Projects/KWin

This is a starting page for all relevant KWin documentation, most of which is stored in SVN or on external WWW pages.

General information

• KWin mailing list
• IRC channel #kwin on freenode
• COMPLIANCE - a document on KWin's compliance to the window manager specifications ICCCM and EWMH (also known as NETWM).
• KDE4.0 release notes - information about changes and new features in KWin in KDE4.0
• KWin Build Options - documentation on the available build options for KWin.

Developer information

Hacking on KWin itself

Refer to the KWin section of the KDE Community Wiki.

Creating Window Decorations

The libkdecorations library shipped with KWin allows developing new third-party window decorations in C++.

• tutorial (Based on KDE3.2 and as such slightly outdated, but still usable for newer versions. Note that new decorations should subclass KCommonDecoration, instead of using the KDecoration class directly like this tutorial does.)
• API documentation

A simpler (but less powerful) alternative is to create a theme for one of the existing themable decorations:

• Aurorae - themable with SVG images (how-to)
• deKorator - themable with pixmap images
• Smaragd - themable with Emerald theme files (from Compiz/Beryl)

Creating Desktop Effects

The libkwineffects library shipped with KWin allows developing new KWin compositing effects (known as "desktop effects" to users) in C++.

• tutorial
• API documentation
• source code of existing effects

There is also a limited API for developing effects in JavaScript...

• introductory blog post

Creating Window Switcher Layouts

KWin's default Alt + Tab window switcher can be customized with new layouts written in QML.

• tutorial

Scripting

KWin's scripting system allows customizing/automating the properties and behavior of windows through JavaScript or declarative QML.

• tutorial
• API reference (upgrade notes from earlier versions to 4.9]])
• examples

Configuration

• CONFIGURING - document on advanced KWin configuration (such as pre-configuring window-specific settings).