Re: [dev] SGI Irix look (4Dwm)

From: <orangeprince_AT_hushmail.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:12:38 +0000

Hi Peter,

Thanks a lot for this well-written, detailed explanation. I totally understand your reluctance, and to be honest, some of it has rubbed off on me as well.

I'm still going to push on through with this though. As a teenager I was blessed enough to work with the SGI Cray supercomputers, and that experience plus that whole time and place is something I'll always cherish and that I'm not quite willing to let go of.

I'm currently going through http://menehune.opt.wfu.edu/Kokua/Irix_6.5.21_doc_cd/usr/share/Insight/library/SGI_bookshelves/SGI_Developer/books/UI_Glines/sgi_html/index.html trying to come up with a more detailed plan of exactly what I want.

I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks.

OP

On 22. oktober 2014 at 6:01 PM, "Peter Hofmann" <suckless-dev-list_AT_uninformativ.de> wrote:
>
>Hi OP,
>
>yeah, I read your posting on the list. I was curious to see what
>others
>suggested on this topic. Unfortunately, the discussion went off-
>topic
>pretty soon. :-/
>
>I'm still replying on the list, though, because I think that this
>explanation might be interesting for others.
>
>
>On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 03:08:14PM +0000,
>orangeprince_AT_hushmail.com wrote:
>> I was wondering -- is there any chance you'd be willing to help
>me
>> make an IRIX 3.3 theme for fvwm?
>
>I assume you're talking about dwm. :-)
>
>I'm pretty sure my code could be changed to make it look like you
>wish.
>Currently, it looks like this:
>
>http://www.uninformativ.de/gal/desktop/2014-07-16--dwm-
>titlebars.png
>
>The problem is, my code is just "wrong". Yes, it works -- mostly.
>But
>it's incredibly complicated and leads to complications with some
>applications (Chromium for example).
>
>To give you some more background information:
>
>Vanilla dwm is a so called "non-reparenting window manager". This
>means
>that dwm manages each window *directly*. Suppose you open some
>windows,
>then the "window hierarchy" looks something like this:
>
> root window
> |-- firefox
> |-- galculator
> |-- xterm
> |-- xterm
> `-- xterm
>
>As you can see, each window is a child of the root window. When
>you tell
>dwm to move a window, it just moves that particular window. Pretty
>straightforward, right? Now, there's a second class of window
>managers:
>reparenting window managers. With those, the window hierarchy
>looks like
>this:
>
> root window
> |-- frame
> | `-- firefox
> |-- frame
> | `-- xterm
> |-- frame
> | `-- xterm
> |-- frame
> | `-- xterm
> `-- frame
> `-- galculator
>
>Now, each window has a parent window -- a frame. This frame
>contains the
>actual window decorations. A frame window is created by the window
>manager, not by the application itself. When you resize or move a
>window, the WM has to move the actual window, plus its frame. When
>you
>close a window, the WM has to close the frame as well. And so on.
>
>You might ask: "If you need a frame in order to draw window
>decorations,
>then how does dwm-vain draw decorations?" First of all, dwm-vain is
>still NOT a reparenting WM! It's a non-reparenting just like
>vanilla
>dwm. And that's the problem.
>
>If you don't create a frame window, then there's only one place
>left for
>you to draw decorations on: The window's "border". Every common X11
>window has a border, although it can be set to a width of 0 pixels.
>Problem with borders is that they extend equally in every
>direction. Let
>me illustrate.
>
>First, a window with a border of 0 pixels:
>
> +------------+
> | actual |
> | window |
> | contents |
> +------------+
>
>Now with a border of some pixels:
>
> +------------------+
> | |
> | +------------+ |
> | | actual | |
> | | window | |
> | | contents | |
> | +------------+ |
> | |
> +------------------+
>
>Still pretty straightforward, eh? :-)
>
>Vanilla dwm uses this border in a very simple way: It fills it
>with a
>color. Depending on whether the window is focused, it's a different
>color. There's a patch that introduces a third color which is used
>when
>the "urgency hint" is set on a window:
>
>http://dwm.suckless.org/patches/urgentborder
>
>Okay. Instead of filling the border with a color, you can also draw
>arbitrary pixels on this border. This can be used to make dwm look
>something like this:
>
>http://www.uninformativ.de/gal/desktop/2014-06-12--dwm-more-
>elaborate-pixmaps.png
>
>Up until this point, I'd say: "Okay, the code is a little hacky,
>but
>it's kind of okay." Here comes the dealbreaker: You can NOT do the
>following with plain X11 borders:
>
> +------------------+
> | |
> | some extra space |
> | for a title bar |
> | |
> | +------------+ |
> | | actual | |
> | | window | |
> | | contents | |
> | +------------+ |
> | |
> +------------------+
>
>Because, remember, a border extends in each direction equally. You
>can
>only specify a window border of "5 pixels" -- not "5 pixels to the
>left,
>10 pixels on top."
>
>How the hell is dwm-vain able to draw title bars on the border?
>Well, it
>uses the SHAPE extension to cut off parts of the window. And
>that's what
>makes it so utterly bad. Don't do this. A window manager should not
>interfere with the shape of a window because the application itself
>might also want to set the shape. Plus, the shape extension might
>not
>even be available (it usually is because it's been around since
>1989 but
>you never know).
>
>In reality, the actual border of dwm-vain looks something like
>this:
>
> +--------------------------+
> |### ###|
> |### ###|
> |### ###|
> |### +------------+ ###|
> |### | actual | ###|
> |### | window | ###|
> |### | contents | ###|
> |### +------------+ ###|
> |### ###|
> |##########################|
> |##########################|
> +--------------------------+
>
>All the parts with "#" are CUT OFF by the shape extension.
>
>I'm pretty sure that most people on the list will agree on this
>being
>just plain crazy. :-) It's a hack, it's ugly and it's anything but
>suckless.
>
>I won't go into further detail. This causes many, many problems.
>The
>only reason why dwm-vain still has these kind of borders is that I
>don't
>find the time to either turn dwm into a reparenting WM or write a
>reparenting WM from scratch.
>
>To sum it up: If you want to draw (asymmetrical) window
>decorations,
>write a reparenting window manager.
>
>I hope you understand why I'm a bit reluctant to help you add
>these kind
>of borders into your dwm. Sorry. :-|
>
>Cheers!
>Peter
Received on Thu Oct 23 2014 - 14:12:38 CEST

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