awesome-wm-and-kde-plasma

How to install Awesome WM instead KWin on KDE Plasma.

Installation

Packages

Xorg packages: xorg-server, xorg-xinit
Terminal: xterm
Awesome WM: awesome
Compositor: picom
KDE Plasma: plasma
Desktop Display Manager: sddm
All packages for Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xterm awesome picom plasma sddm
Enable sddm: sudo systemctl enable sddm obs.: Remember to change to Plasma(X11) on sddm login.

Configuration

Adding stuff to the Awesome config

Create the configuration file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/awesome
cp /etc/xdg/awesome/rc.lua ~/.config/awesome/

Edit line 199 in ~/.config/awesome/rc.lua to hide wibox:

s.mywibox = awful.wibar({ position = "top", screen = s, visible = false})

To improve compatibility with Plasma, add the following lines in your Awesome config:

In line 447 awful.rules.rules = {:

{ -- General plasma rules
    rule_any = {
        class = {
            "plasmashell",
            "ksmserver-logout-greeter",
        },
    },
    properties = {
        floating = true,
        border_width = 0,
        titlebars = false, -- custom property to control titlebars
    },
},

{ -- KDE apps
    rule_any = {
        class = {
            "spectacle",
            "krunner",
        },
    },
    properties = {
        floating = true,
    },
},

rule_any = {
    name = {
        "Desktop.*Plasma",
    },
},

Replace Kwin with Awesome WM

Mask Kwin service:

sudo systemctl mask plasma-kwin_x11.service
qdbus org.kde.KWin /Compositor suspend

Create awesome-plasma service:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
touch ~/.config/systemd/user/awesome-plasma.service
sudo chmod +x ~/.config/systemd/user/awesome-plasma.service

Add in awesome-plasma.service:

[Install]
WantedBy=plasma-workspace.target

[Unit]
Description=Plasma Custom Window Manager
Before=plasma-workspace.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/awesome
Slice=session.slice
Restart=on-failure

Enable awesome-plasma service:

systemctl --user enable awesome-plasma.service

Create and Enable Picom Service

Create picom service:

touch ~/.config/systemd/user/picom.service
sudo chmod +x ~/.config/systemd/user/picom.service

Add in picom.service:

[Install]
WantedBy=plasma-workspace.target

[Unit]
Description=Picom compositor fork
Documentation=man:picom(1)
Before=plasma-workspace.target
StartLimitBurst=3
StartLimitIntervalSec=60

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/picom
ExecReload=/usr/bin/kill -SIGUSR1 $MAINPID
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

Enable picom service:
```
systemctl --user enable picom.service
```

References

Tutorials/Using Other Window Managers with Plasma
KDE with Awesome WM
This repository was inspired by i3-and-kde-plasma

Augusto-Fadanelli/awesome-wm-and-kde-plasma