Show/remove window decoration with bspwm

System:
  Kernel: 6.2.6-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.1
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=9e1ab3c3-690e-47b2-a2a3-c88d1ad95e80 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
    loglevel=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.3 tk: Qt v: 5.15.8 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Alienware product: Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14
    v: 2.7.0 serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Alienware model: 0GM4GD v: A00 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: Alienware v: 2.7.0 date: 11/21/2022
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 3
    serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: discharging
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech MX Keys Wireless Keyboard
    serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA201205
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB
    L3: 96 MiB desc: 1x96 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3477 high: 3586 min/max: 2200/4549 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 3564 2: 3400
    3: 3400 4: 3400 5: 3585 6: 3579 7: 3400 8: 3400 9: 3400 10: 3583 11: 3558
    12: 3583 13: 3586 14: 3400 15: 3400 16: 3400 bogomips: 108589
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 21 [Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT / 6900 XT] vendor: Dell
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
    built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-1
    empty: DP-2,DP-3,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 0b:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:73bf
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.8
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu unloaded: modesetting,radeon
    alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.65x15.00")
    s-diag: 777mm (30.58")
  Monitor-1: DP-1 mapped: DisplayPort-0 model: Dell AW2723DF
    serial: <filter> built: 2022 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 109 gamma: 1.2
    size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (navi21
    LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 3.49 6.2.6-zen1-1-zen) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0b:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0d:00.4
    chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  Sound API: ALSA v: k6.2.6-zen1-1-zen running: yes
  Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.67 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7921 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Foxconn driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:7961 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp8s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai MediaTek MT7921 Bluetooth type: USB
    driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-10:3 chip-ID: 0489:e0c8 class-ID: e001
    serial: <filter>
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.84 TiB used: 77.04 GiB (4.1%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: SK Hynix model: PC801 NVMe 1TB
    size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 51003141 temp: 43.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 type: USB vendor: Seagate
    model: Ultra Touch HDD size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1707 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 580.31 GiB size: 580.31 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 76.61 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 500 MiB size: 499 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 437.3 MiB (87.6%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 580.31 GiB size: 580.31 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 76.61 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 580.31 GiB size: 580.31 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 76.61 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 580.31 GiB size: 580.31 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 76.61 GiB (13.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 31.26 GiB used: 2 MiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 51.0 C
    mem: 50.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Processes: 411 Uptime: 1h 5m wakeups: 32 Memory: 31.26 GiB
  used: 3.9 GiB (12.5%) Init: systemd v: 253 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.1 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1650
  libs: 375 tools: octopi,paru Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: kitty
  inxi: 3.3.25
Garuda (2.6.15-1):
  System install date:     2023-03-12
  Last full system update: 2023-03-17 ↻
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
  Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
  Failed units: 

Infrequently, I like to be able to access the menus in a window's application in bspwm. Like when I want to turn off continuous scroll with a document in okular.

Some tiling system I used allowed these "window decorations" to be toggled on/off.

I can't seem to find how to do that with bspwm. Is there a way?

The short answer is no. Since bspwm is a non-reparenting WM, window decorations are not supported.

It looks like kwin is handling your window management anyway:

The functionality you want could be easily set up from within KDE itself, which has a native tiling feature since 5.27.

Or try your luck with a reparenting WM like i3.

Please be aware that layering different DEs and WMs is not supported. You may do as you wish with your own computer, but we shouldn’t have issues raised in the forum if things aren’t turning out how you expected.

3 Likes

Thanks for the information. I currently can log in to bspwm or plasma. I don't use both simultaneously. I didn't know that was layering.

"Layering," as in you have a DE or WM installed (through the installer), and then you add another one on top of it (through the package manager).

There is nothing wrong with it, I didn't mean to imply you did something bad or whatever. The reason it is considered unsupported in the forum is because a lot of times it can introduce conflicts that are difficult to diagnose.

Sometimes DEs have different ways of accomplishing the same thing, and adding a new base of packages on top of the existing ones can quietly break things. Configs can be overwritten or needed variables changed, etc. Then, a person says "Hey, my thing is broken" and the forum helpers trip over themselves trying to figure out what is happening, only for everyone to do a big facepalm when it is finally discovered a few DEs were recklessly installed on top of each other and there is a conflict somewhere.

Like I said, you didn't do anything wrong. Your thing wasn't even an issue really, so much as a question. Plus you are obviously welcome to install whatever you want on your own rig.

Just be aware if you install a bunch of WMs or DEs on top of each other and something mysteriously breaks, you might get the hairy eyeball if you open a forum topic asking for help. :wink:

4 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 2 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.