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-- README for Blackbox - an X11 Window manager

This is the README for Blackbox 0.62.x release.

The source tree for Blackbox is comprised of five subdirectories:

        data/           - this holds the default data files that Blackbox
                          requires for proper operation

        doc/            - this holds the documentation files that explain
                          the various aspects of Blackbox

        nls/            - this holds the message files used to generate
                          message catalogs for different languages

        src/            - this holds the actual C++ source code for the window
                          manager.

        util/           - this holds source code for small utility programs
                          that help Blackbox do what it does best.

Quick Start:

The quickest and easiest way to get Blackbox up and running is to run the following commands:

# cd blackbox-version
# ./configure
# make
# su -c 'make install'

This will configure, compile and install Blackbox the quickest. For those who like to spend the extra 15 seconds reading ./configure --help, some compile time options can be turned on and off before the build.

For general information on GNU's ./configure, see the file INSTALL.

Configuring Blackbox:

The next thing most users want to do after installing Blackbox is to configure the colors, fonts, menus, etc. to their liking. This is covered by the files data/README, data/README.menu and data/README.style. These files give detailed information on how to customize your new window manager.

Included utilities:

Currently, the only included utilities are a program named bsetroot and a script called bsetbg. bsetroot is a replacement for xsetroot, minus a few options. The difference between xsetroot and bsetroot is that bsetroot has been coded for multiple screens (e.g. multi-headed displays), where as the stock xsetroot is not. The bsetbg script acts as a wrapper for most of the popular programs used to set background pixmaps, making it possible for styles to provide a machine-independent rootCommand.

Third-party utilities:

With the start of the 0.60.x series Blackbox no longer handles any keyboard shortcuts; instead it supports a communication protocol which allows other programs to handle these and related tasks. If you'd like to be able to use keyboard shortcuts with Blackbox, bbkeys (available at http://http://bbkeys.sourceforge.net) can provide you with all the previous functionality and more.
If you're looking for a GUI with which to configure your blackbox menu and/or styles, check out http://bbconf.sourceforge.net. bbconf is a QT program that does just that, as well as providing a GUI for editing your keybindings for the above mentioned bbkeys.

Supported Platforms:

ix86-Linux 2.0.x (libc5 and glibc2)
ix86-Linux 2.1.x (libc5 and glibc2)
ix86-Linux 2.2.x (libc5 and glibc2)
ix86-Linux 2.3.x (glibc2.1)
ix86-FreeBSD 4.0-current
ix86-FreeBSD 3.3-{stable,release}
ix86-FreeBSD 3.2-{stable,release}
ix86-FreeBSD 3.1-{stable,release}
ix86-FreeBSD 2.2.x-stable
ix86-NetBSD 1.3.3
ix86-NetBSD 1.4.1
ix86-OpenBSD 2.6
ix86-BSDi 4.0
PPC-mkLinux (version?)
ix86-Solaris 2.6
Sparc-Solaris 2.6 (2.5 anyone?)
Sparc-Solaris 2.7
ix86-Solaris 7 (== 2.7?)
Alpha-Digital UNIX 4.0D
Alpha-Linux 2.2.x
rs6k-AIX 4.1.3
rs6k-AIX 4.3.2
MIPS-IRIX 6.5 (requires gcc, MIPSpro didn't like some of the template-fu) ix86-OS/2 (version? recent successes?)
hp9000/715-HP/UX 10.20 (with egcs 1.1.1)

Please email shaleh@debian.org for other success reports.

Seeking Help:

MAILING LISTS
The mailing list archive can be found at: http://asgardsrealm.net/lurker/splash/index.html

The mailing list addresses are:

List posts (restricted to subscribers) blackbox@asgardsrealm.net

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List Help
blackbox-help@asgardsrealm.net

WEB SITES

General info:
http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/

Development website:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/blackboxwm/