Labwc uses openbox-3.6 specification for configuration and
theming, but does not support all options. The following files form the
basis of the labwc configuration: rc.xml, menu.xml, autostart and
environment.
No configuration files are needed to start and run labwc.
In accordance with XDG Base Directory Specification, configuration
files are searched for in the following order:
•${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/labwc
•${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS:-/etc/xdg}/labwc
When $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is defined, it replaces (rather than
augments) $HOME/.config. The same is the case for $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS and
/etc/xdg.
The XDG Base Directory Specification does not specify whether or
not programs should (a) allow the first-identified configuration file to
supersede any others, or (b) define rules for merging the information from
more than one file.
By default, labwc uses option (a), reading only the first file
identified. With the --merge-config option, the search order is reserved,
but every configuration file encountered is processed in turn. Thus,
user-specific files will augment system-wide configurations, with conflicts
favoring the user-specific alternative.
The configuration directory location can be override with the -C
command line option.
All configuration and theme files except autostart are re-loaded
on receiving signal SIGHUP.
The autostart file is executed as a shell script. This is
the place for executing clients for handling background images, panels and
similar.
The environment file is parsed as variable=value and
sets environment variables accordingly. It is recommended to specify
keyboard layout settings and cursor size/theme here; see environment
variable section below for details. Note that the environment file is
treated differently by openbox where it is simply sourced prior to running
openbox. Note: Tilde (~) and environment variables in the value are
expanded, but subshell syntax and apostrophes are ignored.
The menu.xml file defines the context/root-menus and is
described in labwc-menu(5).
There is a small <theme> section in rc.xml, for example to
set rounded corners, but the remainder of the theme specification and
associated files are described in labwc-theme(5).
rc.xml is the main configuration file and all its options
are described in detail below.
This section describes rc.xml configuration options.
Configuration must be wrapped in a <labwc_config>
root-element like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<labwc_config>
<!-- settings -->
</labwc_config>
labwc parses XML in an element/attribute agnostic way. This
is a design decision to increase config file flexibility and keep code
simple. In practical terms, this means that
`<a><b>c</b></a>` is equivalent to `<a
b="c" />`.
The following three are therefore treated the same:
<action>
<name>Execute</name>
<command>foot</command>
</action>
<action name="Execute">
<command>foot</command>
</action>
<action name="Execute" command="foot" />
The benefit of the final one is brevity whereas the advantage of
the first two is that you can add ' and " within the `<command>`
block, for example:
<command>sh -c 'grim -g "`slurp`"'</command>
Elements at the same level can have the same name whereas
attributes cannot. Therefore, where multiple objects of the same kind are
required (for example <action> and <keybind>) the
top-node of the object has to be an element.
Note that in this manual, Boolean values are listed as [yes|no]
for simplicity, but it's also possible to use [true|false] and/or [on|off];
this is for compatibility with Openbox.
<core>
<decoration>server</decoration>
<gap>0</gap>
<adaptiveSync>no</adaptiveSync>
<allowTearing>no</allowTearing>
<reuseOutputMode>no</reuseOutputMode>
</core>
<core><decoration> [server|client]
Specify server or client side decorations for xdg-shell
views. Note that it is not always possible to turn off client side
decorations. Default is server.
<core><gap>
The distance in pixels between views and output edges
when using movement actions, for example MoveToEdge. Default is 0.
<core><adaptiveSync> [yes|no|fullscreen]
Enable adaptive sync. Default is no.
fullscreen enables adaptive sync whenever a window is in
fullscreen mode.
<core><allowTearing> [yes|no]
Allow tearing to reduce input lag. Default is no. This
option requires setting the environment variable WLR_DRM_NO_ATOMIC=1.
yes allow tearing if requested by the active window.
<core><reuseOutputMode> [yes|no]
Try to re-use the existing output mode (resolution /
refresh rate). This may prevent unnecessary screenblank delays when starting
labwc (also known as flicker free boot). If the existing output mode can not
be used with labwc the preferred mode of the monitor is used instead. Default
is no.
