AwesomeWM: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:21, 25 May 2025

Awesome is a highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X. It is primarily targeted at power users, developers and any people dealing with every day computing tasks and who want to have fine-grained control on their graphical environment.

Prerequisites

Internet connectivity, unless the packages have been pre-fetched into a local cache.
Install appropriate Graphics driver drivers for your hardware. Without graphics drivers, errors are likely to occur when starting your desktop.
A non-root user account.
The community repository must be enabled.
Set up eudev.
Install and enable D-Bus. Without D-Bus, icons and keyboard shortcuts may be missing.
Install Xorg

Installation

Install awesome, xterm and terminus font.

# apk add awesome xterm font-terminus

Video and Input packages

You might want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.
For example:

# apk add xf86-input-synaptics

Run apk search xf86-video* to see available xf86-video packages.
Run apk search xf86-input* to see available xf86-input packages.

VMWare Users

# apk add xf86-video-vmware

and/or

# apk add xf86-input-vmmouse

acpid

If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.

# rc-update add acpid

Start your desktop

$ echo 'awesome' >> /home/<newuser>/.xinitrc

$ mkdir /home/<newuser>/.config

$ cp -r /etc/xdg/awesome /home/<newuser>/.config

$ vi /home/<newuser>/.config/awesome/rc.lua

Start awesome.

$ startx

Troubleshooting

D-Bus problems:

D-Bus library appears to be incorrectly set up; failed to read machine uuid: Failed to open "/var/lib/dbus/machine-id": No such file or directory

If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follows:

Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root for the step shown below)

# apk add dbus

Log in or su to the root account, then launch the following command (Note: sudo does not work for this step):

# dbus-uuidgen > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id

Now if startx is launched, it should load the desktop correctly

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-= Initial setup =
+[[file: awesome-01.png |thumb |Screenshot]]
-Start by booting up Alpine (see [[Installation|these]] instructions on how to do that)<BR>
+{{TOC right}}
-When Alpine is up and running, do the initial setup.
+[https://awesomewm.org/ Awesome] is a highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X. It is primarily targeted at power users, developers and any people dealing with every day computing tasks and who want to have fine-grained control on their graphical environment.
-{{Cmd|# setup-alpine}}
-= Enable Community Repository =
+== Prerequisites ==
-In order to install the awesome package (see "Install packages" below), you need to enable the community repository for your version. Uncomment the {{ic|http://<url>/alpine/<version>/community}} line in {{ic|/etc/apk/repositories}}. For example:
+{{:Include:Desktop prerequisites}}
+* [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Install Xorg]]
-{{cat|/etc/apk/repositories|<nowiki># /etc/apk/repositories
+== Installation ==
-#/media/sdb/apks
+Install awesome, xterm and terminus font. {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|awesome|arch=}} {{pkg|xterm|arch=}} {{pkg|font-terminus|arch=}}}}
-http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/alpine/v3.8/main
-http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/alpine/v3.8/community
-#http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/alpine/v3.8/testing
-</nowiki>
-}}
-= Install packages =
+=== Video and Input packages ===
-Install awesome, feh, aterm as basic desktop system.<BR>
+You <u>might</u> want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.<BR>
-This might take a few minutes depending on your network speed.
+For example:
-{{Cmd|# apk add awesome feh aterm}}
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|xf86-input-synaptics|arch=}}}}
-If aterm is not recognized by apk (Alpinelinux 3.2.x or above) instead of it you can install lxterminal.<BR>
-On the same version of Alpinelinux (3.2.x or above) you have to install the package lua otherwise awesome will not start
-{{Cmd|# apk add lua}}
-Add other apps on need, eg. firefox, gnumeric, xchat, gimp, pidgin, geany, vim, etc.<BR>
-For Alpinelinux 2.6.x add additional pkgs
-{{Cmd|# apk add cairo-gobject pango}}
-== Optional packages ==
+Run {{ic|apk search {{pkg|xf86-video*|arch=}}}} to see available xf86-video packages.<BR>
-=== Video and Input packages ===
+Run {{ic|apk search {{pkg|xf86-input*|arch=}}}} to see available xf86-input packages.<BR>
-You <u>might</u> also want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.<BR>
-For example, if you have an Sis video chipset install 'xf86-video-sis', for Intel video chipset install 'xf86-video-intel'.<BR>
-{{Cmd|# apk add xf86-video-sis}}
-and / or
-{{Cmd|# apk add xf86-input-synaptics}}
-Run 'apk search xf86-video*' to see available xf86-video packages.<BR>
+=== VMWare Users ===
-Run 'apk search xf86-input*' to see available xf86-input packages.<BR>
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|xf86-video-vmware|arch=}}}}
+and/or
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|xf86-input-vmmouse|arch=}}}}
 === acpid ===
-If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest you might find it handy to be able send ACPI shutdown.<BR>
+If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.<BR>
 {{Cmd|# rc-update add acpid}}
-= Configure xorg-server =
+== Start your desktop ==
-On most systems, xorg should be able to autodetect all devices. However you can still configure xorg-server by hand by launching:
-{{Cmd|# setup-xorg-base}}
-= Create user accounts =
-Create a normal user account.
-{{Cmd|# adduser <user>}}
-Optionally, give that user sudo permissions in /etc/sudoers. When doing so, it is important to use the command: {{Cmd|# visudo}} This ensures that only one user is changing the file at any given time.  Visudo has two modes: Command mode and Insert mode.  To edit the file, use the arrows to navigate to the appropriate line and enter Insert mode by pressing the 'i' key.  To save and exit, enter Command mode by pressing the 'Esc' key, then ':w' + 'enter' to save, and finally ':q' + 'enter' to quit.
-Logout from root and login into new created account.
-= Start your desktop =
 {{Cmd|$ echo 'awesome' >> /home/<newuser>/.xinitrc}}
 {{Cmd|$ mkdir /home/<newuser>/.config}}
 {{Cmd|$ cp -r /etc/xdg/awesome  /home/<newuser>/.config}}
 {{Cmd|$ vi /home/<newuser>/.config/awesome/rc.lua}}
-Replace instances of xterm with aterm or (if 3.2.x or above use lxterminal instead)
 Start awesome.
 {{Cmd|$ startx}}
-= Troubleshooting =
+== Troubleshooting ==
 D-Bus problems:
@@ Line 70: / Line 43: @@
 {{Cmd|D-Bus library appears to be incorrectly set up; failed to read machine uuid: Failed to open "/var/lib/dbus/machine-id": No such file or directory}}
-If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follow:
+If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follows:
-Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root, as for the step below)
+Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root for the step shown below)
-{{Cmd|# apk add dbus}}
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|dbus|arch=}}}}
-Login or su to root account then launch the follow command (Note: sudo is not working for this step):
+Log in or su to the root account, then launch the following command (Note: sudo does not work for this step):
 {{Cmd|# dbus-uuidgen > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id}}
-Now if startx is launched it should load correctly the desktop
+Now if startx is launched, it should load the desktop correctly
+== See also ==
+* [[Xorg]]
+* [https://awesomewm.org/doc/api/documentation/07-my-first-awesome.md.html  Official Documentation]
-= Screenshot =
+[[Category:Window Managers]]
-[[{{ns:image}}:awesome-01.png|awesome-01.png]]
-[[Category:Desktop]]