DWM - Less is More!
+ + cowmonk + +A lot of people when they move into linux will learn of the magic of tiling window managers.
+Generally, +they are curious, and some find it as a waste of time, others die by it. +And people will even wonder why in the hell someone would take the time to configure one of these things.
+However, I’m not here to debate whether or not it’s a waste of time, or if it’s worth it. I’m here to help out people who have heard of dwm and want to try it out. +Whether you’ve heard it from a friend, a youtuber, a random, or whomever, people at first find dwm as a scary thing that’s IMPOSSIBLE to configure.
+But fret not! For your neighborhood suckless shill is here to help!
+Prerequisites
+Before you start going ham on the configuring/ricing, this isn’t your average joe i3, Hyprland, or whatever. +You’ve probably heard that dwm is a “compile from source” configuration, and this just means that +every change you’re going to make has to be compiled all over again.
+“Woah, woah, woah!” you might be saying. “Compile? Like C code? H4x0r like stuff?”
+Yep, that’s the ticket! But don’t let it scare you off. It’s simpler than it sounds. Think of it like baking a cake. +You have a recipe (config.h), you mix your ingredients (the source code and your changes), and then you bake it (make). +Each time you want a different flavor (a new feature or keybinding), you tweak the recipe and bake it again. +You will need to kill dwm and re-run it again since the binary that runs is loaded in memory, it doesn’t change in real time.
+A common misconception is an over exaggeration on how tedious the reconfiguration is. Whilst it can be a bit annoying, +especially in the beginning when you are getting it tailored towards your preferences, it’s definitely overblown. +See, once you have a working system, there isn’t a need to keep on configuring onwards, a necessary process I would say.
+So, what do you actually need?
+A C Compiler:
+Most likely, you’ll want gcc. It’s the most common C compiler everyone gets.
If you’re on a Debian-based system (like Mint), you can usually get this and other essential tools by installing build-essential.
$ sudo apt install build-essential
+For Arch users (for the “I use Arch btw” furries):
+ $ sudo pacman -S base-devel
+And for Fedora folks:
+ $ sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools" "Development Libraries"
+Make:
+This is a build automation tool that will, well, “make” dwm for you. It usually comes with the build-essential or base-devel packages.
LibX11 development files:
+DWM interacts with the X Window System, so you’ll need the development headers for it. Often called something like libx11-dev or libX11-devel.
Debian:
+ $ sudo apt install libx11-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev
+Arch:
+ $ sudo pacman -S libx11 libxft libxinerama
+Fedora:
+ $ sudo dnf install libX11-devel libXft-devel libXinerama-devel
+(Note: libxft-dev is for font rendering and libxinerama-dev is handy for multi-monitor setups, which you’ll probably want later on!)
Got all that? Sweet!
+Getting the Goods (The Source Code!)
+Alright, let’s grab the dwm source code. The suckless crew hosts their code on their own git server. +However I recommend personally to get their official tarball releases (this links to the latest of the time of writing this: 6.5) their page.
+1. Save the source code to where you want to keep it. A common spot is something like
+ ~/.config/ or ~/.local/suckless/, just anywhere to hide it out of sight.
+
+2. Unextract it
+
+3. Open your terminal & navigate to that directory (using cd and stuff)
+Take a peek. You’ll see a bunch of .c files, a Makefile, and the golden goose: config.def.h.
The Infamous config.h
+This is where the magic happens, folks. config.def.h is the default configuration. You’re not supposed to edit this directly. Instead, you copy it to config.h:
+bash
+ $ cp config.def.h config.h
+
+Now, config.h is your personal configuration file. Open it up with your favorite text editor. You’ll see C arrays defining your keys, your tags, your fonts, your colors.
+It might look a bit intimidating at first, but it’s surprisingly straightforward.
For now, don’t change anything. Let’s just get it built!
+The First Bake: Compiling DWM
+Still in your dwm directory? Good. Time to compile! +This is the part that sounds scary but is usually super simple thanks to the Makefile.
+To compile and install it system-wide:
+ $ sudo make clean install
+Or, if you prefer not to install it system-wide immediately yet (which is a good idea for testing):
+ $ make
+If all your prerequisites were met, this should complete without errors. You’ll now have a dwm executable file in the directory (and runnable in your terminal if +you ran the system wide installation)!
