<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="LinuxDoc-Tools 0.9.21"> <TITLE>IceWM: First steps</TITLE> <LINK HREF="icewm-4.html" REL=next> <LINK HREF="icewm-2.html" REL=previous> <LINK HREF="icewm.html#toc3" REL=contents> </HEAD> <BODY> <A HREF="icewm-4.html">Next</A> <A HREF="icewm-2.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="icewm.html#toc3">Contents</A> <HR> <H2><A NAME="s3">3.</A> <A HREF="icewm.html#toc3">First steps</A></H2> <H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1</A> <A HREF="icewm.html#toc3.1">IceWM components</A> </H2> <P>The IceWM suite consists of the following core applications provided by the main package:</P> <P> <UL> <LI>icewm - the actual window manager binary. This is the one you need to get window decorations.</LI> <LI>icewmbg - the background setting applications. It can assign plain background color or images in different formats to the X background, shared or separated for different workspaces. This program should be started before IceWM startup.</LI> <LI>icewmtray - catches the Docklet objects installed by various applications like PSI</LI> <LI>icewm-session - runs all of the above when needed</LI> <LI>icewm-menu-gnome1 - used internaly, generates IceWM program menus from located GNOME(1) menus</LI> <LI>icewm-menu-gnome2 - used internaly, generates IceWM program menus from FreeDesktop .desktop files (KDE/GNOME(2) menus).</LI> <LI>icewmhint - used internaly</LI> </UL> </P> <H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2</A> <A HREF="icewm.html#toc3.2">Starting icewm</A> </H2> <P>The <CODE>icewm</CODE> executable must be in your path for the restart function to work correctly. Please set your $PATH environment variable accordingly. The <CODE>icewm</CODE> program alone is suitable for usabe with Desktop environments like GNOME.</P> <P>If you wish to run the whole IceWM suite (WM, background changer, Docklet support, and startup/shutdown script handling), use the <CODE>icewm-session</CODE> binary instead of pure <CODE>icewm</CODE>. Note that this is not a complete Session Manager but a helps only to automate the startup.</P> <P>First make sure that you choose the correct X startup script in your home directory. For most distributions the file $HOME/.xsession is honored by startx and X Display Managers like kdm. On RedHat, the $HOME/.Xclients may be used instead. In all cases, choose the one recommended by your distribution and make sure that there is no concurency between the X startup scripts.</P> <P>The recommended way to start is from $HOME/.xsession shell script (may be executable, must be on RedHat). Mine looks something like this:</P> <P> <PRE> # run profile to set $PATH and other env vars correctly . $HOME/.bash_profile # setup touchpad and the external mouse xset m 7 2 xinput set-ptr-feedback 0 7 1.9 1 # start icewm-session exec icewm-session </PRE> </P> <P>The xterm on the last line is there simply to make sure that your X session doesn't crash if icewm does (should never happen). You can restart icewm from there or start some other window manager. The session will close if you close the xterm.</P> <P>The above should work for most Linux systems. On commercial unices you should use $HOME/.dtprofile if you have CDE or $HOME/.vueprofile for HP-UX with HP VUE. If you are running xdm or some other login program check it's manpage for the correct place to start the window manager (usually /.xsession or /.Xsession, sometimes also /.xinitrc.os5).</P> <H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3</A> <A HREF="icewm.html#toc3.3">Startup and shutdown scripts</A> </H2> <P>After initialization IceWM-Session will search the resource path ( <A HREF="icewm-7.html#lib">lib</A> ) for a startup script. If this file is found to exist and to be executeable IceWM-Session will run the script. On startup IceWM-Session will search for a script called "startup". And during the termination of icewm, the "shutdown" script is executed.</P> <P>Additionally the flag "--with-gnome" is passed if a GNOME session manager is detected.</P> <P>Example (startup): <PRE> #!/bin/bash [ -x ~/.icewm/restart ] && source ~/.icewm/restart gnome-terminal --geometry 80x25+217+235 & xscreensaver & </PRE> </P> <P><B>Hint: </B> This feature is meant for easy desktop initialization and it is part of IceWM due popular demand. For more sophisticated session management you should learn how to use a real session manager - IceWM does support the XSESSION protocol.</P> <HR> <A HREF="icewm-4.html">Next</A> <A HREF="icewm-2.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="icewm.html#toc3">Contents</A> </BODY> </HTML>
