- xmonad - Haskell.org

Extensible programs & defaults: the Gosling Emacs experience
by Gwern Branwen 21 Feb '09

21 Feb '09

So, I happened to be reading a PhD thesis on exokernels, when I came across a reference. The context was that an exokernel is a maximally minimalistic operating system kernel; the kernel solely divides up resources among running programs. The programs get all other abstractions and standard OS services by linking in customized libraries, 'libOSes' as the developers put it. The point was that while an exokernel is designed so that any program can customize the operating system as much as possible, the defaults are still profoundly important, and the authors mentioned an Emacs retrospective which covered that. "UNIX Emacs: A Retrospective. Lessons for Flexible System Design" (by Gosling & Borenstein). I managed to get a copy, and I found some of it very instructive reading. Indeed, I find it instructive to look at various xmonad.hses after reading some excerpts: "The one point on which nearly everyone seems to agree is that the best thing about UNIX Emacs is that mlisp exists. No one even suggested that Emacs would be better without the powerful facility for extension and customization, although it is clear that such facilities, if abused, can create an environment that changes so radically from day to day as to be unusable for most people." "The integration of powerful editing facilities with a full-fledged programming language seems unquestionably useful, though it remains a matter of some debate whether this combination is best achieved by an extension language for a text editor or by implementing the text editor as a subroutine library in an existing programming language." "The key principle is that there is *simple syntax for simple operations*. This does not mean that a more complex syntax should not be available for more complex operations, only that the complexity should not be forced on the programmer in a simple context." "It didn't have to be that way. In the development of Emacs, it was far too easy to say that, since the support for the kind of basic interface was entirely customizable, it wasn't important to devote a lot of attention to getting the default interface to be correct. After all, anyone who didn't like the interface could change it. What this attitude ignored, however, was the old rule our mothers used to teach us about the lasting value of first impressions. Many people tried Emacs, couldn't stand the basic interface, and went back to their old standard editors, such as the vi editor on UNIX." "It is worth noting that this happened despite the fact that several people, independently, implemented more or less complete vi emulation packages for Emacs in mlisp. It seems that even if a package existed that was an absolutely perfect simulation of vi, most of the people who prefer vi to Emacs would stick with the clearly less powerful vi. While this is in part due to the smaller size of vi, it is also attributable to the unacceptable difficulty, in the minds of such people, of having to learn how to turn the vi emulation package on in the first place." "The clear lesson to be learned from this is that, while flexibility in such a system is indeed essential, great care must be paid to get the default behaviours to be simple and natural, and to provide very clear and simple ways to use a carefully chosen small set of the most commonly desired customizations. It may be, organizationally, that the people who build the flexible tools are not necessarily the right people to figure out which are the correct defaults and 'standard options'. The process of making such choices probably requires serious observation of users, or even controlled experiments, to compare possible system configurations." ----- I'm not sure how well XMonad works on the above criteria. It seems to me that there are a number of things which could be improved. For example, one of the most common changes is to switch the modifier from Alt to Win, for the simple reason that stealing Alt renders many programs nearly unusable. The arguments I've seen is that we should follow dwm tradition, and that we have no guarantee that Win is mapped to a real key, but is it really impossible for us to, say, autodetect whether Win is usable and only fallback to Alt? Or perhaps on running XMonad the first time with a xmonad.hs, there could be a prompt. Or... there are many ways we could tackle this issue. Another example: some function usages are copied all over the place. How many configurations have a line that looks like: > , keys = \c -> myKeys c `M.union` keys defaultConfig c Yes, it's neat that we can use basic Data.Map functions to union the default and custom keymaps (with the implication we can be flexible and combine them any other way we like), but it strikes me as wrong to have a relatively opaque task repeated time and again. Why don't we have a helper function such that we could write instead: > , keys = overrideDefaultWith myKeys Or if one is setting ManageHooks. Sure, one *could* write > , className =? "Firefox" --> doF (W.shift "web") 2, 3, 4, 6, or however many different entries one has in one's ManageHooks. But wouldn't a helper function be warranted so one could write: > , shiftClassToWS "Firefox" "web" For that matter, am I the only one who wants to be able to unfloat windows in ManageHook? Leaving aside how there is no actual unfloat function, I was eventually able, thanks to #xmonad, to write in my xmonad.hs: > className =? "defcon.bin.x86" --> ask >>= doF . W.sink But heck, do I understand that? Would someone else have any idea what that means? I mean, we're got 4 operators in there, 3 unusual functions (ask isn't even an xmonad function, it's from the State monad. I think. It seems a little much to expect customizers to understand monads, and the State monad, just to do a basic thing like 'unfloat an application when it opens'). ------ In short, perhaps a goal for 0.9 could be to make customizing XMonad easier on the xmonad.hs level. I think a second goal would be to change defaults in the XMonad core, and to perhaps add in some extensions by default - but that's an entirely other discussion. I'm not sure how people would react if I suggested making SmartBorders the default for the fullscreen layout. :) -- gwern Echelon Herald Islamic VHF CTP BATF POCSAG MDA USCG burhop

