Dwm

2020-01-09T19:29:52Z

Whitelynx: Spelling, formatting, and clarity fixes.

{{TOC right}}

[https://dwm.suckless.org/ dwm] is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts.

This guide covers:

* Creating a user account that can run as sudo
* Installing dependencies for the [https://suckless.org suckless] tools and installing firefox
* Installing from source dwm (dynamic window manager), dmenu (dynamic menu), st (simple terminal)
* Configuring the new profile to run dwm at login.

== Creating a new user account ==
After the install of alpine you get the root account. We want to use a new user account that is not root but will have sudo permissions.
{{cmd|# adduser myname}}
Where '''myname''' is the username you want to use.

Install sudo so we can add '''myname''' to sudoers.
{{cmd|# apk add sudo}}

Edit the sudoers file by running:
{{cmd|# visudo}}
{{Note|Only edit the sudoers file using '''visudo'''}}
Add your user account so you can have sudoers. Make your change below root. The relevant section should look like this:
{{cat|/etc/sudoers.tmp|
<pre>
##
## User privilege specification
##
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
myname ALL=(ALL) ALL</pre>}}

Switch to the new account
{{cmd|# su myname}}

== Installing Xorg ==
Run the following command to install X.org.
{{cmd|# sudo setup-xorg-base}}

== Configuring the community repositories ==
We need to do this so we can install Firefox. Edit the file with this command:
{{cmd|# sudo vi /etc/apk/repositories}}
Uncomment the community line by removing the '''#''' then save the file and exit.
It should look something like this:
{{cat|/etc/apk/repositories|
#/media/cdrom/apks
http://linorg.usp.br/AlpineLinux/v3.9/main
http://linorg.usp.br/AlpineLinux/v3.9/community
#http://linorg.usp.br/AlpineLinux/edge/main
#http://linorg.usp.br/AlpineLinux/edge/community
#http://linorg.usp.br/AlpineLinux/edge/testing}}
Next let the package manager know we made this change:
{{cmd|# sudo apk update}}

== Installing dependencies ==
{{Note|
'''git make gcc g++ libx11-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev ncurses''' are needed to install suckless tools from source.

'''dbus-x11''' is needed for the dbus system (when we run firefox in dwm we want it to open in a tile)

The last three '''adwaita-gtk2-theme adwaita-icon-theme ttf-dejavu''' are optional but I recommend them so you can have a nicer looking firefox. }}

The command to install the dependencies:
{{cmd|# sudo apk add git make gcc g++ libx11-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev ncurses dbus-x11 firefox-esr adwaita-gtk2-theme adwaita-icon-theme ttf-dejavu}}

== Installing suckless tools dwm, dmenu, and st from source ==
Go to this directory {{cmd| # cd /tmp}} this is where we will download the source code.
{{cmd|# git clone https://git.suckless.org/dwm}}
Once downloaded go to the dwm directory {{cmd|# cd dwm}}
To install, run:
{{cmd|# sudo make clean install}}
Next, leave this directory {{cmd|# cd ..}} so we can install dmenu:
{{cmd|# git clone https://git.suckless.org/dmenu}}
{{cmd|# cd dmenu}}
{{cmd|# sudo make clean install}}
Finally, leave this directory {{cmd|# cd ..}} so we can install st:
{{cmd|# git clone https://git.suckless.org/st}}
{{cmd|# cd st}}
{{cmd|# sudo make clean install}}
== Setting up your profile ==
Go to your home directory:
{{cmd|# cd /home/myname}} Where '''myname''' is your username.
Create .xinitrc:
{{cmd|# vi .xinitrc}}
Add this line:
{{cat|~/.xinitrc|
exec dwm}}
Save the file and exit vi.

Next, create .profile.:
{{cmd|# vi .profile}}
Add this line:
{{cat|~/.profile|
startx}}

{{Note|If you install additional programs that call your `$SHELL` with the POSIX `-l` login flag, you'll need to make launching `startx` conditional, otherwise X will attempt to launch every time your shell is called with the login flag.
{{cat|~/.profile|
if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then
startx
fi
}}
|gotchas}}

Exit to log out of the system or reboot and when you log in dwm will run.
Press alt+p to launch dmenu and start typing firefox. Press enter to run firefox, it will load in tile 9.

= =
* https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/contents?file=dwm
* [https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Dwm "dwm is only a single binary, and its source code is intended to never exceed 2000 SLOC. dwm is customized through editing its source code"]
* [[Awesome]]

[[category:Desktop]]

Alpine Linux - User contributions [en]

Dwm