FVWM Config

FVWM is a command driven window manager. In short once FVWM starts it listens for commands, and then process the actions of the commands issued. Commands do all things from setting/changing configuration options, to preforming actions such as moving/resizing/changing windows or moving between virtual pages and desks.

Here is the list of pages about Fvwm configuration commands:

FvwmWiki Config Pages

Commands
Fvwm is a command driven window manager. When Fvwm receives a command it processes the command to set/change settings, preform actions, and so on. This page is an overview of how Fvwm works and processes commands.

Fvwm2rc
Fvwm is configured through a configuration file located at ~/.fvwm/config (default), also known as the Fvwm2rc or .fvwm2rc file. This page is an overview of the location of that file and how Fvwm starts.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the configuration file.

Style
Styles are per window settings that can be applied to all, different collections or a single window.

StyleTips
Here is some tips for configuring different windows using Styles. This is taken from This article by Thomas Adam.

Colorsets
Colorsets are used to define colors in Fvwm. A Colorset is a collection of colors that describe different aspects of an object. This includes the foreground and background color along with the shade and highlight color (for 3D relief on borders). Colorsets can also use pixmaps and be transparent.

Fonts
Fonts are used for titles, icon names, menus, modules, etc. Here is a brief description on how to configure fonts.

Menus
Fvwm can use Menus for lots of things. Menus items can run any Fvwm command or custom functions. They can even be built dynamically with scripts, such as wall paper menus, a menu that allows you to see all files in $HOME, etc. This is the basics of configuring Menus.

Bindings
This describes how to configure Mouse and Key bindings.

MouseStroke
This describes how to configure Mouse Stroke which allows you to run commands on different Mouse Stroke patterns.

Functions
Functions are a way to string a series of commands together to preform a given task. There are multiple pages about functions including: ComplexFunctions, FunctionContext, FunctionSynchronisation, FunctionTips, and StartFunction.

Conditionals
Conditional commands can test for existence of windows and what the current properties of windows are. This can be used to identify a collection of windows to run commands on.

Monitors
Fvwm3 supports multiple monitor setups using RandR. Fvwm identifies monitors by their RandR name, and many aspects of fvwm can be configuraed on a per-monitor basis.

PagesAndDesks
Fvwm supports multiple Virtual Desktops, and each Desktop is further split into an NxM grid of Pages.

DesktopConfiguration
Fvwm3 supports multiple monitor setups using RandR. Using RandR fvwm can manage which virtual desk and page are on independently. DesktopConfiguration controls if monitors are treated independently or as a group.

Decor
This gives an overview of how to configure window decorations. See /Decor for example decors.

VectorButtons
Vector Buttons are a built in method for drawing buttons for windows in Fvwm. This describes the syntax and provides a collection of examples.

Modules
Modules provide additional features on top of fvwm.