LabWC: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:07, 9 January 2025

LabWC is a stacking Wayland compositor. LabWC can serve as a drop-in replacement for the Openbox window manager.

Installation

Note: Before installing any desktop,

Ensure you have Internet connectivity. If the test fails, setup your Internet access first, before you proceed further.
Create a non-privileged user account for security reasons, if you skipped this step during Installation.
Enable community repository.
Install graphics driver for your video hardware.

The setup-wayland-base script installs and enables elogind as seat manager, enables community repository and enables eudev automatically as these are required for Wayland to work.

Set up eudev

Setting up eudev on a desktop system is recommended in Alpine Linux. Without a fully functional device manager users will not be able to connect to input devices. The alpine-conf package provides setup-devd script to easily install and setup device managers.

Setup eudev.

# setup-devd udev

For more details and other options see eudev.

Setup up a seat manager

Wayland compositors need raw access to input and output devices. This is mediated by a seat manager.

Configure either seatd or elogind as both are supported. However using both may lead to conflicts.

Install fonts

Install DejaVu fonts, which has good Unicode coverage:

# apk add font-dejavu

Install labwc

We can now install labwc:

# apk add labwc labwc-doc # apk add \ # Install optional dependencies: xwayland \ # recommended for compatibility reasons foot \ # default terminal emulator rofi \ # default application launcher (dmenu could be used instead) swaylock \ # lockscreen tool swaybg \ # wallpaper daemon swayidle \ # idle management (DPMS) daemon dbus-x11

Running LabWC

To run labwc from console:

$ dbus-launch labwc

dbus-launch labwc is used because pipewire needs it, it is included in dbus-x11 and you may omit it.

(if you run labwc with seatd-launch, you will need to use $ dbus-launch seatd-launch labwc)

You can also create a simple alias in your shell rc file (e.g. .zshrc), like:

alias labwcinit="dbus-launch seatd-launch labwc"

Note:

swaylock needs to be able to read your /etc/shadow file to be able to validate your password

Configuration

LabWC aims to implement the openbox 3.4 specification, so many things working in OpenBox should be compatible.

Moreover, the project provides examples for all the configuration files and some themes, explaining where it must be located each one of them.

