currently clients that set the input field of WM_HINTS to true
(c->neverfocus) will never be updated as _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW even
when they are focused. according to the ICCCM [0] the input
field of WM_HINTS tells the WM to either use or not use
XSetInputFocus(), it shouldn't have any relation to
_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW. EWMH spec [1] also does not mention any
relationship between the two.
this issue was noticed when launching games via steam/proton and
noticing that _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW was always wrong/stale (i.e not
updated to the game window).
for reference I've looked at bspwm [2] and it also seems to set
_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW regardless of whether the client has WM_HINTS
input true or not.
[0]:
https://x.org/releases/X11R7.6/doc/xorg-docs/specs/ICCCM/icccm.html#input_focus
[1]:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/wm/1.5/ar01s03.html#id-1.4.10
[2]:
https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm/blob/c5cf7d3943f9a34a5cb2bab36bf473fd77e7d4f6/src/tree.c#L659-L662
---
dwm.c | 8 +++-----
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/dwm.c b/dwm.c
index 53b393e..fc4232e 100644
--- a/dwm.c
+++ b/dwm.c
_AT_@ -1470,12 +1470,10 @@ sendevent(Client *c, Atom proto)
void
setfocus(Client *c)
{
- if (!c->neverfocus) {
+ if (!c->neverfocus)
XSetInputFocus(dpy, c->win, RevertToPointerRoot, CurrentTime);
- XChangeProperty(dpy, root, netatom[NetActiveWindow],
- XA_WINDOW, 32, PropModeReplace,
- (unsigned char *) &(c->win), 1);
- }
+ XChangeProperty(dpy, root, netatom[NetActiveWindow], XA_WINDOW, 32,
+ PropModeReplace, (unsigned char *)&c->win, 1);
sendevent(c, wmatom[WMTakeFocus]);
}
--
2.52.0
Received on Thu Feb 12 2026 - 23:28:02 CET