path: root/doc/ratpoison.texi

\input texinfo   @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename ratpoison.info
@settitle ratpoison manual
@setchapternewpage odd
@c %**end of header

@dircategory X11
@direntry
* ratpoison: (ratpoison).       Say good-bye to the rodent
@end direntry

@ifinfo
This is the ratpoison user manual.

Copyright @copyright{} 2000, 2001 Shawn Betts

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim
copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and
this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

@ignore
Permission is granted to process this file through TeX
and print the results, provided the printed document
carries a copying permission notice identical to this
one except for the removal of this paragraph (this
paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).

@end ignore
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified
versions of this manual under the conditions for
verbatim copying, provided also that the sections
entitled ``Copying'' and ``GNU General Public License''
are included exactly as in the original, and provided
that the entire resulting derived work is distributed
under the terms of a permission notice identical to this
one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute
translations of this manual into another language,
under the above conditions for modified versions,
except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
@end ifinfo

@titlepage
@sp 10
@titlefont{ratpoison}
@author Shawn Betts

@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
Copyright @copyright{} 2000, 2001 Shawn Betts

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim
copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and
this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified
versions of this manual under the conditions for
verbatim copying, provided also that the sections
entitled ``Copying'' and ``GNU General Public License''
are included exactly as in the original, and provided
that the entire resulting derived work is distributed
under the terms of a permission notice identical to this
one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute
translations of this manual into another language,
under the above conditions for modified versions,
except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
@end titlepage

@node Top, About, (dir), (dir)

@ifinfo
This document explains how to use ratpoison.
@end ifinfo

@menu
* About::                       What is ratpoison?
* Contacting::                  How do I contact the ratpoison developers?
* General Use::                 How does this thing work??
* Keystrokes::                  Key commands and functionality
* Commands::                    ratpoison commands
* Startup file::                They threatened me...with violence!
@end menu

@node About, Contacting, Top, Top
@chapter About

ratpoison is a simple Window Manager with no fat library dependencies,
no fancy graphics, no window decorations, and no flashy wank. It is
largely modelled after GNU Screen which has done wonders in virtual


All interaction with the window manager is done through
keystrokes. ratpoison has a prefix map to minimize the key clobbering
that cripples EMACS and other quality pieces of software.

ratpoison was written by Shawn Betts (@email{sabetts@@users.sourceforge.net}).

@node Contacting, General Use, About, Top
@chapter Contacting
ratpoison is hosted on @url{sourceforge.net}. To see the latest
developments in ratpoison go to
@url{http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/ratpoison} or visit the
ratpoison webpage at @url{http://ratpoison.sourceforge.net}.

There is also a ratpoison mailing list:
@email{ratpoison-devel@@lists.sourceforge.net}. For details on subscribing
and for the list archives go to the ratpoison sourceforge.net project.

There is a #ratpoison irc channel on irc.openprojects.net.

@node General Use, Keystrokes, Contacting, Top
@chapter General Use

When ratpoison starts you should see an empty X server. To open an x
terminal hit @kbd{C-t c}. You can now run shell commands as you would on
any terminal. Notice the terminal maximized full screen. @kbd{C-t !}
will run a single shell command and saves you the effort of opening a
terminal.

Once you have a couple X programs running, you'll want to navigate
between windows. To see what windows are being managed hit @kbd{C-t
w}. Each window has a number. You can jump to a window by hitting
@kbd{C-t} followed by the window's number. This assumes the the window's
number is one digit. You can also switch to a window by typing in part
of its name. To do this hit @kbd{C-t A}.

ratpoison allows you to cycle through the windows with @kbd{C-t n}
and @kbd{C-t p}.

And That concludes a brief introduction on how to use ratpoison. Notice
how we didn't have to drag a single window, or click a single maximize
button? Beautiful wasn't it? Felt fast? Cool? Its modern computing at
its best boys and girls.


@node Keystrokes, Commands, General Use, Top
@chapter Keystrokes

ratpoison is a very simple window manager. Each window is maximized and
has no border decorations. The default keystrokes are listed in this
chapter. Not all commands are accessible by default by keys. A full list
of ratpoison commands is in the next section.

@table @kbd

@item C-t C-t
Switch to the last window.

@item C-t t
Sometimes you need to send a C-t to the current window. This keystroke
does just that.

@item C-t 0-9
Switch to the numbered window.

@item C-t A
@item C-t C-A
Rename the current window. The window's new name will prevail for the
rest of its lifetime.

@item C-t K
@item C-t C-K
Send a DestroyClient event to the current window. This will terminate
the application without question.

@item C-t n
@item C-t C-n
@item C-t Return
@item C-t C-Return
@item C-t Space
@item C-t C-Space
Go to next window.

@item C-t p
@item C-t C-p
Go to previous window.

