The IceWM suite consists of the following core applications provided by
the main package:
- icewm - the actual window manager binary. This is the one you need to
get window decorations.
- icewmbg - the background setting applications. It can assign plain
background color or images in different formats to the X background,
shared or separated for different workspaces. This program should be
started before IceWM startup.
- icewmtray - catches the Docklet objects installed by various
applications like PSI
- icewm-session - runs all of the above when needed
- icewm-menu-gnome1 - used internaly, generates IceWM program menus from
located GNOME(1) menus
- icewm-menu-gnome2 - used internaly, generates IceWM program menus from
FreeDesktop .desktop files (KDE/GNOME(2) menus).
- icewmhint - used internaly
The icewm executable must be in your path for the restart
function to work correctly. Please set your $PATH environment
variable accordingly. The icewm program alone is suitable for usabe
with Desktop environments like GNOME.
If you wish to run the whole IceWM suite (WM, background changer,
Docklet support, and startup/shutdown script handling), use the
icewm-session binary instead of pure icewm. Note that this is
not a complete Session Manager but a helps only to automate the startup.
First make sure that you choose the correct X startup script in your
home directory. For most distributions the file $HOME/.xsession is
honored by startx and X Display Managers like kdm. On RedHat, the
$HOME/.Xclients may be used instead. In all cases, choose the one
recommended by your distribution and make sure that there
is no concurency between the X startup scripts.
The recommended way to start is from $HOME/.xsession shell script (may
be executable, must be on RedHat). Mine looks something like this:
# run profile to set $PATH and other env vars correctly
. $HOME/.bash_profile
# setup touchpad and the external mouse
xset m 7 2
xinput set-ptr-feedback 0 7 1.9 1
# start icewm-session
exec icewm-session
The xterm on the last line is there simply to make sure that your X
session doesn't crash if icewm does (should never happen). You can
restart icewm from there or start some other window manager. The
session will close if you close the xterm.
The above should work for most Linux systems. On commercial unices you
should use $HOME/.dtprofile if you have CDE or $HOME/.vueprofile for
HP-UX with HP VUE. If you are running xdm or some other login program
check it's manpage for the correct place to start the window manager
(usually /.xsession or /.Xsession, sometimes also /.xinitrc.os5).
After initialization IceWM-Session will search the resource path (
lib
)
for a startup script. If this file is found to exist and to be executeable
IceWM-Session will run the script. On startup IceWM-Session will search for a script
called "startup". And during the termination of icewm, the
"shutdown" script is executed.
Additionally the flag "--with-gnome" is passed if a GNOME session
manager is detected.
Example (startup):
#!/bin/bash
[ -x ~/.icewm/restart ] && source ~/.icewm/restart
gnome-terminal --geometry 80x25+217+235 &
xscreensaver &
Hint:
This feature is meant for easy desktop initialization and it is
part of IceWM due popular demand. For more sophisticated session management
you should learn how to use a real session manager - IceWM does support
the XSESSION protocol.