EMWM: Enhanced Motif Window Manager — MotifCentral

MotifCentral:/emwm

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EMWM: Enhanced Motif Window Manager

An MWM fork with workspaces, current X extensions and compatibility improvements.

Role: Motif window manager. EMWM extends MWM while retaining its familiar appearance and interaction style. Its additions include multiple workspaces, Xinerama/Xrandr support, UTF-8 and Xft fonts, and improved compatibility with applications using Extended Window Manager Hints. Official project

The project also offers a separate utilities package. XmToolbox is an application launcher driven by a menu configuration file; XmSm provides session-management facilities. These are useful companions when assembling a small Motif desktop rather than installing a full environment such as CDE.

EMWM desktop with a launcher and workspace buttons at left, and several managed application windows.
EMWM with its companion launcher and workspace controls. Screenshot from Alex’s EMWM project gallery; application interiors are supplied by the individual programs. View full size.

Maintenance and documentation

At of September 2026, the project listed EMWM 2.1, released 15 August 2026, with compatibility and configuration-handling fixes. Its utilities have a separate release schedule. Downloads and release notes

Start with the EMWM guide and the manual pages included with the source. Existing MWM users should read the migration notes before reusing their configuration, particularly the changes associated with workspace management.

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Ready. libXm / Xt / Xlib