The lightweight IceWM window manager has reached version 4.0, bringing major enhancements to its Alt+Tab quick switch functionality and support for high-resolution icons. This update includes new options, commands, and fixes for better performance on modern systems. Released on January 1, 2026, it aims to provide a simpler, faster graphical environment for X Window System users.
IceWM 4.0, a major update for the lightweight window manager designed for the X Window System, introduces several key improvements centered on usability and efficiency. The standout feature is the revamped Alt+Tab quick switch, which now handles a large number of application windows in both horizontal and vertical modes. Users can navigate this switch using all navigation keys and access a new preview mode for applications. Additionally, typing the first letter of an application class name allows selection of the next instance window, while number keys or mouse clicks enable quick selection in horizontal mode.
Icon handling sees significant upgrades, including support for high-resolution icons via the WM_ICON_SIZE setting and HiDPI monitors for submenu indicators. Icon drawing is faster thanks to server-side caching, with standard sizes like 16, 22, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128, and 256 pixels now supported. Alpha blending and 32-bit RGBA rendering are enabled by default.
Other changes include dropping the DoubleBuffer and QuickSwitchMaxWidth preferences, adding getWorkspaceName and getWorkspaceNames options to icesh, and a new mechanism to update workspace names on the taskbar when altered externally. The release also addresses practical issues: it uses the clock font if a clock LED pixmap is missing, limits window titles to 128 bytes, reports I/O failures on /proc/net/dev only once, reads extra workspace names from the desktop at startup, and provides diagnostic messages for icesh loadicon and saveicon functions.
Bug fixes cover keyboard layout switching on OpenBSD, dragging of desktop mini icons on secondary screens in multi-monitor setups, overlap between tasks and workspaces panes, and crashes when a dock layer window exits. Language support has been expanded with updates for Catalan, Dutch, Swedish, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Slovak, and Slovenian translations. It also initializes the user's default locale in icewm-menu-fdo.
IceWM remains focused on simplicity, featuring a taskbar with pager, global and per-window keybindings, and a dynamic menu system that avoids unnecessary complexity.
