Documentation for HelliWM

Simple explanation

HelliWM is a window manager built using c and xcb library, but with better options and better code and being customizable. It is built by me, Amirali Rahmani Vatan Khah, a fourteen year old boy. Hope you enjoy!

Install Dependencies

The dependencies used in the project are xcb and xcb_cursor as can be seen in the meson.build file.

You can install xcb from here.

Also xcb_cursor can be installed from the libxcb-cursor or xcb-util-cursor.

Also having awk or gawk, meson, ninja, and gcc is required.

Finally you need to install dmenu, to use as a launcher.

You can do so by their documentation for installing.

Compile the source code to run

Execute in the source directory:

awk -f parser.awk
python3 Generator.py
meson setup build
cp config.h build/config.h
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install

You can also run the install.sh script to install it automatically.

Running

Run the wm by:

helliwm

Uninstalling the window manager

Remove it by:

sudo ninja -C build uninstall

Guides on the syntax of .WMRC

The first token define defines the indentifier word after it or the variable name.

Then any definition mark such as = or : can be put to continue (any other character or word which does not include a space is also possible).

Finally specify the value desired to apply and then the default value (also one value at time can be specified meaning that if you don't want to define anything and want to use the default value, _ can be put for the value and vice versa).

Always the default value is DEFAULT if you cannot remember.

Lastly comments are defined with the syntax % This is a comment.

Always remember to put 2 empty lines on the end of the wmrc file and no empty lines in between.

Important note on the build file

Write the complete path for awk parser yourself in the build file instead of the one written by myself, it may be different for you.

WMRC fields

MOD : for mod keys like alt or super or ctrl (values are XCB_MOD_MASK_1 or XCB_MOD_MASK_4 or XCB_MOD_MASK_CONTROL).

BG : background color (values should be in hex).

BBG : bar background color (values should be in hex).

TC : text color (values should be in hex).

QK : quit key (values can be in the form XK_SOMETHING like XK_Q).

LK : launcher key (values can be in the form XK_SOMETHING like XK_S).

CK : close key (values can be in the form XK_SOMETHING like XK_C).

TBG : Taskbar background color (values should be in hex).

Guides on the syntax of .SHORTCUT file

The only point is that you have to write the program names on the first line with spaces and the corresponding shortcuts on the second line with spaces.

Note about dmenu

You still can use dmenu as a launcher, but it won't be in the correct form and thus, is not recommended.