XURGENT(1) General Commands Manual XURGENT(1)
NAME
xurgent - set window urgency
SYNOPSIS
prog [-eiu] [wid]
DESCRIPTION
xurgent sets either the UrgencyHint flag on the WMHints property or the
_NET_WM_STATE_DEMANDS_ATTENTION state on the _NET_WM_STATE property of
the window with the given window id. By default, only the UrgencyHint
flag is set.
The options are as follows:
-e Change the _NET_WM_STATE property (as specified by the EWMH).
-i Change the WMHints property (as specified by the ICCCM).
-u Unset urgency/attention rather than set it.
The argument wid can be in decimal or in hex (if prefixed by 0x or 0X).
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables affect the execution of xurgent.
DISPLAY
The display the window is on.
SEE ALSO
xclimsg(1)
https://www.x.org/releases/current/doc/xorg-docs/icccm/icccm.html
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-latest.html
BUGS
There are two semantically related states a window can have: it can be
urgent or it can demands attention.
o The urgency is set by the UrgencyHint in the WMHints property (as
specified by ICCCM, the Inter-Client Communication Conventions
Manual).
o The demand-attention state is set by the
_NET_WM_STATE_DEMANDS_ATTENTION in the _NET_WM_STATE property (as
specified by EWMH, the Extended Window Manager Hints).
The semantic difference between a urgent window and a window that demands
attention is not clear.
The ICCCM says:
The UrgencyHint flag, if set in the flags field, indicates that the
client deems the window contents to be urgent, requiring the timely
response of the user. The window manager must make some effort to
draw the user's attention to this window while this flag is set.
The window manager must also monitor the state of this flag for the
entire time the window is in the Normal or Iconic state and must
take appropriate action when the state of the flag changes. The
flag is otherwise independent of the window's state; in particular,
the window manager is not required to deiconify the window if the
client sets the flag on an Iconic window. Clients must provide
some means by which the user can cause the UrgencyHint flag to be
set to zero or the window to be withdrawn. The user's action can
either mitigate the actual condition that made the window urgent,
or it can merely shut off the alarm.
The EWMH says:
_NET_WM_STATE_DEMANDS_ATTENTION indicates that some action in or
with the window happened. For example, it may be set by the Window
Manager if the window requested activation but the Window Manager
refused it, or the application may set it if it finished some work.
This state may be set by both the Client and the Window Manager.
It should be unset by the Window Manager when it decides the window
got the required attention (usually, that it got activated).
UNIX July 6, 2023 UNIX