SRDWM - Cross-Platform Window Manager

SRDWM is a modern, cross-platform window manager that provides a unified window management experience across Linux (X11/Wayland), Windows, and macOS. It features smart window placement, togglable decorations, and easy switching between tiling and floating layouts.

Features

Cross-Platform Support

Linux X11: Full server-side decoration control with frame windows
Linux Wayland: Modern wlroots compositor with zxdg-decoration protocol
Windows: Native DWM border integration with global hooks
macOS: Platform-constrained but functional with overlay windows

Smart Window Placement

Windows 11-style grid placement with optimal cell sizing
Cascade placement for overlapping windows
Snap-to-edge functionality
Overlap detection and free space finding algorithms

Window Management

Togglable decorations with custom border colors and widths
Easy tiling/floating toggle with per-window state management
Multiple layout engines: Tiling, Dynamic, and Floating modes
Smart placement integration for floating windows

Lua Configuration

Scriptable configuration with full Lua API
Real-time configuration reloading
Platform-specific keybindings and settings
Theme and decoration customization

Requirements

Linux (X11)

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config liblua5.4-dev \
    libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libxcb-dev \
    libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc-c++ cmake pkgconfig lua-devel \
    libX11-devel libXrandr-devel libXinerama-devel libxcb-devel \
    libxcb-keysyms-devel libxcb-icccm-devel

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S base-devel cmake pkgconf lua \
    libx11 libxrandr libxinerama libxcb \
    xcb-util xcb-util-keysyms xcb-util-wm

Linux (Wayland)

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config liblua5.4-dev \
    libwayland-dev wayland-protocols libwlroots-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc-c++ cmake pkgconfig lua-devel \
    wayland-devel wayland-protocols-devel wlroots-devel

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S base-devel cmake pkgconf lua \
    wayland wayland-protocols wlroots

Windows

Visual Studio 2019 or later with C++17 support
CMake 3.16 or later
Lua 5.4 or later

macOS

# Install dependencies via Homebrew
brew install cmake lua pkg-config

# Install Xcode Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install

Installation

Quick Start (Linux/macOS)

# Clone and bootstrap (deps + build + test + install)
git clone https://github.com/srdusr/srdwm.git
cd srdwm
bash scripts/bootstrap.sh --all

# X11-only build
# bash scripts/bootstrap.sh --all --no-wayland
# Real Wayland backend (requires wlroots deps)
# bash scripts/bootstrap.sh --all --real-wayland

Building from Source

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/srdusr/srdwm.git
cd srdwm

Create build directory

mkdir build
cd build

Configure and build

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

Install

sudo cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

Platform-Specific Installation

Linux

# Install to system
sudo cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

# Or install to user directory
make install DESTDIR=$HOME/.local

Windows

# Build with Visual Studio
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 ..
cmake --build . --config Release

# Install
cmake --install . --prefix "C:\Program Files\SRDWM"

macOS

# Build and install
make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)
sudo make install

Configuration

Basic Configuration

Create your configuration file at ~/.config/srdwm/init.lua:

-- Basic SRDWM configuration
print("Loading SRDWM configuration...")

-- Global settings
srd.set("general.decorations_enabled", true)
srd.set("general.border_width", 3)
srd.set("general.border_color", "#2e3440")

-- Layout settings
srd.set("general.default_layout", "dynamic")
srd.set("general.smart_placement", true)

-- Keybindings
srd.bind("Mod4+Return", function()
    -- Open terminal
    srd.spawn("alacritty")
end)

srd.bind("Mod4+q", function()
    -- Close focused window
    srd.window.close()
end)

srd.bind("Mod4+f", function()
    -- Toggle floating
    local window = srd.window.focused()
    if window then
        srd.window.toggle_floating(window.id)
    end
end)

-- Layout switching
srd.bind("Mod4+1", function() srd.layout.set("tiling") end)
srd.bind("Mod4+2", function() srd.layout.set("dynamic") end)
srd.bind("Mod4+3", function() srd.layout.set("floating") end)

print("Configuration loaded successfully!")

Platform-Specific Configuration

Linux X11

-- X11-specific settings
if srd.get_platform() == "x11" then
    srd.set("general.border_width", 3)
    srd.set("general.decorations_enabled", true)
    
    -- X11-specific keybindings
    srd.bind("Mod4+x", function()
        local window = srd.window.focused()
        if window then
            srd.window.set_decorations(window.id, not srd.window.get_decorations(window.id))
        end
    end)
end

Linux Wayland

-- Wayland-specific settings
if srd.get_platform() == "wayland" then
    srd.set("general.border_width", 2)
    srd.set("general.decorations_enabled", true)
    
    -- Wayland-specific keybindings
    srd.bind("Mod4+w", function()
        local window = srd.window.focused()
        if window then
            srd.window.set_decorations(window.id, not srd.window.get_decorations(window.id))
        end
    end)
end

Windows

-- Windows-specific settings
if srd.get_platform() == "windows" then
    srd.set("general.border_width", 2)
    srd.set("general.decorations_enabled", true)
    
    -- Windows-specific keybindings
    srd.bind("Mod4+d", function()
        local window = srd.window.focused()
        if window then
            srd.window.set_border_color(window.id, 255, 0, 0) -- Red border
        end
    end)
end

macOS

-- macOS-specific settings
if srd.get_platform() == "macos" then
    srd.set("general.border_width", 1)
    srd.set("general.decorations_enabled", false) -- Limited support
    
