dovetail

dovetail is an opinionated window manager based on awesome.

What makes it opinionated?

1. The paradigm

   • A set of specialized tiling layouts
     • Simple, powerful tiling paradigm that unifies window and visibility management.
   • Virtual desktops as dynamically created workspaces
     • Spawn new workspaces and accompanying clients on the fly.
     • Only the workspaces you're using exist. Allows fast and intuitive navigation.
   • Largely ignores the mouse
     • The cursor is hidden by default.
   • Declarative configuration
     • Minimal theming.
     • Straightforward key and button binding.
     • Client rules.

2. Requires a modern, DBus-capable Linux environment

   • sessiond as a session manager
     • Locks the screen on session idle.
     • Use rules to make specific clients inhibit idling.
   • wm-launch to identify clients
     • Clients can be reliably assigned to workspaces.
   • Built-in pulseaudio control with visual feedback
   • Optionally use upower to display laptop battery stats

Packages

• RPM package available from copr.

  Install with:

  dnf copr enable jcrd/dovetail
  dnf install dovetail
  

Configuration

Copy the default configuration from /etc/xdg/dovetail/config.lua to ~/.config/dovetail/config.lua and edit as needed.

See the comments in config.def.lua for descriptions of options and bindings.

Key and button bindings

Keys and buttons are bound to commands using this syntax: <meta>-<mod>-<key>.

<meta> can be one of:

• M (super key, typically the Windows key)
• A (alt key)

<mod> can be one of:

• S (shift key)
• C (control key)

<key> can be the name of any keysym as given by xev.

For example, the keybinding M-S-Return is triggered by pressing and holding the super and shift keys, then pressing Return.

Widgets

Information widgets to be displayed in the bar are defined in the widgets list of the configuration file.

Getting started

After installing dovetail, enable the service with systemctl --user enable dovetail.

Now, start a sessiond session via your display manager.

See sessiond's Session management for information about running other services in this session.

Workspace navigation

The workspace paradigm in dovetail follows these rules:

• workspaces exist only if non-empty
• a main workspace always exists

Navigate to a new workspace using (by default) these keybindings:

• Meta-2 to select the second workspace
  • press again to select the previously selected workspace, in this case main
• Meta-Shift-j to select the next workspace
  • press again to wrap to the start of the workspace list, selecting main
• Meta-Shift-k to select the previous workspace
  • press again to wrap to the end of the workspace list, selecting main
• Meta-Tab to select the previously selected workspace, or the second if only main exists

If these keys are pressed again, the second workspace will be removed since it does not contain clients.

Per-project workspaces

Project-specific workspaces are configured in a .workspace file in a project's directory.

The default keybinding M-w opens a menu to create a new workspace based on the selected project's .workspace file.

These files are searched for in the paths of the workspace_search_paths option.

Client navigation

In dovetail, there can be at most two visible tiled clients: the top client in the stack, and the master client. By default, a newly spawned client will enter the stack.

Interact with clients using (by default) these keybindings:

• Meta-a to set the focused client as the master, replacing the current master
• Meta-o to toggle maximized state, effectively placing all clients in the stack
• Meta-f to toggle focal state, centering the master client above the stack
• Meta-s to toggle focus between the master and the top stack client
• Meta-j to focus the next client in the stack
• Meta-k to focus the previous client in the stack
• Meta-Shift-d to close the focused client

Client minimization

Minimized clients will be displayed in the bar but will not be visible.

Handle minimization using (by default) these keybindings:

• Meta-x to minimize the focused client
• Meta-S-x to restore the most recently minimized client
• Meta-z to minimize the focused client when a new client is launched

Other features

Inhibiting idle

dovetail can be configured to prevent the session from idling while a specific client has focus, for example a media player.

This is set up in the rules section of the configuration file by setting the inhibit option of a rule to true.

See awesome's client rule documentation for more information.

Screenshots

• Print takes a screenshot
• S-Print takes a screenshot of the specified region

Screenshots are by default saved to ~/screenshots. This location can be customized with the option screenshot_directory.

Pomodoro timer

Ensure pomodoro is part of the widgets list in the configuration file, then use these keybindings:

• M-t starts or pauses the timer
• M-S-t stops the timer
• M-S-r restarts the timer

Building

Dependencies

• awesome == latest [runtime]

  • dovetail currently tracks awesome's master branch

• luarocks [build]

• make [build]

• bash [runtime]

• pulseaudio [runtime]

• rofi [runtime]

• sessiond >= 0.6.0 [runtime]

• wm-launch >= 0.5.0 [runtime]

• ImageMagick [runtime,optional]

  • for screenshot feature

• upower [runtime,optional]

  • for laptop battery stats feature

Ensure the above build dependencies are satisfied and run: make.

Installing

Install with make install.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License (see LICENSE).

Acknowledgements

• Pomodoro icons provided by pomicons (LICENSE)