fix license, add acknowledgements
[xmenu] / README.md
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1<p align="center">
2 <img src="/demo.gif", title="demo"/>
70063f16 3</p>
c15958bd 4
c1640685 5# XMenu
c15958bd 6
571d99e1 7XMenu is a menu utility for X.
8XMenu receives a menu specification in stdin, shows a menu for the user
a7732690 9to select one of the options, and outputs the option selected to stdout.
883ec17f 10XMenu can be controlled both via mouse and via keyboard.
571d99e1 11
70063f16 12In order to generate a menu of applications based on .desktop entries,
13as specified by XDG, checkout [xdg-xmenu](https://github.com/OliverLew/xdg-xmenu)
14by [OliverLew](https://github.com/OliverLew).
15
47f3bbaf 16Check out my other project, [xclickroot](https://github.com/phillbush/xclickroot) for an application that can
d94ef325 17spawn xmenu by right clicking on the root window (i.e. on the desktop).
18
571d99e1 19
c1640685 20## Features
33376f54 21
22XMenu comes with the following features:
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23
24* XMenu reads something in and prints something out, the UNIX way.
25* Submenus (some menu entries can spawn another menu).
26* Separators (menu entries can be separated by a line).
27* Icons (menu entries can be preceded by an icon image).
c15958bd 28* X resources support (you don't need to recompile xmenu for configuring it).
88341d20 29* Multi-head (xmenu supports multiple monitors by using Xinerama).
30* Type-to-select (you can select an item by typing part of its name).
33376f54 31
32
c1640685 33## Files
571d99e1 34
35The files are:
47f3bbaf 36
70063f16 37* `./README`: This file.
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38* `./Makefile`: The makefile.
39* `./config.h`: The hardcoded default configuration for XMenu.
40* `./config.mk`: The setup for the makefile.
41* `./demo.gif`: A gif demonstrating how XMenu works.
42* `./xmenu.1`: The manual file (man page) for XMenu.
43* `./xmenu.c`: The source code of XMenu.
44* `./xmenu.sh`: A sample script illustrating how to use XMenu.
45* `./icons/`: Icons for the sample script
a7732690 46
27443900 47
c1640685 48## Installation
a7732690 49
47f3bbaf 50First, edit `./config.mk` to match your local setup.
571d99e1 51
dc1afe9f 52In order to build XMenu you need the `Imlib2`, `Xlib`, `Xinerama` and `Xft` header files.
47f3bbaf 53The default configuration for XMenu is specified in the file `config.h`,
571d99e1 54you can edit it, but most configuration can be changed at runtime via
55X resources. Enter the following command to build XMenu. This command
47f3bbaf 56creates the binary file `./xmenu`.
a7732690 57
571d99e1 58 make
a7732690 59
47f3bbaf 60By default, XMenu is installed into the `/usr/local` prefix. Enter the
571d99e1 61following command to install XMenu (if necessary as root). This command
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62installs the binary file `./xmenu` into the `${PREFIX}/bin/` directory, and
63the manual file `./xmenu.1` into `${MANPREFIX}/man1/` directory.
a7732690 64
571d99e1 65 make install
a7732690 66
a7732690 67
c1640685 68## Running XMenu
571d99e1 69
70XMenu receives as input a menu specification where each line is a menu
a7732690 71entry. Each line can be indented with tabs to represent nested menus.
72Each line is made out of a label and a command separated by any number
7fbd1c5e 73of tabs. Lines without labels are menu separators.
a7732690 74
47f3bbaf 75See the script `./xmenu.sh` for an example of how to use XMenu to draw a
b3419d47 76simple menu with submenus and separators. The file `./demo.gif` shows how
4f898cc3 77the menu generated by that script looks like.
571d99e1 78
0bb24147 79Read the [manual](https://github.com/phillbush/xmenu/wiki) for more information on running XMenu.
88341d20 80
81
82## Acknowledgements
83
84* [thingmenu](https://github.com/singpolyma/thingmenu) for being the base
85 for xmenu's code. However, xmenu evolved enough that it no longer resambles
86 thingmenu at all.
87* [dmenu](https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/) for inspiring the stdin-to-stdout
88 interface, and being base for drawing routines and input method code.