@item C-t '
@item C-t C-'
Go to a window by name.  You will usually only need to type the first
few characters of the window name.

@item C-t a
@item C-t C-a
Display the current time of day.

@item C-t c
@item C-t C-c
Open a new X terminal.

@item C-t :
@item C-t C-:
This allows you to execute a single ratpoison command.

@item C-t !
Run a shell command.

@item C-t C-!
Run a shell command through an X terminal.

@item C-t k
@item C-t C-k
Close the current window.

@item C-t m
@item C-t C-m
Maximize the current window. Sometimes windows don't respond correctly
to the initial maximize event and need some coaxing. This is a fancy way
of saying there are still bugs in ratpoison. @kbd{C-t m} will force the
current window to maximize.

@item C-t v
@item C-t C-v
Display the version of ratpoison.

@item C-t w
@item C-t C-w
Display the list of managed windows. The current window is highlighted.

@end table

@node Commands, Startup file, Keystrokes, Top
@chapter ratpoison commands

ratpoison can be controlled with commands (so called colon-commands).
The summary of available commands is listed below:

@table @command

@item abort
This is a pretty useless command. By default, it is bound to
@kbd{C-t g}, and its purpose is to abort other commands.

@item bind @var{Key} @var{command}
Bind a key to a ratpoison command. This command takes two arguments: the
key to bind and the command to run. For example, to bind @kbd{C-t R} to
restart ratpoison:

@example
: bind R exec ratpoison --restart
@end example

@item clock
Show current time. Disappears after 5 seconds, like all other info bars.
In the default setup, the @kbd{C-t a} keystroke is bound to this command.

@item colon @var{command}
Run a ratpoison command.

@item delete
This deletes the current window. You can access it with the @kbd{C-t k}
keystroke.

@item escape @var{key}
Set the prefix to to @var{key}. For example @samp{escape ^b} sets the
prefix key to @key{C-b}.

@item generate
Send a @kbd{C-t} to the current window.

@item exec @var{command}
Execute a shell command. By default, @kbd{C-t !} does this.

@item kill
This destroys the current window. Normally you should only need to
use @command{delete}, but just incase you need to rip the heart out of a
misbehaving window this command should do the trick. Also available as
@kbd{C-t K}.

@item maximize
Maximize the current window, just like @kbd{C-t m} would do.

@item next
This jumps you to the next window in the window list. This one is
bound to three keystrokes, namely @kbd{C-t n}, @kbd{C-t space},
and @kbd{C-t enter}.

@item newwm @var{window-manager}
This is a bad-bad command. It kills ratpoison and revives that
ugly rodent! Yuck! Avoid!

@item other
This toggles between the current window and the last window. By
default, this is bound to @kbd{C-t C-t}.

@item prev
This jumps you to the previous window in the window list. By default,
this is bound to @kbd{C-t p}.

@item select @var{n}
This jumps you to window @var{n} where @var{n} is the window number as
shown in the Program Bar. You can do the same trick with
@command{C-@var{n}} too.

@item select @var{window-name}
Go to a window by name. A shortcut is @kbd{C-t '}.

@item source @var{file}
Read a text file containing ratpoison commands.

@item title @var{title}
Rename the currently active window. This name will remain for the
duration of the window's life, unless you change it again. By default,
the @kbd{C-t A} keystroke is bound to this command.

@item version
Print ratpoison version.  By default, this is bound to @kbd{C-t v}.

@item windows
This displays the Program Bar which displays the windows you currently
have running. The number before each window name is used to jump to
that window. You can do this by typing @kbd{C-t @var{n}} where @var{n}
is the number of the window. Note that only windows with numbers from
0 to 9 can be referenced using this keystoke.  To reach windows with
numbers greater than 9, use @kbd{C-t '} and type the number at the
prompt.

After 5 seconds the Program Bar disappears.

This command is bound to @kbd{C-t w} by default.

@end table

@node Startup file,  , Commands, Top
@chapter Startup file

Now you've probably read the web page, and you've no doubt dug up some
old file I forgot about. You're probably wondering, ``say, didn't he say
there was no configuration file to customize?''. Ok, ya got me. But lets
be honest here: ratpoison is so pure and fast-acting, customization is
barely worth the extra effort. In the off chance that you need to make
ratpoison your own, we now support it. 

On startup ratpoison looks for @file{~/.ratpoisonrc} and runs it through
the command parser. If @file{~/.ratpoisonrc} does not exist, ratpoison
tries @file{/etc/ratpoisonrc}. This means any command you can bind a key
to or run at the command prompt (@kbd{C-t :}) you can execute in this rc
file.

It adds roughly 320 bytes to ratpoison on a glibc6-i386 machine. Its a
little steep for a feature and we are attempting to squeeze the fat.

@bye