IceWM 4.1 Released with New Window Focus Control

IceWM 4.1 introduces a new window option that can be toggled to ignore the user-time value applications report to X11. This value is normally used by the window manager to decide whether a newly opened window should receive focus. When an application supplies an incorrect timestamp, focus can jump unexpectedly; the new flag lets operators whitelist such windows. Existing configurations that relied on the default behavior will continue unchanged unless the option is explicitly set.

The command-line helper icesh now includes a mousemove sub-command, which moves the X11 pointer to specified coordinates. This addition makes it possible to script cursor movements directly from terminal sessions or automation frameworks without invoking external utilities. Engineers can embed this call in startup scripts, testing harnesses, or remote management tools. The change does not affect systems that never invoke icesh, but scripts that previously used work-arounds will need to be updated to call the new command.

Alpha compositing, previously enabled by default, is now disabled out of the box. The shift aims to avoid video playback slowdowns that some drivers exhibit when handling transparency layers. Users who require translucent windows must now enable the alpha setting manually in the configuration file. Systems that depended on the default alpha behavior will see a visual change but gain more predictable performance.

Configuration parsing has been hardened to tolerate unterminated strings and to correctly handle the _NET_STARTUP_ID property, reducing crashes caused by malformed config files. The graphics cleanup order has also been corrected, preventing error messages during resource destruction. These fixes improve overall stability, especially on setups that generate complex startup notifications. The changes are internal and do not require any action from end users beyond updating to the new package.