<placement><policy>
[center|automatic|cursor]
Specify a placement policy for new windows. The
"center" policy will always place windows at the center of the
active output. The "automatic" policy will try to place new windows
in such a way that they will have minimal overlap with existing windows. The
"cursor" policy will center new windows under the cursor. Default is
"center".
<windowSwitcher show="" preview=""
outlines="">
show [yes|no] Draw the OnScreenDisplay when
switching between windows. Default is yes.
preview [yes|no] Preview the contents of the selected
window when switching between windows. Default is yes.
outlines [yes|no] Draw an outline around the selected
window when switching between windows. Default is yes.
<windowSwitcher><fields><field
content="" width="%">
Define window switcher fields.
content defines what the field shows and can be any of:
•
type Show view type ("xdg-shell"
or "xwayland")
•
identifier Show identifier (app_id for
native Wayland windows and WM_CLASS for XWayland clients)
•
trimmed_identifier Show trimmed
identifier. Trimming removes the first two nodes of 'org.' strings.
•
title Show window title if different to
app_id
width defines the width of the field expressed as a
percentage of the overall window switcher width. The "%" character
is required.
<resistance><screenEdgeStrength>
<resistance><windowEdgeStrength>
Resist interactive moves and resizes of a window across
screen edges or the edges of any other window, respectively.
When an edge strength is positive, it indicates a distance, in
pixels, that the cursor must move past any relevant encountered edge before
an interactive move or resize operation will continue across that edge.
When the strength is negative, any interactive move or resize
operation that brings the cursor within the absolute value of the specified
distance, in pixels, from any relevant edge will snap the operation to that
edge. Thus, as a move or resize approaches an edge, it will
"attract" the cursor to that edge within the specified distance.
As the move or resize continues past the edge, it will provide resistance
until the cursor has moved beyond the distance.
A strength of zero disables the corresponding resistance
effect.
The default value for both parameters is 20 pixels.
<focus><followMouse> [yes|no]
Make focus follow mouse, i.e. focus is given to window
under mouse cursor. Default is no.
<focus><followMouseRequiresMovement>
[yes|no]
Requires cursor movement if followMouse is enabled. It is
the same as the "underMouse" setting in Openbox. If set to
"no", labwc will additionally focus the window under the cursor in
all situations which change the position of a window (e.g. switching
workspaces, opening/closing windows). Focusing a different window via A-Tab is
still possible, even with this setting set to "no". Default is
yes.
<focus><raiseOnFocus> [yes|no]
Raise window to top when focused. Default is no.
Windows may be "snapped" to an edge or user-defined
region of an output when activated with SnapToEdge actions or, optionally,
by dragging windows to the edges of an output. Edge snapping causes a window
to occupy half of its output, extending outward from the snapped edge.
<snapping><range>
If an interactive move ends with the cursor a maximum
distance range, (in pixels) from the edge of an output, the move will
trigger a SnapToEdge action for that edge. A range of 0 disables
snapping via interactive moves. Default is 1.
<snapping><topMaximize> [yes|no]
If yes, an interactive move that snaps a window to
the top edge will maximize the window. If no, snapping will behave as
it does with other edges, causing the window to occupy the top half of an
output. Default is yes.
<snapping><notifyClient>
[always|region|edge|never]
Snapping windows can trigger corresponding tiling events
for native Wayland clients. Clients may use these events to alter their
rendering based on knowledge that some edges of the view are confined to edges
of a snapping region or output. For example, rounded corners may become square
when tiled, or media players may letter-box or pillar-box video rather than
imposing rigid aspect ratios on windows that will violate the constraints of
window snapping.
•When
always is specified, any window that
is snapped to either an output edge or a user-defined region will receive a
tiling event.
•When
region is specified, only windows
snapped to a user-defined region will receive an event.
•When
edge is specified, only windows
snapped to an output edge will receive an event.
•When
never is specified, tiling events
will never be triggered.
The default is "always".
