Xmonad/Notable changes since 0.8

This page is for keeping a record of significant changes in darcs xmonad and xmonad-contrib since the 0.8 release. (0.8.1 was a maintenance release, with no changes to user functionality. It simply includes ghc-6.10.1 related updates and workaround for 64-bit users building xmonad-contrib on ghc-6.10.1.)

The idea is to put here a list of things which a user upgrading from 0.8 to 0.9 might like to know, so that they are sure to be included in the 0.9 release notes.

Changes to the xmonad core

• Spawned processes are now handled by xmonad. Using 'exec xmonad' in .xsession/.xinitrc

files now "does the right thing."

Changes in xmonad-contrib

New contrib modules

• Actions.GridSelect -- graphically go to, select, do things with windows
• Actions.SpawnOn -- ensure window spawns on workspace even if you've changed to another

• Layout.Monitor -- Many useful functions for gkrellm, clock, widget type windows
• Layout.FixedColumn -- like Tall, but using window hints to decide master width
• Layout.GridVariants
• Layout.ThreeColumnsMiddle -- master in center three column layout
• Layout.CenteredMaster

• Util.Paste -- for pasting strings to windows

Updated modules

• DynamicLog module has a new 'statusBar' function to simplify status bar configuration. Similar 'dzen' and 'xmobar' quick bar functions have changed type to allow better compositionality.The 'dynamicLogDzen' and 'dynamicLogXmobar' have been removed.

• Config.Kde has optional KDE 4 specific settings.

• Util.XSelection has new functions to allow transforming the selection before acting on it.

• XMonad.Prompt has more tab completion settings, history filter.

• Actions.Search has more searches.