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Setting up window manager for alttab

  1. Disable WM's own Alt-Tab and any other applications which grab Alt-Tab exclusively. Alternatively, let alttab use another shortcut, f.e. Left Ctrl instead of Alt: alttab -mk Control_L.

  2. Start alttab and check is it usable at all: are windows recognized, does alttab change focus? If no, then try to set -w option to the following values: 1, 0, 3. If none works, then please report the issue on github.

  3. Autostart alttab after window manager.

Tested window managers

See here how much alttab enhances each WM.

WM/DE best value for -w option how to release grabbed Alt-Tab autostart
no WM 0 (set manually) doesn't grab alttab & in ~/.xsession
ratpoison 2 (auto) doesn't grab exec alttab in ~/.ratpoisonrc
xmonad 1 (with plugin, see below) see "xmonad" section below
dwm 1 (auto, partial support) ? ?
i3 1 (auto) doesn't grab exec_always alttab in ~/.config/i3/config
evilwm 1 (auto) ? ?
twm 3 (default) doesn't grab ?
xfwm4/xfce 1 (auto) see "xfce" section below
metacity/MATE 1 (auto) see "MATE" section below
jwm 1 (auto) comment A-Tab entry in .jwmrc see "jwm" section below
openbox 1 (auto) see "openbox" section below
fluxbox 1 (auto) see "fluxbox" section below see "fluxbox" section below
icewm 1 (auto) ? ?
matchbox 1 (auto, partial support) doesn't grab ?
enlightenment 1 (auto) ? ?
blackbox 1 (auto) doesn't grab ?
window maker 1 (auto, partial support) doesn't grab ?
flwm 3 (default) ? ?
xpra (non-wm) 1 (auto, partial support) doesn't grab ?
cwm 1 (auto) (issue #35) ? ?
wm2 3 (default) doesn't grab ?
aewm 1 (auto) doesn't grab ?
afterstep 3 (manually, issue #38) doesn't grab ?
fvwm 1 (auto) ? ?
ctwm 1 (auto, see issue #39) doesn't grab ?
lwm 1 (auto, issue #40) doesn't grab ?
sawfish 1 (auto) doesn't grab ?
awesome 1 (auto) doesn't grab ?
bspwm 1 (auto, see #109, #152) doesn't grab alttab & in ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

xmonad

keyboard shortcut

Xmonad is hungry for Alt key. Disable keybindings (modMask,xK_Tab) and (modMask.|.shiftMask,xK_Tab) or rebind modifier (neither method is tested, please report).

inter-process communication

For setting window focus, EWMH extension in xmonad is required (libghc-xmonad-contrib-dev), or xmonad will insist on its own focus (alttab -w 0 will not work). Also, there is no sane way to detect xmonad reliably without EWMH.

startup

Use startupHook in xmonad.hs.

xfce

keyboard shortcut

Applications -> Settings -> Settings Editor (not Manager) -> Channel: xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -> in right pane disable all entries of cycle_windows_key or cycle_reverse_windows_key.

startup

Applications -> Settings -> Session and Startup -> Application Autostart -> Add

MATE

keyboard shortcut

System -> Preferences -> Hardware -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> disable Alt-Tab entries

startup

System -> Control Center -> Startup Applications -> Add

jwm

Edit /etc/jwm/system.jwmrc or ~/.jwmrc:

keyboard shortcut

Comment A-Tab entry.

startup

Add/edit:

<StartupCommand>
    ...something else...
    alttab &
</StartupCommand>

Also, "nomove" option may be added to the alttab group in .jwmrc to prevent moving of alttab window (issue #31).

openbox

keyboard shortcut

Disable A-Tab and A-S-Tab keybinds in /etc/xdg/openbox/rc.xml

startup

Add alltab & to /etc/xdg/openbox/autostart

fluxbox

keyboard shortcut

Disable/comment built-in non-GUI Alt-Tab in /etc/X11/fluxbox/keys or ~/.fluxbox/keys:

#Mod1 Tab :NextWindow {groups} (workspace=[current])
#Mod1 Shift Tab :PrevWindow {groups} (workspace=[current])

startup

To start alttab after fluxbox, in ~/.fluxbox/startup replace exec fluxbox with:

fluxbox &
fbpid=$!
sleep 3
{
    alttab &
    # ...other apps to run after fluxbox startup...
} &
wait $fbpid

Details here.