Fluxbox is a

stacking window manager A stacking window manager (also called floating window manager) is a window manager that draws and allows windows to overlap, without using a compositing algorithm. All window managers that allow the overlapping of windows but are not compositing ...

for the

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...

, which started as a

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...

of Blackbox 0.61.1 in 2001, with the same aim to be lightweight. Its

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

has only a

taskbar A taskbar is an element of a graphical user interface which has various purposes. It typically shows which programs are currently running. The specific design and layout of the taskbar varies between individual operating systems, but generally a ...

, a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking on the desktop, and minimal support for graphical

icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...

. All basic configurations are controlled by

text file A text file (sometimes spelled textfile; an old alternative name is flatfile) is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists stored as data within a computer file system. In operat ...

s, including the construction of menus and the mapping of key-bindings. Fluxbox has high compliance to the

Extended Window Manager Hints Extended Window Manager Hints, a.k.a. NetWM, is an X Window System standard for the communication between window managers and applications. It builds on the functionality of the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM). These standard ...

specification. Fluxbox is basic in appearance, but it can show a few options for improved attractiveness: colors, gradients, borders, and several other basic appearance attributes can be specified. Recent versions support rounded corners and graphical elements. Effects managers such as xcompmgr, cairo-compmgr and transset-df (deprecated) can add true transparency to desktop elements and windows. Enhancements can also be provided by using iDesk or fbdesk,

SpaceFM SpaceFM was a desktop-independent, multi-panel, tabbed file manager for Linux. SpaceFM is built using the GTK+ toolkit. Available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, SpaceFM is free software. Features *Panels: each window can c ...

PCMan File Manager PCMan File Manager (PCManFM) is a file manager application, developed by Hong Jen Yee () from Taiwan, which is meant to be a replacement for GNOME Files, Dolphin and Thunar. PCManFM is the standard file manager in LXDE, also developed by the s ...

or the

ROX Desktop The ROX Desktop is a graphical desktop environment for the X Window System. It is based on the ROX-Filer which is a drag and drop spatial file manager. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License. The environment was i ...

. Fluxbox also has several features Blackbox lacks, including tabbed windows and a configurable titlebar. Because of its small memory footprint and quick loading time, Fluxbox is popular in many

Live CD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading f ...

s such as

GParted GParted (acronym of GNOME Partition Editor) is a GTK front-end to GNU Parted and an official GNOME partition-editing application (alongside Disks). GParted is used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, checking, and copying disk partitio ...

. It was the default window manager of

Damn Small Linux Damn Small Linux (DSL) is a discontinued computer operating system for the x86 family of personal computers. It is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU GPL and other free and open source licenses. It was designed to run grap ...

and antiX, but was replaced with JWM in 2007 and 2009, respectively. It is currently the default window manager of PCFluxboxOS, a remaster of

PCLinuxOS PCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is an x86-64 Linux distribution, with KDE Plasma Desktop, MATE and XFCE as its default user interfaces. It is primarily free software operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use. It is co ...

, and of

Linux Mint Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu (which is in turn based on Debian), bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications. It can provide full out-of-the-box multimedia support for those who choose to i ...

Fluxbox CE. Fluxbuntu, an

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All ...

derivative with lightweight applications, was released in October 2007.Fluxbuntu Home
On December 12, 2019, MX Linux released MX-fluxbox as a fully integrated overlay of MX Linux 19. Previously it had been available from 2014 onward through the Package Installer. A Fluxbox edition has been added to the MX-21 series with Fluxbox in use by default. Fluxbox is also a featured window manager on antiX. The early versions of

Lumina Lumina may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Lumina'', a literary journal published by Sarah Lawrence College * ''World of Lumina'' or ''Lumina'', a graphic novel by Emanuele Tenderini and Linda Cavallini Music * "Lumina", ...

, a

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a grap ...

created for

TrueOS TrueOS (formerly PC-BSD or PCBSD) is a discontinued Unix-like, server-oriented operating system built upon the most recent releases of FreeBSD-CURRENT. Up to 2018 it aimed to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and ...

, were based on Fluxbox. As of December 2021 there are 22 flavors of Linux using Fluxbox in some way.

Features

* Right-clicking on the desktop gives a root menu * Customizable root menu * Support for wallpaper * Running applications appear in a

* Support for desktop themes * Customizable keyboard shortcuts ( Key-bindings) * Window tabbing * Slit for applications such as system monitors

Customization

Customization is done by editing configuration files in the .fluxbox subdirectory in the user's home directory: * Keyboard shortcuts are stored in the file. * Menu layout is in the file. * Everything that is run at startup is kept in the file. * The fluxbox configuration file is held at .

Features

Customization

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links