dwm - dynamic window manager | my custom build

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

main screen	secondair screen

dwm out of the box has the necessary features. Through patches you can determine what features you would like to add. patches can be found on the suckless.org website. The more I use it the more patches I add/modify (for learning purpose and just trying out new patches if they fit my need). The patches that I added:

alpha	scratchpads
attachbottom	stacker
canfocusonclick	staticstatus
center	steam
cyclelayouts	swallow
fullscreen (modified)	switchtag
layoutmenu	tagothermonitor
noborder	tagswapmon
pertag	vanitygaps
resetlayout	warp
restartsig	xrdb

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Features

• Add indicator line on active or occupied tag which color can be changed in config.h
• Status on one specified monitor keeps updating regardless which monitor is active
• Pertag keeps settings per tag
• Toggle attach top/bottom (MODKEY + Shitf + d)
• Reset nmaster, layout, and mfact when last window on tag closes or with keybinding
• No border when one window or in monocly mode
• Vanitygaps for gaps between windows and screen
• Scratchpads for quick access to terminal
• Swallow for saving space when a program is opend trough a termnial
• Change colors with Xresources and reload with MODKEY + F5
  • dwm.normbgcolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.normfgcolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.normbordercolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.selbgcolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.selfgcolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.selbordercolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.normlinecolor: <COLOR>
  • dwm.sellinecolor: <COLOR>
• Included layouts whitch can cycled through:
  • Bound to key: tile, monocle, spiral, bstack, floating (MODKEY + t/m/y/u/f)
  • Not bound to key: dwindle, deck, bstackhoriz, grid, nrowgrid, horizgrid, gapplessgrid, centerdmaster, centerdfloatingmaster

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Dependencies

In order to build dwm you need:

• libxft (or libxft-bgra for colored font and emojis)
• st, or my own build of st
• dmemu
• ttf-joypixels

Optional programs

• picom (transparency)
• playerctl (audio control)
• pamixer (volume control)
• scrot (screenshot)

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Installation

Edit config.mk to match your local setup (dwm is installed into the /usr/local namespace by default).

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 to start dwm using startx:

exec dwm

Or add the following line to your .xinitrc to start dwm using startx with logging:

exec dwm 2> ~/.cache/dwm.log

Configuration

The configuration of dwm is done by creating a custom config.h and (re)compiling the source code.
Afterwards enter the following command to (re)build and install dwm (if necessary as root):

make install

dwmblocks

I use dwmblocks for my statusbar. If you want you can make your own script with use of xsetroot -name.

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Default keybindings

This is list of the most keybindings set in the config file. All the keybindings can be found in the config.def.h/config.h. add/change/delete keybindings to your liking.

Keybinding	Action
MODKEY + enter	Open terminal
MODKEY + p	Open dmenu (application laucher)
MODKEY + shift + c	Close window
MODKEY + 1-9	Switch to tag
MODKEY + shift + 1-9	Move focused window to tag
MODKEY + ,/.	Focus next/previous monitor
MODKEY + shift + ,/.	move focused window to next/previous monitor
MODKEY + l/h	Expand/shrink window size
MODKEY + ctrl + shift + backspace	Restart dwm
MODKEY + shift + backspace	Quit dwm

Custom keybindings

Keybinding	Action
General
MODKEY + j/k	Move window up/down the stack
MODKEY + Shift + d	Toggle attach top/bottom
MODKEY + shift + t	Toggle picom (transparency)
MODKEY + ~	Toggle terminal scratchpad
MODKEY + shift + ~	Toggle ranger (filemanger) scratchpad
MODKEY + shift + f	Toggle fullscreen layout
MODKEY + F5	Reload colors Xresource
MODKEY + r	Reset layout
MODKEY + ctrl + ,/.	Switch next/previous layout
MODKEY + /ctrl/shift + s	Make screenshot (scrot) of screen/window/selection
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + (/shift+) u	Increase/decrease gaps
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + (/shift+) i	Increase/decrease inner gaps
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + (/shift+) o	Increase/decrease outer gaps
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + 0	Toggle gaps
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + shift + 0	Reset default gaps
Multi monitor
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + 1-9	View tag on next monitor
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + shift + 1-9	Move window to tag next monitor
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + ctrl + 1-9	Move all windows to tag next monitor
MODKEY + SECMODKEY + ctrl + ,/.	Swap all windows on active tag between next/previous monitor