wmpulsemixer

wmpulsemixer is a sleek volume control dockapp designed specifically for the Window Maker desktop environment.

It is a fork of the classic wmsmixer (which was a fork of wmmixer). This version completely strips out the obsolete Linux Open Sound System (OSS) kernel module backend (/dev/mixer) and replaces it with a native, user-space control layer for modern audio servers (PulseAudio and PipeWire).

Requirements

To build and run wmpulsemixer, you need the standard X11 development libraries and the libpulse library:

# Debian / Ubuntu / Mint
sudo apt install build-essential x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev libxext-dev libxpm-dev libpulse-dev

Compilation and Installation

make
sudo make install

The binary will be installed in /usr/local unless you specify another location:

sudo make install PREFIX=/usr

Usage

Launch the dockapp within your Window Maker startup routine or session:

wmpulsemixer
wmpulsemixer -w           # Launch as a Dock app
wmpulsemixer -boost 1.5   # Allow volume up to 150%

See wmpulsemixer --help for a full list of options.

Authors & Credits

• Fabien Pollet (2026) — Creator of wmpulsemixer (PulseAudio/PipeWire modern rewrite).
• Damian Kramer (2001-2003) — Creator of wmsmixer (Scrollwheel engine optimization).
• Sam Hawker (1998) — Creator of the original wmmixer core architecture

Links

• wmsmixer
• wmmixer