Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

devuan_dk_fan · 2018-04-07 14:32:32

I have installed a minimal Devuan system on my Acer Aspire One 725 with bspwm, as I am trying to minimize overhead using the apps that I need to run.

$ startx

gives me this. The focus stays in lxterminal and my few hot keys in sxhkd are unable to run with the lxterminal focus. I have earlier tried with urxvt, but it remains unfocused and no hot key commands work there either. All dependencies are installed as per here.

My bspwmrc is so far largely standard:

#! /bin/sh

sxhkd &

bspc monitor -d 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

bspc config border_width        1
bspc config window_gap          0
bspc config top_padding		12
bspc config bottom_padding	12

bspc config split_ratio          0.52
bspc config borderless_monocle   true
bspc config gapless_monocle      true

bspc rule -a Gimp desktop='^8' state=floating follow=on
bspc rule -a Chromium desktop='^2'
bspc rule -a mplayer2 state=floating
bspc rule -a Kupfer.py focus=on
bspc rule -a Screenkey manage=off

Here are my sxhkdrc file contents:

#
# wm independent hotkeys
#

# terminal emulator
super + Return
	lxterminal

# program launcher
super + d
	dmenu_run -fn '40x50' -i -nb '#000000' -nf '#FFFFFF' -sb '#8DC7E0' -sf '#000000'

# file manager
super + x
	pcmanfm

# web browser
super + b
	vivaldi-stable

# make sxhkd reload its configuration files:
super + shift + r
	pkill -USR1 -x sxhkd

#
# bspwm hotkeys
#

# quit bspwm normally
super + shift + e
	bspc quit

# close and kill
super + {_,shift + }w
	bspc node -{c,k}

# alternate between the tiled and monocle layout
super + m
	bspc desktop -l next

# send the newest marked node to the newest preselected node
super + y
	bspc node newest.marked.local -n newest.!automatic.local

# swap the current node and the biggest node
super + g
	bspc node -s biggest

#
# state/flags
#

# set the window state
super + {t,shift + t,s,f}
	bspc node -t {tiled,pseudo_tiled,floating,fullscreen}

# set the node flags
super + ctrl + {m,x,y,z}
	bspc node -g {marked,locked,sticky,private}

#
# focus/swap
#

# focus the node in the given direction
super + {_,shift + }{h,j,k,l}
	bspc node -{f,s} {west,south,north,east}

# focus the node for the given path jump
super + {p,b,comma,period}
	bspc node -f @{parent,brother,first,second}

# focus the next/previous node in the current desktop
super + {_,shift + }c
	bspc node -f {next,prev}.local

# focus the next/previous desktop in the current monitor
super + bracket{left,right}
	bspc desktop -f {prev,next}.local

# focus the last node/desktop
super + {grave,Tab}
	bspc {node,desktop} -f last

# focus the older or newer node in the focus history
super + {o,i}
	bspc wm -h off; \
	bspc node {older,newer} -f; \
	bspc wm -h on

# focus or send to the given desktop
super + {_,shift + }{1-9,0}
	bspc {desktop -f,node -d} '^{1-9,10}'

#
# preselect
#

# preselect the direction
super + ctrl + {h,j,k,l}
	bspc node -p {west,south,north,east}

# preselect the ratio
super + ctrl + {1-9}
	bspc node -o 0.{1-9}

# cancel the preselection for the focused node
super + ctrl + space
	bspc node -p cancel

# cancel the preselection for the focused desktop
super + ctrl + shift + space
	bspc query -N -d | xargs -I id -n 1 bspc node id -p cancel

#
# move/resize
#

# expand a window by moving one of its side outward
super + alt + {h,j,k,l}
	bspc node -z {left -20 0,bottom 0 20,top 0 -20,right 20 0}

# contract a window by moving one of its side inward
super + alt + shift + {h,j,k,l}
	bspc node -z {right -20 0,top 0 20,bottom 0 -20,left 20 0}

# move a floating window
super + {Left,Down,Up,Right}
	bspc node -v {-20 0,0 20,0 -20,20 0}

This seems to just work in Slackware https://flic.kr/p/24y4QhF

Anyone have some experience with bspwm and Devuan?

Last edited by devuan_dk_fan (2018-04-07 14:52:31)

msi · 2018-04-07 15:46:37

I don't have any experience with bspwm. However, from what I can see in the screenshot, it seems like the window manager is not being started when you start X. Do you have an .xinitrc file in your home directory? If so, what does it look like?

Also, did you build bspwm from source or install it through the package manager (which would be possible in ascii or ceres)?

Last edited by msi (2018-04-07 15:47:00)

devuan_dk_fan · 2018-04-07 20:47:53

msi wrote:

I don't have any experience with bspwm. However, from what I can see in the screenshot, it seems like the window manager is not being started when you start X. Do you have an .xinitrc file in your home directory? If so, what does it look like?

Wow. Interesting. As a matter of fact, I don't have an .xinitrc. I don't have any experience with .xinitrc's. Any advice on how to create one? I just use xwmconfig in Slackware to set the window manager after login, and then run "startx".

msi wrote:

Also, did you build bspwm from source or install it through the package manager (which would be possible in ascii or ceres)?

What I did was I cloned from the git and then ran make, checkinstall so that I had some .deb packages should I need to build these packages again.

