[packages] gtk+, glib, imlib

[Ian Burrell]

Nicholas Wourms wrote:
> 
> That's true, *sigh*, I know what you mean.  Tho I can't quite understand
> what this driving desire for a rootless X server is all about?  To my
> death, I'll never understand why people like the explorer window manager
> over the X alternatives.  I mean c'mon people, Windows Explorer as a
> window manager sucks.  Why would you want it to manage your X
> applications?  I don't know about most people, but I like the current way
> X works, in fact I like the full screen even better.  In fact I wish there
> was a way to do the opposite of running X in rootless mode.  If there were
> only a way to get windows binaries to pop up inside X, then I could just
> ditch this crummy explorer windows manager and use X full time.  In fact,
> on Darwin, I hate the window manager for Aqua.  I'd much prefer to run
> kde3 any day then to run that OpenSTEP look-alike.
> 

Windows Explorer isn't a window manager.  Windows Explorer is the file 
manager.  It also runs the taskbar, start menu, and desktop.  All the 
movement of windows is handled by the operating systemr.  In X, the 
window managers mainly handle the frames and moving the windows. 
Various ones do menus, taskbars, desktops, but many leave those to other 
processes.

BTW, it should be possible to run an external window manager in rootless 
mode.  There are two ways to do rootless mode.  One is to have an 
internal window manager in the X server so that Windows handles the 
movement and sends events to the X server.  The second way has an 
external window manager.  In both cases, each top-level X window is 
mapped to a Windows window instead of one big window like now.  In 
external mode, the windows are bordless since the external window 
manager draws the frame and converts mouse events into movement.  The 
external mode probably is easier to write only the wrapping code is needed.

  - Ian

-- 
Ian Burrell
iburrell@znark.com
http://www.znark.com/