Install xprop with Homebrew, apk, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xprop

Project history

The current man page carries Open Group copyrights from 1988 and 1998 and an XFree86 copyright from 2000, placing xprop in the older X Consortium/Open Group/XFree86 lineage before the modern modular X.Org release process. It later became one of the separately shipped X.Org app modules.

As a modular X.Org utility, xprop is intentionally narrow. The upstream README describes it simply as a command-line tool to display and/or set window and font properties of an X server, with development now hosted in the freedesktop.org GitLab repository and questions routed to the Xorg mailing list.

The release archive shows xprop as part of the X.Org individual app set from the 2006 modular era onward. Newer releases still happen because small fixes matter: the 1.2.5 README notes a -help command-line handler and icon-image display improvements, and 1.2.8 was archived in 2024.

Adoption history

xprop spread with the X11 desktop stack rather than through a separate hype cycle. It is available wherever X.Org utilities are packaged because it is the standard way to inspect WM_CLASS, WM_NAME, EWMH _NET_* values, root-window properties, font properties, and arbitrary atoms from a shell.

Its adoption persisted because X11 properties are the glue between clients, window managers, panels, launchers, automation scripts, and debugging sessions. Even as Wayland reduces the direct applicability of X11 tooling, xprop remains part of Xwayland and legacy-X troubleshooting.

How it is used

The classic workflow is to run xprop and click a window, or pass -id, -name, -root, or -font to choose a target. With no explicit property list, it prints all properties on the selected object; with property names, it prints just those values.

More advanced use includes -set and -remove for changing properties, -spy for watching property-change events, and -f or format files for controlling how property values are displayed. In package-nerd practice, it is often paired with xwininfo, wmctrl, xdotool, window-manager rule systems, and bug reports about X11 clients.

Why package nerds care

xprop is tiny but culturally important: it exposes one of X11's core mechanisms without requiring a debugger or Xlib program. A lot of Linux desktop lore, from fixing application window classes to writing window-manager rules, starts with xprop output.

For package indexes, xprop is the kind of utility that justifies splitting old X.Org trees into many small packages. Users may install it alone to debug GUI behavior, even if they do not think of themselves as installing the X.Org app suite.

Timeline

• 1988 and 1998: Open Group copyright dates appear in the current xprop man page.
• 2000: XFree86 copyright appears in the current xprop man page.
• 2006-01-18: X.Org archived xprop 1.0.1 in the individual app release area.
• 2020-11-20: X.Org archived xprop 1.2.5, whose README called out -help handling and icon-image display improvements.
• 2024-11-14: X.Org archived xprop 1.2.8.

Related projects

• xwininfo: often used with xprop when identifying X11 windows by id.
• ICCCM and EWMH: specifications that define many of the properties users inspect with xprop.
• wmctrl, xdotool, and window-manager rule systems: practical neighbors in X11 automation and debugging.

Sources

• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xprop
• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xprop/-/blob/master/man/xprop.man
• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xprop/-/raw/master/README.md
• https://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/sec-4.html
• https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.6-RC1/doc/man/man1/xprop.1.xhtml
• https://xorg.freedesktop.org/archive/individual/app/