Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual
Encyclopedia
In computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

, the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM or I39L short for "I", 39 letters and "L") is a standard for interoperability between X Window System
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...

 clients
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....

 of the same X server
X Window System protocols and architecture
In computing, the X Window System is a network-transparent windowing system for bitmap displays. This article details the protocols and technical structure of X11.-Client–server model and network transparency:...

. It is primarily used for communication between normal clients and the window manager
X window manager
An X window manager is a window manager which runs on top of the X Window System, a windowing system mainly used on Unix-like systems.Unlike the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows platforms which have historically provided a vendor-controlled, fixed set of ways to control how windows and panes display...

. It was designed by David S. H. Rosenthal
David S. H. Rosenthal
- Biography :Rosenthal received an MA degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, England, and a PhD from Imperial College, London.In the 1980s he worked on the Andrew Project at Carnegie Mellon University with James Gosling....

 of the MIT X Consortium in 1988. Version 1.0 was released in July 1989 and version 2.0 in early 1994.

X deliberately specifies "mechanism, not policy". As such, an additional specification beyond the X protocol itself was needed for client interoperation. The ICCCM specifies cut and paste buffers, window manager interaction, session management, how to manipulate shared resources and how to manage device colours. These low-level functions are generally implemented within widget toolkit
Widget toolkit
In computing, a widget toolkit, widget library, or GUI toolkit is a set of widgets for use in designing applications with graphical user interfaces...

s or desktop environment
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...

s, meaning that application programmers rarely work directly with the ICCCM itself but instead use the higher-level toolkit functions that implement it.

The ICCCM is notorious for being ambiguous and difficult to correctly implement. Furthermore, some parts are obsolete or no longer practical to implement.

Efforts to update and clarify the ICCCM for current needs have resulted in the Extended Window Manager Hints
Extended Window Manager Hints
Extended Window Manager Hints, aka NetWM or Net WM, is an X Window System standard for window managers. It defines various interactions between window managers, utilities, and applications, all part of an entire desktop environment...

 (EWMH), which has gained fairly broad acceptance and continues to be extended as the need arises.

List of Window Managers that are ICCCM Compliant

  • aewm - basic implementation
  • alloywm - partial compliance
  • awesome
    Awesome (window manager)
    awesome is a dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages. The latter is also used for configuring and extending the window manager. Its development began as a fork of dwm...

  • blackbox
    Blackbox
    In Unix computing, Blackbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System.Blackbox has specific design goals, and some functionality is provided only through other applications. One example is the bbkeys hotkey application....

     - Versions 0.65 to versions 0.70
  • dwm
    Dwm
    dwm is a dynamic tiling window manager for X11 exhibiting the principles of minimalism which is known for having influenced the development of other window managers, including xmonad and awesome. It is externally similar to wmii, but internally much simpler. dwm is written purely in C and, for...

     - can be configured for compliance
  • enlightenment
    Enlightenment (window manager)
    Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a stacking window manager for the X Window System which can be used alone or in conjunction with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE...

  • evilwm - partial compliance
  • fvwm
    FVWM
    The F Virtual Window Manager is a virtual window manager for the X Window System. Originally a twm derivative, FVWM has evolved into a powerful and highly configurable environment for Unix-like systems.- History:...

  • icewm
    IceWM
    IceWM is a stacking window manager for the X Window System graphical infrastructure, written by Marko Maček. It was coded from scratch in C++ and is released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License...

  • kwin
    KWin
    KWin is a window manager for the X Window System. It is an integral part of the KDE Software Compilation, although it can be used on its own or with other desktop environments.- History :- Look and feel :...

  • metacity
    Metacity
    Metacity was the window manager used by default in the GNOME desktop environment until GNOME 3, where it was replaced by Mutter. The development of Metacity was started by Havoc Pennington and it is released under the GNU General Public License....

  • musca
  • openbox
    Openbox
    Openbox is a free window manager for the X Window System, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Originally derived from Blackbox 0.65.0 , Openbox has now been totally rewritten in the C programming language and since version 3.0 is not based upon any code from Blackbox.Openbox is designed...

  • vtwm
    Vtwm
    Vtwm is an X window manager that was developed from the twm codebase. The first release was in 1990, and it is very much an "old school" window manager. It added features like xpm icons, autoraising of windows, and a virtual desktop; the latter feature is from where the program takes its name...

  • wmfs
    WMFS
    See also: WMFS WMFS-FM is a commercial sports radio radio station in Bartlett, Tennessee, broadcasting to the Memphis, Tennessee area on 92.9 FM, owned by Entercom Communications.-History:...

  • xfwm
  • xmonad
    Xmonad
    xmonad is a tiling window manager for the X Window System, written in the functional programming language Haskell.Begun in March 2007, it is similar to dwm, larswm, StumpWM and other members of the tiling window manager family, in that it arranges windows in a nonoverlapping tiled pattern and...


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