Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

bender02 · 2007-11-19 22:47:15

Well, I don't know if it's the best way, but here's the way I do it.

I have a directory where I have the current PKGBUILD and my current Config.hs. Whenever I feel like I need to change the configuration, I edit Config.hs, run makepkg (the PKGBUILD from AUR is written so that it picks up Config.hs and uses it to compile xmonad), and then pacman -U the built package. Then you only need to restart xmonad (you can do it from within xmonad with some keyboard shortcut, which I don't remember right now). The config editing doesn't happen too often, just when I need to change some keyboard shortcuts, or when new version of xmonad changes the syntax.

EDIT: if you don't clean up the src/ subdir, when you recompile it only recompiles the parts which are affected by your changes in Config.hs.

As far as the initial install goes, I downloaded the PKGBUILD from AUR, ran makepkg, which asks you if you want to edit the config; said YES (which had the consequence of creating a copy of Config.hs in the current dir), compiled and installed.

Last edited by bender02 (2007-11-19 22:49:35)

buttons · 2007-11-20 00:47:51

bender02 wrote:

Well, I don't know if it's the best way, but here's the way I do it.
I have a directory where I have the current PKGBUILD and my current Config.hs. Whenever I feel like I need to change the configuration, I edit Config.hs, run makepkg (the PKGBUILD from AUR is written so that it picks up Config.hs and uses it to compile xmonad), and then pacman -U the built package. Then you only need to restart xmonad (you can do it from within xmonad with some keyboard shortcut, which I don't remember right now). The config editing doesn't happen too often, just when I need to change some keyboard shortcuts, or when new version of xmonad changes the syntax.
EDIT: if you don't clean up the src/ subdir, when you recompile it only recompiles the parts which are affected by your changes in Config.hs.
As far as the initial install goes, I downloaded the PKGBUILD from AUR, ran makepkg, which asks you if you want to edit the config; said YES (which had the consequence of creating a copy of Config.hs in the current dir), compiled and installed.

+1

The keyboard shortcut for reloading config is (your mod) + q
This doesn't work for a couple things, but fine if all you did in your recompiled Config.hs is change the window border colour.

The shortcut for quitting X is (your mod) + shift + q
I find it's handy to have X restart anyway, so this effectively restarts XMonad for me.

----

Couple extra bits:

If you're using someone's config from the user's wiki, you'll probably notice you need extensions to compile it. To do this, grab the latest sources from the extensions links on the main page, and untargzip the XMonadContrib folder into your src/xmonad-pkgver directory to add the extensions.

If you're compiling with GHC 6.8 (that should be most of you), some added trickery is needed.

Per the FAQ, there are additional changes that need to be made to src/xmonad-pkgver/xmonad.cabal. See link for details.

If you're using additional extensions, you'll need to pay attention to the message it gives you when you compile. If it says something is "hidden," it will need to be added to the end of the build-depends line in xmonad.cabal.

IE, ...depends on X but it is hidden.

in xmonad.cabal:
build-depends: base>=2.0, X11>=1.3.0, mtl>=1.0, unix>=1.0, containers, X

I'm new to tiling WMs as well, and just picked this up. I love how I can use conky with it, which was honestly my only requirement from my WM. I tried awesomewm first, but no conky.

thayer · 2007-11-20 01:14:25

Thanks bender and buttons! I'm still getting the hang of things... its quite a jump from using Openbox or GNOME. I'll update the wiki to reflect your info.

bender02 · 2007-11-20 02:46:41

Well, as for the containers hidden problem, I have made a patch: updated pkgbuild with patch is now at http://elbrus.strangled.net/bks/xmonad.tar.gz. It is exactly the solution buttons proposed above. I did not know that you also need to add X, it works for me with just containers.

Last edited by bender02 (2007-11-20 02:48:48)

thayer · 2007-11-20 03:05:22

I'm sort of multitasking with the tilers at the moment (which of course is elevating the learning curve, I'm sure)... I'm trying both awesome and xmonad and I plan to try wmii as well (when I have the time to look into the libixp-devel dependency issue). Awesome's default bar seems a bit more intuitive than xmonads, but I've seen some of the extensions available for xmonad and the overall feature set seems superior....

Argh, just when I found comfort in Openbox I have to go off and start testing something else! Oh well, at least my distro-hopping days are over.

Last edited by thayer (2007-11-20 03:05:41)

buttons · 2007-11-20 04:19:04

bender02 wrote:

Well, as for the containers hidden problem, I have made a patch: updated pkgbuild with patch is now at http://elbrus.strangled.net/bks/xmonad.tar.gz. It is exactly the solution buttons proposed above. I did not know that you also need to add X, it works for me with just containers.

Nononono. X is an example. X can be anything.

