Dwm

Window model[edit | edit source]

Launch a few terminals with Shift+Alt+Enter and dwm will tile the windows between the master and stack. A new terminal appears on the master window. Existing windows are pushed upon a stack to the right of the screen. Alt+Enter toggles windows between master and stack.

   +------+----------------------------------+--------+
   | tags | title                            | status +
   +------+---------------------+------------+--------+
   |                            |                     |
   |                            |                     |
   |                            |                     |
   |                            |                     |
   |          master            |        stack        |
   |                            |                     |
   |                            |                     |
   |                            |                     |
   |                            |                     |
   +----------------------------+---------------------+

USE flags[edit | edit source]

Users should consider enabling the savedconfig USE flag in order to save customized configuration file to /etc/portage/savedconfig/x11-wm/dwm-6.0.h for later editing.

Users with multiple monitors should enable the xinerama USE flag regardless of whether or not Xinerama will be used.

Emerge[edit | edit source]

Install x11-wm/dwm:

Starting[edit | edit source]

To start dwm use a display manager or the startx command.

Those choosing to go the startx route create the following file:

exec dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session dwm

Main dwm configuration file (dwm.h file)[edit | edit source]

As stated previously, the main dwm configuration file is the /etc/portage/savedconfig/x11-wm/dwm-6.0 file and after each change, dwm needs to be recompiled for any changes to take effect.

In order for the editor to use syntax highlighting feature for C code, create a symlink using a header filename.

(When already within a dwm session and just recompiled dwm, use the META+SHIFT+q key sequence for reloading the dwm binary currently executing within memory.)

Settings file (dwm.rc)[edit | edit source]

The default xsession file provided by the Gentoo Ebuild (/etc/X11/Sessions/dwm) provides for a default status box that displays system load and the date/time or whatever shell code the user creates at ~/.dwm/dwmrc. The present mechanism (as of dwm-6.0) for sending text to a status box in the window manager's bar is to use 'xsetroot', as illustrated by the default xsession mentioned above. With a few lines of shell code, one can use this mechanism to send arbitrary text to the status bar (for example, the CPU temperature, the current track on the music player, number of unread emails, etc.)

dmenu[edit | edit source]

dmenu is a dynamic menu for X, originally designed for dwm.

ALT (aka META) +p key sequence enables the menu.

dmenu's options can be customized during execution using the dwm.h file, such as displaying the menu at the bottom of the display.

static const char *dmenucmd[] = { "dmenu_run", "-b", "-fn", font, "-nb", normbgcolor, "-nf", normfgcolor, "-sb", selbgcolor, "-sf", selfgcolor, NULL };

Additional status information[edit | edit source]

For displaying additional status information on dwm's menu bar, one should use x11-apps/xsetroot, which sets text information into upper right corner.

First of all, install x11-apps/xsetroot if it's not installed yet.

Then, use a script or side program to loop current info in dwm status.

conky.config = {

background = no,
format_human_readable = yes,
out_to_console = yes,
temperature_unit = fahrenheit,
total_run_times = 0,
update_interval = 1,
#use_spacer = left,
use_spacer = none,

};

conky.text = [[

M ${memperc}%/${swapperc}% | \
/sda ${diskio sda} /sdb ${diskio sdb} \
/sdc ${diskio sdc} | \
${if_existing /proc/net/route ppp0}P0 U ${upspeed ppp0} D ${downspeed ppp0} |${endif}\
${if_existing /proc/net/route eth0}E0 U ${upspeed eth0} D ${downspeed eth0} |${endif}\
${if_existing /proc/net/route wlan0}W0 U ${upspeed eth0} D ${downspeed eth0}\
${wireless_ap wlan0} ${wireless_link_qual_perc wlan0} ${endif}\
CPU ${hwmon 1 temp 1}F \
/sda ${hddtemp /dev/sda}F \
/sdb ${hddtemp /dev/sdb}F \
     ${time %a, %b %d %Y  %H:%M (%z)}

]]

conky | while read -r; do xsetroot -name "$REPLY"; done &
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session dwm

#!/bin/sh

let loop=0
while true; do
	if [[ $loop%300 -eq 0 ]]; then
		weather=$(curl wttr.in?format=1)
		let loop=0
	fi
	xsetroot -name " $weather | $(date '+%b %d %a') | $(date '+%H:%M') "
	let loop=$loop+1
	sleep 1
done

sh ~/.scripts/xsetloop.sh &
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session dwm

Moving a window manually[edit | edit source]

To move a window to another window tag manually, hold down the META (Alt) key and left click anywhere on the window. And then, while still holding down the META key, click again on the window tag want to move the window to.

Default Shortcuts[edit | edit source]

Those shotcuts are used by default in x11-wm/dwm.

Volume keys[edit | edit source]

Add following lines to the config file and re-emerge dwm:

#include <X11/XF86keysym.h>

...

