Motif Window Manager

In computing, the Motif Window Manager (MWM) is an X window manager based on the Motif toolkit.

Motif Window Manager

MWM running on Debian Linux
Developer(s)	Open Software Foundation, The Open Group
Stable release	2.3.8[1]  / 5 December 2017
Operating system	Unix-like, OpenVMS[2]
Type	Window manager
License	2012: LGPL-2.1-or-later[lower-alpha 1] 1990s: Proprietary
Website	motif.ics.com

Overview

MWM is a lightweight window manager, having robust compliance and configuration of the features it has. MWM first appeared in the early 1990s, along with the Motif toolkit. MWM supports: Common User Interface (i.e., Alt-Tab is switch windows, a standard), some International support, Common Desktop Environment, X Resource Database (/home/app-defaults/ and runtime), X Session Manager protocol, X Edited Resource Protocol (edit widget data), desktop icons, optional use of images to decorate, and had supported Virtual desktop (removed since 2.1) but now supports non-virtual desktop panning. MWM is a window manager, not a full desktop environment, so it only manages windows; it is expected that configuration, programs, sound, are provided by other programs. A plain text file is parsed to customize menus, user input mappings, management features, and user made functions of the same.

VAXstation 4000 model 96 running OpenVMS 6.1 and the mwm-based DECwindows Motif environment

Licensing

Originally, MWM and Motif could only be purchased. The same software was also available as OpenMotif, though not on properly open-source or free software terms. In late 2012, Motif and MWM were released under the LGPL-2.1-or-later license as free software.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• FVWM
• Visual User Environment

Notes

1. LGPL-2.1-or-later since 2012-10-23, version 2.3.4.

References

1. "Motif 2.3.8 Source Code". 5 December 2017.
2. "Using DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS" (PDF). vmssoftware.com. October 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-21.

External links

• SourceForge: Motif (source code)
• SourceForge: Motif 2.0 build libXm.so.2.0.n (Data Display Debugger uses 2.0) with easier automake and optional panner
• Open Motif project page at the Wayback Machine (archived June 30, 2006)
• The Motif FAQ at the Wayback Machine (archived February 2, 2020)
• Motif: Volumes 6A and 6B (O'Reilly and Associates, free PDF downloads)
• Motif User's Guide at the Wayback Machine (archived May 30, 2014)