<regions><region name="snap-1"
x="10%" y="10%" width="80%"
height="80%">
Define snap regions. The regions are calculated based on
the usable area of each output. Usable area in this context means space not
exclusively used by layershell clients like panels. The "%"
character is required. Windows can either be snapped to regions by keeping a
keyboard modifier pressed while moving a window (Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Logo) or by
using the SnapToRegion action. By default there are no regions defined.
<desktops
number=""><names><name>
Define workspaces. A workspace covers all outputs. The
OSD only shows windows on the current workspace. Workspaces can be switched to
with GoToDesktop and windows can be moved with SendToDesktop. See
labwc-actions(5) for more information about their arguments.
The number attribute defines the minimum number of workspaces.
Default is 1. The number attribute is optional. If the number attribute is
specified, names.name is not required.
<desktops><popupTime>
Define the timeout after which to hide the workspace OSD.
A setting of 0 disables the OSD. Default is 1000 ms.
<theme><name>
The name of the Openbox theme to use. It is not set by
default.
<theme><cornerRadius>
The radius of server side decoration top corners. Default
is 8.
<theme><keepBorder> [yes|no]
Even when disabling server side decorations via
ToggleDecorations, keep a small border (and resize area) around the window.
Default is yes.
<theme><font place="">
The font to use for a specific element of a window, menu
or OSD. Places can be any of:
•ActiveWindow - titlebar of active window
•InactiveWindow - titlebar of all windows that
aren't focused by the cursor
•MenuItem - menu item (currently only root
menu)
•OnScreenDisplay - items in the on screen display
If no place attribute is provided, the setting will be applied to all
places.
<theme><font
place=""><name>
Describes font name. Default is sans.
<theme><font
place=""><size>
Font size in pixels. Default is 10.
<theme><font
place=""><slant>
Font slant (normal or italic). Default is normal.
<theme><font
place=""><weight>
Font weight (normal or bold). Default is normal.
<margin top="" bottom=""
left="" right="" output="" />
Specify the number of pixels to reserve at the edges of
an output (typically a dislay/screen/monitor). New, maximized and tiled
windows will not be placed in these areas. The use-case for
<margin> is as a workaround for clients such as panels that do
NOT support the wlr-layer-shell protocol.
output is optional; if this attribute is not provided
(rather than leaving it an empty string) the margin will be applied to all
outputs.
<resize><popupShow> [Never|Always|Nonpixel]
Show a small indicator on top of the window when resizing
or moving. When the application sets size-hints (usually X11 terminal
emulators), the indicator will show the dimensions divided by size hints
instead. In the case of terminal emulators this usually means columns x rows.
The different values mean:
•Never Do not render the indicator
•Always Render the indicator while moving
and resizing windows
•
Nonpixel Only render the indicator during
resize for windows using size-hints
Default is Never.
<keyboard><numlock> [on|off]
When recognizing a new keyboard enable or disable Num
Lock. Default is on.
<keyboard layoutScope="">
[global|window]
Stores the keyboard layout either globally or per window
and restores it when switching back to the window. Default is global.
<keyboard><keybind key=""
layoutDependent="">
Define a
key binding in the format
modifier-key, where supported modifiers are:
•S (shift)
•C (control)
•A or Mod1 (alt)
•H or Mod3 (hyper)
•W or Mod4 (super / logo)
Multiple modifiers can be combined like A-S-f for
Alt-Shift-f. The key itself can be any unicode character or a keyname like
Return.
Unlike Openbox, multiple space-separated key combinations and
key-chains are not supported. The application "wev" (wayland event
viewer) is packaged in a lot of distributions and can be used to view all
available keynames.
layoutDependent [yes|no] Make this specific keybind depend
on the currently active keyboard layout. If enabled, a keybind using a key
which does not exist in the currently active layout will not be executed.
The physical key to trigger a keybind may also change along with the active
layout. If set to "no" (or is absent) the keybind will be layout
agnostic. Default is no.
<keyboard><keybind key=""><action
name="">
Keybind action. See labwc-action(5).