/* commands */
static const char *upvol[] = { "amixer", "set", "Master", "2+", NULL };
static const char *downvol[] = { "amixer", "set", "Master", "2-", NULL };

// for muting/unmuting //
static const char *mute[] = { "amixer", "-q", "set", "Master", "toggle", NULL };

// for pulse compatible //
static const char *upvol[] = { "amixer", "-q", "sset", "Master", "1%+", NULL };
static const char *downvol[] = { "amixer", "-q", "sset", "Master", "1%-", NULL };
static const char *mute[] = { "amixer", "-q", "-D", "pulse", "sset", "Master", "toggle", NULL };

...

static Key keys[] = {
        /* modifier                     key        function        argument */
        { 0,              XF86XK_AudioRaiseVolume, spawn,          {.v = upvol } },
        { 0,              XF86XK_AudioLowerVolume, spawn,          {.v = downvol } },
        { 0,              XF86XK_AudioMute,        spawn,          {.v = mute } },

Patching[edit | edit source]

Gentoo has a specific way of patching dwm. If the patches are ready to be merged with dwm source, there is special function called eapply_user that can be called during the emerge process. This function allows user patches to be applied to the source. Move the necessary patches one of the two locations:

• /etc/portage/patches/category/application
• A custom ebuild repository

PATCHES=( "${FILESDIR}/01-dwm-6.0-xft.diff"
          "${FILESDIR}/02-dwm-6.1-x11.diff"
 )

Assigning applications to window tags[edit | edit source]

A user can have their favorite applications start on a different window tags, such as starting mplayer on window tag number five.

First, know the "name" of the application recorded by Xorg so dwm can be aware of this window on startup. To find this, start an application (mplayer in this example) and then further execute a command called "xprop" (x11-apps/xprop). Click on the mplayer window and xprop will report Xorg's data on the mplayer window. Use the second window name identified on the "WM_CLASS(STRING)" line. Now we have the name of the window dwm needs to be self aware of. (Sometimes an application will have multiple windows of itself and will report one window without capital letters, while the second will have no capital letters! Wildcard char is allowed within window names and I currently have no idea how many regular expressions are recognized here.)

static const Rule rules[] ={
    { "MPlayer",    NULL,       NULL,   1 << 4,     True,        0 },
};

Upgrading to dwm-6.0[edit | edit source]

Upgrading from dwm-5.9 to dwm-6.0 incorporated many changes making the previous config.h a likely problem for compiling dwm-6.0. Likely problems displayed might be compiler error messages "[nowiki]'nmaster' undeclared[/nowiki]". To resolve, compile and install dwm-6.0 without using the custom config.h file and then find the default dwm-6.0 config.h file and diff against the old config.h file. (Or, uncompress the dwm-6.0 tarball to acquire the default dwm-6.0 config.h file.)

Remap META Key[edit | edit source]

If there are conflicts with the default dwm ALT key conflicting with other console interface applications, use the ESC key while within the console application. The ESC key is an immediate usable fall back escape key. Another option, redefine the META key to use the keyboard "Windows Key" or other additional keys near the space bar.

#define MODKEY Mod4Mask         /* Use Windows Key */

To assign a second Meta key allowing a typer to have a Meta key on both sides of the keyboard, mimmick or copy this key activity to another key on the keyboard. The Microsoft Menu key (or context menu key) on Microsoft keyboards is directly opposite of the Microsoft Windows key. The x11-apps/xmodmap package is required for this. (For reference, the two key's values are: "showkey 125/127" and "xev 133/135" respectively - on my MS NEK4000 keyboard.)

# Top of $HOME/.xinitrc file is a good place for this.
# This reassigns MS NEK4000 right Menu key to simulate DWM Mod4Key as well.
xmodmap -e "keycode 135 = Super_L" # reassign MS Menu Keypress to Super_L
xmodmap -e "remove mod1 = Super_L" # make sure X keeps it out of the mod1 group

Now, a user should have a non-conflicting and easily accessible Meta key on both sides of the keyboard!

Fix Java application misbehaving[edit | edit source]

Java application are known to misbehave as java doesn't know which WM are we using. After all this result in GUI of specific java application to don't work properly. To solve this we need to install wmname tool and set it to LG3D.

and set it to

To make this setting permanent add this command to ~/.xinitrc.

It is also useful to export AWT_TOOLKIT if some java applications are using AWT, as noted below.

Blank (grey) windows of Java applications (such as netbeans)[edit | edit source]

Export this environment variable:

Start the program:

Background not redrawing[edit | edit source]

Sometimes the background may not properly redraw when the current view is switched. For example, some terminal emulators such as st don't draw the entirety of their allocated window space. In these cases, X root window must have a properly defined color. This can be done with the xsetroot command. For example: