Labwc

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Labwc is a stacking wlroots-based Wayland compositor, inspired by Openbox.

Installation

USE flags

The following USE flags are available:

~amd64, X, nls, svg

Emerge

Labwc is currently only available in the wayland-desktop overlay/ebuild repository.

If the overlay is not activated, run:

root #eselect repository enable wayland-desktop
root #emaint sync -r wayland-desktop

After activating the overlay, install Labwc:

root #emerge --ask gui-wm/labwc

Starting

Labwc can be started via a terminal or a display manager.

To start it from a terminal:

user $dbus-run-session labwc

For display managers that utilise .desktop files, a labwc.desktop file is installed in /usr/share/wayland-sessions.

For login managers like greetd, a suitable startup script can be produced and the relevant entry added to /etc/greetd/environments/.

Configuration files

The configuration of Labwc aligns with Openbox in order to avoid reinventing configuration and theme syntaxes; the Openbox 3.6 specification is used. This does not mean that Labwc is an Openbox clone, but rather that configuration files will look and feel familiar.

There are five configuration files:

~/.config/labwc/ is used to store the user-specific custom version of these files, though it needs to be created and populated.

For example:

user $mkdir -p ~/.config/labwc/
user $bzcat /usr/share/doc/labwc/rc.xml.all.bz2 > ~/.config/labwc/rc.xml
user $bzcat /usr/share/doc/labwc/menu.xml.bz2 > ~/.config/labwc/menu.xml
user $vim ~/.config/labwc/autostart

autostart

The autostart script is the place to execute specific commands and programs when Labwc starts. It makes no difference if Labwc is started via a terminal or a display manager; autostart will be executed either way.

FILE ~/.config/labwc/autostartLabwc autostart example
# start pipewire sound service
gentoo-pipewire-launcher restart &

# ensure relevant portals are launched
/usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk -r &
/usr/libexec/xdg-document-portal -r &
/usr/libexec/flatpak-portal --no-idle-exit -r &
sh -c 'sleep 5;exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal -r' &
sh -c 'sleep 5;exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr -r' &

# set a wallpaper
swaybg  -i ~/Pictures/wallpaper-WoT.jpg -m fill &

# additional Wayland helpers
mako &
waybar &

# any other useful commands 
xhost +SI:localuser:$(id -un) &
xhost +SI:localuser:root &
discord --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland &
thunar --daemon &
flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam -console -silent &

environment

The environment script is the place to export global variables and configure the Labwc environment.

FILE ~/.config/labwc/environmentLabwc environment example
XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT=gb

QT_WAYLAND_DISABLE_WINDOWDECORATION=1
QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=1
QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct
QT_QPA_PLATFORM="wayland;xcb"

_JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1
NO_AT_BRIDGE=1
GTK_USE_PORTAL=0

CLUTTER_BACKEND=wayland
SDL_VIDEODRIVER="wayland,x11"
SDL_AUDIODRIVE=pipewire

menu.xml

The menu.xml file defines the right-click Labwc menus. By default the right-click menu is predefined with some common applications, so unless the applications are installed on the system most of the default links on the menu will not be operational.

The default menu.xml is:

FILE ~/.config/labwc/menu.xmlLabwc menu.xml example
<?xml version="1.0" ?>

<openbox_menu>
<menu id="root-menu" label="">
  <item label="Web browser"><action name="Execute" command="firefox" /></item>
  <item label="Terminal"><action name="Execute" command="alacritty" /></item>
  <item label="Reconfigure"><action name="Reconfigure" /></item>
  <item label="Exit"><action name="Exit" /></item>
</menu>
</openbox_menu>

Refer to #Menu generators for ideas on how to automatically create menu.xml files.

rc.xml

The rc.xml file defines Labwc behavior, keyboard bindings, and mouse bindings.

The following is a list of special key 'modifiers':

Key Description
S Shift key
C Ctrl key
A Alt key
W Super (windows) key
M Meta key
H Hyper key

To make a key binding, combine modifiers and a key. They are separated with the - (dash) sign.

Important
Case matters! S (uppercase) equates to Shift-s, while s (lowercase) equates to simply s.

