Moving window buttons to the left in JWM and IceWM

[Member Osmond]

Hi there,

I tried to move the window buttons (minimize, maximize, close) from the right to the left. All things considered, I am almost surprised that that is not the default in antiX anyway, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more, say no more (RIP Terry Jones).

In IceWM, it appears that one has to create a file called “prefoverride” and place it in .icewm, in order to override the settings set by themes. The according option sems to be:
TitleButtonsLeft=”xmi”
However, creating such a file with this option in it (yes, uncommented) does not have any effect after restart of IceWM, nor after reboot. I tried the option on its own as well as the complete “preferences” file copied to “prefoverride” with the option uncommented and changed to m liking. I tried various other changes in the prefoverride file, to see if the option was broken but no changes to prefoverride have any effect.

I was unable to unearth any information on how to do it or if it is possible at all in JWM.

Thanks,
Osmond

[Anonymous]

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Just now, I (unsuccessfully and) successfully tested:

nano ~/.icewm/prefoverride
and modified TitleButtonsLeft line to read
TitleButtonsLeft=”xmi”
FAIL. Result was scrambled (screentear-looking) titlebars.

Followup step:
nano ~/.icewm/prefoverride
and modified TitleButtonsRight line to read
TitleButtonsRight=””
SUCCESS.

[Member Osmond]

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Just to make sure I get this right, your ~/.icewm/prefoverride now contains only two lines:

TitleButtonsLeft=”xmi”
TitleButtonsRight=””

Correct? Or did you cp ~/.icewm/preferences ~/.icewm/prefoverride and then modify only the offending lines?

Thanks,
Osmond

[Anonymous]

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Not a regular IceWM user, so I took a naive approach ~~ edited the existing TitleButtonsLeft line in the default prefoverride file, then follwed up by also editing the existing TitleButtonsRight line. In other words, I didn’t disturb any other lines within the default prefoverride file.

edited to add:
I found a ~/.icewm/prefoverride was already present; I didn’t move or copy anything.

[Member Osmond]

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Hmm, interesting. I did not have a prefoverride file. Do you mind posting yours for reference?

Osmond

[Anonymous]

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Hi Osmond,

I just added the

TitleButtonsLeft=”xmi”
TitleButtonsRight=””

to the ~./icewm/preferences in the global settings and it puts the minimize and maximize all the way
on the left side on restart session and retained it upon theme changing. this is on 64-bit 17.4.1
I didn’t have a prefoverride file.

[Anonymous]

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oops, I tested that in an antiX 17 virtual machine instance.
I have no recollection whether that file was preinstalled or whether it is still suitable for use with the version of iceWM seen in antiX 19

pasted a copy of the file’s content here:
https://pastebin.com/W6CYrABj

[Member Managical]

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Is OP using a language that reads right to left? Or is this just more Apple nonsense judging by the glib formalities of the post.

Either way I’m interested in a universal script to fix all this window button placement buffoonery. It will be like the second coming of xdgmenumaker.

Should I start working directly with the X server? What if instead of closing the app when clicking X it just kills it, minimize can have its own virtual desktop, an optional cast button, a save button maybe it tells the app to save or just saves its state in memory for later or takes a picture of the screen.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Managical.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Managical.

[Member Osmond]

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@linuxdaddy, skidoo
Thanks for your efforts. Unfortunately that does not work for me in antiX 19.1. The preferences file is also very different from the one skidoo posted. It’s over 1400 lines long. It starts to look like it may be a bug in IceWM 1.6.3.

@Managical
Sorry about the glib formalities. I’m new to the forum and haven’t reconfigured .rudenessrc yet. I shall try to verbosely chime in with appropriate hostility when someone asks a question that I’m not interested in. In the meantime: No, not right to left language user, nor someone who wishes antiX was more like MacOS. Are there really people who go “I want a mac for free so I’m gonna make antiX look like MacOS”? That sounds a bit insane. There are so many Distros that cater to that audience specifically, why would anyone of those use antiX? Window Buttons on the right just bug me because I’m a lazy bastard who does not like to move his mouse more than necessary and EVERYTHING else is in the top left corner. Even though I don’t use a mouse all that much, especially for closing windows and such, I have gotten used to having the buttons on the left ever since I left Windows behind. But if you think buttons should not be moved, be my guest, don’t move yours.

Cheers (or “DIE IN HELL MOTHERF§&%$*!!!!!”, whichever you prefer),
Osmond

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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Truth ice theme does what you want.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Anonymous]

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What if instead of closing the app when clicking X it just kills it,

FYI, irrespective of which window manager is in use…
in some cases, using “X” titlebar icon to “exit” kills only the GUI window or dialogbox ~~ leaving the underlying program instance running (in limbo, inaccessible, and wastefully occupying memory). During a long-running session, if you periodically check htop you can notice lingering instances of python engine associated with these (launched, and thought I cleanly exited) not-quite-zombie programs.

[Moderator caprea]

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Just to rule this out.
It is really enough to create a prefoverride-file with the sole content (tested on antiX19)
TitleButtonsLeft=”xmi”
TitleButtonsRight=””
but
don’t copy and paste from the forum because the forum-software malforms the apostrophe characters.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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caprea wrote:

Just to rule this out.
It is really enough to create a prefoverride-file with the sole content (tested on antiX19)
TitleButtonsLeft=”xmi”
TitleButtonsRight=””
but
don’t copy and paste from the forum because the forum-software malforms the apostrophe characters.

I tried on antiX-19 and it doesn’t work. Nor does editing the preferences file in /usr/share/icewm

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Moderator caprea]

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Works perfectly here , tried with different themes.

Attachments:

1. 

   buttons.jpg
   

[Member Osmond]

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@skidoo
Funny you should mention that. I spent a few hours this very morning battling that same exact problem. gnuplot’s -persist option was the culprit clogging up the X11 processes. What I did not expect is that the zombie instances persisted across reboots. Killing over 600 zombies with one command after you finally found them makes you feel the power of *nix, though, hehehe.

@caprea
Strangely, that worked. I am almost 100% certain that I tried exactly that twice already. Almost. This time I created the file and hand-typed everything directly. On the previous tries I had copied the respective lines from the preferences file. Having gotten curious after it worked, I tried copying another line over from the preferences to prefoverride (time format in the bar) and that worked as well. So I guess I must have had typos on the last two tries. Most curios. Or maybe I’m just a dumber idiot than I thought I was… Anyway, thanks! Extraordinarily curios, though, that it does not seem to work for anticapitalista.

Osmond

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