Linux - Dynamic Window Manager (DWM)

DWM
Status bar
- dwm-bar
Autostart

Dynamic window manager (DWM), as one component of the suckless suite, is a flexible but lightweight window manager for X. This post just summarizes the procedure of installation and customization.

DWM

Download the source codes

git clone --depth=1 https://git.suckless.org/dwm

Customization

Patch
- Addtional features are supported as patches, which can be downloaded from https://dwm.suckless.org/patches. E.g., alpha, hide_vacant_tags, pertag, rotatestack.
- In order to record and maintain the customization with git, patches can be applied by
```
git apply PATCH.diff
```

config.def.h

Users can further tweak DWM's appearance and behaviors by editing this file. E.g.,

/* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
#include <X11/XF86keysym.h>

/* appearance */
static const unsigned int borderpx  = 1;        /* border pixel of windows */
static const unsigned int snap      = 32;       /* snap pixel */
static const int showbar            = 1;        /* 0 means no bar */
static const int topbar             = 1;        /* 0 means bottom bar */
static const char *fonts[]          = { "Sarasa Mono SC:size=18" };
/* static const char dmenufont[]       = "monospace:size=10"; */
static const char col_gray1[]       = "#222222";
static const char col_gray2[]       = "#444444";
static const char col_gray3[]       = "#bbbbbb";
static const char col_gray4[]       = "#eeeeee";
static const char col_cyan[]        = "#005577";
static const unsigned int baralpha = 0xd0;
static const unsigned int borderalpha = OPAQUE;
static const char *colors[][3]      = {
    /*               fg         bg         border   */
    [SchemeNorm] = { col_gray3, col_gray1, col_gray2 },
    [SchemeSel]  = { col_gray4, col_cyan,  col_cyan  },
};
static const unsigned int alphas[][3]      = {
    /*               fg      bg        border     */
    [SchemeNorm] = { OPAQUE, baralpha, borderalpha },
    [SchemeSel]  = { OPAQUE, baralpha, borderalpha },
};

/* tagging */
static const char *tags[] = { "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9" };

static const Rule rules[] = {
    /* xprop(1):
     *	WM_CLASS(STRING) = instance, class
     *	WM_NAME(STRING) = title
     */
    /* class      instance    title       tags mask     isfloating   monitor */
    /* { "Gimp",     NULL,       NULL,       0,            1,           -1 }, */
    { "Chromium",  NULL,       NULL,       0,       0,           -1 },
};

/* layout(s) */
static const float mfact     = 0.6; /* factor of master area size [0.05..0.95] */
static const int nmaster     = 1;    /* number of clients in master area */
static const int resizehints = 1;    /* 1 means respect size hints in tiled resizals */

static const Layout layouts[] = {
    /* symbol     arrange function */
    { "T",      tile },    /* first entry is default */
    { "F",      NULL },    /* no layout function means floating behavior */
    { "M",      monocle },
};

/* key definitions */
#define MODKEY Mod4Mask
#define TAGKEYS(KEY,TAG) \
    { MODKEY,                       KEY,      view,           {.ui = 1 << TAG} }, \
    { MODKEY|ControlMask,           KEY,      toggleview,     {.ui = 1 << TAG} }, \
    { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             KEY,      tag,            {.ui = 1 << TAG} }, \
    { MODKEY|ControlMask|ShiftMask, KEY,      toggletag,      {.ui = 1 << TAG} },

/* helper for spawning shell commands in the pre dwm-5.0 fashion */
#define SHCMD(cmd) { .v = (const char*[]){ "/bin/sh", "-c", cmd, NULL } }

/* commands */
static char dmenumon[2] = "0"; /* component of dmenucmd, manipulated in spawn() */
static const char *dmenucmd[] = { "/usr/bin/rofi", "-show", "drun", "-show-icons", "-lines", "9", "-width", "100", "-location", "7", "-font", "Sarasa Mono SC 18", NULL };
static const char *termcmd[]  = { "/usr/bin/alacritty", "--option", "font.normal.family=Sarasa Mono SC", "font.size=13", NULL };
static const char *volup[] = { "/usr/bin/amixer", "set", "Master", "5%+", "umute", NULL };
static const char *voldown[] = { "/usr/bin/amixer", "set", "Master", "5%-", "umute", NULL };
static const char *voltoggle[] = { "/usr/bin/amixer", "set", "Master", "toggle", NULL };
static const char *brightup[] = { "/usr/bin/xbacklight", "-inc", "5", NULL };
static const char *brightdown[] = { "/usr/bin/xbacklight", "-dec", "5", NULL };
static const char *fullscreenshot[] = { "/usr/bin/scrot", NULL };
static const char *selectscreenshot[] = { "/usr/bin/scrot", "-s", NULL };

