Compile and install the Sawfish window manager on Ubuntu10.04

Taking a good look at the things in the Linux World, I began to toss a variety of software that I had never used before. One of them was the window manager Sawfish. The name of the window manager, although I have heard of it many times before, was actually known only when I recently started to understand knowledge about the graphic interface on Linux. As the name suggests, Window Manager manages a window, but what does window management do? It is not the underlying image rendering, that is what the X server does; it does not determine the appearance of the graphic interface, that is determined by the START tool kit.

Taking a good look at the things in the Linux World, I began to toss a variety of software that I had never used before. One of them was the window manager Sawfish.

The name of the window manager, although I have heard of it many times before, was actually known only when I recently started to understand knowledge about the graphic interface on Linux. As the name suggests, Window Manager manages a window, but what does window management do? It is not the underlying image rendering, that is what the X server does; it does not determine the appearance of the graphic interface, that is determined by the START tool kit. The window manager is in charge of the title bar, border display, moving, scaling, and other operations of the window.

Windows Manager in Ubuntu 10.04 is Compiz and Metacity, while Sawfish is a Windows Manager that has been used by Ubuntu. But there are so many Window managers. Why should I select Sawfish? The first reason is of course the whim, and the second reason is that the Sawfish configuration file is written in Lisp. Lisp is a language that I like very much. It can be used to manage a part of my system. It is of course a pleasure to practice practical operations. However, for Sawfish, you may not need to master Lisp, because Sawfish provides a graphical configuration program sawfish-config. You can also click the mouse to complete the Sawfish configuration.

The Ubuntu source contains Sawfish that can be directly installed. However, I prefer to compile and install the latest source code, even though it is more difficult. First, download three packages from the official website, including librep, rep-gtk, and sawfish. Compile and install librep first. To install this plug-in, you need to first install related dependencies. It is hard to say that dependency is thorough. After all, I am not a developer and do not know exactly what librep needs to compile, therefore, the dependencies I listed may not be completely complete. On my system, you need to install the following:

Sudo apt-get install libgdbm libgmp3-dev-dev autoconf libtool

The following command is run: ''./autogen. sh; make; sudo make install; sudo ldconfig ''. Note: After placing all the necessary files in the proper location, that is, after the third command is executed, run ''sudo ldconfig'' to make the new dynamic link library take effect. In this way, librep is installed, and then rep-gtk is installed, which is simple in comparison ''. /configure; make; sudo make install. Then, sawfish itself, the most important command to be executed, is the same as the installation process of rep-gtk. So far, the installation is complete and Sawfish is ready for use. [Linux community www.Linuxidc.com] If you can't wait to see what Sawfish looks like, you can enter sawfish -- replace on the terminal.

In fact, there is also a configure script in the folder extracted from the librep compressed package, but it is not used here, this is for a reason. In fact, I also used the./configure command at the beginning of installation, but later I was compiling, that is, when I ran the make command, an error occurred and I couldn't solve it. So I started to find another way. Finally, in the case of mistaken hits, we found that, as previously mentioned, we can successfully compile with./autogen. sh first, so we have the current installation method.

Although Sawfish has been installed, I have not studied how to configure it as a window manager that is very suitable for me and how to set it as the window manager started by default, however, as long as Sawfish is successfully installed, it can be started smoothly, and everything will be time and patience. Well, if you have installed Sawfish, start exploring this window manager.