Kröhnkite 0.9.10.0 Just Released

If you’re a KDE user and prefer the KDE taskbar applets… there is an easy way to turn your KDE into a tiling window manager, and it’s the Kröhnkite KWIN script. And technically, I use SonicDE which is a fork of KDE to keep X11 support alive since KDE dropped support. The neat thing about this script is it can be enabled and disabled making it easy to return to regular floating window KDE. And this new version seems to have fixed some bugs I had with the last version, so I’ll keep playing with it on my laptop. If you decide to give it a try, a big thing to add is Rofi with a hotkey setup for running applications (covered in the video below). Rofi is so great, I add it to every computer even if not using Kröhnkite. And for my desktop with a large monitor, a tiling window manager isn’t a great fit, as it seems to be a better fit for smaller monitors like on a laptop or if you have a multiscreen setup. And though not a fan of tiling window managers before, I’m actually enjoying Kröhnkite on my laptop.

https://codeberg.org/anametologin/Krohnkite/releases

This is the largest Kröhnkite update since 0.9.9.2, with 177 commits: a new surface and layout capacity system, reworked shortcuts and floating windows, live configuration reloads, and many stability fixes.

Highlights

  • Surface and layout capacity — limit how many windows a layout or a user-defined surface can hold. Excess windows are moved to neighbouring screens or virtual desktops, with configurable direction order, per-surface overrides and exclusions.
  • Shortcut system rework — shortcuts are now configurable sequences. Any action can be assigned to a key sequence, and the main action can be disabled entirely.
  • Floating windows overhaul — native initial size for initially floating windows, configurable placement and randomisation, configurable move/resize step, and the ability to move floating windows across outputs and virtual desktops. Floating windows can also be excluded from the “float by default” mode.
  • Docked windows — docked windows can be dragged, swapped and dropped back into the tiled area. They can also be toggled back to floating, remembering their previous state.
  • Configuration reload without restarting KWin — configuration is parsed and applied transactionally at runtime.
  • Per-screen virtual desktops — support for the KWin 6.7 per-screen virtual desktop model, with the active monitor preserved when switching desktops.
  • Layout improvements — optional column limit for the Columns layout, configurable spacing for the Spread layout, minimum-size-aware tiling in Tile, Three Column, Columns, Stack and Quarter layouts, proportional window adjustment by weight, a persistent master window and a fixed DWM-style Set Master action.
  • Icons — shared SVG layout pictograms are now used in both settings and the layout popup, with accessible labels. Kröhnkite also ships a proper application icon resolved by its theme name.

Fixes and polish

  • Fixed crashes and incorrect behaviour when outputs are destroyed on hotplug/resume.
  • Fixed docks and panels overlapping already-tiled windows.
  • Fixed docking next to an adjacent monitor when the dragged window changes output before the cursor does.
  • Fixed windows failing to move to another monitor in grid view.
  • Fixed the layout popup appearing without stealing focus.
  • Fixed focus handling for unminimised windows and for Krohnkite notifications.
  • Fixed the source virtual desktop not being retiled after move-with-switch shortcuts.
  • Fixed small, non-resizable windows shifting after becoming floating.
  • Fixed the initial size of floating windows and the restored geometry of unminimised windows.
  • Improved virtual desktop navigation for vertical desktop layouts.
  • Added per-callback re-entrancy guards and batched arrangements for multi-window shortcuts.
  • The drag preview overlay is now hidden when the setting is inactive.
  • The mouse pointer can optionally follow keyboard focus, moving to the centre of the active window or screen.
  • Updated settings UI: combo boxes instead of radio buttons for directional-key behaviour, clearer tooltips and descriptions.
  • Updated Russian and Chinese translations, plus new translation strings for 0.9.10.0.

Compatibility

  • KWin 6 only.
  • Per-screen virtual desktops require KWin 6.7 or later.
  • After upgrading, reopen System Settings → Window Management → KWin Scripts so the new icons and settings pages are picked up.

Notes

  • Virtual keyboard handling is now disabled by default because it issues five D-Bus requests on every window activation.
  • The “auto-float oversized windows” behaviour is experimental and disabled by default.
  • Master builds are now named with a -git suffix; release builds have no suffix.