Blackbox

{{Short description|Free and open-source stacking window manager for the X Window System}}

{{About|the computer software}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Blackbox

| logo =

| screenshot = Blackbox on Debian.png

| screenshot size = 300px

| caption = Screenshot of Blackbox

| author =

| developer = Bradley T. Hughes{{cite web|url=http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/ManPages/blackbox|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909080254/http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/ManPages/blackbox|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 9, 2015|title=ManPages/blackbox - Blackbox|date=September 9, 2015|access-date=January 16, 2019}} up to version 0.70.1_SL7,{{Cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/blackboxwm/files/blackboxwm/Blackbox%200.70.1_SL7/|title = Blackbox - Browse /Blackboxwm/Blackbox 0.70.1_SL7 at SourceForge.net}} onwards forked by Brian Bidulock

| released =

| discontinued = no

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q751991|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| latest release date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q751991|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q751991|P348|P548=Q51930650}}

| latest preview date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q751991|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}

| programming language = C++

| operating system =

| platform = Unix-like

| language =

| genre = X window manager

| license = MIT{{cite web|url=http://directory.fsf.org/blackbox.html|publisher=FSF.org|title=Blackbox - Window manager written in C++}}

| website = {{URL|https://github.com/bradleythughes/blackbox/|Bradley T. Hughes' repository}}
{{URL|https://github.com/bbidulock/blackboxwm/tree/master|Repository of Brian Bidulock's fork}}

}}

File:Blackbox 0.7.ogv 7 Linux]]

Blackbox is a free and open-source stacking window manager for the X Window System.{{cite book |last1=Wrightson |first1=Katherine |last2=Merlino |first2=Joseph |title=Mastering UNIX |date=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780782153033 |pages=107–108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OaNDxa_z9CMC |access-date=January 16, 2019 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Justin |last2=Whittaker |first2=Roger |last3=Hagen |first3=William von |title=SUSE Linux 9 Bible |date=2005 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780764588761 |pages=186, 276–280 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7k6xIz7YlioC |language=en}}

Blackbox has specific design goals, and some functionality is provided only through other applications. One example is the bbkeys hotkey application.

Blackbox is written in C++{{cite web|url=http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net:80/HackingGuide|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214041749/http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/HackingGuide|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 14, 2018|title=Hacking Guide - Blackbox|date=February 14, 2018|access-date=January 16, 2019}} and contains completely original code.{{cite web|url=http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/AboutBlackbox|publisher=Sourceforge.net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206102805/http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/AboutBlackbox|archive-date=December 6, 2006|title=About Blackbox}} It was created by Bradley T. Hughes and is available under the MIT License. Blackbox has compliance with the Extended Window Manager Hints specification.{{cite web|title= ICCCM & EWMH Compliance |website= GitHub |url= https://github.com/bbidulock/blackboxwm/blob/master/COMPLIANCE |access-date= February 20, 2021 }}

The original author seems to have ceased updating the repository with the exception of a minor fix of compilation problems in 2015,{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/bradleythughes/blackbox/commit/107b7618f6151fb78c373ef480926d01b6317484|title=Compile with clang and libc++ · bradleythughes/Blackbox@107b761|website=GitHub}} leaving the last original version at 0.70.1. However an actively maintained fork by Brian Bidulock has been picked up by several Linux distributions in its place,{{Cite web|url=https://packages.slackware.com/?r=slackware-current&p=blackbox-0.74-i586-2.txz|title=The Slackware Linux Project: Packages|website=packages.slackware.com}}{{Cite web |website=Fedora Packages |url=https://apps.fedoraproject.org/packages/blackbox/sources/spec/ |title=Package Blackbox |access-date=August 13, 2019 |archive-date=August 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813012647/https://apps.fedoraproject.org/packages/blackbox/sources/spec |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/blackbox/|title=Arch Linux - blackbox 0.77-1 (x86_64)|website=archlinux.org|access-date=July 6, 2021|archive-date=December 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219145015/https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/blackbox/|url-status=dead}} and it is featured in pkgsrc.{{Cite web|url=https://pkgsrc.se/wm/blackbox70|title=pkgsrc.se | The NetBSD package collection|website=pkgsrc.se}} Despite that, some other Linux distributions still use the original source code,{{Cite web|url=https://packages.ubuntu.com/disco/blackbox|title=Ubuntu – Error|website=packages.ubuntu.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://packages.debian.org/sid/blackbox|title = Debian -- Details of package blackbox in sid}} as does FreeBSD.{{Cite web|url=https://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/x11-wm/blackbox/|title=[ports] Index of /head/x11-wm/blackbox|website=svnweb.freebsd.org}}