Comparison of X window managers
Appearance
This article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.
General information
[edit]Name | Type | Language | Initial release | Latest release | License | Memory (MB)[1] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Version | Date | ||||||
9wm | Stacking | C | 1994 | 1.4.2[2] | 2022-01-19 | MIT | 0.4 |
aewm | Stacking | C | 1999 | 1.3.12[3] | 2007-12-27 | MIT | |
awesome | Dynamic | C, Lua | 2007-09-18 | 4.3[4] | 2019-01-28 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 9 |
Berry | Stacking | C | 2018-08-24 | 0.1.12 | 2022-10-24 | MIT | |
Blackbox | Stacking | C++ | 1997 | 0.77[5] | 2021-05-12 | MIT | 3 |
bspwm | Tiling | C | 2013-04-23 | 0.9.10[6] | 2020-08-02 | BSD-2-clause[7] | |
Compiz | Compositing | C (OpenGL) | 2006 | 0.9.14.2[8] | 2022-08-22 | MIT | |
CTWM | Stacking | C | 1992 | 4.1.0 | 2023-03-26 | MIT | |
cwm | Stacking | C | 2004-07-10 | 3[9] | 2005-08-28 | ISC | 8 |
dkwm | Dynamic | C | 2019-12-01 | 1.9-1 | 2023-06-18 | MIT/X | |
dwm | Dynamic | C | 2006-07-14 | 6.5[10] | 2024-03-19 | MIT | 1 |
Enlightenment | Compositing | C | 1997 | 0.26.0[11] | 2023-12-23 | BSD-2-clause | |
Enlightenment 16[12] | Compositing | C | 2009-06-03 | 1.0.30 | 2024-08-10 | ||
evilwm[13] | Stacking | C | 2000 | 1.4.3[14] | 2024-03-09 | aewm/9wm[15] | |
EXWM | Tiling | Emacs Lisp | 2018 | 0.32[16] | 2024-10-05 | GPL-3.0-or-later | |
Fluxbox | Stacking | C++ | 2001-09-12 | 1.3.7[17] | 2015-02-08 | MIT | 16 |
FLWM | Stacking | C++ (FLTK) | 1998 | 1.02[18] | 2006-06-30 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
FVWM | Dynamic | C | 1993-06-01 | 3-1.1.0[19] | 2024-03-30 | GPL | 4 |
herbstluftwm | Dynamic | C++ | 2011-10-02 | 0.9.5 | 2022-07-30 | BSD-2-clause | |
i3 | Dynamic | C | 2009-03-15 | 4.23[20] | 2023-10-29 | BSD-3-clause | 3 |
IceWM | Stacking | C++ | 1997 | 3.6.0[21] | 2024-06-16 | LGPL-2.0-only | 4.5 |
Ion | Tiling | C, Lua | 2000 | Final | 2009-01-10 | LGPL-2.1-only[a] | |
JWM | Stacking | C | 2003 | 2.4.5[22] | 2024-10-05 | MIT | 3 |
KWin (KDE) | Compositing | C++ (Qt) | 2002 | 6.1.0[23] | 2024-06-12 | GPL | 41 |
LeftWM | Tiling | Rust | 2019 | 0.5.3 | 2024-10-20 | MIT | |
Matchbox | Stacking | C | 2007-04-13 | 1.2.3[24] | 2023-03-15 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
Metacity (GNOME 2) | Compositing | C, C++ (GTK+) | 2002-10 | 3.50.0[25] | 2023-09-23 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
Moksha (E17) | Compositing | C | 2015-08-11 | 0.4.1[26] | 2023-07-23 | ||
Motif Window Manager (mwm) | Stacking | C | 1989 | 2.3.8[27] | 2017-12-05 | LGPL-2.1-or-later | |
Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) | Compositing | C (Clutter) | 2011-04 | 47.1[28] | 2024-10-19 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 18.6 |
Openbox | Stacking | C | 2002-09-18 | 3.6.1[29] | 2015-07-01 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
PekWM | Stacking | C++ | 2009 | 0.3.0[30] | 2023-01-23 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 5.3 |
PlayWM | Stacking | C | 2013-31-01 | Final | 2013-02-10 | GPL | |
Qtile | Dynamic | Python | 2008-08-31 | 0.29.0[31] | 2024-10-19 | MIT | 2 |
Ragnar | Tiling | C | 2023-05-15 | 1.5.0 | 2024-08-17 | GPL | |
Ratpoison | Tiling | C | 2000-12-04 | 1.4.9 | 2017-04-03 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 1 |
Sawfish | Stacking | Lisp, C | 2000-01-01 | 1.13.0[32] | 2021-12-24 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 3.1 |
SithWM | Stacking | C | 2007 | 1.2.3[33] | 2008-04-25 | GPL | |
spectrwm | Dynamic | C | 2012-02-07 | 3.6.0[34] | 2024-07-10 | ISC | |
steamcompmgr | Compositing | C[35] | 2013 | BSD-2-clause[36] | |||
StumpWM | Tiling | Common Lisp | 2017-01-12 | 23.11[37] | 2023-11-26 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
twm | Stacking | C | 1987 | 1.0.12[38][39] | 2022-04-02 | MIT-open-group MIT-CMU XFree86-1.0 |
1.2 |
Ultrix Window Manager (uwm) | Stacking | C | 1985 | Final[40] | 1988-10-27 | Similar to BSD licenses | |
Window Maker | Stacking | C | 1997 | 0.96.0[41] | 2023-08-05 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
Wingo | Dynamic | Go | 2012 | Final | 2018 | WTFPL | |
wmii | Dynamic | C | 2005-06-01 | 3.9.2[42] | 2010-06-10 | MIT | |
Xfwm (Xfce) | Compositing | C, C++ (GTK+) | 1996 | 4.19[43] | 2024-11-01 | GPL, LGPL | 70 |
xmonad | Dynamic | Haskell | 2007-03-06 | 0.18.0[44] | 2024-02-03 | BSD-3-clause | 2 |
worm | Dynamic | Nim | 2021-12-12 | 0.3.3 | 2024-03-30 | MIT | |
Name | Type | Language | Initial release | Latest release | License | Memory (MB) | |
Version | Date |
- ^ LGPL-2.1-only with naming restrictions on modified versions.
