Eight months after its previous 3.6 release, IceWM, the lightweight window manager for the X Window System, favored for its minimal resource usage and high configurability, has released its latest version, 3.7.
We’ll start with a warning: packagers will notice that the new icewm-menu-fdo tool has added configuration options. However, it is worth noting that this release breaks “ModSuperIsCtrlAlt” when set to 1, so anyone relying on that configuration should proceed cautiously.
From a feature standpoint, IceWM 3.7 continues to expand its theming flexibility, introducing the new “ColorQuickSwitchBorder” preference and making the four graph widths themable.
In addition, users now benefit from the ability to grab two keys simultaneously through a single keybinding definition—provided both keys map to the same keysym.
The introduction of support for the _NET_WM_MOVERESIZE_CANCEL protocol option is also noteworthy, as it should enhance window management on modern desktops. Meanwhile, the icesh tool gains a handy “-Await” option to wait for and select new client windows.
On the fixes front, IceWM 3.7 addresses several longstanding quirks. One important tweak ensures the last event time is always used when setting window focus. At the same time, the fix for the desktop-focus glitch now prevents the user interface from getting stuck after undoing a “show the desktop” command.
Additionally, improved compatibility with OpenBSD tar resolves another issue, and a pesky crash when choosing “Default” in the clock menu has finally been eliminated.
Beyond these enhancements, scrolling is refined by allowing both scrollbars to process the same key event and then halting further propagation once that event has been handled.
For those who use a variety of locales, three-letter language codes are now supported, and the software enforces an eight-button limit for mouse pointers.
It’s also worth noting that icewmbg, an IceWM background-setting utility, can now handle the AVIF image format.
Finally, IceWM 3.7 brings updated translations in various languages, including Catalan, Czech, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish, for users worldwide.
Check out the changelog for more details. If you’re betting on IceWM, some rolling distros like Arch already offer the new 3.7 version in their repositories.
