.fvwm2rc and lots of little files. Do I need them all?

Configuration General Questions
1

Hi,

I’ve just started to use fvwm, and I love it. At the moment i’m using it on Debian Sarge. The set-up I have looks pretty good, but i’d like to tweak it. Unfortunately, I am completely confused by the config files, even though I have read the man pages etc, many times. Do I need lots of files in addition to my .fvwm2rc, for example, functions, bindings, .start* ?

I am going to persevere with fvwm, as I love it, but to start with, I think i’ll be using the forums, a lot.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Cheers,

Chris.

2

In short: No. You do not need any small files to separate out the various aspects of your configuration. Admittedly, some people do, but I lump it all in ~/.fvwm2c – there is nothing “better” about the segregate approach, its just a matter of preference.

HTH,

– Thomas Adam

3

Thomas,

I deleted everything apart from .fvwmrc2, and restarted. Unfortunately, I now just have a basic blankscreen, without any of the different bits that used to be around the corners of the window…oops.

Is it better to try to run a set-up script, or can I “borrow” somebody’s nice config file from somewhere?

Thanks,

Chris.

4

Aaaah, I see what you’re saying now – you had an existing configfile which used separate files, and you werent sure whether you needed to keep them.

I mis-read your question in that I thought you were creating a new .fvwm2rc file and you wondered whether you had to separate out the functionality.

No loss, though – if you move your ~/.fvwm2rc out of the way (rename it), and restart fvwm2 – that should give you a default menu which will enable you to recreate the config file(s) that you deleted.

As for other people’s config file – depends what you’re after. If you see the fvwm screenshots page, that has a number of .fvwm2rc files to accompany them, should anything take your fancy.

HTH,

– Thomas Adam

5

Thomas,

Thanks for that. Will see what other people have done, first.

Cheers,

Chris.

6

The best way to get into Fvwm, IMHO is to start with a basic setup and start tweaking and reading the man page. I started out by playing around with Eric Raymond’s setup http://www.catb.org/~esr/fvwm2. It is well commented, though a bit long in the tooth these days, but it will get you going in the right direction. Nothing fancy, but very well thought out.

7

Cga,

Looks like a good started. Thanks for the link.

Chris.