----

Here is the .xinitrc that xwmconfig generates for baspwm in Slackware, but I assume that some is distro specific?

#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps
[ -f $sysresources ] && xrdb -merge $sysresources
[ -f $sysmodmap ] && xmodmap $sysmodmap
[ -f $userresources ] && xrdb -merge $userresources
[ -f $usermodmap ] && xmodmap $usermodmap

sxhkd &

# Start the window manager:
if [ -z "$DESKTOP_SESSION" -a -x /usr/bin/ck-launch-session ]; then
  ck-launch-session dbus-launch --exit-with-session bspwm
else
  bspwm
fi

Last edited by devuan_dk_fan (2018-04-08 04:48:11)

devuan_dk_fan · 2018-04-08 05:57:15

I followed the instructions and reduced my .xinitrc file to the following:

sxhkd &
lxterminal &
exec bspwm

The terminal fills the entire space (as it should), but I can't get any response from my hot keys, even when quitting the terminal. I compared the permissions for sxhkdrc on my Devuan install to the Slackware version and they are the same. I am at a loss as to why the hot keys aren't working.

Last edited by devuan_dk_fan (2018-04-08 05:57:38)

msi · 2018-04-08 11:49:48

"Make sure ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc is executable." (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bs … n.27t_work)

Btw, what's the reason you're trying to use bspwm?

devuan_dk_fan · 2018-04-08 15:43:25

msi wrote:

"Make sure ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc is executable." (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bs … n.27t_work)

Thanks I have checked that a couple of times, as that is the most obvious reason for the hot keys not to work. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, so there must be something else that is preventing the hot keys from working. I have also checked all of the dependencies, but I haven't found anything there either.

msi wrote:

Btw, what's the reason you're trying to use bspwm?

bspwm is to my knowledge, the lightest tiling window manager available.

msi · 2018-04-08 17:47:47

Ok, how about commenting out the line starting sxhkd in your .xinitrc, then starting X and running sxhkd from the terminal. There might be error messages.

devuan_dk_fan · 2018-04-08 18:46:11

msi wrote:

Ok, how about commenting out the line starting sxhkd in your .xinitrc, then starting X and running sxhkd from the terminal. There might be error messages.

$ command not found
# command not found

sxhkd was not in /usr/bin. Something is obviously wrong with the package. I originally had problems with so called "documentation", but I thought that I had overcome the problem. I tried re-cloning the git but all of a sudden, git was no longer installed (I didn't uninstall it) I tried reinstalling gcc and xcb, which also pulled in some dependencies that were not installed last time around for some reason. I cloned the git and then ran "make" but got some errors about missing lib.something.so files. I am not sure that sxhkd can be compiled under Devuan. I therefore gave up, and installed a .deb package that I had compiled under Ubuntu 16.04 before I eschewed systemd. Most things seem to be running as expected now (hot keys), but I have come across a weird quirk (only) when I try starting geany (installed with apt-get) from Dmenu:

Configuration directory could not be created (Permission denied). There could be some problems using Geany without a configuration directroy. Start Geany anyway?

As it is, I have had to create a ~/.local and a ~/.local/share share directory manually, as well as a ~/.config/leafpad directory, for some reason, which I do not understand as I had none of these problems with missing directories when I installed i3wm using the same method.

Last edited by devuan_dk_fan (2018-04-08 18:48:22)

msi · 2018-04-08 19:50:37

devuan_dk_fan wrote:

sxhkd was not in /usr/bin. Something is obviously wrong with the package.

Did you have a look into /usr/local/bin as well?

devuan_dk_fan wrote:

I am not sure that sxhkd can be compiled under Devuan. I therefore gave up, and installed a .deb package that I had compiled under Ubuntu 16.04 before I eschewed systemd.

There is a pre-compiled binary package in Debian Stretch, meaning it is also in Devuan ASCII. So, if you're on ASCII anyway, you could give that a shot. Installing an Ubuntu package sounds like a rather bad idea. If you're on Devuan Jessie, you could instead get the source package from ASCII, use that to build a personal backport and see if it works.

On a side note: Depending on what you're trying to achieve, you might spare yourself the hassle of compiling your window manager (one that "is in active development" (https://github.com/windelicato/dotfiles … or-dummies)) etc. from source. From what I can see, there are nine tiling window managers available through the official package repositories in Devuan Jessie, some of which are surley very lightweight and may suit your needs in a more out-of-the-box-like manner.

Last edited by msi (2018-04-09 12:25:19)

msi · 2018-04-09 12:23:46

msi wrote:

devuan_dk_fan wrote:
sxhkd was not in /usr/bin. Something is obviously wrong with the package.
Did you have a look into /usr/local/bin as well?

Thinking about it again, being installed to /usr/local/bin wouldn't cause be a problem, afaik. But it could also have been installed to /opt/<package>/bin, in which case you would have to add that to your PATH to work.

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#1 2018-04-07 14:32:32

Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#2 2018-04-07 15:46:37

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#3 2018-04-07 20:47:53

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#4 2018-04-08 05:57:15

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#5 2018-04-08 11:49:48

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#6 2018-04-08 15:43:25

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#7 2018-04-08 17:47:47

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#8 2018-04-08 18:46:11

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#9 2018-04-08 19:50:37

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

#10 2018-04-09 12:23:46

Re: Minimal bspwm Devuan install problems.

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