<keyboard><default />
Load the default keybinds listed below. This is an
addition to the openbox specification and provides a way to keep config files
simpler whilst allowing your specific keybinds. Note that if no rc.xml is
found, or if no <keyboard><keybind> entries exist, the same
default keybinds will be loaded even if the <default /> element is not
provided.
A-Tab - next window
W-Return - alacritty
A-F3 - run bemenu
A-F4 - close window
W-a - toggle maximize
A-<arrow> - move window to edge
W-<arrow> - resize window to fill half the output
Audio and MonBrightness keys are also bound to amixer and
brightnessctl, respectively.
<keyboard><repeatRate>
Set the rate at which keypresses are repeated per second.
Default is 25.
<keyboard><repeatDelay>
Set the delay before keypresses are repeated in
milliseconds. Default is 600.
<mouse><doubleClickTime>
Set double click time in milliseconds. Default is
500.
<mouse><scrollFactor>
Set scroll factor. Default is 1.0.
<mouse><context name=""><mousebind
button="" direction=""
action=""><action>
Multiple
<mousebind> can exist within one
<context>; and multiple
<action> can exist within
one
<mousebind>.
Define a mouse binding. Supported context-names include:
•TitleBar: The decoration on top of the window,
where the window buttons and the window title are shown.
•Title: The area of the titlebar (including blank
space) between the window buttons, where the window title is displayed.
•WindowMenu: The button on the left.
•Iconify: The button that looks like an
underline.
•Maximize: The button that looks like a box.
•Close: The button that looks like an X.
•Top: The top edge of the window's border.
•Bottom: The bottom edge of the window's
border.
•Left: The left edge of the window's border.
•Right: The right edge of the window's
border.
•TRCorner: The top-right corner of the window's
border.
•TLCorner: The top-left corner of the window's
border.
•BLCorner: The bottom-left corner of the window's
border.
•BRCorner: The bottom-right edge of the window's
border.
•Client: The client area of a window, inside its
decorations. Events bound to Client are also passed to applications.
•Frame: Any part of a window, but events bound to
Frame are not passed through to the application.
•Desktop: The desktop background, where no windows
are present.
•Root: A synonym for Desktop (for compatibility).
Supported mouse buttons are:
•Left
•Middle
•Right
•Side
•Extra
•Forward
•Back
Supported scroll directions are:
•Up
•Down
•Left
Mouse buttons and directions can be combined with modifier-keys
(shift (S), super/logo (W), control (C), alt (A), meta (M) and hyper (H)),
for example: <mousebind button="A-Right"
action="Press">
Supported mouse actions include:
•Press: Pressing the specified button down in the
context.
•Release: Releasing the specified button in the
context.
•Click: Pressing and then releasing inside of the
the context.
•DoubleClick: Two presses within the
doubleClickTime.
•Drag: Pressing the button within the context,
then moving the cursor.
•Scroll: Scrolling in specified
direction
in the context.
<mouse><default />
Load default mousebinds. This is an addition to the
openbox specification and provides a way to keep config files simpler whilst
allowing user specific binds. Note that if no rc.xml is found, or if no
<mouse><mousebind> entries exist, the same default mousebinds will
be loaded even if the <default /> element is not provided.
<touch deviceName="" mapToOutput="" />
<touch deviceName="" />
A touch configuration can be bound to a specifc device.
If device name is left empty, the touch configuration applies to all touch
devices or functions as a fallback. Multiple touch configurations can exist.
See the libinput device section for obtaining the device names.
<touch mapToOutput="" />
Direct cursor movement to a specified output. If the
compositor is running in nested mode, this does not take effect.
<tablet mapToOutput="" rotate="0">
<area top="0.0" left="0.0" width="0.0" height="0.0" />
<map button="Tip" to="Left" />
<map button="Stylus" to="Right" />
<map button="Stylus2" to="Middle" />
</tablet>
<tablet mapToOutput="" />
The tablet cursor movement can be restricted to a single
output. If the output name is left empty or the output does not exists, the
tablet will span all outputs.
