XFile - File manager for Unix/X11
XFile is a compact file manager for Unix and alike systems running X11. It presents the file system as is, without imaginary locations, trashcans etc. XFile uses its own file type association database written in typical Unix/RC file syntax. Mounting support for file systems defined in fstab, and integration with mount daemons that manage a dedicated media directory is also included.
XFile is easily configurable and customizable with X resources. The Tools dropdown menu can be populated with user defined commands, which may be run with selected files, current directory and user specified parameters as arguments.
The application has no dependencies, save for X and Motif, and is built using simple Makefiles. It's written in C, and the source code is freely available under the terms of the X/MIT license.
Downloads
Latest source code:
xfile-src-1.0-beta.tar.xz
Beta RC3 (Updated Jul 30 2025).
Noteworthy changes since last update
•A lost primary X selection for list items may be now reacquired with the newly added Edit->Reselect menu command, without having to actually reselect files in the list.
•Variable expansion now behaves more akin to sh(1), with (any of) '"\ implicitly terminating the variable name.
•The addon directory has ben split off the main repository and is now available as a separate download (see below).
Older updates
•The Terminal command in Tools menu is no longer hardcoded,
and is now implemented like any normal user tool in app-defaults. The
XFile.terminal resource was subsequently removed, and a custom terminal
emulator may now be specified by overriding the XFile.tools.terminal
resource, which defaults to xterm.
•Input and directory selection dialogs now have a history list widget.
The maximum number of entries can be controlled with the
historyMaxEntries resource. Data is stored in plain text files in
~/.xfile/history/..., which can be safely deleted.
See the included README file for build instructions. The application is usually tested on FreeBSD and Debian GNU/Linux. If you have a question that isn't answered in the manpage, feel free to contact me (Alex): mail@fastestcode.org
See the XFile FAQ/Guide for hints
on setting up XFile, and the Motif/EMWM FAQ
on setting up Motif based applications in general.
You can contribute by making a one-time donation via
Stripe,
or supporting further development via
Liberapay.
Addons
xfile-addon.tar.xz
(Updated Jul 09 2025)
Additional (mostly application specific) icons and file type definitions.
To install, simply untar contents into ~/.xfile/, also see the README
file inside the tarball.
xfile-xdgsvc-src.tar.xz
(Updated Dec 26 2024)
A shim that allows xfile to act as xdg/freedesktop default file manager
and be launched over dbus (such interface is used by some GTK programs,
notably firefox and gimp). See the README file included.
xfind-src.tar.xz
(Updated Jul 17 2025)
A graphical, task oriented file search utility (see
screenshot) that interfaces with XFile.
See the README file included, for installation instructions.
xfile-slanted-icons.tar.xz
(Updated Dec 26 2024)
Alternate (indigo magic inspired) set of directory
icons for xfile (to install, just copy *.xpm files into ~/.xfile/icons)
Screenshots
Click for a larger picture.
Trivia
Git repositories and distfiles archived/mirrored on SourceForge and Github.
See also: EMWM • XImaging • Misc. X Stuff • Homepage About