dwm - dynamic window manager

dwm is an extremely fast, small, and dynamic window manager for X.

dwm - dynamic window manager

Requirements

In order to build dwm you need the Xlib header files.

Installation

By default, dwm is installed into the /usr/local namespace. If this does not match your local setup, edit config.mk accordingly.

Afterwards, enter the following command to build and install dwm (if necessary as root):

make clean install

Running dwm

Add the following line to your .xinitrc / .xprofile to start dwm using startx:

exec dwm

In order to connect dwm to a specific display, make sure that the DISPLAY environment variable is set correctly, e.g.:

DISPLAY=foo.bar:1 exec dwm

(This will start dwm on display :1 of the host foo.bar.)

In order to display status info in the bar, you can do something like this in your .xinitrc / .xprofile:

while xsetroot -name "`date` `uptime | sed 's/.*,//'`"
do
	sleep 1
done &
exec dwm

(Using this with another status bar, e.g., slstatus, will cause issues)

Command Shortcuts

Here are the default shortcuts configured in this build.

MODKEY = Super / Command / Windows key. If you want to change this to a different modifier key, you may do so by changing the MODKEY in config.h. There are up to 5 modifier keys available (Mod1Mask through Mod5Mask) depending on your system. Simply run xmodmap on your system to see which options you have available.

Shortcut	Description
`MODKEY+B`	Toggle the top bar.
`MODKEY+C`	Terminate the active window.
`MODKEY+F`	Activate floating view mode (also expands the active window to full-screen).
`MODKEY+M`	Activate monocle view mode.
`MODKEY+P`	Open dmenu (application launcher).
`MODKEY+T`	Activate tile view mode.
`MODKEY+[1-9]`	Switch between workspaces. You can also use your mouse by clicking on a workspace's tab.
`MODKEY+0`	View all workspaces in floating view mode (stacked windows).
`MODKEY+ENTER`	Swap positions between two open windows on a workspace.
`MODKEY+SHIFT+L`	Lock the screen (requires light-locker).
`MODKEY+SHIFT+Q`	Quit the session / logout.
`MODKEY+SHIFT+[1-9]`	Move the active window between workspaces.
`MODKEY+SHIFT+0`	Tag the active window to remain in view regardless of what workspace you switch to.
`MODKEY+SHIFT+ENTER`	Open a new terminal window.
`MODKEY+CTRL+[1-9]`	Tag the selected workspace's windows to come into view with the active workspace.
`MODKEY+TAB`	Toggle between the currently active workspace and the previously selected workspace.
`MODKEY+SPACEBAR`	Toggle floating view mode.
Volume Up/Down	Adjusts the system volume.
Brightness Up/Down	Adjusts the system brightness. Requires xbacklight (acpilight provides this, and is highly recommended).

Note: Hovering your mouse over a window makes that window active.

Configuration

My config uses the Hack Nerd Font with the following Suckless patches:

The configuration of dwm is done by modifying config.h and (re)compiling the source code. This keeps it fast, secure and simple. It is recommended to use a text editor such as Vim, nano, or Emacs when you edit config.h (using another utility, e.g., an IDE, can cause issues with seeing glyphs, for example).

Note: Do not modify the config.def.h file. Instead, use this file as a state backup of the original working config in case you ever need to revert back to it.

Here are the respective default variables you'll want to edit for your system:

constant	Description
`static Key keys[]`	Contains an array of keyboard shortcuts for invoking commands on your system. Below are the parameters for each value in the array. modifier - define the keys that should be prefixed before the command invocation key. This can be `0` (for none), or any combination of MODKEY (default is `ALT`) and `ShiftMask` (`SHIFT`). key - the command invocation key. Define a key that, when pressed with the corresponding modifier key(s), invokes the command (e.g., launches an application). By default, this maps to `/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h` and/or `/usr/include/X11/XF86keysym.h` on most systems. function - the function to invoke from dwm.c when the corresponding keyboard shortcut is pressed (e.g., spawn calls execvp to execute a file/program). argument - the argument to be passed into the aforementioned function.
`static const char *tags[][TAGLENGTH]`	This is where you'll set the unicode values (e.g., glyphs, letters, numbers, or special characters) for your workspaces. By default, these appear at the top left of the screen.
`static const Rule rules[]`	Contains an array of rules for individual apps. Below are the parameters for each value in the array. tags mask - tells dwm to send an application to a specific workspace when it's opened (1 << x = 1 + x; therefore, 1 << 3 = workspace 4). isfloating - is a boolean (`0 \| 1`) that tells dwm to treat the app's windows as floating windows if true (`1`), else tiled if false (`0`). monitor - tells dwm which monitor to send the app's windows to. title, instance, and class - Use the following command to get the apropriate arguments: `xprop \| awk '/^WM_CLASS/{sub(/.* =/, "instance:"); sub(/,/, "\nclass:"); print}/^WM_NAME/{sub(/.* =/, "title:"); print}'`. After entering the command into the terminal, hover the mouse over the corresponding app's window and click to generate the output. _{(See dwm rules for more information)}
`static const char *termcmd[]`	Defines the terminal emulator to use on the system. Default is Alacritty.
`static const char *browsercmd[]`	Defines the web browser to use on the system. Default is Brave.

_{See more from suckless at suckless.org}