<tablet rotate="" /> [0|90|180|270]
The tablet orientation can be changed in 90 degree steps.
Default is no rotation (0). Rotation will be applied after applying tablet
area transformation.
<tablet><area top="mm" left="mm"
width="mm" height="mm" />
By default the complete tablet area is mapped to the full
output. The
area element can be used to truncate the active area of the
tablet surface. By truncating the active area, it is e.g. possible to maintain
the same aspect ratio between output and tablet.
The active tablet area can be specified by setting the
top/left coordinate (in mm) and/or width/height
(in mm). If width or height are omitted or default (0.0), width/height will
be set to the remaining width/height seen from top/left.
Aspect ratio example: The dimensions of the tablet are 215mm x
115mm and the output has a resolution of 3440x1440. When setting height to
"90", because 215 x 1440 / 3440 = 90, the responsive tablet area
height will be truncated to match the 21:9 aspect ratio of the output. By
additionally setting top to "12.5", the active area is centered
vertically on the tablet surface.
<tablet><map button="" to=""
/>
Tablet buttons emulate regular mouse buttons. If not
specified otherwise, the tip (Tip) is mapped to left mouse click, the first
pen button (Stylus) is mapped to right mouse button click and the second pen
button (Stylus2) emulates a middle mouse button click.
Supported map buttons are:
•Tip
•Stylus
•Stylus2
•Stylus3
•Pad
See mouse section above for all supported to mouse
buttons.
<libinput>
<device category="CATEGORY">
<naturalScroll></naturalScroll>
<leftHanded></leftHanded>
<pointerSpeed></pointerSpeed>
<accelProfile></accelProfile>
<tap>yes</tap>
<tapButtonMap></tapButtonMap>
<tapAndDrag></tapAndDrag>
<dragLock></dragLock>
<middleEmulation></middleEmulation>
<disableWhileTyping></disableWhileTyping>
<clickMethod></clickMethod>
<sendEventsMode></sendEventsMode>
</device>
</libinput>
<libinput><device>
Define a new libinput configuration category (profile).
CATEGORY Defines a category of devices (by type or name) to
apply the settings that follow. The category attribute as optional. If no
category attribute is provided, a 'default' device profile will created that
will act as the fallback for all libinput devices. Category can be set to
any of the following types:
•touch - Devices which have a defined
width/height, but do not support multitouch (i.e. they cannot track multiple
locations where the screen has been touched). Drawing tablets typically fall
into this type.
•touchpad - Same as 'touch' but support
multitouch. This typically includes laptop track pads with two-finger scroll
and swipe gestures.
•non-touch - Anything not described above,
for example traditional mouse pointers.
•
default - Defines a device-category
applicable to all devices not matched by anything else. This can be useful for
a fallback, or if you want the same settings to be applied to all devices.
If the provided category value is different from all of the above
key words, it will be used to match the device name directly.
A list of device names can be obtained by running libinput
list-devices (you may need to be root or a part of the input group to
perform this).
<libinput><device><naturalScroll>
[yes|no]
Use natural scrolling for this category if
available.
<libinput><device><leftHanded>
[yes|no]
Use your devices left-handed mode if available.
<libinput><device><pointerSpeed> [-1.0 to
1.0]
Set the pointer speed for this category. The speed is a
number between -1.0 and 1.0, with 0.0 being the default in most cases, and 1.0
being the fastest.
<libinput><device><accelProfile>
[flat|adaptive]
Set the pointer's acceleration profile for this category.
Flat applies no acceleration (the pointers velocity is constant), while
adaptive changes the pointers speed based the actual speed of your mouse or
finger on your touchpad.
<libinput><device><tap> [yes|no]
Enable or disable tap-to-click for this category. This is
enabled by default for all categories.
<libinput><device><tapButtonMap>
[lrm|lmr]
Set the buttons mapped to one-, two-, and three-finger
taps to the left button, right button, and middle button, respectively (lrm)
(the default), or to left button, middle button, and right button (lmr).
<libinput><device><tapAndDrag>
[yes|no]
Enable or disable tap-and-drag for this category.
