| Openbox Window Manager | |
|---|---|
 Basic Openbox session | |
| Developers | Dana Jansens,[1][2] Mikael Magnusson[3] |
| Initial release | 18 September 2002; 23 years ago (2002-09-18) |
| Stable release | 3.6.1[4]  / 1 July 2015 |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Type | Stacking window manager |
| License | GPL 2.0 or later[5] |
| Website | openbox |
| Repository | |
Openbox is afree,stacking window manager for theX Window System, licensed under theGNU General Public License.[5] Originally derived fromBlackbox[5] 0.65.0 (aC++ project), Openbox has been completely re-written in theC programming language and since version 3.0 is no longer based upon any code from Blackbox.[6] Since at least 2010, it has been considered feature complete, bug free and a completed project. Occasional maintenance is done to keep it working, but only if needed.[7]
Openbox is designed to be small, fast, and fully compliant with theInter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM) andExtended Window Manager Hints (EWMH).[8] It supports many features such as menus by which the user can control applications or which display various dynamic information.[5]
Openbox is the standard window manager inLXDE, and often set as the default forLXQt. It is used inLinux distributions such asBunsenLabs,GreenBANG,Lubuntu,Trisquel andManjaro.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
The creator and primary author of Openbox is Dana Jansens ofCarleton University inOttawa,Ontario, Canada.[1][17]
Openbox provides a right-click (or any otherkey-binding) "root menu" on the desktop,[5] and allows users to configure the way windows are managed. When a window is minimized, it becomes invisible. To bring windows up again, most useAlt+Tab ↹ or theDesktop menu, accessible by right-clicking. Or, sometimes, by middle-button-clicking. Extending Openbox with other small programs that add icons,taskbars,[5] launchers, eyecandy and others is common.
There are only two configuration files, both located in~/.config/openbox. They are namedmenu.xml andrc.xml. These can either be edited manually or with the graphical configuration tools ObConf and obmenu.[5][18][19]
All mouse and key-bindings can be configured. For example, a user can set:
Openbox has a dynamic menu system that uses "pipe menus".[5][20] A menu item in a piped menu system can accept thestandard output of ashell script (or other executable) in order to generate a sub-menu. Because the script runs every time the pointer activates it, and as the script can assess environmental conditions, piped menus enableconditional branching to be built into the menu system.[citation needed] When the window manager is restarted, a static menu system as used on most window managers gets its layout once and will not have the ability to modify the menu layout depending on environmental factors.[citation needed]