+To run dwm, you’ll typically need to configure your .xinitrc file to launch it. +For example, you could add this line to your ~/.xinitrc:
+ exec dwm
+For the people who run a Display Manager which is more likely (i.e gdm, sddm, lightdm, etc.). You’ll need to create a .desktop file. +This file basically has the information and stuff for the thing to see and run it. You’ll need to create one in the /usr/share/xsessions/. +And here’s an example dwm.desktop for reference:
+/usr/share/xsessions/dwm.desktop:
+[Desktop Entry]
+Encoding=UTF-8
+Name=dwm
+Comment=Dynamic window manager
+Exec=dwm
+Icon=dwm
+Type=XSession
+The default keybinding for the Terminal is Alt+Shift+Return. Any other keybindings can be found in config.h, it shouldn’t be hard to +understand the giant struct declaration. Comments left by the suckless team are your friends! Read them!
+Uh Oh, It’s Plain! Time for Patches!
+“Okay,” you say, “this is cool and all, but it’s a bit… barebones. My buddy’s dwm has gaps, a cool status bar, and fancy tag names!”
+Aha! You’ve stumbled upon the next layer of the suckless philosophy: patching.
+Instead of bloating the core dwm code with every feature under the sun, the suckless community maintains a collection of patches. +These are .diff files that you apply to your source code to add specific functionalities.
+ Want gaps between windows? There's a patch for that.
+ Want clickable status bar elements? Patch!
+ Want windows to swallow terminals? Patch!
+ Want your bar at the bottom? You guessed it, patch!
+This is where the “do it yourself” ethos really shines. You pick and choose exactly what you want. However it might be daunting for some people. +And unfortunately, many patches don’t really like to work together. If you want a nice dwm patching experience, I would use this one, +he’s the same creator as st-flexipatch and other “flexipatch” series. Basically, all you do is edit the patches.h file +and you can basically get all the patches you want without too much hassle.
+For those who are the tinkers, continue on…
+How to Patch (The Basics)
+First of all, you’ll need to download the patch utility if you don’t have it. You can probably guess what it’ll be called when you install it using a +package manager. Once you’ve done that here are the general steps:
+-
+
Find a Patch: Head over to the dwm patches page. Find a patch you like. Let’s say you want the autostart patch, +which allows you to run commands automatically when dwm starts (I highly reccomend this especially if you’re running from a display manager!).
+Download the Patch: Download the .diff file for the patch. Save it somewhere, perhaps in a patches subdirectory within your dwm source folder.
+Apply the Patch: In your dwm source directory, use the patch command: +
bash + patch -Np1 -i patchfile.diff +
+Resolve Conflicts (If Any): Sometimes, patches might conflict, especially if they modify the same lines of code or if you’re applying a patch meant +for an older version of dwm. This will result in .rej (rejected) files. You’ll need to manually edit the source files to resolve these conflicts, looking +at the .rej files to see what couldn’t be applied. This is the trickiest part, but it gets easier with practice. Start with simple, popular patches.
+Recompile: After applying a patch (and resolving any conflicts), you need to recompile! +
bash + $ sudo make clean install +
+
And that’s the patching dance! It can be a bit fiddly, especially when patches conflict, but it gives you incredible control over your window manager. +Also, a quick note! Some patches might change the config.def.h, add these new changes to your config.h since they are default configs for the new patches.
+Next Steps & The Suckless Mentality
+From here, the world is your oyster:
+-
+
- Explore config.h: Seriously, dive in. Change your mod key (Alt is default, many prefer the Super/Windows key, just change the MODKEY definition from Mod1Mask to Mod4Mask). +Change your fonts, colors, and tag names. Recompile after every change. +
- Browse More Patches: Get those gaps (vanitygaps), add a systray, try different layouts (fibonacci, centeredmaster). +
- Status Bar: Dwm’s status bar is typically populated by setting the root window’s name. You’ll often use a separate shell script or program (like slstatus or a custom script) +that periodically updates this. The autostart patch is great for launching such scripts. You can also decide to change out the bar to something like polybar or something. +
- Embrace Simplicity: The core idea of suckless is to keep things simple and understandable. If a patch seems overly complex or breaks things too often, maybe it’s not for you. +The beauty is in building your ideal, minimal environment. +
Don’t be afraid to break things! If you mess up your config.h or a patch goes horribly wrong, you can always run a patch -R -i file.patch. And for the config.h, the config.def.h +will always be there as the default to save you.
+It’s a journey, not a race. You’ll learn a bit about C, a bit about how window managers work, and a lot about what you really want from your desktop.
+So go forth, compile, patch, and make dwm your own! It’s less about having a flashy setup (though you can certainly make it look nice) and more about having a tool that’s perfectly +tailored to you. Less is indeed more, especially when you’re the one deciding what that “less” consists of.
+Happy Hacking!
+– cowmonk
+