static Key keys[] = {
    /* modifier                     key        function        argument */
    { MODKEY,                       XK_d,      spawn,          {.v = dmenucmd } },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_Return, spawn,          {.v = termcmd } },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_b,      togglebar,      {0} },
    { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_o,      rotatestack,    {.i = +1 } },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_o,      focusstack,     {.i = +1 } },
    /* { MODKEY,                       XK_i,      incnmaster,     {.i = +1 } }, */
    /* { MODKEY,                       XK_d,      incnmaster,     {.i = -1 } }, */
    { MODKEY,                       XK_h,      setmfact,       {.f = -0.05} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_l,      setmfact,       {.f = +0.05} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_z,      zoom,           {0} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_Tab,    view,           {0} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_q,      killclient,     {0} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_t,      setlayout,      {.v = &layouts[0]} },
    /* { MODKEY,                       XK_f,      setlayout,      {.v = &layouts[1]} }, */
    { MODKEY,                       XK_m,      setlayout,      {.v = &layouts[2]} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_space,  setlayout,      {0} },
    { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_space,  togglefloating, {0} },
    { MODKEY,                       XK_0,      view,           {.ui = ~0 } },
    /* { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_0,      tag,            {.ui = ~0 } },
       { MODKEY,                       XK_comma,  focusmon,       {.i = -1 } },
       { MODKEY,                       XK_period, focusmon,       {.i = +1 } },
       { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_comma,  tagmon,         {.i = -1 } },
       { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_period, tagmon,         {.i = +1 } }, */
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_1,                      0)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_2,                      1)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_3,                      2)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_4,                      3)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_5,                      4)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_6,                      5)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_7,                      6)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_8,                      7)
    TAGKEYS(                        XK_9,                      8)
    { MODKEY|ShiftMask,             XK_e,      quit,           {0} },
    { 0, XK_Print, spawn, {.v = fullscreenshot} },
    { ShiftMask, XK_Print, spawn, {.v = selectscreenshot} },
    { 0, XF86XK_AudioRaiseVolume, spawn, {.v = volup }},
    { 0, XF86XK_AudioLowerVolume, spawn, {.v = voldown }},
    { 0, XF86XK_AudioMute, spawn, {.v = voltoggle }},
    { 0, XF86XK_MonBrightnessUp, spawn, {.v = brightup }},
    { 0, XF86XK_MonBrightnessDown, spawn, {.v = brightdown }},
};

/* button definitions */
/* click can be ClkTagBar, ClkLtSymbol, ClkStatusText, ClkWinTitle, ClkClientWin, or ClkRootWin */
static Button buttons[] = {
    /* click                event mask      button          function        argument */
    { ClkLtSymbol,          0,              Button1,        setlayout,      {0} },
    { ClkLtSymbol,          0,              Button3,        setlayout,      {.v = &layouts[2]} },
    { ClkWinTitle,          0,              Button2,        zoom,           {0} },
    { ClkStatusText,        0,              Button2,        spawn,          {.v = termcmd } },
    { ClkClientWin,         MODKEY,         Button1,        movemouse,      {0} },
    { ClkClientWin,         MODKEY,         Button2,        togglefloating, {0} },
    { ClkClientWin,         MODKEY,         Button3,        resizemouse,    {0} },
    { ClkTagBar,            0,              Button1,        view,           {0} },
    { ClkTagBar,            0,              Button3,        toggleview,     {0} },
    { ClkTagBar,            MODKEY,         Button1,        tag,            {0} },
    { ClkTagBar,            MODKEY,         Button3,        toggletag,      {0} },
};

Build and install

Remove config.h if it exists.
Compile
```
make
```
Install
```
make install
```
Clean the temporary object files.
```
make clean
```

Status bar

On the web page, there are many choices for status bar.

dwm-bar

Dwm-bar is a good choice, which consists of a rich number of modules, written by shell scripts. Its codes can be easily obtained

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/joestandring/dwm-bar.git

The concrete details can be customized by editing dwm_bar.sh, e.g.,

#!/bin/sh

# A modular status bar for dwm
# Joe Standring <git@joestandring.com>
# GNU GPLv3

# Dependencies: xorg-xsetroot

# Import functions with "$include /route/to/module"
# It is recommended that you place functions in the subdirectory ./bar-functions and use: . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_example.sh"

# Store the directory the script is running from
LOC=$(readlink -f "$0")
DIR=$(dirname "$LOC")

# Change the appearance of the module identifier. if this is set to "unicode", then symbols will be used as identifiers instead of text. E.g. [📪 0] instead of [MAIL 0].
# Requires a font with adequate unicode character support
export IDENTIFIER="unicode"

# Change the charachter(s) used to seperate modules. If two are used, they will be placed at the start and end.
export SEP1=" | "
export SEP2=""

# Import the modules
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_countdown.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_alarm.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_transmission.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_cmus.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_mpc.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_spotify.sh"
. "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_resources.sh"
. "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_battery.sh"
. "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_backlight.sh"
. "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_alsa.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_mail.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_pulse.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_weather.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_vpn.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_networkmanager.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_keyboard.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_ccurse.sh"
. "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_date.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_connman.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_loadavg.sh"
# . "$DIR/bar-functions/dwm_currency.sh"

parallelize() {
    while true
    do
        printf "Running parallel processes\n"
        dwm_weather &
        dwm_networkmanager &
        sleep 5
    done
}
parallelize &

# Update dwm status bar every second
while true
do
    # Append results of each func one by one to the upperbar string
    upperbar=""
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_connman)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_countdown)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_alarm)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_transmission)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_cmus)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_mpc)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_spotify)"
    upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_resources)"
    upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_alsa)"
    upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_battery)"
    upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_backlight)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_mail)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_pulse)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar${__DWM_BAR_WEATHER__}"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_vpn)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar${__DWM_BAR_NETWORKMANAGER__}"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_keyboard)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_ccurse)"
    upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_date)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_loadavg)"
    # upperbar="$upperbar$(dwm_currency)"

    # Append results of each func one by one to the lowerbar string
    lowerbar=""


    xsetroot -name "$upperbar"

    # Uncomment the line below to enable the lowerbar 
#    xsetroot -name "$upperbar;$lowerbar"
    sleep 1
done

Autostart

Some programs and scripts, e.g., relating to wallpaper setting, input method, dwm-bar, should be autostarted. For starting dwm with startx, .xinitrc can be customized as follows.

/usr/bin/setxkbmap -option 'caps:ctrl_modifier'
/bin/sh ~/.config/dwm/dwm-bar/dwm_bar.sh &
/usr/bin/nitrogen --restore &
/usr/bin/picom -b
/usr/bin/fcitx -r

exec dwm