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[xmonad-contrib] DarcsWatch Unapplied Patch Review
by Wirt Wolff 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Updated version of Gwern's fine review from a while back: Down to 15 unapplied in XMC DarcsWatch, several of which are new, and none obsolete but possibly[1] and [2]. Hurrah! DW is unfortunately missing at least some patches from the mailing list. Some manually attached patches are listed and some are not; some are listed only on the 'DarcsWatch overview > Listing by user' page, and marked as "unmatched", e.g. the *Master patches. Not sure what causes this, but I did have some problems with a darcs get --partial repo while testing patches, so maybe generating patches against different lazy versions may have something to do with it? = Needing comments,lobbying, committer decision = * 20080710220410: XMonad.Actions.DynamicKeys: utilities to update key bindings at runtime by Marco TM-CM-:lio Gontijo e S <marcot(a)riseup.net> wmw: Depends on core change. Own thread. * 20081007080041: UpdatePointer even to empty workspaces by Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>, 20081008154245: pointWithin has moved to the core by Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de> gwern: Maintainer plans to comment this weekend. Tested ok here. Own thread. * 20081019140330: FocusNth improvements fixed by Aleksey Artamonov <aleksey.artamonov(a)gmail.com> wmw: Maintainer still no comment. Tested ok here. Own thread. * 20090117164445: Properly encode destop names before sending them to X server in XMonad.Hooks.EwmhDesktops Khudyakov Alexey <alexey.skladnoy(a)gmail.com> gwern: Blocked on our slow-moving UTF discussion. wmw: Makes UTF-8 non-optional dependency but solves high impact problem for those it affects. Own thread. * 20090128013917: new XMonad.Layout.MessageControl module 20090128004726: NoWrap export patch for use with X.L.MessageControl <quentin.moser(a)unifr.ch> wmw: Comments requested from (yet to volunteeer) LayoutCombinators adopter. Own thread. * 20090209192718: add a regular expression matching manageHook by Justin Bogner <mail(a)justinbogner.com> wmw: Looks good to me; several user requests and many use cases. * 20090213155441: H.DynamicLog Add format strippers for xmobar and dzen <wirtwolff(a)gmail.com> wmw: No comments yet. Own thread. * 20090215212346: L.Cross: clarify documentation and fix for haddock <wirtwolff(a)gmail.com> wmw: (!) Some fix for Cross should be applied; it blocks -ftesting for anyone with Cross in their repo. * 20090219022417: Cleanup X.L.Mosaic, without breaking it by Adam Vogt <vogt.adam(a)gmail.com> wmw: Works well for me. Own thread. [1] 20090220054704: Add TabbedModifier layout modifer by Adam Vogt * 20090220061819: Add TabbedModifier layout modifer by Adam Vogt <vogt.adam(a)gmail.com> wmw: Not sure if only last patch needed; DarcsWatch may have missed an amend-record. Test and comment. Own thread. = Not on XMC DarcsWatch = * 20090212170113: X.L.AddMaster: Master turned into a LayoutModifier wmw: [2] (same as ff. patch but as new module? obsolete?) * 20090213020453: X.L.Master: turn it to a Layout modifier and update the code by Ismael Carnales <icarnales(a)gmail.com> wmw: No comments yet. No opinion till I look more closely, seems like good idea. Own thread. = Needing action by author or new adopter= 20080926205838: dzenStatusBar by seanmce33(a)gmail.com, 20081002131304: layoutLogger, windowLogger, workspaceLogger,maildDir loggers by seanmce33(a)gmail.com gwern: byorgey tried to apply them, but failed. So we're blocked on sean re-sending them. wmw: if no other action next week or so, I'll submit versions against current repo, probably put dzenStatusBar in Util.Dzen instead. = Summary = Obsoletes have been cleaned out. Not much action since last time on controversial patches. Several new patches have been added since last review, including adam's tabbed modifier response to tabbed subpane requests. -- wmw

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U.Run.runProcessWithInputAndWait exceptions, dzenWithArgs
by wirtwolff 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

U.Run.runProcessWithInputAndWait calls waitForProcess and raises exceptions. I probably just should have filed a bug, but figured it's probably a quick fix for a real programmer, and byorgey seems to be on a contrib-patching extravaganza, so: http://www.moonpatio.com:8080/fastcgi/hpaste.fcgi/view?id=999 This mainly affects Hooks.UrgencyHook, although users may be using the dzenWithArgs functions in xmonad.hs Is is safe to simply remove waitForProcess from Util.Run.runProcessWithInputAndWait? Should dzenWithArgs do timeouts differently? (btw thanks Roman, Byorgey, et. al. for all the recent work) regards, wmw

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darcs patch: X.L.AddMaster, Master turned into a LayoutModifier
by Ismael Carnales 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

This patch adds AddMaster Layout Modifier (same as old Master). byebye!

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darcs patch: Fix possible head []
by Joachim Breitner 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Hi, there are not many places where head is used in xmonad, but this is one of them. Time to make it safe. Greetings, Joachim Tue Jan 6 20:20:26 CET 2009 Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de> * Fix possible head [] This seems to be a rare case, but I just got hit by it.

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[xmonad-contrib] darcs patch: FocusNth again
by Aleksey P. Artamonov 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

As you can see I sent patch to XMonad.Actions.FocusNth last week. There were some stupid mistakes I didn't notice although these were big mistakes. Now I hope they've gone. So it's my second attempt. Please provide me with information about "state of approving". Besides, I've got a question which appeared while I was fixing mistakes in this patch. The best way to understand it is simply to simulate it by yourself. So choose a workspace with fullscreen layout. Execute one full screen program. Then one floating. Then full screen again. It would be better if you could tell both full screen apps apart easily. Now focus the application you ran most recent (let's call it A). Then focus down to the floating application. Now this floating application is really in the focus but application A has gone from the background. Instead application you ran the first is in the background. So my question is about whether it is possible to by-pass this behavior. Thanks. Sun Oct 19 17:03:30 EEST 2008 Aleksey Artamonov <aleksey.artamonov(a)gmail.com> * FocusNth improvements fixed There were some stupid mistakes in the previous version I sent. The main idea has not changed. This patch provides a way of altering switching order of FocusNth. New patches: [FocusNth improvements fixed Aleksey Artamonov <aleksey.artamonov(a)gmail.com>**20081019140330 There were some stupid mistakes in the previous version I sent. The main idea has not changed. This patch provides a way of altering switching order of FocusNth. ] { hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 17 - focusNth) where + focusNth, + focusNthExt + ) where hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 21 -import XMonad.StackSet +import XMonad.StackSet hiding (filter) hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 35 +-- Sometimes it is really convenient to alter the order +-- of windows' switching or to omit some of the windows +-- at all. To fulfill this 'focusNthExt' should be used. +-- The following code switches to the floating windows +-- only after all the others (uses XMonad.Util.EZConfig): +-- +-- > -- mod-[F1 .. F9] +-- > ++ +-- > [ ("M-<F" ++ k ++ ">", do +-- > state <- get +-- > floating <- return $ W.floating (windowset state) +-- > focusNthExt (\x -> let (a, b) = partition (not . (flip M.member) floating) x in a ++ b) +-- > i) +-- > | (k, i) <- zip (map show [1..]) [0..8] +-- > ] +-- hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 56 -focusNth = windows . modify' . focusNth' - -focusNth' :: Int -> Stack a -> Stack a -focusNth' n s@(Stack _ ls rs) | (n < 0) || (n > length(ls) + length(rs)) = s - | otherwise = listToStack n (integrate s) +focusNth = focusNthExt (\x -> x) hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 58 -listToStack :: Int -> [a] -> Stack a -listToStack n l = Stack t ls rs - where - (t:rs) = drop n l - ls = reverse (take n l) +-- | Give focus to the nth window taking into consideration windows' rearranging +-- function. +focusNthExt :: ([Window] -> [Window]) -> Int -> X() +focusNthExt t = windows . modify' . (focusNth' t) hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 63 +focusNth' :: ([Window] -> [Window]) -> Int -> Stack Window -> Stack Window +focusNth' transform n s = + let integrated = integrate s + transformed = transform $ integrated + matching = length transformed + in if (n < 0) || (n >= matching) + then s + else listToStack n transformed integrated hunk ./XMonad/Actions/FocusNth.hs 72 +listToStack :: Int -> [Window] -> [Window] -> Stack Window +listToStack num transformed real = Stack t (reverse rls) rs + where + t = transformed !! num + (rls, _ : rs) = span (/= t) real } Context: [Prompt.hs rename deleteConsecutiveDuplicates gwern0(a)gmail.com**20081008205131 That name is really unwieldy and long. ] [Prompt.hs: have historyCompletion filter dupes gwern0(a)gmail.com**20081008204710 Specifically, it calls deleteConsecutiveDuplicates on the end product. uniqSort reverses order in an unfortunate way, so we don't use that. The use-case is when a user has added the same input many times - as it stands, if the history records 30 'top's or whatever, the completion will show 30 'top' entries! This fixes that. ] [Prompt.hs: tweak haddocks gwern0(a)gmail.com**20081008204649] [Prompt.hs: mv uniqSort to next to its confreres, and mention the trade-off gwern0(a)gmail.com**20081008192645] [Do not consider XMONAD_TIMER unknown Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20081008195643] [Kill window without focusing it first Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20081005002533 This patch requires the patch "add killWindow function" in xmonad. Before this patch, people would experience “workspace flicker” when closing a window via EWMH that is not on the current workspace, for example when quitting pidgin via the panel icon. ] [let MagnifyLess actually magnify less daniel(a)wagner-home.com**20081015153911] [Depend on X11 >= 1.4.3 Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921055456] [Actions.Search: add a few search engines intrigeri(a)boum.org**20081008104033 Add Debian {package, bug, tracking system} search engines, as well as Google Images and isohunt. ] [Implement HiddenNonEmptyWS with HiddenWS and NonEmptyWS Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20081006211027 (Just to reduce code duplication) ] [Add straightforward HiddenWS to WSType Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20081006210548 With NonEmptyWS and HiddenNonEmptyWS present, HiddenWS is obviously missing. ] [Merge emptyLayoutMod into redoLayout Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20081005190220 This removes the emptyLayoutMod method from the LayoutModifier class, and change the Stack parameter to redoLayout to a Maybe Stack one. It also changes all affected code. This should should be a refactoring without any change in program behaviour. ] [SmartBorders even for empty layouts Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20081005184426 Fixes: http://code.google.com/p/xmonad/issues/detail?id=223 ] [Paste.hs: improve haddocks gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080927150158] [Paste.hs: fix haddock gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080927145238] [minor explanatory comment daniel(a)wagner-home.com**20081003015919] [XMonad.Layout.HintedGrid: add GridRatio (--no-test because of haddock breakage) Lukas Mai <l.mai(a)web.de>**20080930141715] [XMonad.Util.Font: UTF8 -> USE_UTF8 Lukas Mai <l.mai(a)web.de>**20080930140056] [Paste.hs: implement noModMask suggestion gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080926232056] [fix a divide by zero error in Grid daniel(a)wagner-home.com**20080926204148] [-DUTF8 flag with -DUSE_UTF8 gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080921154014] [XSelection.hs: use CPP to compile against utf8-string gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080920151615] [add XMonad.Config.Azerty Devin Mullins <me(a)twifkak.com>**20080924044946] [flip GridRatio to match convention (x/y) Devin Mullins <me(a)twifkak.com>**20080922033354] [let Grid have a configurable aspect ratio goal daniel(a)wagner-home.com**20080922010950] [Paste.hs: +warning about ASCII limitations gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080921155038] [Paste.hs: shorten comment lines to under 80 columns per sjanssen gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080921154950] [Forgot to enable historyFilter :( Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921094254] [Prompt: add configurable history filters Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921093453] [Update my config to use 'statusBar' Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921063513] [Rename pasteKey functions to sendKey Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921062016] [DynamicLog: doc fixes Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921061314] [Move XMonad.Util.XPaste to XMonad.Util.Paste Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080921060947] [statusBar now supplies the action to toggle struts Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080918013858] [cleanup - use currentTag Devin Mullins <me(a)twifkak.com>**20080921011159] [XPaste.hs: improve author info gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080920152342] [+XMonad.Util.XPaste: a module for pasting strings to windows gwern0(a)gmail.com**20080920152106] [UrgencyHook bug fix: cleanupUrgents should clean up reminders, too Devin Mullins <me(a)twifkak.com>**20080920062117] [Sketch of XMonad.Config.Monad Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080917081838] [raiseMaster seanmce33(a)gmail.com**20080912184830] [Add missing space between dzen command and flags Daniel Neri <daniel.neri(a)sigicom.com>**20080915131009] [Big DynamicLog refactor. Added statusBar, improved compositionality for dzen and xmobar Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080913205931 Compatibility notes: - dzen type change - xmobar type change - dynamicLogDzen removed - dynamicLogXmobar removed ] [Take maintainership of XMonad.Prompt Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080911230442] [Overhaul Prompt to use a zipper for history navigation. Fixes issue #216 Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080911225940] [Use the new completion on tab setting Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080911085940] [Only start to show the completion window with more than one match Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20080908110129] [XPrompt: Add showCompletionOnTab option Joachim Breitner <mail(a)joachim-breitner.de>**20080908105758 This patch partially implements http://code.google.com/p/xmonad/issues/detail?id=215 It adds a XPConfig option that, if enabled, hides the completion window until the user presses Tab once. Default behaviour is preserved. TODO: If Tab causes a unique completion, continue to hide the completion window. ] [XMonad.Actions.Plane.planeKeys: function to make easier to configure Marco Túlio Gontijo e Silva <marcot(a)riseup.net>**20080714153601] [XMonad.Actions.Plane: removed unneeded hiding Marco Túlio Gontijo e Silva <marcot(a)riseup.net>**20080714152631] [Improvements in documentation Marco Túlio Gontijo e Silva <marcot(a)riseup.net>**20080709002425] [Fix haddock typos in XMonad.Config.{Desktop,Gnome,Kde} Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080911040808] [add clearUrgents for your keys Devin Mullins <me(a)twifkak.com>**20080909055425] [add reminder functionality to UrgencyHook Devin Mullins <me(a)twifkak.com>**20080824200548 I'm considering rewriting remindWhen and suppressWhen as UrgencyHookModifiers, so to speak. Bleh. ] [TAG 0.8 Spencer Janssen <spencerjanssen(a)gmail.com>**20080905195420] Patch bundle hash: c25bdc9fad76dda0fec8dc42650397a3cdf980f5

