bspwm
bspwm is a lightweight, tiling, minimalist window manager written in C, which organizes its windows as nodes of a binary tree. Its installed size is less than 600 KB (even with the examples USE flag set). It only responds to X events and messages it receives on a dedicated socket from a program included in its package, bspc.
Installation
USE flags
USE flags for x11-wm/bspwm Tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning
examples
|
Install examples, usually source code |
Emerge
To install bspwm using Portage merely issue the command:
root #emerge --ask x11-wm/bspwmsxhkd is used for keybindings and pointer bindings so one may wish to install it too:
root #emerge --ask x11-misc/sxhkdConfiguration
If bspwm was installed with the examples USE flag enabled, proper configuration is necessary.
First create the necessary directories that will hold the configuration files. Since bspwm does not manage keyboard or pointer inputs, it utilizes x11-misc/sxhkd (Simple X hotkey daemon) for this purpose. Consequently, we will need a configuration file for x11-misc/sxhkd, as it will house all of your key bindings.
user $mkdir -vp ~/.config/bspwm ~/.config/sxhkdNow copy the sample configuration files from /usr/share/doc/bspwm-0.9.10/examples/ and, if required, extract them:
user $cp -v /usr/share/doc/bspwm-0.9.10/examples/bspwmrc.* ~/.config/bspwm/user $cp -v /usr/share/doc/bspwm-0.9.10/examples/sxhkdrc.* ~/.config/sxhkd/If the configuration files are compressed, extract them using the applicable command for the compression format. For instance, if the files are compressed using zstd (.zst files), use the command:
user $zstd -vd ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc.zstuser $zstd -vd ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc.zstThe compressed files can then be removed:
user $rm -v ~/.config/bspwm/bspwm/bspwm.zstuser $rm -v ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc.zstAdapt the above commands for the particular compression format used by Portage.
Ensure that the configuration file is executable. If it is not, one must make it executable by running the command chmod +x ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc.
Autostart programs
If there are specific programs that need to be started after logging in on the workstation, such as net-misc/dropbox and media-gfx/feh, one can achieve this by starting them in the bspwm configuration file:
~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrcbspwm configuration file# autostart programs
dropbox
feh --bg-scale ~/.config/my_wallpaper.png
${HOME}/.config/polybar/launch.sh
Hide/Show windows
Some programs may have tray icons, and users may wish to replicate the minimize behavior (referred to as hide in the bspwm environment). This can be achieved by configuring a keyboard shortcut. It is important to note that when restoring these hidden windows, they will reappear on the same monitor where they were initially hidden.
~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrcsxhkd configuration file# hide window
super + v
bspc node -g hidden
# unhide window
super + shift + v
bspc node {,$(bspc query -N -n .hidden | tail -n1)} -g hidden=off
Additional software
A dynamic menu designed for X initially developed for dwm. Primarily focused on launching programs, but it can also be configured to perform other tasks.
USE flags for x11-misc/dmenu a generic, highly customizable, and efficient menu for the X Window System
savedconfig
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Use this to restore your config from /etc/portage/savedconfig ${CATEGORY}/${PN}. Make sure your USE flags allow for appropriate dependencies |
xinerama
|
Add support for querying multi-monitor screen geometry through the Xinerama API |
To assign a keyboard shortcut for launching dmenu:
~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrcsxhkd configuration file# program launcher
super + space
dmenu_run
Terminal emulators
st aka suckless/simple terminal
st is an extremely minimal terminal emulator developed by the developers of dmenu.
USE flags for x11-terms/st Simple terminal implementation for X
savedconfig
|
Use this to restore your config from /etc/portage/savedconfig ${CATEGORY}/${PN}. Make sure your USE flags allow for appropriate dependencies |
To install it, just issue the command:
root #emerge --ask x11-terms/stTo enable a keyboard shortcut for launching the terminal
~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrcsxhkd configuration file# terminal emulator
super + Return
st
rxvt-unicode aka urxvt
urxvt is another alternative, although it lacks full Unicode support and you might have some issues with Powerline Fonts.
USE flags for x11-terms/rxvt-unicode rxvt clone with xft and unicode support
+font-styles
|
Enable support for bold and italic fonts |
+mousewheel
|
Enable scrolling via mouse wheel or buttons 4 and 5 |
24-bit-color
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Enable 24-bit color support. Note that this feature is unofficial, may cause visual glitches due to the fact there is no termcap/terminfo definition for rxvt-unicode-24bit yet so it is necessary to use the one for 256 colours, visibly increases memory usage, and might slow urxvt down dramatically when more than six fonts are in use in a terminal instance. |
256-color
|
Enable 256 color support |
blink
|
Enable blinking text |
fading-colors
|
Enable colors fading when off focus |
gdk-pixbuf
|
Enable transparency support using x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf |
iso14755
|
Enable ISO-14755 support |
perl
|
Enable perl script support. You can still disable this at runtime with -pe "" |
startup-notification
|
Enable application startup event feedback mechanism |
unicode3
|
Use 21 instead of 16 bits to represent unicode characters |
wide-glyphs
|
Enable support for wide glyphs, required for certain symbol/icon fonts to display correctly. Note that this feature is *unofficial* and has been observed to cause stability issues for some users. |
xft
|
Build with support for XFT font renderer (x11-libs/libXft) |
You can install it issuing the command:
root #emerge --ask x11-terms/rxvt-unicodei3lock
Locking your screen is always recommended in order to avoid unauthorized access to your Workstation
USE flags for x11-misc/i3lock Simple screen locker
You can install it by issuing the command:
root #emerge --ask x11-misc/i3lockIn order to assign a keyboard shortcut for locking your screen, you should update your configuration file
~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrcsxhkd configuration file# lock the screen with a dark background
super + q
i3lock -c 000000
File managers
ranger
ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings. It provides a minimalistic and nice curses interface with a view on the directory hierarchy. It ships with rifle, a file launcher that is good at automatically finding out which program to use for what file type.
You can install ranger via
root #emerge --ask app-misc/rangerIf you want to tune ranger with your own settings:
Start ranger and exit so that it creates the directory structure for its configuration files.
user $rangeruser $QNow copy the configuration files:
user $ranger --copy-config=allcreating: /home/user/.config/ranger/apps.py creating: /home/user/.config/ranger/commands.py creating: /home/user/.config/ranger/rc.conf creating: /home/user/.config/ranger/options.py creating: /home/user/.config/ranger/scope.sh
See also
- JWM — an extremely lightweight window manager for the X window system.
- XFCE — a lightweight desktop environment built to be fast, good looking, and user friendly.
External resources
- ranger file manager official wiki
- Installing and Using Ranger, a Terminal File Manager by Justin Ellingwood on DigitalOcean tutorials
- hide/show bspwm windows on Reddit