Xmonad/Notable changes since 0.6

This page is for keeping a record of significant changes in darcs xmonad and xmonad-contrib since the 0.6 release. The idea is to put here a list of things which a user upgrading from 0.6 to 0.7 might like to know, so that they are sure to be included in the 0.7 release notes.

Changes to the xmonad core

• Added a * startupHook field to the xmonad configuration record, which is an arbitrary X () action to be run each time xmonad starts (including restarts with mod-q).
• More tests!
• Improved documentation!
• SIGPIPE is now ignored.
• mod-shift-tab added to default keybindings, to cycle backwards through windows
• Finally killed bug #111 dead! (#111 caused problems which were especially noticeable when clicking on tabs in a tabbed layout).
• Added a 'stringProperty' query that can be used in manageHooks to match on any text property of a window.

Changes in xmonad-contrib

• New contrib modules:
  • XMonad.Layout.WindowArranger provides a simulated "floating" layout allowing you to move and resize windows with the keyboard. See XMonad.Layout.SimpleFloat.
  • XMonad.Layout.Decoration adds general support for decorated windows. See also XMonad.Layout.Tabbed, XMonad.Layout.SimpleDecoration, XMonad.Util.Themes.
  • XMonad.Actions.CycleSelectedLayouts allows you to bind a key to cycle among a specified subset of your layouts.
  • XMonad.Layout.IM --- new layout useful with IM programs.
  • XMonad.Util.Scratchpad --- scratchpad terminal.
  • XMonad.Layout.ScratchWorkspace --- scratch workspace.
  • XMonad.Actions.PerWorkspaceKeys --- like XMonad.Layout.PerWorkspace, but for keybindings instead of layouts.
  • XMonad.Actions.UpdatePointer allows you to update the pointer position, in order to implement e.g. mouse-follows-focus.
  • XMonad.Prompt.DirExec allows execution of programs from a selected directory
  • XMonad.Util.WindowProperties provides mini-language for specifying window properties.
  • XMonad.Actions.Promote moves the focused window to the master area without changing the order of other windows.

• XMonad.Actions.WmiiActions removed in favor of DirExec.

• XMonad.Actions.RotView no longer exists; XMonad.Actions.CycleWS now subsumes the former functionality of RotView plus some additional functionality as well. See the documentation for CycleWS for information on switching from RotView.

• XMonad.Util.EZConfig now includes a number of functions which allow you to specify keybindings in a special string format, like "M-x" instead of (modMask, xK_x).

• XMonad.Actions.Search now includes several new search engines (Mathworld, Google scholar, Google maps)

• XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog configuration now includes a configurable workspace sorting algorithm, and vastly improved documentation and examples.

• XMonad.Actions.WindowGo now includes "run or raise" functionality, for either starting a program, or raising its window if it is already running.

• XMonad.Hooks.ManageHelpers includes two new actions, doRectFloat and doCenterFloat, to float windows with a particular geometry, or in the center of the screen, respectively.

• XMonad.Hooks.EwmhDesktops now supports interaction from window lists and panels. You need to add a special layout modifier to your config for that, see the modules documentation.

• XMonad.Layout.PerWorkspace is much improved and now works with xinerama.

• smartBorders from XMonad.Layout.NoBorders now removes borders from floating fullscreen windows.

• XMonad.Util.Anneal and XMonad.Layout.Mosaic are gone.