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Comparison of X window managers

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Summary

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This article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.

General information

NameTypeLanguageInitial releaseLatest releaseLicenseMemory (MB)VersionDate9wmaewmawesomeBerryBlackboxbspwmCompizCTWMcwmdkwmdwmEnlightenmentEnlightenment 16evilwmEXWMFluxboxFLWMFVWMherbstluftwmi3IceWMIonJWMKWin (KDE)LeftWMMatchboxMetacity (GNOME 2/LiMo)Moksha (E17)Motif Window Manager (mwm)Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo)OpenboxPekWMPlayWMQtileRagnarRatpoisonSawfishSithWMspectrwmsteamcompmgrStumpWMsxwmtwmUltrix Window Manager (uwm)Window MakerWingowmiiXfwm (Xfce)xmonadwormNameTypeLanguageInitial releaseLatest releaseLicenseMemory (MB)VersionDate
StackingC1994MIT0.4
StackingC1999MIT
DynamicC, Lua2007-09-18GPL-2.0-or-later9
StackingC2018-08-240.1.122022-10-24MIT
StackingC++1997MIT3
TilingC2013-04-23BSD-2-clause
CompositingC (OpenGL)2006MIT
StackingC19924.1.02023-03-26MIT
StackingC2004-07-10ISC8
DynamicC2019-12-011.9-12023-06-18MIT/X
DynamicC2006-07-14MIT1
CompositingC1997BSD-2-clause
CompositingC2009-06-031.0.302024-08-10
StackingC20001.4.32024-03-09aewm/9wm
TilingEmacs Lisp20180.322024-10-05GPL-3.0-or-later
StackingC++2001-09-12MIT16
StackingC++ (FLTK)1998GPL-2.0-or-later
StackingC1993-06-01GPL-2.0-or-later4
DynamicC++2011-10-020.9.52022-07-30BSD-2-clause
DynamicC2009-03-15BSD-3-clause3
StackingC++1997LGPL-2.0-only4.5
TilingC, Lua2000Final2009-01-10LGPL-2.1-only
StackingC20032.4.52024-10-05MIT3
CompositingC++ (Qt)2002GPL41
TilingRust20190.5.32024-10-20MIT
StackingC2007-04-131.2.32023-03-15GPL-2.0-or-later
CompositingC, C++ (GTK+)2002-10GPL-2.0-or-later
CompositingC2015-08-110.4.12023-07-23
StackingC1989LGPL-2.1-or-later
CompositingC (Clutter)2011-04GPL-2.0-or-later18.6
StackingC2002-09-18GPL-2.0-or-later7
StackingC++2009GPL-2.0-or-later5.3
StackingC2013-31-01Final2013-02-10GPL
DynamicPython2008-08-31MIT2
TilingC2023-05-151.5.02024-08-17GPL
TilingC2000-12-041.4.92017-04-03GPL-2.0-or-later1
StackingLisp, C2000-01-01GPL-2.0-or-later3.1
StackingC2007GPL
DynamicC2012-02-073.6.0ISC
CompositingC2013BSD-2-clause
TilingCommon Lisp2017-01-1223.11GPL-2.0-or-later
DynamicC20251.62025-06-26GPL-3.0-or-later
StackingC1987MIT-open-group
MIT-CMU
XFree86-1.01.2
StackingC1985Final1988-10-27Similar to BSD licenses
StackingC1997GPL-2.0-or-later7
DynamicGo2012Final2018WTFPL
DynamicC2005-06-01MIT
CompositingC, C++ (GTK+)19964.202024-12-15GPL, LGPL70
DynamicHaskell2007-03-06BSD-3-clause2
DynamicNim2021-12-120.3.32024-03-30MIT

Features

NameConfigurable titlebar buttonsGraphical configurationHotkeysICCCM/EWMH compliantPanel for window switchingTabbed windowsThemeable9wmaewmawesomeBerryBlackboxbspwmCompizCTWMcwmdkwmdwmEnlightenmentevilwmEXWMFluxboxFLWMFVWMherbstluftwmi3IceWMIonJWMKWin (KDE)LeftWMMatchboxMetacity (GNOME)Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo)MoodyMotif Window Manager (mwm)OpenboxPekWMPlayWMQtileRagnarRatpoisonSawfishSithWMspectrwmsteamcompmgrStumpWMsxwmtwmuwmWindow MakerWingoWMFSwmiiXfwm (Xfce)xmonadwormNameConfigurable titlebar buttonsGraphical configurationHotkeysICCCM/EWMH compliantPanel for window switchingTabbed windowsThemeable
no titlebar buttons
no titlebar buttons
no titlebar buttonsurl= http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtmltitle= evilwm - standards supportquote= evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.access-date= 2009-10-26archive-date= 2020-10-27archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201027065835/http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtmlurl-status= dead }}
no titlebar buttons
no titlebar buttons
no titlebar buttons
primitive
no titlebar buttons
no titlebar buttons

References

References

  1. (2013-03-17). "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops". l3net - a layer 3 networking blog.
  2. (2 November 2021). "bspwm License".
  3. "Enlightenment E16".
  4. "Index of /evilwm/dl".
  5. "evilwm.txt".
  6. "Releases · emacs-exwm/exwm".
  7. (3 March 2018). "fvwm3/COPYING at main".
  8. "Releases · joewing/jwm".
  9. "matchbox-window-manager - Matchbox Window Manager v1".
  10. "Releases · JeffHoogland/moksha".
  11. "Releases · conformal/spectrwm".
  12. "steamos-compositor debian source package".
  13. "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package".
  14. "Releases · stumpwm/stumpwm".
  15. (26 June 2025). "Release sxwm v1.6".
  16. (6 June 2025). "sxwm Commit 8701f8d".
  17. "wm/uwm - The NetBSD Packages Collection".
  18. "xfce:xfwm4:start [Xfce Docs]".
  19. "NetWM - Blackbox".
  20. "evilwm - standards support".
  21. "Tables".
  22. [http://www.fvwm.org/documentation/manpages/unstable/FvwmTabs.php FvwmTabs] {{webarchive. link. (2009-08-02)
  23. [https://fvwm-themes.sourceforge.net/ Fvwm Themes]
  24. FVWM-Crystal
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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