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OpenBox desktop setup

One of the reasons I liked OpenBox from the start is that many of the characteristics of my Ctwm desktop setup could be mapped to OpenBox features:

Focus follows mouse.
Autoraise, with a small delay.
Minimal decoration for windows.
No icons.
Multiple desktops.
Free menus that can pop up everywhere.

Some screen dumps:

	The normal desktop. On top is the (folded in) Gnome panel. Below that are XPostit, a screen-wide Xload window, a Biff and a digital, colour-coded clock. These are sticky (occur on all desktops). The big white window is a xterm, the yellow window is Emacs. The bottom window is a xterm tailing the system log files.
	Same, but with the Gnome panel folded out.
	Desktop, showing the “Execute” menu. This menu is selected from the root menu that was popped up after a left-click on the desktop. The “Execute” menu can also be popped up as a separate menu at all times with Ctrl-Menu, or with a right-click on the desktop.
	Desktop, showing the “New Window” menu. This menu is selected from the root menu that was popped up after a left-click on the desktop. The “New Window” menu can also be popped up as a separate menu at all times with Shift-Menu, or with a middle-click on the desktop.
	OpenBox does not have a nice Icon Manager like Ctwm, but the “Windows” menu (client-list-combined-menu) provides a good alternative.

As can be seen, the OpenBox desktop looks (and, believe me, feels) pretty much the same as the Ctwm desktop. It is easier to upgrade a program than human behaviour .

In the new setup I tried to stick as closely to the system standard setup as possible. How exactly this works depends on the Gnome version, since a few essential things changed in Gnome 2.24 (Fedora 10 and later).

This is the way Gnome startup works for Gnome version 2.24 and later:

The main startup script wm sets Gnome config property /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/windowmanager to openbox and executes startx.
startx normally runs xinit /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc. But since I have my own .xinitrc it will execute xinit $HOME/.xinitrc instead.
$HOME/.xinitrc runs $HOME/XStart/XStartup.
$HOME/XStart/XStartup executes /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc after preparing some things.
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc initiates the Gnome session.
gnome-session starts the programs as registered in the Gnome properties /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/*.
When it comes to starting the window manager, it will start in $HOME/bin/openbox. See below.
Using Preferences > Personal > Sessions > Startup Programs, I have added $HOME/XStart/start-gadgets. This script starts the standard programs (local xterms, emacs, ...).

This is the way Gnome startup works for Gnome versions before 2.24:

The main startup script wm sets environment variable WINDOW_MANAGER and executes startx.
startx normally runs xinit /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc. But since I have my own .xinitrc it will execute xinit $HOME/.xinitrc instead.
$HOME/.xinitrc runs $HOME/XStart/XStartup.
$HOME/XStart/XStartup executes /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc after preparing some things.
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc initiates the Gnome session.
gnome-session starts the programs as registered in Preferences > Personal > Sessions > Startup Programs, in order of priority.
At priority 20, there is the window manager. The default setting will be overridden by the WINDOW_MANAGER setting so it will start in $HOME/bin/openbox instead. See below.
At priority 50, I've added $HOME/XStart/start-gadgets. This script starts the standard programs (local xterms, emacs, ...).

The final ‘trick’ is that instead of starting openbox directly, I start a wrapper program. This program figures out the system, features, screen properties, and so on. It creates dedicated obrc.xml and obmenu.xml files, and then invokes the real openbox program.

One thing I have been missing for a while is the ability to start applications with their windows at a desired postion and size. Straightforward X11 applications can do it, but modern GTK based programs cannot. Why? Noone has been able to tell me.

I found a good companion to OpenBox in the Devil's Pie program. This programs handles window placement (and a lot of other nifty things you can do with windows). My openbox wrapper program generates the necessary Devil's Pie config files, and devilspie itself is started via the start-gadgets script. Works great!

Note that all sample files mentioned on this page are snapshots from a working configuration. They are subject to change without notice.