# SchWM — the Schunix Window Manager

Policy. Where windows go, which one has focus, what happens when you drag a
title bar, how alt-tab behaves, what a window looks like at its edges.

SchWM is a *client* of Schcom, not part of it. It talks the same protocol
every other client does, plus a privileged extension that lets it position
and stack surfaces it does not own. That extension is the entire difference
between a window manager and an ordinary application.

## Status

Not started. Blocked on Schcom, which is blocked on the kernel — see
`../schcom/README.md`.

## Why it is separate from the compositor

Merging them is the common shortcut and it is the one that hurts later.
Compositing is mechanical and must never stall: it runs every frame and a
mistake there is a frozen screen. Window management is policy, full of
special cases and personal taste, and it changes constantly. Putting them in
one process means every experiment with focus behaviour risks the thing that
puts pixels on the screen.

Keeping them apart also means SchWM can be restarted, replaced, or simply not
run. A Schcom with no window manager should still show a full-screen client —
that is a useful state to be able to reach when something is wrong.