Features
[edit]Name | Configurable titlebar buttons | Graphical configuration | Hotkeys | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Panel for window switching | Tabbed windows | Themeable |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9wm | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | |
aewm[citation needed] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
awesome | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Berry[citation needed] | No | Yes[a] | Yes[b] | No | No | No | Yes |
Blackbox | No | Depends[c] | Depends[d] | Yes[e] | Yes | No | Yes |
bspwm[citation needed] | No | No | Yes[f] | Partial | No | No | No |
Compiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Depends[c] | Yes | Yes |
CTWM | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | |||
cwm | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
dkwm | |||||||
dwm | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Enlightenment | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
evilwm[13] | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Partial[13] | No | No | Yes |
EXWM[citation needed] | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | Depends | Yes |
Fluxbox | Yes | Depends[c] | Yes | Yes[46] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FLWM | No | Yes | No[g] | No | No | ||
FVWM | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[47] | Depends[c][48][49] |
herbstluftwm | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
i3 | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
IceWM | Yes | Depends[c] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ion | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
JWM | Yes | Depends[c] | Yes | EWMH | Yes | No | Yes |
KWin (KDE) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
LeftWM | |||||||
Matchbox | EWMH compliance | No | No | Yes | |||
Metacity (GNOME) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gnome Shell | No | Yes |
Moody | |||||||
Motif Window Manager (mwm) | No | No | Yes | No[h] | |||
Openbox | Yes | Depends[c] | Yes | Yes | Depends[c] | No | Yes |
PekWM | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes |
PlayWM[citation needed] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Qtile | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Ragnar | |||||||
Ratpoison | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Sawfish | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | primitive | Yes |
SithWM | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
spectrwm[citation needed] | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | solid colors |
steamcompmgr[citation needed] | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | |
StumpWM | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
twm | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | solid colors | |
uwm | |||||||
Window Maker | No | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Wingo[citation needed] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
WMFS[citation needed] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
wmii | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Xfwm (Xfce) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
xmonad | Yes | No | Yes | Yes / ? | Depends[c] | Yes | Yes |
worm | |||||||
Name | Configurable titlebar buttons | Graphical configuration | Hotkeys | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Panel for window switching | Tabbed windows | Themeable |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops". l3net - a layer 3 networking blog. 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
- ^ "Release 1.4.2 · 9wm/9wm · GitHub".
- ^ "aewm". Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ "Release 4.3". 28 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ "Release 0.77". 12 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ "Release 0.9.10". 2 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "bspwm License". GitHub. 2 November 2021.
- ^ "Compiz 0.9.14.2 released". 22 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
- ^ "cwm". Archived from the original on 8 June 2015.
- ^ . 19 March 2024 https://git.suckless.org/dwm/commit/061e9fe9a7db396c0c4f3d996c3908fb43a6d50c.html.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Enlightenment 0.26.0 Release". 23 December 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
- ^ "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ a b c "evilwm - standards support". Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
- ^ "Index of /evilwm/dl". www.6809.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
- ^ "evilwm.txt".
- ^ "Releases · emacs-exwm/exwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ "Fluxbox 1.3.7 - Bam! Zero Bugs!!11!". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022.
- ^ "flwm".
- ^ "fvwm3/releases".
- ^ "Release 4.23". 29 October 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ "Release icewm-3.6.0". 16 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ "Releases · joewing/jwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
- ^ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/tags/v6.1.0.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "matchbox-window-manager - Matchbox Window Manager v1". git.yoctoproject.org. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
- ^ https://download.gnome.org/sources/metacity/3.50/.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Releases · JeffHoogland/moksha". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ "Motif 2.3.8 Source Code". 5 December 2017.
- ^ "47.1".
- ^ "Openbox:Changelog".
- ^ https://github.com/pekwm/pekwm/releases/tag/release-0.3.0.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Release 0.29.0". 19 October 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
- ^ https://github.com/SawfishWM/sawfish/releases/tag/sawfish-1.13.0.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ https://sithwm.darkside.no/sn/?M=D.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Releases · conformal/spectrwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c.
- ^ "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright.
License: BSD-2-clause
- ^ "Releases · stumpwm/stumpwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ "[ANNOUNCE] twm 1.0.12". 2 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ "twm-1.0.12 · Tags · xorg / app / twm · GitLab". 2 April 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "wm/uwm - The NetBSD Packages Collection". cdn.netbsd.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ "Version 0.96.0 released". 5 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ https://code.google.com/archive/p/wmii/downloads.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "xfce:xfwm4:start [Xfce Docs]". docs.xfce.org. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
- ^ "Release 0.18.0". 3 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Tables". Archived from the original on 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
- ^ FvwmTabs Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fvwm Themes
- ^ FVWM-Crystal
External links
[edit]- Comparison of extensible window managers compares window managers "extensible" by user scripts, like Sawfish, xmonad, etc.
- The Comprehensive List of Window Managers for Unix