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dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts.

This guide covers:

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.

Prerequisites

Install AlpineLinux
Create a user account (optional but recommended)
Enable the Community repository
Install Xorg

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:

# 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:

# make clean install

Next, go up one directory level

# cd ..

to install dmenu:

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

# cd dmenu

# make clean install

Finally, go up one more directory level

# cd ..

to install st:

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

# cd st

# make clean install

Setting up your profile

Change to your home directory:

$ cd /home/<yourusername>

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.

Dwm

Prerequisites

Installing dependencies

Installing suckless tools dwm, dmenu, and st from source

Setting up your profile

See Also