Fluxbox

Fluxbox is a lightweight window manager for the X Window System, derived from Blackbox. It focuses on speed, simplicity, and configurability, offering a traditional stacking window manager with minimal resource usage.

Fluxbox provides a highly configurable desktop environment through text files, notably the fluxbox.conf, keys, menu, and startup scripts. Users customize keyboard shortcuts, window behavior, and the root window menu. The default root menu can be generated or edited to include applications and actions; a style/theme system controls colors, fonts, and decorations.

Fluxbox supports multiple workspaces, focus handling, configurable window placement, and optional components such as a taskbar, slits, and a toolbar, depending on user setup. It integrates with wallpaper scripts and panel utilities to form a lightweight desktop experience.

It runs on Unix-like systems with X11, including Linux and BSD variants. It is designed to be fast and memory-efficient, suitable for older hardware or users who prefer a minimal system with manual customization. Fluxbox can be started from a display manager or from an .xinitrc file via startx.

History: It originated as a fork of Blackbox around the early 2000s and has since evolved under its own project. It remains popular in lightweight Linux distributions and among users who value a configurable, low-overhead window manager.