For additional information, labwc manpages and wiki can be consulted.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[https://labwc.github.io LabWC] is a stacking [[Wayland]] compositor. Although [https://github.com/labwc/labwc#1-what-is-this it wasn't intended like that], it can serve as a drop-in replacement for the [[Openbox]] window manager (the same way [[Sway]] is for [[I3wm]]).
+[https://labwc.github.io LabWC] is a stacking [[Wayland]] compositor. LabWC can serve as a drop-in replacement for the [[Openbox]] window manager.
-This wiki was written starting from a fresh install using the Alpine 3.16 x86 extended .iso. The steps begin from the first reboot after running setup-alpine and performing a sys install to disk.
+== Installation ==
+{{:Include:Desktop prerequisites}}
-Many steps below were taken from the [https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Sway wiki entry for installing Sway], as both are wlroots-based Wayland compositors. Another interesting page, because of the same reasons, is the [[River]] compositor's.
-== Prerequisites ==
-{{Note|These steps posted as both Sway and LabWC prerequisites could be applied to almost all wlroots-based Wayland compositors.}}
-First, install & configure eudev:
-<pre>
-# setup-devd udev
-</pre>
-Then install the mesa gallium drivers:
-<pre>
-# apk add mesa-dri-gallium
-</pre>
-The following links contain guides for setting up the video stack.
-* [[Intel Video]]
-* [[Radeon Video]]
-Add yourself to the input and video groups:
-<pre>
+The <Code>setup-wayland-base</Code> script installs and enables [[elogind]] as [[Seat manager|seat manager]], enables [[Repositories#Community|community repository]] and enables [[eudev]] automatically as these are required for Wayland to work.
-# adduser $USER input
-# adduser $USER video
-</pre>
-You have to log out and back in for this to take effect.
+=== Set up eudev ===
+{{:Include:Setup Device Manager}}
-Install some TTF fonts:
+=== Setup up a seat manager ===
-<pre>
+Wayland compositors need raw access to input and output devices. This is mediated by a [[seat manager]].
-# apk add ttf-dejavu
-</pre>
-Since wlroots 0.14, you need to set up libseat backend if you wish to run labwc directly (without nesting it in another wayland compositor). To do that, [[Repositories#Enabling_the_community_repository|enable the community repository]] and choose one of the following methods:
+Configure either [[seatd]] or [[elogind]] as both are supported. However using both may lead to conflicts.
-<dl>
+=== Install fonts ===
-<dt>Option 1: seatd daemon (recommended)</dt>
+Install DejaVu fonts, which has good Unicode coverage:
-<dd>
+{{cmd|# apk add font-dejavu}}
-<pre>
-# apk add seatd
-# rc-update add seatd
-# rc-service seatd start
-# adduser $USER seat
-</pre>
-If you are already logged in as a $USER, you will need to relogin.
-</dd>
-<dt>Option 2: seatd-launch</dt>
-<dd>
-<pre>
-# apk add seatd-launch
-</pre>
-When starting labwc, you will need to prefix invocation with <code>seatd-launch</code>.
-Note: <code>seatd-launch</code> is a suid binary, so it might be wise to use one of the other methods from a security perspective.
-</dd>
-<dt>Option 3: elogind daemon</dt>
-<dd>
-<pre>
-# apk add elogind polkit-elogind
-# rc-update add elogind
-# rc-service elogind start
-</pre>
-Using <code>elogind</code> will automatically set the necessary permissions, so you can skip adding groups like <code>seat</code> and <code>video</code>
-</dd>
-</dl>
-== Installation ==
+=== Install labwc ===
 We can now install labwc:
+{{Cmd|&#35; apk add labwc labwc-doc
-<pre>
+&#35; apk add                \ # Install optional dependencies:
-# apk add labwc labwc-doc
-# apk add                \ # Install optional dependencies:
      xwayland             \ # recommended for compatibility reasons
      foot                 \ # default terminal emulator
-     rofi                  \ # default application launcher (dmenu could be used instead)
+     rofi                 \ # default application launcher (dmenu could be used instead)
      swaylock             \ # lockscreen tool
      swaybg               \ # wallpaper daemon
-     swayidle               # idle management (DPMS) daemon
+     swayidle             \ # idle management (DPMS) daemon
-</pre>
+    dbus-x11
+}}
-Note that almost all optional dependencies are the same than Sway's. Another interesting packages are specified into the [https://github.com/labwc/labwc#6-integrate project's README], as it can be [https://labwc.github.io/integration.html#waybar waybar] (included into the Alpine's repository) as navigation bar.
 == Running LabWC ==
-To run labwc, first set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR to a suitable location (e.g. create a .run folder in your home directory and set it to ~/.run). Then run labwc from the Linux console (dbus-launch is used because pipewire needs it, it is included in dbus-x11 and you may omit it):
+To run labwc from console:{{Cmd|$ dbus-launch labwc}}
-<pre>
+'''dbus-launch labwc''' is used because pipewire needs it, it is included in dbus-x11 and you may omit it.
-$ XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=~/.run dbus-launch labwc
-</pre>
-(if you run labwc with seatd-launch, you will need to use <code>$ XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=~/.run dbus-launch seatd-launch labwc</code>)
+(if you run labwc with seatd-launch, you will need to use <code>$ dbus-launch seatd-launch labwc</code>)
 You can also create a simple alias in your shell rc file (e.g. .zshrc), like:
-<pre>
+{{Cmd|alias labwcinit&#61;"dbus-launch seatd-launch labwc"}}
-alias labwcinit="XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=~/.run dbus-launch seatd-launch labwc"
-</pre>
-See the [https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Wayland Wayland] page for a permanent configuration (recommended).
 {{Note|
@@ Line 119: / Line 48: @@
 }}
-== Configuration and Usage ==
+== Configuration ==
 LabWC aims to implement the [http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Contents openbox 3.4] specification, so many things working in OpenBox should be compatible.
@@ Line 126: / Line 55: @@
 For additional information, labwc [https://labwc.github.io/manual.html manpages] and [https://github.com/labwc/labwc/wiki wiki] can be consulted.
+== Troubleshooting ==
+== See also ==
+[https://labwc.github.io LabWC Official website]
 [[Category:Desktop]]
+[[Category:Wayland]]
+[[Category:compositor]]