Qtile

Qtile is a full-featured and hackable window manager written in Python, compatible with Xorg and Wayland.

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

Minimal package selection to install:

# apk add qtile lightdm-gtk-greeter font-dejavu

Starting Qtile

With a display manager (graphical login)

If the package lightdm-gtk-greeter has been installed per the instructions above, the lightdm display manager may be started to log in graphically with your new user:

First, create a lightdm session file at /usr/share/xsessions:

# mkdir -p /usr/share/xsessions

Contents of /usr/share/xsessions/qtile.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Qtile
Comment=Qtile Session
Exec=dbus-run-session -- qtile start
Type=Application
Keywords=wm;tiling

# rc-service lightdm start

After correct operation is verified, lightdm can be enabled to start up during boot:

# rc-update add lightdm

Configuration

Allowing shut down and reboot

To enable users to shut down the machine or reboot, the packages elogind and polkit-elogind need to be installed.

# apk add elogind polkit-elogind

A reboot is required to let it take effect.

# lbu commit # if running in diskless mode, to save state $ reboot

File management

Install the necessary File management packages for automounting of removable storage and browsing of network shares that works seamlessly with file associations.

If the Qtile sessions are already in progress, they need to be restarted for the changes to take effect, i.e. log out and log in again.

Enabling privilege escalation GUI

To make elogind/lightdm running, either make them start automatically at system start:

# rc-update add elogind #change elogind for lightdm and run the same command

or start them manually for this time only:

# rc-service elogind start #change elogind for lightdm and run the same command

Localized keyboard layout

The keyboard layout can be configured at the Xorg level.