    -- macOS-specific keybindings
    srd.bind("Mod4+m", function()
        print("macOS: Overlay window toggle requested")
    end)
end

Usage

Starting SRDWM

Linux

# X11
srdwm --platform x11

# Wayland
srdwm --platform wayland

Windows

# Start from command line
srdwm.exe

# Or add to startup

macOS

# Start from command line
srdwm

# Or add to login items

Keybindings

Key	Action
`Mod4+Return`	Open terminal
`Mod4+q`	Close focused window
`Mod4+f`	Toggle floating
`Mod4+1/2/3`	Switch layouts (tiling/dynamic/floating)
`Mod4+b/n/r`	Change border colors (green/blue/red)
`Mod4+0`	Reset decorations
`Mod4+s`	Smart placement info

Layouts

Tiling: Traditional tiling layout
Dynamic: Smart placement with Windows 11-style algorithms
Floating: Free-form window placement

Testing

Running Tests

# Build tests
cd build
make

# Run all tests
ctest

# Run specific tests
./tests/test_smart_placement
./tests/test_platform_factory
./tests/test_lua_manager

Platform-Specific Tests

# Linux X11
./tests/test_x11_platform

# Linux Wayland
./tests/test_wayland_platform

# Windows
./tests/test_windows_platform

# macOS
./tests/test_macos_platform

One-command dependency installers

# Ubuntu/Debian
bash scripts/install_deps_ubuntu.sh

# Fedora
bash scripts/install_deps_fedora.sh

# Arch Linux
bash scripts/install_deps_arch.sh

# openSUSE
bash scripts/install_deps_opensuse.sh

# Alpine Linux
bash scripts/install_deps_alpine.sh

# macOS (Homebrew)
bash scripts/install_deps_macos.sh

For full package lists per platform see DEPENDENCIES.md.

Wayland is enabled by default with a stub backend for compatibility. Switch to the real wlroots backend with -DUSE_WAYLAND_STUB=OFF (or --real-wayland in scripts/bootstrap.sh) once dependencies are installed.

Documentation

Installed binary and desktop sessions

The installed binary is named srdwm (a compatibility symlink SRDWM is also created in the same directory).
Desktop session files are installed so you can pick SRDWM at login:
- X11 session: /usr/local/share/xsessions/srdwm.desktop
- Wayland session: /usr/local/share/wayland-sessions/srdwm-wayland.desktop
If your display manager (GDM/SDDM/LightDM) doesn’t show them, ensure it reads sessions from /usr/local/share/*sessions or adjust your install prefix.

Install options (CMake variables):

-DSRDWM_INSTALL_X11_SESSION=ON|OFF — install X11 session file (default ON)
-DSRDWM_INSTALL_WAYLAND_SESSION=ON|OFF — install Wayland session file (default ON)

Example:

cmake -S . -B build -DSRDWM_INSTALL_WAYLAND_SESSION=OFF
cmake --build build -j
sudo cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

Using SRDWM from another CMake project

After installing SRDWM (e.g., sudo cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local on Linux/macOS), you can consume it in another CMake project via find_package and link to the exported target.

Minimal example CMakeLists.txt:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(MyApp LANGUAGES CXX)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

find_package(SRDWM REQUIRED) # provides SRDWM::SRDWM and pulls Lua automatically

add_executable(my_app main.cc)
target_link_libraries(my_app PRIVATE SRDWM::SRDWM)

Notes:

On Linux/macOS, ensure the install prefix (default /usr/local) is in CMake’s package search path. You can hint it via -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/local if needed.

On Windows with vcpkg, pass your toolchain file when configuring your consumer project:

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="C:/path/to/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake"

The exported package config internally requires Lua (handled by the SRDWM package config).

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Development Setup

# Clone with submodules
git clone --recursive https://github.com/srdusr/srdwm.git
cd srdwm

# Install development dependencies
sudo apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config liblua5.3-dev \
    libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libxcb-dev \
    libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libwayland-dev \
    wayland-protocols libwlroots-dev libgtest-dev

# Build with tests
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DBUILD_TESTS=ON ..
make -j$(nproc)

# Run tests
ctest

Acknowledgments

Hyprland for Wayland compositor inspiration
DWM for X11 window management concepts
i3 for tiling layout ideas
Windows 11 for smart placement algorithms

Support

Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
Wiki: GitHub Wiki

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 4 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
cmake		cmake
config		config
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
src		src
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
CMakeLists.txt		CMakeLists.txt
DEPENDENCIES.md		DEPENDENCIES.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md

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srdusr/srdwm

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SRDWM - Cross-Platform Window Manager

Features

Cross-Platform Support

Smart Window Placement

Window Management

Lua Configuration

Requirements

Linux (X11)

Linux (Wayland)

Windows

macOS

Installation

Quick Start (Linux/macOS)

Building from Source

Platform-Specific Installation

Linux

Windows

macOS

Configuration

Basic Configuration

Platform-Specific Configuration

Linux X11

Linux Wayland

Windows

macOS

Usage

Starting SRDWM

Linux

Windows

macOS

Keybindings

Layouts

Testing

Running Tests

Platform-Specific Tests

One-command dependency installers

Documentation

Installed binary and desktop sessions

Using SRDWM from another CMake project

Contributing

Development Setup

Acknowledgments

Support

License

About

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