arch-wiki-md-repo/wiki/_content/english/Twm.md

All arch-wiki articles in markdown format, updated every two days.

Twm is a window manager for [Xorg](/index.php/Xorg "Xorg"). It is a small program, being built against Xlib rather than using a widget library, and as such, it is very light on system resources. Though simple, it is highly configurable; fonts, colours, border widths, title bar buttons, etc. can all be set by the user.

Twm was written by Tom LaStrange, a developer who was frustrated by the limitations of [uwm (Ultrix Window Manager)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWM_(computing) "wikipedia:UWM (computing)")[[[1]](http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/3000/2/), the only window manager around when X11 was first released. Twm supplanted uwm as the default window manager supplied with X11 from the X11R4 release in 1989, [wikipedia:UWM_(computing)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWM_(computing) "wikipedia:UWM (computing)").

Twm has stood for *Tom's Window Manager*, *Tab Window Manager* and more recently *Timeless Window Manager*[wikipedia:Twm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twm "wikipedia:Twm").

## Contents

*   [1 Installation](#Installation)
*   [2 Starting](#Starting)
*   [3 Configuration](#Configuration)
*   [4 Tips and tricks](#Tips_and_tricks)
    *   [4.1 Patched version](#Patched_version)
*   [5 Troubleshooting](#Troubleshooting)
    *   [5.1 Oversized window titles and menus](#Oversized_window_titles_and_menus)
*   [6 See also](#See_also)

## Installation

Twm is provided by the package [xorg-twm](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=xorg-twm).

## Starting

Run `twm` with [xinit](/index.php/Xinit "Xinit").

**Note:** On startup there is only a black screen. Try to move your mouse and left click to get a twm menu to make sure that twm actually works.

## Configuration

By default, twm looks very dated and unintuitive. By creating the file `~/.twmrc`, you can customize twm to make it more friendly.

[twm(1)](https://jlk.fjfi.cvut.cz/arch/manpages/man/twm.1)gives full details of the commands which can be used in your `~/.twmrc` file. Many `~/.twmrc` files have been posted online. The site [xwinman.org](http://www.xwinman.org/vtwm.php) has several `~/.twmrc` files with screenshots which might provide inspiration. A [Google search for "twmrc"](https://www.google.com/search?q=twmrc) can be used to find new ideas.

## Tips and tricks

### Patched version

There is a patched version, not in the repositories, with updated features such as transparency. A description and build script is available on the [xorg mailing list](http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg/2010-January/048401.html). It can be tried out by installing [xcompmgr](/index.php/Xcompmgr "Xcompmgr"), running the build script, putting the resulting `twm` and `dot.twmrc` files in a convenient directory, and editing the `~/.xinitrc` file so that the last two lines are

```
xcompmgr -o 0.3  -c -r 8 -t -10 -l -12 &
/path-to-directory/twm -visual TrueColor -depth 32 -f /path-to-directory/dot.twmrc

```

## Troubleshooting

### Oversized window titles and menus

You might find that titlebars and menu entries in TWM are extremely large - twice the size that one might typically expect. This is a [locale](/index.php/Locale "Locale") issue with TWM that occurs when a `UTF-8` locale is used. Setting the locale to `C` fixes the issue. See [[2]](https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-530562-start-0.html).

## See also

*   Proffitt, Brian. "[From the Desktop: Tom LaStrange Speaks!](http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/3000/2/)", *LinuxPlanet*, February 6, 2001\. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
*   "[UWM (computing)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWM_(computing) "wikipedia:UWM (computing)")", *Wikipedia*. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
*   "[Twm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twm "wikipedia:Twm")", *Wikipedia*. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
*   [twm(1)](https://jlk.fjfi.cvut.cz/arch/manpages/man/twm.1) man page
*   "[Sample twmrc](http://www.custompc.plus.com/twm/configs/twmrc09)", *custompc.plus.com*. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
*   "[Window Managers for X: TWM/VTWM](http://xwinman.org/vtwm.php)", *xwinman.org*. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
*   Kask, Eeri. "[TWM -- Revised Edition -- Again](http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg/2010-January/048401.html)", *lists.x.org*, January 3, 2010.