Dwm

From Alpine Linux

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 sudo
  • Installing dependencies for the 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 installing Alpine you get the root account. We want to create an account that is not root, but can run sudo.

# adduser myname

Where myname is the user name you want to use.

Install sudo so we can add myname to sudoers.

# apk add sudo

Edit the sudoers file by running:

# visudo

Note: Edit the sudoers file using only visudo

Add the newly create account to sudoers. Insert the line after the root definition. The relevant section should look like this:

Contents of /etc/sudoers.tmp

##
## User privilege specification
##
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
myname ALL=(ALL) ALL

Switch to the new account

# su myname

Where myname is your username.

Installing Xorg

Run the following command to install X.org:

# doas setup-xorg-base

Configure the community repositories

This is needed so you can install Firefox. Edit the file with this command:

# doas vi /etc/apk/repositories

Uncomment the community line by removing the # then save the file and exit. It should look something like this:

Contents of /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, tell the package manager about the change:

# doas apk update

Installing dependencies

Note:

git make gcc g++ libx11-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev ncurses is needed to install suckless tools from source.

dbus-x11 is needed for the dbus system (enables firefox running in dwm to open in a tile)

The last three adwaita-gtk2-theme adwaita-icon-theme ttf-dejavu are optional, but recommended for a nicer looking firefox.

The command to install the dependencies:

# doas 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

Change to the /tmp directory.

# cd /tmp

then execute:

# git clone https://git.suckless.org/dwm

Once downloaded, go to the dwm directory

# cd dwm

To install, run:

# doas make clean install

Next, go up one directory level

# cd ..

to install dmenu:

# git clone https://git.suckless.org/dmenu

# cd dmenu

# doas make clean install

Finally, go up one more directory level

# cd ..

to install st:

# git clone https://git.suckless.org/st

# cd st

# doas make clean install

Setting up your profile

Change to your home directory:

# cd /home/myname

Where myname is your username.

Create .xinitrc:

# vi .xinitrc

Add this line:

Contents of ~/.xinitrc

exec dwm

Save the file and exit vi.

Next, create .profile.:

# vi .profile

Add this line:

Contents of ~/.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.

Contents of ~/.profile

if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then startx fi

Log out or reboot. dwm will run the next time you log in. Press alt+p to launch dmenu. Type firefox then press enter. Firefox will load and run in tile 9.

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