swm: An X Window Manager Shell

swm is a policy-free, user configurable window manager client for the X Window System. Besides providing basic window manager functionality, swm introduces new features not found in existing window managers. First and foremost, swm has no default look-and-feel. Like the X Window system itself, swm does not dictate policy (look-and-feel); rather, it provides the mechanism for implementing window management policy. Users are not required to learn a new programming language to modify its behavior; instead, simple objects with associated actions determine swm’s operation. Its major advantage over other window managers is a feature called the Virtual Desktop. The Virtual Desktop effectively makes the X root window larger than the physical limits of the display and can be panned in a number of ways, including scrollbars, a panner object, or window manager commands. Besides window management, swm also provides primitive session management. It can save a user’s current window layout and restart those clients when X is restarted. swm can restart clients regardless of what toolkit they were built on or what remote host (if any) they were running on. All relevant client information is restored, including window position and size, icon position, and the state of the client.