mahkoh/jay v1.11.0

Jay 1.11.0

on GitHub

Fixes

As always, this release contains many bug fixes. Notably it changes the top layer in the
wlr-layer-shell-unstable-v1 protocol to be rendered below fullscreen windows. Previously
such layers were rendered on top of fullscreen windows which deviates from the behavior of
other compositors.

If this negatively affects your experience, try to configure the affected applications to
use the overlay layer instead.

Thanks to @disluckyguy for fixing this.

New and Improved Protocols

This release implements the following new protocols:

• xdg-toplevel-tag-v1

  This protocol allows clients to add a string tag to their windows. These tags can be
  used in window rules (see below).

• wlr-foreign-toplevel-management-unstable-v1

  This protocol allows task bars to display and manage application windows.

  Thanks to @disluckyguy for implementing this.

• wlr-output-management-unstable-v1

  This protocol allows applications to manage the position, mode, etc. of outputs.

  Thanks to @disluckyguy for implementing this.

• pointer-warp-v1

  This protocol allows applications to warp the cursor within their own windows.
  Previously some applications abused the pointer-constraints-unstable-v1 protocol for the
  same purpose.

• tablet-v2, version 2

  This version of the tablet protocol adds support for pad dials.

• pointer-constraints-unstable-v1, position hints

  The implementation now honors position hints set by clients.

  Thanks to @tadeokondrak for suggesting this.

Disabling the Built-In Bar

The built-in bar can now be disabled:

show-bar = true

[shortcuts]
alt-a = "show-bar"
alt-b = "hide-bar"
alt-c = "toggle-bar"

This can be useful if you want to use an external bar such as waybar.

Client & Window Rules

Jay now supports client and window rules:

[[windows]]
match.content-types = ["video"]
action = "enter-fullscreen"

These rules are described in detail in
window-and-client-rules.md.

Window Management

This release contains many improvements related to how you can manage windows with the
mouse and keyboard.

• You can now show floating windows above fullscreen windows:

  alt-a = "enable-float-above-fullscreen"
  alt-b = "disable-float-above-fullscreen"
  alt-c = "toggle-float-above-fullscreen"

• Floating windows can now be pinned to an output. A pinned floating window remains
  visible even if you switch to a different workspace on the same output.

  You can pin a floating window by right-clicking on its title or with the following actions:

  alt-a = "pin-float"
  alt-b = "unpin-float-float"
  alt-c = "toggle-float-pinned"

  A pinned window has a pin icon drawn in front of its title. You can also configure the
  compositor so that a grayed-out version of the icon is always shown even if the window
  is not pinned:

  [float]
  show-pin-icon = true

  In this case you can also toggle between pinned and unpinned by left-clicking on the
  icon.

• Floating windows are now restacked when you click, touch, or press down a tablet tool
  anywhere inside of them. Previously this only happened when clicking on the window
  title.

  Thanks to @disluckyguy for suggesting this.

• Fullscreen windows can now be moved to other workspaces and outputs without first
  leaving fullscreen. You can do this with the usual keyboard shortcuts or in
  window-management mode by dragging the window to another output. Recall that you can
  configure a key to enable window-management mode as follows:

  window-management-key = "XF86Macro1"

  This will enable window-management mode while this key is being pressed.

• In window-management mode, tiled windows can now be dragged with the mouse to move them
  around. Previously this was possible by dragging the window title, but in window
  management mode you can now click anywhere within the window.

  Note that, in window-management mode, dragging the title will actually drag the
  container containing the window.

  Thanks to @Stoppedpuma for suggesting this.

• Jay allows you to always revert the pointer to its default state by pressing the Escape
  key. For example, if you're performing a drag-and-drop operation, you can press Escape
  to abort it. Some people want to use the Escape key legitimately without having this
  side effect on the pointer.

  You can now configure which key performs this operation:

  pointer-revert-key = "Escape"

  You can disable this feature altogether by setting it to NoSymbol.

  Thanks to @kotarac for suggesting this.

• You can now assign vim-like marks to windows and later jump back to them:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-a = "create-mark"
  alt-b = "jump-to-mark"

  When these actions are executed, the next key press marks the selected window with that
  key or jumps to the window that was previously marked with that key.

  Instead of selecting the key interactively, you can also specify it in the config
  itself:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-a = { type = "create-mark", id.key = "a" }

  The key names can be found in the input-event-codes.h file in your /usr/include
  directory. The names should have the KEY_ prefix removed and must be written
  all-lowercase.

  Alternatively, you can use marks that are identified by a string name instead of a key:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-a = { type = "create-mark", id.name = "my mark name" }

  These marks live in their own namespace and cannot be accessed with the interactive key
  selection.

