cannot → could not

[xmenu] / README.md

<p align="center">
  <img src="/demo.gif", title="demo"/>
</p>

# XMenu

XMenu is a menu utility for X.
XMenu receives a menu specification in stdin, shows a menu for the user
to select one of the options, and outputs the option selected to stdout.
XMenu can be controlled both via mouse and via keyboard.  The menu is a
pop-up menu (that is, after selecting an option, the menu disappears).

In order to generate a menu of applications based on .desktop entries,
as specified by XDG, checkout [xdg-xmenu](https://github.com/OliverLew/xdg-xmenu)
by [OliverLew](https://github.com/OliverLew).

Check out my other project, [xclickroot](https://github.com/phillbush/xclickroot) for an application that can
spawn xmenu by right clicking on the root window (i.e. on the desktop).


## Features

XMenu comes with the following features:

* XMenu reads something in and prints something out, the UNIX way.
* Submenus (some menu entries can spawn another menu).
* Separators (menu entries can be separated by a line).
* Icons (menu entries can be preceded by an icon image).
* X resources support (you don't need to recompile xmenu for configuring it).


## Files

The files are:

* `./README`:     This file.
* `./Makefile`:   The makefile.
* `./config.h`:   The hardcoded default configuration for XMenu.
* `./config.mk`:  The setup for the makefile.
* `./demo.gif`:   A gif demonstrating how XMenu works.
* `./xmenu.1`:    The manual file (man page) for XMenu.
* `./xmenu.c`:    The source code of XMenu.
* `./xmenu.sh`:   A sample script illustrating how to use XMenu.
* `./icons/`:     Icons for the sample script


## Installation

First, edit `./config.mk` to match your local setup.

In order to build XMenu you need the `Imlib2`, `Xlib` and `Xft` header files.
The default configuration for XMenu is specified in the file `config.h`,
you can edit it, but most configuration can be changed at runtime via
X resources.  Enter the following command to build XMenu.  This command
creates the binary file `./xmenu`.

	make

By default, XMenu is installed into the `/usr/local` prefix.  Enter the
following command to install XMenu (if necessary as root).  This command
installs the binary file `./xmenu` into the `${PREFIX}/bin/` directory, and
the manual file `./xmenu.1` into `${MANPREFIX}/man1/` directory.

	make install


## Running XMenu

XMenu receives as input a menu specification where each line is a menu
entry.  Each line can be indented with tabs to represent nested menus.
Each line is made out of a label and a command separated by any number
of tabs.  Lines without labels are menu separators.

See the script `./xmenu.sh` for an example of how to use XMenu to draw a
simple menu with submenus and separators.  The file `./demo.gif` shows how
the menu generated by that script looks like.

Read the [manual](https://github.com/phillbush/xmenu/wiki) for more information on running XMenu.


## License

MIT/X Consortium License

© 2020 phillbush

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.