Editing the init file in Fluxbox

Editing the init file

You can edit all Fluxbox's settings with the init file ~/.fluxbox/init. Just open it with any text editor and after you have saved, select reconfigure (reload config) or restart from the menu.

All possible settings with descriptions

from the new man page): screen0 means that these settings affect only the first monitor on your system. If you have multiple monitors, use screen1, screen2 also. alpha settings

session.screen0.menu.alpha: <integer>
session.screen0.slit.alpha: <integer>
session.screen0.toolbar.alpha: <integer>
session.screen0.window.focus.alpha: <integer>
session.screen0.window.unfocus.alpha: <integer>
     These resources are available to the user to set different lev-
     els of transparency for different components of Fluxbox.  Each
     one accepts a value between 0-255, 255 being opaque and 0 being
     completely transparent.
     Default: 255

autohide settings

session.screen0.slit.autoHide: <boolean>
session.screen0.toolbar.autoHide: <boolean>
     The autoHide resources allow the user to set the behaviour of
     the toolbar and slit. This behaviour can be that they disappear
     when they are not being used actively by the user, or they
     remain visible at all times.
     Default: false

wheeling settings

session.screen0.desktopwheeling: <boolean>
session.screen0.toolbar.wheeling: <boolean>
     These set the ability to utilize the users mouse scroll wheel.
     Setting these values to 'true' allows the user to essentially
     scroll through workspaces on the toolbar.
     Default: true
session.screen0.reversewheeling: <boolean>
     This setting enable the user to reverse the order in which
     desktops are scrolled trough.
     Default: false

layer settings

session.screen0.slit.layer: <layer> session.screen0.toolbar.layer: <layer>

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With these two resources, you can set the layer you want the toolbar and the slit to appear on. Please read the LAYER sec- tion for more information. Default: Desktop

onTop settings

session.screen0.slit.onTop: <boolean> session.screen0.toolbar.onTop: <boolean>

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A user can set whether or not the toolbar or slit are always on top of the screen. Setting these resources will put the slit and toolbar above everything visible in the window.

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Default: False

placement settings

session.screen0.slit.placement: <placement> session.screen0.toolbar.placement: <placement>

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These allow a user to place the slit and toolbar where ever they like. Possible options are: - BottomCenter - BottomLeft - BottomRight - LeftCenter - RightCenter - TopCenter - TopLeft - TopRight

maxOver settings

session.screen0.slit.maxOver: <boolean> session.screen0.toolbar.maxOver: <boolean>

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Setting these to 'true' will allow application windows to maximize over the complete screen. Setting to 'false' allows the slit and toolbar to hold their territory and will always be visible when an application is maximized. Default: false

toolbar settings

session.screen0.toolbar.height: <integer>
Set the height of the toolbar. If the value is set to 0, the style file will gain control over the toolbar height. It is possible to set a fixed height by changing it in init to something >0. Default: 0
session.screen0.toolbar.visible: <boolean>
The user can set whether they want to have a toolbar on screen at all. Setting to 'false' removes the toolbar from the screen. This ultimately depends on whether or not the toolbar was compiled into the Fluxbox build. The default is that the toolbar will be visible. Default: true
session.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: <integer>
This resource sets the width of the toolbar on the screen to integer. Default: 100
session.screen0.toolbar.tools: <tools>
This resource specifies the tools plugged into the toolbar. Read the TOOLBAR section in this manual for a description of each of these. Possible tools: - clock - iconbar - nextwindow - prevwindow - nextworkspace - prevworkspace - systemtray - workspacename

slit settings

session.screen0.slit.onhead: <integer> session.screen0.toolbar.onhead: <integer>

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For those that have dual head systems, users can set this value to the number of the screen where they would like to see the slit and toolbar. Default: 0

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session.screen0.slit.direction: Vertical

iconbar settings

session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth: 70 session.screen0.iconbar.mode: <mode>

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This value is set in the Iconbar Mode menu. The available options are:: - All Windows - Icons - None - Workspace - WorkspaceIcons
session.screen0.iconbar.usePixmap: <boolean>
This is also set in the Iconbar Mode menu. When set to 'true' this will show the native icon of applications. Default: true

session.screen0.iconbar.iconTextPadding: 10l session.screen0.iconbar.deiconifyMode: Current session.screen0.iconbar.wheelMode: Screen session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: <position>

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This value should be changed in the Iconbar Mode menu. Available options:

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  • Left: Fixed width, aligned left
  • Relative
  • Right: Fixed width, aligned right

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Default: Relative

session.screen0.iconbar.clientWidth: <integer>
Used to specify the iconbar button width for Left/Right alignment. Default: 0

overlay settings

session.screen0.overlay.lineWidth: 1 session.screen0.overlay.lineStyle: LineSolid session.screen0.overlay.joinStyle: JoinMiter session.screen0.overlay.capStyle: CapNotLast

tab settings

session.screen0.tab.alignment: Left session.screen0.tab.height: 16 session.screen0.tab.placement: Top session.screen0.tab.rotatevertical: True session.screen0.tab.width: 64

window edge snapping / snap to

session.screen0.edgeSnapThreshold: <integer>
When moving a window across your screen, Fluxbox is able to have it "snap" to the edges of the screen and windows for easy placement. This variable tells Fluxbox the distance (in pixels) at which the window will jump to the edge. Default: 0

misc fluxbox settings

session.screen0.followModel: Ignore session.screen0.rowPlacementDirection: LeftToRight session.screen0.colPlacementDirection: TopToBottom session.screen0.resizeMode: Bottom

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Other values are Quadrant and Center.

