Here is my current dwm.desktop  Things just hang on boot attempt with tbsm. i3 & xfce work just fine.  When I enable lightdm everything works fine.  I feel really slow....

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=dwm
Comment=dynamic window manager
icon=dwm
Type=Application
Exec=/home/mark/.local/bin/autostart/dwm.sh
Terminal=false
Type=Application

Using the suckless autostart patch would work, then your .desktop file would simply have the 'Exec=dwm' line. But it sounds like tbsm probably won't work with a hand-crafted script like you are using. That's unfortunate.

The Debian dwm package supplies such a file and can be easily customised by using

$ apt source dwm && cd dwm*
[edit files and apply patches]
$ dpkg-source --commit
$ debuild -us -uc
# apt install ../dwm*.deb

Check forums.debian.net for a more in-depth guide to the process.

I have it working for i3 & xfce @andyprough but because I start dwm via a script (my autostart functions) I have to find a way to point to the dwm bash script location.

Oh interesting. Could you just make a dwm.desktop file and point it at your dwm autostart script I wonder? Something like

Desktop Entry]
Name=DWM
Comment=Window manager for the X11 Window System
Exec=~/.dwm/autostart.sh
Terminal=false
Type=Application

or something?

I don't know - I just use vanilla dwm with a few updated keybindings these days. Trying to maximize my memory availability for some VMs that I run. Maybe HOAS would have a better idea for you on a way for tbsm to start that script.

EDIT: I'm reading the tbsm documentation. tbsm is just a bash shell script that is not in active development. And the docs say it only handles .desktop files, so you'd have to get that autostart script to launch via a dwm.desktop file I believe. Similar to the one I posted I think.

git clone https://github.com/loh-tar/tbsm
cd tbsm
sudo make install

Works incredible on Devuan. I've been using it for over a year.

case "$(tty)" in
   /dev/tty1) exec startx /usr/bin/dwm ;;
   /dev/tty2) exec startx /usr/bin/i3 ;;
   /dev/tty3) exec startx /usr/bin/startxfce4
esac

^ That starts dwm if you log in at TTY1, i3 from TTY2 and Xfce from TTY3. You can even have all three running at the same time if you want :-)

EDIT: oops, no it didn't. Corrected.

Edit: I use a dm because I have dwm, i3wm & xfce4 in the same user space.

#!/bin/sh
# Generated by sysd2v v0.3  --  http://www.trek.eu.org/devel/sysd2v
# kFreeBSD do not accept scripts as interpreters, using #!/bin/sh and sourcing.
if [ true != "$INIT_D_SCRIPT_SOURCED" ] ; then
    set "$0" "$@"; INIT_D_SCRIPT_SOURCED=true . /lib/init/init-d-script
fi
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:       ly display-manager
# Required-Start: $remote_fs
# Required-Stop:  $remote_fs
# Should-Start:   plymouth-quit-wait getty@tty2
# Should-Stop:    plymouth-quit-wait getty@tty2
# Default-Start:  2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:   0 1 6
# Description:    TUI display manager
### END INIT INFO
DAEMON=/usr/bin/ly
PIDFILE=/var/run/ly-sysd2v.pid
START_ARGS="--background --make-pidfile"

^ Copy that into a file at /etc/init.d/ly and run

# update-rc.d ly defaults

Then either reboot or attempt to start it manually with

# service ly start

Disclaimer: untested.

Off-topic: display managers are bloat so why not just add this line to ~/.profile instead:

[ "$(tty)" = /dev/tty1 ] && exec startx

^ That runs startx automatically if you log in to TTY1.

Here's a link to the relevant github.
https://github.com/nullgemm/ly

Edit: I searched for an 'ly' service in sysv but did not find one.

TIA