How can a client identify the window manager version?

[Markus Kuhn]

Is there a standardized way, by which an X11 client application can
identify the product name and version of the window manager with with it
interacts? Something like like "fvwm 2.5.10", i.e. the kind of string that the
window manager would return if called with the command line option --version.

This would be very useful for:

  - generation of automatic bug reports by the clients (in case the
    window manager version is affecting the reproducability of the failure)

  - adapting client behaviour to particular window managers (e.g., differently
    phrased help messages or graphical instructions)

If there is no mechanism for a client to identify the window manager
name and version, may I suggest such a feature for inclusion in a future
ICCCM or wm-spec extension?

Markus

-- 
Markus Kuhn, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ || CB3 0FD, Great Britain