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session.screen0.focusModel: ClickToFocus
The Other value is MouseFocus which allows the focus to follow the mouse leaving the window level in the same location. (The man page calls this SloppyFocus (like twm))

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session.screen0.autoRaise: <boolean> session.screen0.clickRaises: <boolean> session.screen0.workspacewarping: <boolean>

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Setting this variable to 'true' allows the user to drag a window from one workspace to the next. Default: true

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session.screen0.showwindowposition: <boolean>
Setting this resource to 'true' shows the user, in a little window, the exact position of the application window while the user is dragging it. Allows a precise placement of windows on a screen. Default: true

session.screen0.decorateTransient: <boolean> session.screen0.showposinsidewindow: <boolean> session.screen0.menuMode: Delay session.screen0.focusNewWindows: <boolean> session.screen0.workspaceNames: workspace1, workspaceN

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Here is where the user can name their workspaces. However it is recommended to use the tool available in the Configuration Menu to set these. Default: one, two, three, four

session.screen0.menuDelayClose: 0 session.screen0.strftimeFormat: <date>

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This adjusts the way the current time is displayed in the tool- bar. The strftime(3) format is used. Default: %I:%M %p This value sets the delay (in milli-sec) that you would like the menu to remain visible after you've clicked out of it. Default: 0
session.screen0.windowPlacement: RowSmartPlacement | ColSmartPlacement | CascadePlacement | UnderMousePlacement
This value defines the way new opened windows will be placed. Default: RowSmartPlacement

session.screen0.fullMaximization: <boolean> session.screen0.sloppywindowgrouping: <boolean> session.screen0.rootCommand: <command>

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This overrides the styles rootCommand. When this value is set, it will keep your background the same, regardless of what any style would like your background to be. NOTE: Setting this command can be dangerous. Please make sure you know what you are doing when setting this resource to a value other than a desktop wallpaper command.

session.screen0.imageDither: <boolean> session.screen0.opaqueMove: <boolean>

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Sets the visibility level of application windows while being dragged. Default: false

session.screen0.menuDelay: <msec> session.screen0.workspaces: <integer>

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Set this to the number of workspaces the users wants. Default: 4

session.screen0.focusLastWindow: <boolean> session.screen0.windowMenu:

session.appsFile: <location> session.groupFile: <location> session.keyFile: <location> session.menuFile: <location> session.slitlistFile: <location> session.styleFile: <location>

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All of these resources require a pathname to their specific requests.This is where you can specify different files. Most of the defaults will be located in the users ~/.fluxbox directory.
session.autoRaiseDelay: <integer>
Adjusts the delay (in milli-sec) before focused windows will raise when using the Autoraise option. Default: 250
session.cacheLife: <integer>
This tells Fluxbox how long (in minutes) unused pixmaps may stay in the X server's memory. Default: 5
session.cacheMax: <integer>
This tells Fluxbox how much memory (in Kb) it may use to store cached pixmaps on the X server. If your machine runs short of memory, you may lower this value. Default: 200
session.colorsPerChannel: <integer>
This tells Fluxbox how many colors to take from the X server on pseudo-color displays. A channel would be red, green, or blue. Fluxbox will allocate this variable ^ 3 and make them always available. Value must be between 2-6. When you run Fluxbox on an 8bpp display, you must set this resource to 4. Default: 4
session.doubleClickInterval: <integer>
Adjust the delay (in milli-sec) between mouse clicks for Fluxbox to consider a double click. Default: 250

session.forcePseudoTransparency: <boolean> session.focusTabMinWidth: 0 session.iconbar: <boolean>

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Set this value to 'true' or 'false' to enable or disable Fluxbox using the toolbar to display iconified windows. Default: true

session.ignoreBorder: <boolean> session.imageDither: <boolean>

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Set 'true or 'false', respectively, to enable or disable dithering of images. Only necessary on systems with small colour depths (8bpp or less). Default: false

session.numLayers: 13 session.opaqueMove: <boolean>

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When moving a window, setting this to <boolean> will draw the window contents as it moves (this is nasty on slow systems). If 'false' it will only draw an outline of the window border. Default: true

session.tabs: <boolean> session.tabPadding: 0 session.tabsAttachArea: Window

session.titlebar.left: Stick session.titlebar.right: Minimize Maximize Close

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You can choose what buttons are visible in the titlebar and on which side. Possible buttons are Stick, Menu, Shade, Minimize, Maximize and Close.

session.updateDelayTime: 0 session.useMod1: <boolean>