openbox - NetLinux Packages

Standards-compliant, fast, light-weight and extensible window manager. Works standalone or alongside desktop environments like XFCE, GNOME, or KDE.

Why this build?

Debian 12 and Ubuntu 26.04 both ship openbox 3.6.1 — the 2015 upstream release, unchanged for a decade. The NetLinux build is made from netlinux-ai/openbox, and adds a titlebar-driven configuration workflow built around two companion tools, obconf and obtheme:

Config and layer titlebar buttons — two new buttons on the window titlebar (enabled by default alongside the usual minimize/maximize/close). The config button launches obconf directly; the layer button cycles the window's always-on-top/always-below state.
Configurable launch commands — rc.xml gained <configManagerCommand> and <themeEditorCommand> so the binaries the titlebar buttons launch (and the one obconf's own "Edit Theme" button hands off to) are configured, not hardcoded — useful for custom install prefixes.
Own icons, own event dispatch — the new buttons paint into and receive events on their own windows, matching how the existing titlebar buttons already worked, rather than being bolted on.

Compared to the distro package

Package details

Install

	Distro openbox 3.6.1	NetLinux build
Config button on titlebar	—	Yes, launches obconf
Layer button on titlebar	—	Yes, cycles above/below/normal
Configurable tool paths	n/a	`configManagerCommand` / `themeEditorCommand` in `rc.xml`
Upstream release	3.6.1 (2015)	3.7, current tree

Version (resolute)	3.7-2netlinux1~resolute1
Version (stable)	3.6-845netlinux1~bookworm1-1 (pending rebuild for stable — see note below)
Architecture	amd64
Component	main
Suites	stable (Debian 12) and resolute (Ubuntu 26.04)
Download	openbox_3.7-2netlinux1~resolute1_amd64.deb · openbox-dev_3.7-2netlinux1~resolute1_amd64.deb (headers, for building obconf/obtheme from source)
Upstream	openbox.org
Source	github.com/netlinux-ai/openbox

resolute (Ubuntu 26.04): the NetLinux build versions as 3.7-..., which already sorts above the distro's 3.6.1, so apt install openbox picks it up with no extra steps.

stable (Debian 12): this suite is still serving the older 3.6-845netlinux1~bookworm1-1 build, which sorts below Debian's own 3.6.1. Until stable gets rebuilt from the current 3.7 tree, a plain apt install openbox on Debian 12 will prefer the distro package. To force the NetLinux build there, pin it:

sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/netlinux-openbox >/dev/null <<'EOF'
Package: openbox
Pin: release o=NetLinux
Pin-Priority: 1001
EOF
sudo apt update && sudo apt install openbox

Or install the .deb directly with sudo dpkg -i.

Using the config and layer buttons

Both buttons are enabled by default in the shipped rc.xml client-decoration list. Click the config button to open obconf (theme, appearance, behaviour, and more); click the layer button to cycle the window through above/normal/below. To change which binaries these launch, edit <configManagerCommand> and <themeEditorCommand> in ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml and run openbox --reconfigure.

See the main page for repository setup instructions, and the obconf and obtheme pages for the tools these buttons launch.