choosewm - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

choosewm - Select a window manager to be used.

SYNOPSIS

choosewm [-f] [-p] [-t]
choosewm [-t] -c

DESCRIPTION

choosewm presents a window to let the user choose a window manager to start. By default
it shows everything registered as window manager at the Debian menu system, but it allows
global and local configuration to change that data.

OPTIONS

-c, --config
Allow the user to change the default. Beside telling choosewm to not start the
chosen window manger, this mostly changes the text of some buttons and labels

-f, --force
Show the selection window unconditionally.

-p, --print
Do not start the window-manager, but print it to stdout.

-t, --text
Do not ask by opening an X11 window, but ask on the terminal. Needs a terminal as
stdin. This is activated by default with -c and DISPLAY not set.

CONFIG FILES

After reading /var/lib/choosewm/windowmanagers, treating anything before a equal (=) sign
in a line a name and everything after that as window manager path, choosewm checks
/etc/X11/choosewm/config and after that by default .choosewm/config in the user's $HOME-
directory. Lines containing only spaces or starting with a # are ignored. Every other
line may contain one of the following commands:

add: name=path
Add an additional window manager to the list. name will be shown in the list, path
will be started.

This option is only useful to add something that should be only added to this list.
If you installed a window manager by hand, please consider to register it in the
Debian menu instead. That way all potent enough window managers will be able to
offer switching to that window manager by menu.

remove: path
Do not list the window manager with path in the list to choose from.

default: defaultwindowmanagerpath
Use the window manager defaultwindowmanagerpath as default, when no last selection
of the window manager is available.

userconf: filename
Read the user's config from $(HOME)/filename. If filename is -, no user config is
read.

Default is .choosewm/config

dontaskfile: filename
Create the file $(HOME)/filename, if the user selected to not be asked about the
window manger, and do not ask if this file is present. (Unless -f is command line
argument.)

Default is .choosewm/dontask

lastdecisionfile: filename
Read the last decision from the file $(HOME)/filename, and save the decision of the
user there.

Default is .choosewm/lastwm

inalias: oldold=newpath
If the last decision is oldpath, change it to newpath.

askalias: oldold=newpath
If the last decision is oldpath, change it to newpath and force showing of the
selection window.

outalias: path=output
If the user has chosen path as window manager, write instead output to the file as
new last decision.

sTAG: text
Are used to set strings to be shown to the user in labels, buttons or headers. The
CONFIGTAG variants are used with -c.

The following are the currently definied Tags and their default values:
sCONFIGHEADER: Choose default Window Manager
sHEADER: Choose Window Manager
sCONFIGWELCOME: Please choose the default window manager and whether to reask at
start time.
sWELCOME: Welcome, please select a Window manager to use.
sCONFIGASK: _Ask when starting
sASK: _Ask again at every login
sCONFIGSELECT: _Select
sSELECT: _Start
sCONFIGCANCEL: _Cancel
sCANCEL: _Log out

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

HOME The current home directory of the current user.

DEFAULTWINDOWMANAGER
If no default is specified in the config files nor by the user's last choice, the
content of this environment variable is tried before the path /etc/alternatives/x-
window-manager is pointing to is tried.

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