Openbox

Openbox is a free, stacking window manager for the X Window System, licensed under the GNU General Public License.<ref name="lxf103" /> Originally derived from Blackbox<ref name="lxf103" /> 0.65.0 (a C++ project), Openbox has been completely re-written in the C programming language and since version 3.0 is no longer based upon any code from Blackbox.<ref name="Gentoo">Template:Cite web</ref> Since at least 2010, it has been considered feature complete, bug free and a completed project. Occasional maintenance is done to keep it working, but only if needed.<ref name="Reddit">Template:Cite web</ref>

Openbox is designed to be small, fast, and fully compliant with the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM) and Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It supports many features such as menus by which the user can control applications or which display various dynamic information.<ref name="lxf103" />

Openbox is the standard window manager in LXDE, and often set as the default for LXQt. It is used in Linux distributions such as BunsenLabs, GreenBANG, Lubuntu, Trisquel and Manjaro.<ref name="LXDE">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="BunsenLabs Linux">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rolling release">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Apps">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="DWTiny">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The creator and primary author of Openbox is Dana Jansens of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.<ref name="Jansens"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Using Openbox

Openbox provides a right-click (or any other key-binding) "root menu" on the desktop,<ref name="lxf103" /> and allows users to configure the way windows are managed. When a window is minimized, it becomes invisible. To bring windows up again, most use Template:Key press or the Desktop menu, accessible by right-clicking. Or, sometimes, by middle-button-clicking. Extending Openbox with other small programs that add icons, taskbars,<ref name="lxf103" /> launchers, eyecandy and others is common.

Configuration

ObConf, a GUI configuration editor for Openbox

There are only two configuration files, both located in Template:Mono. They are named Template:Mono and Template:Mono. These can either be edited manually or with the graphical configuration tools ObConf and obmenu.<ref name="lxf103" /><ref name="icculus1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

All mouse and key-bindings can be configured. For example, a user can set:

• a window to go to desktop 3 when the close button is clicked with the middle mouse button
• when scrolling on an icon to move to the next/previous desktop
• raise or not raise when clicking/moving a window

Pipe menus

Openbox has a dynamic menu system that uses "pipe menus".<ref name="lxf103" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A menu item in a piped menu system can accept the standard output of a shell script (or other executable) in order to generate a sub-menu. Because the script runs every time the pointer activates it, and as the script can assess environmental conditions, piped menus enable conditional branching to be built into the menu system.Template:Citation needed When the window manager is restarted, a static menu system as used on most window managers gets its layout once and will not have the ability to modify the menu layout depending on environmental factors.Template:Citation needed

See also

• Fluxbox – another fork of Blackbox
• Comparison of X window managers

External links

• Template:Official website