• Jay now maintains a focus history. The history allows you to navigate between your
  windows in the order in which you focused them:

  alt-a = "focus-prev"
  alt-b = "focus-next"

  You can customize the behavior of these actions with the following settings:

  [focus-history]
  only-visible = false
  same-workspace = true

  If only-visible is true, then actions will only move the focus to windows that are
  already visible. Otherwise it will make windows visible before focusing them, moving
  between tabs and workspaces as necessary.

  If same-workspace is true, then only windows on the same workspace will be focused.

  The defaults are false for both.

• When switching to a workspace, Jay will now put the focus on the last window that was
  previously focused on that workspace, which might be a floating window. Previously Jay
  would always put the focus on the last tiled window that was previously focused.

• You can now navigate between tiled and floating layers without using the mouse:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-a = "focus-below"
  alt-b = "focus-above"

  This should allow you to put the keyboard focus on any window without having to use the
  mouse.

  Thanks to @Stoppedpuma for suggesting this.

Toml Improvements

These improvements apply to the toml-based configuration:

• You can now assign names to actions:

  actions.xyz = [
      { type = "move-to-workspace", name = "1" },
      "enter-fullscreen",
  ]

  These actions can then be executed by prefixing their name with a $:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-a = "$xyz"

  This can be useful when the same action is used in multiple places.

  You can also re-define or un-define actions at runtime:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-a = {
    type = "define-action",
    name = "xyz",
    action = [
      { type = "move-to-workspace", name = "2" },
      "enter-fullscreen",
    ],
  }
  alt-b = { type = "undefine-action", name = "xyz" }

  These types of redefinitions can be used for a limited amount of dynamic behavior. For
  example, you can have the same key cycle between a number of workspaces.

• Jay now supports input modes:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-x = { type = "push-mode", name = "navigation" }
  
  [modes."navigation".shortcuts]
  Escape     = "pop-mode"
  w          = "focus-up"
  a          = "focus-left"
  s          = "focus-down"
  d          = "focus-right"
  q          = "focus-prev"
  e          = "focus-next"
  r          = "focus-above"
  f          = "focus-below"
  m          = "create-mark"
  apostrophe = "jump-to-mark"

  These modes allow you to define shortcuts that are overlayed on the normal shortcuts
  while the mode is active.

  If you have a foot pedal or same easy-to-reach key, you can use Jay's complex-shortcuts
  mechanism to enter the mode while you're holding the key down:

  [complex-shortcuts.XF86Macro2]
  action = { type = "push-mode", name = "navigation" } # Executes when the key is pressed
  latch = "pop-mode"                                   # Executes when the key is released

  If you prefer key chords, you can use the latch-mode action:

  [shortcuts]
  alt-x = { type = "latch-mode", name = "navigation" }

  This acts like push-mode except that the mode is automatically popped when the next
  shortcut is executed.

  By default, modes inherit from the default shortcuts, however, you can also configure
  them to inherit from another mode:

  [modes.m1.shortcuts]
  # ...
  
  [modes.m2]
  parent = "m1"
  [modes.m2.shortcuts]
  # ...

  In this case, the shortcuts that are active while the m2 mode is active are normal
  shortcuts, overwritten by the m1 shortcuts, overwritten by the m2 shortcuts.

  Note that you can explicitly unset a shortcut by assigning it the none action.

Support for cap_sys_nice

Jay now supports running with the cap_sys_nice capability:

~$ sudo setcap cap_sys_nice=+p /path/to/jay

If the compositor is started with this capability, it will set its own scheduler policy
to SCHED_RR which will allow the compositor to stay responsive even if the system is
under heavy load.

If the Vulkan renderer is used, it will also request a high-priority context which can
allow the kernel to give it priority when scheduling GPU operations.

Note that the capability and scheduler policy will not be inherited by child processes.

Miscellaneous Changes

• The jay-config crate now supports Seat::get_keyboard_output and
  Connector::workspaces functions to retrieve the output that has the keyboard focus and
  retrieve the list of workspaces located on an output.

  Thanks to @khyperia for implementing this.

• The libinput click-method and middle-button-emulation settings can now be set via the
  configuration or on the command line.

• The use of hardware cursors can now be disabled in the toml configuration:

  use-hardware-cursor = false

• The primary selection protocol can now be disabled:

  middle-click-paste = true

  Thanks to @kotarac for suggesting this.

• Jay can now be compiled against musl libc.

  Thanks to @elde-n for implementing this.

• Jay now works with some status programs that produce incorrectly formatted i3status
  output.

  Thanks to @disluckyguy for implementing this.