Cozy Guide To Install Bspwm In Arch Linux

Welcome to this guide to install the tiling window manager BSPWM in your Arch Linux. Whether you’re a seasoned Linux user or a newcomer, we’ve got you covered. We’ll walk you through the process, explain the concepts, and provide tips and tricks to make your experience smooth and enjoyable.

Note: To follow this guide, we assume that you already have Arch Linux installed. If you have not installed it yet, you can refer to my Cozy Guide to Install Arch Linux.

1. Initializing the Desktop Environment

1.1. Installing BSPWM and SXHKD

We will start with the installation of bspwm and sxhkd. SXHKD is an independent daemon to bind actions to key combinations and/or mouse buttons essential to use BSPWM.

We will also install lightdm, which is a lightweight display manager, along with lightdm-gtk-greeter and lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings to provide a graphical user interface for configuration. Finally, xorg, which is the most popular public, free, and open-source window system.

To install these packages, open a terminal and run the following command:

$ sudo pacman -S bspwm sxhkd lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings xorg

1.2. Enabling the Display Manager

Now we have to initialize the LightDM display manager. This can be done by enabling it through the system control as follows:

$ sudo systemctl enable lightdm

1.3. Configuring BSPWM and SXHKD

Next, we need to create custom directories for BSPWM and SXHKD in the .config directory. This can be done using the mkdir command:

$ mkdir -p ~/.config/{bspwm,sxhkd}

Once the directories are created, we can proceed to install the necessary files with the appropriate permissions. We’ll use the install command to copy the example configuration files from the BSPWM and SXHKD documentation to our newly created directories:

$ install -Dm755 /usr/share/doc/bspwm/examples/bspwmrc ~/.config/bspwm/
$ install -Dm644 /usr/share/doc/bspwm/examples/sxhkdrc ~/.config/sxhkd/

After installing the files, it’s crucial to modify the sxhkdrc file located in the .config/sxhkd/ directory. This file contains the configuration for the hotkeys, including the one for opening the terminal. If this is not set up correctly, you may encounter issues when trying to open a terminal after a system restart.

In my case we will use Kitty as our terminal emulator, so the configuration would be as follows:

# kitty
super + Return
    kitty

2. Customizing BSPWM

We will install the lxappearance, picom, and nitrogen packages to customize the desktop environment.

2.1. LXAppearance

LXAppearance is a desktop-independent theme manager that allows us to change the appearance of our desktop environment. To install it, run the following command:

$ sudo pacman -S lxappearance

Once installed, you can run lxappearance in the terminal to open the graphical user interface. Here you can change the GTK theme, the icon theme, the font, and the cursor.

2.2. Picom

Picom is an independent compositor for Xorg, famous for providing shading and transparency effects to windows. To install it, run the following command:

$ sudo pacman -S picom

After installation, you can start Picom with the command picom &. To configure it, create a configuration file in your home directory, for example ~/.config/picom/picom.conf, and adjust the settings according to your needs.

2.3. Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a utility for changing the desktop background in X Window systems. To install it, run the following command:

$ sudo pacman -S nitrogen

After installation, you can run nitrogen /path/to/your/images/ to select an image as a desktop background.

2.4. Autostarting Programs

If you want these programs to run when you start your computer, you can add the following configuration to your .bspwmrc file:

$ nitrogen --restore % & 
$ picom --config ~/.config/picom/picom.conf &

After this you’ve successfully set up the core components and explored some basic customization options. Remember, BSPWM is a powerful and flexible window manager, and this guide has just scratched the surface of its capabilities.