middle and right buttons; clicking within the region will trigger the corresponding event. Clicking the main area further up produces a left button event.
- clickfinger - Clicking with one, two or three finger(s) will produce left, right or middle button event without regard to the location of a click.
- none - Physical clicks will not produce button events.
The default method depends on the touchpad hardware.
<libinput><device><sendEventsMode> [yes|no|disabledOnExternalMouse]
The options available are:
- yes - Events are sent as usual
- no - No events are sent from this device
- disabledOnExternalMouse - This device does not send events if an external mouse has been detected.
It is possible to prevent events from a device in the config and then do a Reconfigure to temporarily enable / disable specific devices.
By default, this setting is not configured.
<libinput><device><calibrationMatrix> [six float values split by space]
Given a 6-element array [a b c d e f], the matrix is applied as
[ a b c ] [ x ]
[ d e f ] * [ y ]
[ 0 0 1 ] [ 1 ] The most common matrices are:
90 deg cw: 180 deg cw: 270 deg cw: reflect along y axis:
[ 0 -1 1] [ -1 0 1] [ 0 1 0 ] [ -1 0 1 ]
[ 1 0 0] [ 0 -1 1] [ -1 0 1 ] [ 1 0 0 ]
[ 0 0 1] [ 0 0 1] [ 0 0 1 ] [ 0 0 1 ]
WINDOW RULES¶
Two types of window rules are supported, actions and properties. They are defined as shown below.
<windowRules>
<!-- Action -->
<windowRule identifier="" title="" type="">
<action name=""/>
</windowRule>
<!-- Property -->
<windowRule identifier="" serverDecoration="" /> </windowRules>
Criteria
<windowRules><windowRule identifier="" title="" sandboxEngine="" sandboxAppId="" type="" matchOnce="">
identifier relates to app_id for native Wayland windows and WM_CLASS for XWayland clients.
title is the title of the window.
sandboxEngine is a sandbox engine name from the security context.
sandboxAppId is a sandbox-specific identifier for an application from the security context.
type [desktop|dock|toolbar|menu|utility|splash|dialog|dropdown_menu| popup_menu|tooltip|notification|combo|dnd|normal] relates to NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE for XWayland clients. Native wayland clients have type "dialog" when they have a parent or a fixed size, or "normal" otherwise.
matchOnce can be true|false. If true, the rule will only apply to the first instance of the window with the specified identifier or title.
Properties
Property values can be yes, no or default.
If a window matches criteria for multiple rules which set the same property, later config entries have higher priority. default can be useful in this situation.
<windowRules><windowRule serverDecoration=""> [yes|no|default]
<windowRules><windowRule skipTaskbar=""> [yes|no|default]
<windowRules><windowRule skipWindowSwitcher=""> [yes|no|default]
<windowRules><windowRule ignoreFocusRequest=""> [yes|no|default]
<windowRules><windowRule ignoreConfigureRequest=""> [yes|no|default]
<windowRules><windowRule fixedPosition=""> [yes|no|default]
MENU¶
<menu>
<ignoreButtonReleasePeriod>250</ignoreButtonReleasePeriod> </menu>
<menu><ignoreButtonReleasePeriod>
MAGNIFIER¶
<magnifier>
<width>400</width>
<height>400</height>
<initScale>2</initScale>
<increment>0.2</increment>
<useFilter>true</useFilter> </magnifier>
<magnifier><width>
<magnifier><height>
<magnifier><initScale>
<magnifier><increment>
<magnifier><useFilter> [yes|no|default]
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
XCURSOR_THEME and XCURSOR_SIZE are supported to set cursor theme and size respectively. The default size is 24. System cursor themes can typically be found with a command such as:
find /usr/share/icons/ -type d -name "cursors"
The following keyboard-configuration variables are supported: XKB_DEFAULT_RULES, XKB_DEFAULT_MODEL, XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT, XKB_DEFAULT_VARIANT and XKB_DEFAULT_OPTIONS.
See xkeyboard-config(7) for details.
SEE ALSO¶
2024-07-20 |