Can't Start xfwm4

[John Lowell]

Joe, Olivier, Jasper, and Biju,

Re-reading all the messages in this thread, its becoming clear to me that
I'm mistaken to conclude that xfwm4 can't be used in the way I want to use
it, it's simply that it's out-of-the-package functionality differs from that
of, say, fluxbox or waimea. Where fluxbox can be started by making an entry
in ~/.xinitrc and programs can be run via a menu from there, one needs to
handle xfwm4 somewhat differently to achieve the same result. What's still a
bit unclear to me is how to get it to start. I think I understand what
packages I need to install to get things to work and, in fact, I have them
installed already, that is to say xfwm4, xfce4-desktop, xfce-mcs-manager,
startup-notification, and xfce4-iconbox. What's getting past me is how to
start them, and in what order. Biju has suggested two methods, one of them
starting XFree86 and using xterm to launch xfwm4, at least that's what I
understand him to be saying. Are we limited to something like this or can
~/.xinitrc be arranged in such a way to do the trick? I'm told with some
emphasis that a window manager requires window to manage and that's all well
and good but how do we make that possible via ~/.xintrc if it is possible to
do that at all. As much as window managers require windows to manage,
programs need to be opened into something that will manage their windows. I
certainly hope we're not in a which-comes-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg
situation.

I would very much like to use xfwm4 as my stand-alone window manager. All of
my experience with stand-alone window managers to date is with ones that
function along the lines of a fluxbox. You make appropriate entries in
~/.xintrc you run startx and, voila, you're able to open programs. I
wouldn't bring this question here at all if I didn't feel that xfwm4 had
something more to offer me than fluxbox. Assuming a fresh install of my
distro and all of the needed packages, what do I need to do to get this
thing to work?

John Lowell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Klemmer" <klemmerj at webtrek.com>
To: "XFce is a lightweight desktop environment for various UNIX systems."
<xfce at xfce.org>
Cc: "John Lowell" <johnlowell at ameritech.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: Can't Start xfwm4


> On Tue, 9 Sep 2003, John Lowell wrote:
>
> > It would seems that I've been acting on a mistaken premise: That xfwm4,
> > when used as a stand-alone, would function in a way similar to fluxbox
> > or waimea and offer similar capabilities. One does well not to force
> > square pegs into round holes, eh? :-)
> >
> > Since it had not been my choice to install a full scale DE, but rather
> > to use something substantially lighter simply to open programs, it looks
> > as though I'll have to set xfwm4 aside. Its clearly intended to operate
> > only inside the xfce4 envelope.
>
> No need to do that.  fluxbox and the rest are built to start up
> the equivalent to xfwm4, xfce4-desktop & either the taskbar or the
> iconbox.  I'm betting that you'll see more functionality with this kind of
> xfwm setup and an equal or lesser usage of system resources.
>
> --
> Joe "Kuramarujo" Klemmer
> Hoping to make Ozeki someday.
>
>
>