replicating StumpWM workflow

[formbi-kupiec]

Hi!

It's nice that this project aims to replicate StumpWM's behavior, but I don't see how to do two things that I like very much about it.

1. Split without a window - in StumpWM or Emacs you can do a split, go to the new empty pane and open something there. IMO it's more intuitive than opening a window and splitting at the same time.
2. Don't split automatically - supposedly Sway has manual tiling, but it still does a split while opening a window. In StumpWM or Emacs new things open on top of the previous ones, I don't need to see everything at the same time. Sway does have a stacking mode, but I don't see a way to make a split out of two stacked windows, which is useful when you do decide that you need to see more of the windows.

Is is possible to replicate those things?

[ebeem]

Hey, thanks for checking out guile-swayer
I can totally understand how you feel, I too came from stumpwm and I would like to highlight some points that may help you switch to sway

1- This project is adding scripting capabilities to sway, stumpwm like configuration is one of the examples that demonstrate how guile-swayer can be used

2- Sway doesn't allow you to split without a window, I have some attempts to create a module for that under modules/manual-tiling.scm

3- sway itself is a manual tiling window manager, you have to learn more how to use it though because it's so much different than stump in the way it arranges windows. Use the layout tabbed to get a stacking behaviour similar to stumpwm. That will have to be in your sway config (not guile-swayer config) as this command is config only

workspace_layout tabbed

Make sure you restart sway, then you will notice the behaviour you desire becomes always the default

[formbi-kupiec]

I have some attempts to create a module for that under modules/manual-tiling.scm

it mentions some Python script that isn't included tho :/

the behaviour you desire becomes always the default

The problem is that it kinda doesn't, you can't do a split on tabbed windows. Splitting only occurs when you open yet another window.

you have to learn more how to use it though because it's so much different than stump in the way it arranges windows

So maybe guile-ifying Cagebreak would be viable? It's a successor of Ratpoison, which StumpWM was initially a CL-ification of…

[ebeem]

The python script is just a dummy empty gtk application that will act like a placeholder for new splits
The idea is, always create an empty window after splitting, once you spawn an application the placeholder will be killed.

Regarding the splitting, it's about sway's method of splitting. If you split in sway, the layout of the current container changes. This means that after splitting, creating or deleting windows will be in respect of that layout (a bit complicated and needs some more practical examples). That's why creating a placeholder window after splitting is going to make the behavior similar to stumpwm.

I haven't tried Cagebreak, but I wouldn't sacrifice stability at this point. I tried other window managers like hyprland and that wasn't the greatest experience to me.

[spiderbit]

I also am confused because you mention stumpwm which I currently use on my main machine but then I tried to launch applications and it started surprisingly tiling then I remembered that this was a stupid thing i3 also did.

Now I tried to use:
(sway-workspace-layout SWAY-LAYOUT-TABBED)

which should be the same right:
workspace_layout tabbed

But when I launch 3 terminals it splits the window instead of "stacking" or tabbing.

Even if it were to use this tabs like with firefox I seen it in the past, it would not move a window from 1 side of a split to the other if I have focused that side and try to "pull" the window from there, at best it would put it visible... on the side it already is, so I don't see that even be tricked into becoming "good".

I think saying "similar behavior" on the Startpage is misleading, sure technically you could say windows or Gnome is similar to stumpwm depending on how wide you use the "similar", but imho. it's very different and I basically wasted a few hours setting that up on my laptop and it's not useful to me.

[ebeem]

@spiderbit I mentioned stumpwm, but I never said this project replicates it or is a drop-in replacement. If you just read the short description of this project, it clearly says "Extensible Guile bindings for SwayWM". If you took some time to read the README page it would have saved you "wasted few hours" because you will know this project is not meant for you. I explained clearly in the readme what's my workflow that I have replicated, if you're a stumpwm or emacs user then you should know very well that my workflow may not necessarily work for you. This project is a toolkit that allows you to hack your sway via a lisp language (guile scheme). The fact that I implemented some modules/logic that replicates some of stumpwm behavior doesn't change the project's goal as somebody else may implement other logic that's not similar to mine.

Regarding the problem you faced with workspace layout, I already mentioned in my reply in this issue and I am quoting

"That will have to be in your sway config (not guile-swayer config) as this command is config only"

I had some work done in the layout part that tries to replicate the different layouts including stumpwm's manual layout, but I stopped working on it as I am currently working on a bigger project. If you will put the effort to fix it, then that will be great. However, I have to say that sway's scripting limitation is going to cause so much pain.