My xmonad.cabal, for example:

name: xmonad
version: 0.4.1
homepage: http://xmonad.org
synopsis: A lightweight X11 window manager.
description:
xmonad is a tiling window manager for X. Windows are arranged
automatically to tile the screen without gaps or overlap, maximising
screen use. All features of the window manager are accessible from
the keyboard: a mouse is strictly optional. xmonad is written and
extensible in Haskell. Custom layout algorithms, and other
extensions, may be written by the user in config files. Layouts are
applied dynamically, and different layouts may be used on each
workspace. Xinerama is fully supported, allowing windows to be tiled
on several screens.
category: System
license: BSD3
license-file: LICENSE
author: Spencer Janssen
maintainer: sjanssen@cse.unl.edu
build-depends: base>=2.0, mtl>=1.0, unix>=1.0, X11==1.3.0, containers, process, directory
extra-source-files: README TODO tests/loc.hs tests/Properties.hs man/xmonad.1.in
Config.hs-boot util/GenerateManpage.hs man/xmonad.1 man/xmonad.html
executable: xmonad
main-is: Main.hs
other-modules: Config Operations StackSet XMonad
ghc-options: -funbox-strict-fields -O2 -fasm -Wall -optl-Wl,-s
ghc-prof-options: -prof -auto-all
extensions: GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving
-- Also requires deriving Typeable, PatternGuards

The bold line is the important bit.

The point is you need to add additional build-depends as your extensions require them.

bender02 · 2007-11-20 04:29:44

Ah! Maybe I should get some sleep before I reply...:)
You're of course right...
I use only TabbedLayout from extensions, and that one doesn't need any extra unhiding Anyway, the patch was made so that people don't actually have to edit the xmonad.cabal file if they simply need to compile xmonad - I made it for aur, because now something like "aurbuild -s xmonad" just spits out an error.

geek.arnuld · 2007-11-20 08:34:04

I tried Xmonad. it is good and its Dynamic Window Management is fine pice of work. it comes closest to what a Tiled WM should be like But its Floating-Layer is not that good as of wmii:

http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii

thayer · 2007-11-24 21:13:47

Could one of the more knowledgeable Xmonad users please post a simple HOWTO for installing Xmonad-darcs and setting up extensions? I've been sifting through documentation at the Xmonad site and trying to make sense of the various AUR pages for Xmonad (xmonad, xmonad-darc, contribs, X11, xmobar-dark, xmobar) and I can't find any clear instructions on which packages to use and how.

I'm not really a programmer (so perhaps I am getting in over my head?), but I really like Xmonad and would like to figure out how to use the extensions that are available. Specifically, I'm just trying to get to a point where I can run Xmonad with the ~/.xmonad setup and be able to drop in extensions as desired. Currently I'm running the stable version via the modified PKGBUILD file from bender02, but if I understand the info I've seen, this version is not setup using the new ~/.xmonad structure.

vogt · 2007-11-25 01:23:45

thayer wrote:

Specifically, I'm just trying to get to a point where I can run Xmonad with the ~/.xmonad setup and be able to drop in extensions as desired. Currently I'm running the stable version via the modified PKGBUILD file from bender02, but if I understand the info I've seen, this version is not setup using the new ~/.xmonad structure.

You are right, the inverted config will happen in xmonad 0.5, and currently darcs has it.

To get xmonad-darcs, get aur packages haskell-x11-darcs, xmonad-darcs, and optionally xmonad-contrib-darcs (to get a bunch of additional modules)

A good place to base a ~.xmonad/xmonad.hs would be the config archive

thayer · 2007-11-25 19:09:26

Thanks vogt! I've got the darcs version up and running... I'll take a look at the sample configs.

Gustavo · 2007-12-26 21:33:54

I did a full system upgrade today and now my xmonad is acting weird. When I change workspaces the program that I was using in the previous workspace seems to change to the new one, but it is only an "image" of the program, it's not functional. Is anyone else having this problem?

vagif · 2007-12-27 04:45:16

How to add xmonad to list of sessions of GDM ?
Edit: Never mind. Figured it out. /etc/X11/sessions

Last edited by vagif (2007-12-27 05:34:28)

Arch Linux

#51 2007-11-19 22:47:15

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#52 2007-11-20 00:47:51

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#53 2007-11-20 01:14:25

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#54 2007-11-20 02:46:41

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#55 2007-11-20 03:05:22

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#56 2007-11-20 04:19:04

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#57 2007-11-20 04:29:44

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#58 2007-11-20 08:34:04

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#59 2007-11-24 21:13:47

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#60 2007-11-25 01:23:45

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#61 2007-11-25 19:09:26

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#62 2007-12-26 21:33:54

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

#63 2007-12-27 04:45:16

Re: Xmonad: A brilliant window manager

Board footer