Maximize Application without Window Manager

Question

What I'd like to do is use xwininfo and wmctrl to maximize an application in X without a window manager. Here is what I've worked out:
#!/bin/sh
# ~/.xinitrc
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
[ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
done
unset f
fi
# exec gnome-session
# exec startkde
# exec startxfce4
# ...or the Window Manager of your choice
MAXIMIZE_ID=$(xwininfo -root -child | grep "st-256color" | grep -o "^[[:space:]]*0x[[:alnum:]]*" | grep -o "0x[[:alnum:]]*")
MAXIMIZE_WIDTH=$(xwininfo -root | grep "Width" | grep -o "[[:digit:]]*")
MAXIMIZE_HEIGHT=$(xwininfo -root | grep "Height" | grep -o "[[:digit:]]*")
while [ "$MAXIMIZE_ID" = "" ]
do
MAXIMIZE_ID=$(xwininfo -root -child | grep "st-256color" | grep -o "^[[:space:]]*0x[[:alnum:]]*" | grep -o "0x[[:alnum:]]*")
if [ "$MAXIMIZE_ID" != "" ]
then
wmctrl -i -r $MAXIMIZE_ID -e 0,0,0,$MAXIMIZE_WIDTH,$MAXIMIZE_HEIGHT
fi
done &
exec st
As intended it maximizes the st terminal. However, the terminal simply hangs there, I can provide it with no input, any clues as to what I'm missing and/or doing incorrectly? I realize st uses the geometry parameter, I'm only using it here as an example application as not all applications support that parameter.
Last edited by grimpirate (2014-08-12 19:20:00)

Answer 1

It's much more complex than that.  Wmctrl requires a EWMH compliant window manager.  Many of the lightest weight WMs are not EWMH compliant.
Is this just for st, or do you want all windows maximized?  Does st have a 'geometry' flag?
You could write a WM that does nothing but fullscreen every window that is mapped in about a dozen lines of code.  Note, however, that without a WM, windows will generally not properly be assigned the input focus - one result is that cursors on most terminals will remain 'hollow'.  For the cost of one or two more lines of code, this new WM could also set input focus appropriately.
EDIT: st does have a geometry flag, just use that.
Also, your 'grep | grep' pipe could just be "awk '/Width/ { print $2;}'", or two get both width and height in one go:
xwininfo -root | awk '/Width/ { printf "%s", $2;} /Height/ {printf "x%s", $2;}'
Though this wouldn't be quite right for a st geometry string as that takes rows and columns, not pixels.
EDIT2: your solution will also fail miserably for two other reasons.  There is not point in initializing the MAXIMIZEID variable before the loop starts - because if there actually are any windows there, the while loop will never run.  Also, without a sleep command, or something, all that while loop will be very good for will be to turn your cpu into a frying pan (100% cpu use -> heat).
Here's a very plain WM that will do the same thing without melting your CPU:
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
int main(void) {
Display *dpy;
if(!(dpy = XOpenDisplay(0x0))) return 1;
XEvent ev;
int scr = DefaultScreen(dpy);
int sw = DisplayWidth(dpy, scr);
int sh = DisplayHeight(dpy, scr);
Window w, root = RootWindow(dpy, scr);
XSelectInput(dpy, root, SubstructureRedirectMask);
while (!XNextEvent(dpy, &ev)) {
if (ev.type == MapRequest && (w=ev.xmaprequest.window)) {
XMoveResizeWindow(dpy, w, 0, 0, sw, sh);
XMapWindow(dpy, w);
XSetInputFocus(dpy, w, RevertToPointerRoot, CurrentTime);
XFlush(dpy);
return 0;
Last edited by Trilby (2014-08-13 13:03:59)