EMWM is a fork of the Motif Window Manager with fixes and enhancements. The idea behind this is to provide compatibility with current xorg extensions and applications, without changing the way the window manager looks and behaves. This includes support for multi-monitor setups through Xinerama/Xrandr, UFT-8 support with Xft fonts, and overall better compatibility with software that requires "Extended Window Manager Hints".
Additionally a couple of goodies are available in the separate utilities package: XmToolbox, a toolchest like application launcher, which reads it's multi-level menu structure from a simple plain-text file ~/.toolboxrc, and XmSm, a simple session manager that provides session configuration, locking and shutdown/suspend options.
EMWM and Utilities - 2.0 Stable
Window Manager
emwm-src-2.0.tar.xz
(May 14 2026)
Make sure to adjust any custom pre v2.0 ~/.emwmrc for Workspace Manager bindings. See the emwmrc(1) manpage, and also this here example.
Utilities
emwm-utils-src-2.0.tar.xz
(May 14 2026)
Notable changes since v1.3:
• Reinstated the MWM Workspace Manager (multiple desktops) functionality.
• When resizing a client with size increment hint specified, the size shown
is now the inner client window.
• Added xineramaScreenFocus (keyboard|pointer|primary) option.
• Fixed: automatic icon repositioning behaving erratically sometimes.
• Fixed: StaticGravity handling for newly managed clients not ICCCM compliant.
• Fixed: clients able to replace user specified icon pixmap if they reset the
icon after their window has been managed.
• Fixed: icon labels/menus placed split across Xinerama screens.
• Utils (toolbox): Added optional workspace switcher widget.
• Utils (xmsm): Logout/Shutdown dialog can now be requested by signaling xmsm with SIGUSR1.
• Utils (xmsm): workspaceBackgroundColor/Image resource was removed (handled in EMWM v2).
• Utils (toolbox): Fixed toolboxrc parser not accepting K&R style opening bracket placement.
Complete changelog: emwm-changes.txt • utils-changes.txt
See the included README file for build instructions. On Linuxen, make sure to review and adjust the installation prefix and X resources (app-defaults) location, since defaults may not be suitable for all distros. Everything is usually tested on FreeBSD and a GNU/Linux. If you have a question that isn't answered in the FAQ or manpages, feel free to contact me (Alex) via e-mail: mail@fastestcode.org. There is also a public mailing list at emwm-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net
You can support further development by making a
donation via Stripe if you find the software useful.
FAQ/Guide on setting up EMWM and Motif
based applications in general.
tellmwm-src.tar.xz
(May 14 2026)
EMWM Workspace Manager CLI control tool.
Sets the backdrop, displays and modifies workspace configuraton settings
at runtime.
app-icons.tar.xz
(Updated Jul 10 2025)
Generic 48x48 application icons.
Authentic pixelart. Intended for applications, which don't specify their
own icon, or as replacement (see emwm(1) iconImage resource).
xc-core-hr.tar.xz
(Updated Dec 26 2024)
Sharp-edged (as in non-blurry) X11 cursor theme. Based on original
core cursors appearance, in two sizes
(24 and 32 px) which work well for screens around 100 to 150 DPI.
See the included README for details.
xmdlgicons.tar.xz
(Updated Jul 17 2025)
Higher resolution icon sets for
standard Motif dialog boxes. These are styled
differently than built in ones. Includes two sets of pixmaps, which should
work for around 100 to 150 DPI screens. See included README file for
information on where to install these.
Xresources configuration sample (as seen in some of the screenshots below)
is also available here.
Additionally, GTK 2/3 (~/.gtkrc-2.0 and ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css)
config files that go along with it
(well... as much as possible anyway).
If looking for actively maintained Motif sources (because the official
ICS repo doesn't seem to be cared for anymore), check out
Tim's fork, whose plan is
a long-term maintainership. He is accepting bug reports and patches.
There is also CDE maintainer
Jon's quasi-fork,
whose short term focus seems to be on fixing compilation
issues, and Dmitri's repository,
which appears to get more general development work done to it.
Click for a larger picture.
Git repositories and distfiles archived/mirrored on
SourceForge
and Github.
