Blackbox
![]() Screenshot of Blackbox | |
Developer(s) | Bradley T. Hughes[1] up to version 0.70.1_SL7,[2] onwards forked by Brian Bidulock |
---|---|
Written in | C++ |
Platform | Unix-like |
Type | X window manager |
License | MIT[3] |
Website | Bradley T. Hughes' repository Repository of Brian Bidulock's fork |

Blackbox is a free and open-source stacking window manager for the X Window System.[4][5]
Blackbox has specific design goals, and some functionality is provided only through other applications. One example is the bbkeys hotkey application.
Blackbox is written in C++[3][6] and contains completely original code.[7] It was created by Bradley T. Hughes[1] and is available under the MIT License. Blackbox has compliance with the Extended Window Manager Hints specification.[8]
The original author seems to have ceased updating the repository with the exception of a minor fix of compilation problems in 2015,[9] leaving the last original version at 0.70.1. However an actively maintained fork by Brian Bidulock has been picked up by several Linux distributions in its place,[10][11][12] and it is featured in pkgsrc.[13] Despite that, some other Linux distributions still use the original source code,[14][15] as does FreeBSD.[16]
Features
Features of the Blackbox window manager include:
- A stacking window manager
- Written in C++
- Freely available under the MIT license
- Compliance with the Extended Window Manager Hints Specification
- Title bars have minimize, maximize, and close buttons
- Support for simple themes
- Support for color changes
- No support for desktop shortcuts
- Compatibility with both KDE and GNOME[17]
Related projects
There are a number of other window manager forks of Blackbox:[18]
Windows shell replacements
Although they do not share the same codebase, these projects are also inspired by Blackbox.[18][19]
- BB4Win[20] (the first and most prominent clone/port of Blackbox on Windows)
- bbLean
- xoblite (has releases from 2021)
- bbZero (a branch of bbLean)[21]
See also
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References
- ^ 1.0 1.1 "ManPages/blackbox - Blackbox". September 9, 2015. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "Blackbox - Browse /Blackboxwm/Blackbox 0.70.1_SL7 at SourceForge.net".
- ^ 3.0 3.1 "Blackbox - Window manager written in C++". FSF.org.
- ^ Wrightson, Katherine; Merlino, Joseph (2006). Mastering UNIX. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 107–108. ISBN 9780782153033. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Davies, Justin; Whittaker, Roger; Hagen, William von (2005). SUSE Linux 9 Bible. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 186, 276–280. ISBN 9780764588761.
- ^ "Hacking Guide - Blackbox". February 14, 2018. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "About Blackbox". Sourceforge.net. Archived from the original on December 6, 2006.
- ^ "ICCCM & EWMH Compliance". GitHub. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- ^ "Compile with clang and libc++ · bradleythughes/Blackbox@107b761". GitHub.
- ^ "The Slackware Linux Project: Packages". packages.slackware.com.
- ^ "Package Blackbox". Fedora Packages. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ "Arch Linux - blackbox 0.77-1 (x86_64)". archlinux.org. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ "pkgsrc.se | The NetBSD package collection". pkgsrc.se.
- ^ "Ubuntu – Error". packages.ubuntu.com.
- ^ "Debian -- Details of package blackbox in sid".
- ^ "[ports] Index of /head/x11-wm/blackbox". svnweb.freebsd.org.
- ^ "Window Managers for X: Blackbox". www.xwinman.org. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ 18.0 18.1 "Related Projects - Blackbox". October 26, 2017. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "BlackBox for Windows". Sourceforge.net.
- ^ "Customizing Your PC's Desktop - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "GitHub - xzero450/bbclean-xzero450". GitHub. February 6, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
External links
- Official website
- Blackbox at Free Software Directory