Tap-and-drag processes a tap immediately followed by a finger down as the
start of a drag.
<libinput><device><dragLock> [yes|no]
Enable or disable drag lock for this category. Drag lock
ignores a momentary release of a finger during tap-and-dragging.
<libinput><device><middleEmulation>
[yes|no]
Enable or disable middle button emulation for this
category. Middle emulation processes a simultaneous left and right click as a
press of the middle mouse button (scroll wheel).
<libinput><device><disableWhileTyping>
[yes|no]
Enable or disable disable while typing for this category.
DWT ignores any motion events while a keyboard is typing, and for a short
while after as well.
<libinput><device><clickMethod>
[none|buttonAreas|clickfinger]
Configure the method by which physical clicks on a
touchpad are mapped to mouse-button events.
The click methods available are:
•buttonAreas - The bottom of the touchpad
is divided into distinct regions corresponding to left, middle and right
buttons; clicking within the region will trigger the corresponding event.
Clicking the main area further up produces a left button event.
•clickfinger - Clicking with one, two or
three finger(s) will produce left, right or middle button event without regard
to the location of a click.
•
none - Physical clicks will not produce
button events.
The default method depends on the touchpad hardware.
<libinput><device><sendEventsMode>
[yes|no|disabledOnExternalMouse]
Optionally enable or disable sending any device events.
The options available are:
•yes - Events are sent as usual
•no - No events are sent from this
device
•
disabledOnExternalMouse - This device does
not send events if an external mouse has been detected.
It is possible to prevent events from a device in the config and
then do a Reconfigure to temporarily enable / disable specific devices.
By default, this setting is not configured.
Two types of window rules are supported, actions and properties.
They are defined as shown below.
<windowRules>
<!-- Action -->
<windowRule identifier="" title="">
<action name=""/>
</windowRule>
<!-- Property -->
<windowRule identifier="" serverDecoration="" />
</windowRules>
Criteria
<windowRules><windowRule identifier=""
title="" matchOnce="">
Define a window rule for any window which matches the
criteria defined by the attributes
identifier or
title. If both
are defined, AND logic is used, so both have to match. Matching against
patterns with '*' (wildcard) and '?' (joker) is supported. Pattern matching is
case-insensitive.
identifier relates to app_id for native Wayland windows and
WM_CLASS for XWayland clients.
title is the title of the window.
matchOnce can be true|false. If true, the rule will only
apply to the first instance of the window with the specified identifier or
title.
Properties
Property values can be yes, no or
default.
If a window matches criteria for multiple rules which set the same
property, later config entries have higher priority. default can be
useful in this situation.
<windowRules><windowRule
serverDecoration=""> [yes|no|default]
serverDecoration over-rules any other setting for
server-side window decoration on first map.
<windowRules><windowRule
skipTaskbar=""> [yes|no|default]
skipTaskbar removes window foreign-toplevel
protocol handle so that it does not appear in clients such as panels and
taskbars using that protocol.
<windowRules><windowRule
skipWindowSwitcher=""> [yes|no|default]
skipWindowSwitcher removes window from the Window
Switcher (alt-tab on-screen-display).
<windowRules><windowRule
ignoreFocusRequest=""> [yes|no|default]
ignoreFocusRequest prevent window to activate
itself.
<windowRules><windowRule
fixedPosition=""> [yes|no|default]
fixedPosition disallows interactive move/resize
and prevents re-positioning in response to changes in reserved output space,
which can be caused by <margin> settings or exclusive layer-shell
clients such as panels.
XCURSOR_THEME and XCURSOR_SIZE are supported to set
cursor theme and size respectively. The default size is 24. System cursor
themes can typically be found with a command such as:
find /usr/share/icons/ -type d -name "cursors"
The following keyboard-configuration variables are supported:
XKB_DEFAULT_RULES, XKB_DEFAULT_MODEL,
XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT, XKB_DEFAULT_VARIANT and
XKB_DEFAULT_OPTIONS.
See xkeyboard-config(7) for details.