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darcs patch: Add TabbedModifier layout modifer
by Adam Vogt 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Fri Feb 20 01:18:19 EST 2009 Adam Vogt <vogt.adam(a)gmail.com> * Add TabbedModifier layout modifer Allows arbitrary windows to be combined into tabs groups. The group focus follows the StackSet focus, and groups can be combined with a simple message. Currently the Merge message's parameters can only be provided by a new WindowNavigation message (Apply).

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darcs patch: Add TabbedModifier layout modifer
by Adam Vogt 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Fri Feb 20 00:47:04 EST 2009 Adam Vogt <vogt.adam(a)gmail.com> * Add TabbedModifier layout modifer Allows arbitrary windows to be combined into tabs groups. The group focus follows the StackSet focus, and groups can be combined with a simple message. Currently the Merge message's parameters can only be provided by a new WindowNavigation message (Apply).

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Issue 276 in xmonad: switching keyboard focus to a wine app is odd
by codesite-noreply＠google.com 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Comment #1 on issue 276 by redbeard0531: switching keyboard focus to a wine app is odd http://code.google.com/p/xmonad/issues/detail?id=276 I just noticed that this only happens in a tiling layout. If I am in tabbed or full then alt-j/k works as expected. However alt-w/e to switch to/from the screen still doesn't correctly focus the app. -- You received this message because you are listed in the owner or CC fields of this issue, or because you starred this issue. You may adjust your issue notification preferences at: http://code.google.com/hosting/settings

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getting a string from a user
by lowly coder 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

I need to get a string from the user + do funky things with it. This is like inverse of spawn "xmessage ... " Dmenu does not "work" because I don't want to immediately run the program -- I need xmonad to get the string + do things with it + control how the program is started. How can I do this? Thanks!

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