# Ratpoison

From the project home page:

  Ratpoison is a simple Window manager with no fat library dependencies, no fancy graphics, no window decorations, and no rodent dependence. It is largely modelled after GNU Screen which has done wonders in the virtual terminal market. The screen can be split into non-overlapping frames. All windows are kept maximized inside their frames to take full advantage of your precious screen real estate. All interaction with the window manager is done through keystrokes. ratpoison has a prefix map to minimize the key clobbering that cripples Emacs and other quality pieces of software.

## Installation

Ratpoison can be installed with package ratpoison, available in official repositories.

Additional packages are available in the Arch User Repository. Install ratpoison-git for the development version.

## Configuration

To use ratpoison as your windowmanager, you have to create/edit the file `~/.xinitrc`.

Example .xinitrc:

    # the black/white grid as background doesn't suit my taste.
    xsetroot -solid black &
    # ratpoison is compatible with xcompmgr! now you can have real transparency
    xcompmgr -c -f -D 5 &
    #fire up ratpoison!
    exec /usr/bin/ratpoison

## Using ratpoison

After X11 starts up you will see a black screen and a little textbox on the upper right of it that says "Welcome to Ratpoison". Now type `Ctrl+t` and then `?` to get a list of keybindings. If you are used to GNU screen, you will feel at home very soon.

You are able to define custom keystrokes and even override existing ones in `~/.ratpoisonrc`

Example:

    # overriding CTRL+t 'c' to start aterm instead of xterm
    bind c exec aterm

    bind f exec firefox

So, if you type `Ctrl+t` and then `f`, ratpoison will fire up Firefox.

Here is another .ratpoisonrc i'm using on my computers:

    exec xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
    startup_message off

    escape C-z

    # make a screenshot
    alias sshot exec import -window root ~/screenshot-$(date +%F).jpg
    definekey top M-C-Print sshot

    #virtual desks
    gnewbg one
    gnewbg two

    definekey top M-l exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "gprev" -c "next"
    definekey top M-h exec ratpoison -c "select -" -c "gnext" -c "next"

    #switch between windows
    definekey top M-j next
    definekey top M-k prev

    #apps
    unbind c
    bind c exec urxvt -tr
    #bind c exec aterm

    bind g exec gftp
    bind f exec firefox

## Tips and tricks

### Multiple workspaces

By default, ratpoison only has one workspace, but using a script called rpws (installed by default) you can have more.

Just edit your .ratpoisonrc, and add:

    ~/.ratpoisonrc

    exec /usr/bin/rpws init 6 -k

That creates 6 workspaces. By default, you can access to them by using `Alt+F1` to access the first, `Alt+F2` to access the second, etc.

You can also add binds to them, like this:

    bind C-1 exec rpws 1
    bind C-2 exec rpws 2
    ...

That allows to access them with `Ctrl+t` `Ctrl+1` (assuming `Ctrl+t` as your escape key)

### urxvt and xterm

Urxvt and xterm would not resize to a fixed number of pixels. Instead, it resize itself to multiples of its font's size, therefore, chances that there are unfilled gaps are high. To correct this, we can use the xterm/urxvt option internalBorder and set the border of ratpoison to 0.

A trial and error process must be done to find the exact number of internalBorder for each combination of resolution and font size. (the border of ratpoison must be set to 0 before doing the tests) The term command line option -b can be used to test for the correct number and then can be saved on the following files.

    ~/.Xresources

    urxvt*internalBorder: 8 #change urxvt to xterm if necessary. Using the font terminus in urxvt at 14px size, 8 is the correct number here.

    ~/.ratpoisonrc

    set border 0

If a combination cannot be found, you could try changing the font size and the font family also. (that changes the required border number)

### Launch on startup

Examples for launching programs when ratpoison starts. File `~/.ratpoisonrc` is executed by ratpoison on startup.

    Launch urxvt with a tmux session

    exec urxvt -e bash -c "tmux -q has-session && exec tmux attach-session -d || exec tmux new-session -n$USER -s$USER@$HOSTNAME"

    Launch optimized chromium

    exec bash -c 'pidof chromium &>/dev/null || exec /usr/bin/chromium --disk-cache-dir=~/tmp/cache'

### Wallpaper and transparency

Example for setting transparency using xcompmgr and nitrogen. First start nitrogen and set the desired wallpaper. Then use this in your .ratpoisonrc

    Wallpaper and transparency

    exec xcompmgr -c -f -D 5 &
    exec nitrogen --restore

## Some more useful KeyCombos

`Ctrl+t` `!` <Program Name> Start any program

`Ctrl+t` `q` Quit ratpoison

`Ctrl+t` `?` Show key bindings

`Ctrl+t` `c` Start an X terminal

`Ctrl+t` `n` Switch to next window

`Ctrl+t` `p` Switch to previous window

`Ctrl+t` `1`-`9` Switch to windows 1-9

`Ctrl+t` `k` Close the current window

`Ctrl+t` `Shift+k` XKill the current application

`Ctrl+t` `s`,`Shift+s` Split the current frame into two vertical,horizontal ones

`Ctrl+t` `Tab`, `←`, `↑`, `→`, `↓` Switch to the next, left. top, right, bottom frame.

`Ctrl+t` `Shift+q` Make the current frame the only one

`Ctrl+t` `:` Execute a ratpoison command

## Ratpoison and display managers

Many display managers (e.g., lightdm) source the available sessions from `/usr/share/xsessions/` and most window managers and desktop environments create .desktop files there. However ratpoison instead creates a `ratpoison.desktop` file in `/etc/X11/sessions/`. To allow display managers to find ratpoison one may need to copy the ratpoison.desktop file from `/etc/X11/sessions/ratpoison.desktop` to `/usr/share/xsessions/ratpoison.desktop`. If the `/usr/share/xsessions` directory does not exist, create it as root.

## See also

- The Ratpoison wiki
- X11 Keys in Ratpoison
- Ratpoison config sample
- Share your Ratpoison (experience) forum thread
- Collection of scripts for the Ratpoison window manager
- Stumpwm similar window manager but in Common lisp.

Category:

- Tiling WMs