Example content

The rc.xml file is split into multiple sections with each offering configuration over the respective section

  • CORE - General window management options
  • PLACEMENT - How new windows should be placed
  • WINDOW SWITCHER - Define window switcher behavior
  • RESISTANCE - How resistance to movement windows are with regards other windows and screen edge
  • FOCUS - Window focus with respect to mouse cursor
  • WINDOW SNAPPING - Snapping behavior
  • REGIONS - Define snapping regions
  • WORKSPACES - Naming and numbering of virtual workspaces
  • THEME - Specific themes as well as other customization, corner radius, drop shadow ...
  • MARGIN - Edge margin reserving
  • RESIZE - Popup resize indicator control
  • KEYBOARD - Keyboard control and configuration
  • MOUSE - Mouse control and configuration
  • TOUCH - Touchpad control and configuration
  • TABLE - Tablet control and configuration
  • LIBINPUT - Additional input control and configuration
  • WINDOW RULES - Per window based behavior overrides
  • MENU - Right-click menu controls
  • MAGNIFIER - Onscreen magnifier control
FILE ~/.config/labwc/rc.xmlLabwc rc.xml example
<?xml version="1.0"?>

<labwc_config>

  <core>
    <gap>10</gap>
    <decoration>server</decoration>
    <windowSwitcher show="yes" preview="yes" outlines="no" />
   </core>

  <focus>
    <followMouse>yes</followMouse>
    <raiseOnFocus>no</raiseOnFocus>
  </focus>

  <resistance>
    <screenEdgeStrength>20</screenEdgeStrength>
  </resistance>

  <theme>
    <name>Arc-Clone</name>
    <cornerRadius>10</cornerRadius>
    <font><name>sans</name><size>10</size></font>
    <dropShadows>yes</dropShadows>
  </theme>

<placement>
  <policy>automatic</policy>
</placement>

<desktops number="4" />

<keyboard>
    <keybind key="A-Tab"> <action name="NextWindow" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-Return"> <action name="Execute" command="foot" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="Print"> <action name="Execute"> <command>sh -c 'grim -t jpeg ~/screenshots/$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%m-%s).jpg'</command> </action> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-Print"> <action name="Execute"> <command>sh -c 'grim -t jpeg -g "$(slurp)"  ~/screenshots/$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%m-%s).jpg'</command> </action> </keybind>

    <keybind key="W-1"> <action name="GoToDesktop" to="1" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-2"> <action name="GoToDesktop" to="2" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-3"> <action name="GoToDesktop" to="3" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-4"> <action name="GoToDesktop" to="4" /> </keybind>

    <keybind key="W-S-1"> <action name="SendToDesktop" to="1" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-S-2"> <action name="SendToDesktop" to="2" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-S-3"> <action name="SendToDesktop" to="3" /> </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-S-4"> <action name="SendToDesktop" to="4" /> </keybind>

    <keybind key="XF86_AudioLowerVolume"> <action name="Execute" command="wpctl set-volume  @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SINK@ 5%-"/> </keybind>
    <keybind key="XF86_AudioRaiseVolume"> <action name="Execute" command="wpctl set-volume  @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SINK@ 5%+"/> </keybind>
    <keybind key="XF86_AudioMute"> <action name="Execute" command="wpctl set-mute @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SINK@ toggle "/> </keybind>
</keyboard>

</labwc_config>

All options can be viewed either at https://labwc.github.io/labwc-config.5.html or https://github.com/labwc/labwc/blob/master/docs/rc.xml.all

shutdown

The shutdown file is executed as a shell script when Labwc is preparing to terminate itself. All environment variables, including WAYLAND_DISPLAY and DISPLAY, will be available to the script. However, because the script runs asynchronously with other termination tasks, the shutdown file should not assume that the display will be usable. This file is useful to perform any custom operations necessary to finalize a Labwc session.

Menu generators

Several menu generators exist to automatically create a menu.xml file with system applications:

  • labwc-menu-generator: Independent of Desktop Environments and associated menu-packages. Very easy to build and use. Written in C.
  • labwc-menu-gnome3: Depends on GTK and a menu package such as GNOME, MATE or Cinnamon. Written in C.
  • openbox-menu: XDG menu spec compliant, using LXDE's library and menu package. Used to be packaged by Debian, but isn’t anymore. Written in C.
  • arch-xdg-menu: Arch Linux’s xdg-menu package based on SuSE 2003 implementation. Written in Perl.
  • obamenu: Designed for pipemenus, but could easily be modified to produce a root menu. Written in Python 3.

Themes

Since the configuration re-uses the syntax of Openbox, existing Openbox themes are usable. A good collection of Openbox themes can be found at https://github.com/addy-dclxvi/openbox-theme-collections.

The themes should be copied to ~/.local/share/themes/<theme-name>/openbox-3/ and can be set via the rc.xml file under the THEME section.

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