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}}
-= Install packages =
+== Prerequisites ==
-Install awesome, feh, aterm as basic desktop system.<BR>
+{{:Include:Desktop prerequisites}}
-This might take a few minutes depending on your network speed.
+* [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Install Xorg]]
-{{Cmd|apk add awesome feh aterm}}
-Add other apps on need, eg. firefox, gnumeric, xchat, gimp, pidgin, geany, vim, etc.
+== Installation ==
+Install awesome, xterm and terminus font. {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|awesome|arch=}} {{pkg|xterm|arch=}} {{pkg|font-terminus|arch=}}}}
-== Optional packages ==
 === Video and Input packages ===
-You <u>might</u> also want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.<BR>
+You <u>might</u> 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>
+For example:
-{{Cmd|apk add xf86-video-sis}}
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|xf86-input-synaptics|arch=}}}}
-and / or
-{{Cmd|apk add xf86-input-synaptics}}
-Run 'apk search xf86-video*' to see available xf86-video packages.<BR>
+Run {{ic|apk search {{pkg|xf86-video*|arch=}}}} to see available xf86-video packages.<BR>
-Run 'apk search xf86-input*' to see available xf86-input packages.<BR>
+Run {{ic|apk search {{pkg|xf86-input*|arch=}}}} to see available xf86-input packages.<BR>
+=== VMWare Users ===
+{{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}}
+{{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|$ echo 'awesome' >> /home/<newuser>/.xinitrc}}
-{{Cmd|setup-xorg-base}}
+{{Cmd|$ mkdir /home/<newuser>/.config}}
+{{Cmd|$ cp -r /etc/xdg/awesome  /home/<newuser>/.config}}
+{{Cmd|$ vi /home/<newuser>/.config/awesome/rc.lua}}
-= Create user accounts =
+Start awesome.
-Create a normal user account.
+{{Cmd|$ startx}}
-{{Cmd|adduser ncopa}}
-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.
+== Troubleshooting ==
-Logout from root and login into new created account.
+D-Bus problems:
-= Start your desktop =
+{{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}}
-{{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
-Start awesome.
+If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follows:
-{{Cmd|startx}}
+Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root for the step shown below)
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|dbus|arch=}}}}
+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 the desktop correctly
+== See also ==
-= Troubleshooting =
+* [[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]]