BSPWM

PRIMARY CATEGORY → DESKTOP SETUP

BSPWM → Binary Space Partitioning Window Manager

bspwm is launched as a process and It receives as an argument a socket on which to listen

$ pgrep --list-full --exact bspwm
2604 bspwm -s /tmp/bspwm_0_0-state -o 4 # Note -s option argument

$ file /tmp/bspwm_0_0-socket
/tmp/bspwm_0_0-socket: socket

bspc binary writes messages to bspwm’s socket. Those messages are all the commands executed in bspwmrc init file

$ command -V bspc
bspc is /usr/local/bin/bspc

IMPORTANT

Note that bspwm does not handle any input since its fd 0 is pointing to /dev/null

$ file /proc/$( pgrep --exact bspwm )/fd/0
/proc/2604/fd/0: symbolic link to /dev/null

Thus, sxhkd translate keyboard and pointers events to bspc

sxhkd process listens to an input event and executes the command related to it. It can be any command, most of them are the bspc ones that write to bspwm’s socket

That sxhkd’s input event is usually a keyboard shortcut

This Windows Manager generates and divides each OS Window in half (Binary Partitioning)

---

OS Windows Layouts/States

There are several types of OS Windows Layouts →

• Tiled
• Monocle
• Floating
• Full-Screen

Configuration File → ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

More information here

---

Installation

First of all, install the following requirements →

sudo apt install -y -- build-essential git vim xcb libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-ewmh-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libasound2-dev libxcb-xtest0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev

Clone the bspwm’s Github Repository →

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm.git bspwm

cd !$ # cd ~/Downloads/bspwm
make
sudo make install

That’s it

$ command -V bspwm
bspwm is /usr/local/bin/bspwm

Configuration Files

Create the ~/.config/bspwm directory and store the bspwmrc configuration file in it

mkdir -p ~/.config/bspwm
cp ~/Downloads/bspwm/examples/bspwmrc !$

Source/Binary Files

Same as above, but as follows →

mkdir -p ~/.config/bspwm/{bin,src}

touch ~/.config/bspwm/bin/bspwm_resize.sh
chmod +x !$

touch ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh

Just copy the following files’ content and paste into the above created ones →

• bspwmrc.sh → Source File
• bspwm_resize.sh → Binary File

---

Configuration Files

IMPORTANT

bspwmrc file is executed with the following command by lightdm process →

$ bspwm -c /path/to/bspwmrc

Therefore, the shell interpreter that executes bspwmrc is the one indicated by the shebang

It’s recommended to use a POSIX Compliant shell such as sh or dash

#!/usr/bin/env sh 

#!/usr/bin/env dash

Two files are required →

• ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc → bspwm’s Configuration File
• ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh → bspwmrc sources it

bspwmrc

See here

POSIX Compliant Version

~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

#!/usr/bin/env sh                                   
 
# Import required Functions and Parameters
if [ -f ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh ] ; then
  . ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh
fi
 
bspc monitor -d I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X
 
bspc config border_width         2
bspc config window_gap          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
 
# No Windows Border
bspc config border_width 0
 
# VMWare Bidirectional Clipboard
vmware-user-suid-wrapper &
 
# Sxhkd Init
checkProcess sxhkd || launchProcess sxhkd
 
# Polybar Init
checkProcess polybar || { launchProcess "$_pbl" ; unset -v -- _pbl ; }
 
# Picom Init
checkProcess picom || launchProcess picom
 
# Feh Init (Desktop Wallpaper)
/usr/bin/feh --bg-fill /home/al3xbb/Desktop/Fondos/Fondo.jpg &
# Avoid Compatibility errors with Java applications (Burpsuite...)
# Change the Windows Manager Name from bspwm to LG3D (Only the name)
wmname LG3D &

Non POSIX Compliant Version

~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

#!/usr/bin/env bash
 
# Import required Functions and Parameters
if [[ -f ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh ]] ; then
  . ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh
fi
 
bspc monitor -d I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X
 
bspc config border_width         2
bspc config window_gap          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
 
# No Windows Border
bspc config border_width 0
 
# VMWare Bidirectional Clipboard
vmware-user-suid-wrapper &
 
# Sxhkd Init
checkProcess sxhkd || launchProcess sxhkd
 
# Polybar Init
checkProcess polybar || { launchProcess "$_pbl" ; unset -v -- _pbl ; }
 
# Picom Init
checkProcess picom || launchProcess picom
 
# Feh Init (Desktop Wallpaper)
/usr/bin/feh --bg-fill /home/al3xbb/Desktop/Fondos/Fondo.jpg &
# Avoid Compatibility errors with Java applications (Burpsuite...)
# Change the Windows Manager Name from bspwm to LG3D (Only the name)
wmname LG3D &

src/bspwmrc.sh

See here

POSIX Compliant Version

~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh

####################################################
###################  PARAMETERS  ###################
####################################################
 
_pbl=~/.config/polybar/launch.sh
 
#####################################################
####################  FUNCTIONS  ####################
#####################################################
 
# ------- Get an External Binary's Path ------- #
getCmd ()
{
  _cmdPath=$( command -v "$1" )
  [ -n "$_cmdPath" ] && return 0 || return 1
}
 
# ------- Check if a Process is running or not ------- #
checkProcess ()
{
  pgrep -x "$1" > /dev/null 2>&1 && return 0 || return 1
}
 
# ------- Launch a {script,binary} as a process ------- #
launchProcess ()
{
  _cmd=''
  case $1 in
    */*)  [ -f "$1" ] && _cmd=$1 || return 1
          ;;
    *)    getCmd "$1" || return $?
          _cmd=$_cmdPath ; unset -v -- _cmdPath
          ;;
  esac
  [ -x "$_cmd" ] && "$_cmd" &
  unset -v -- _cmd
}

Non POSIX Compliant Version

~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh

####################################################
###################  PARAMETERS  ###################
####################################################
 
_pbl=~/.config/polybar/launch.sh
 
#####################################################
####################  FUNCTIONS  ####################
#####################################################
 
# ------- Get an External Binary's Path ------- #
checkCmd ()
{
  local -n -- _cmdPath=$2
  _cmdPath=$( command -v "$1" )
  [[ -n $_cmdPath ]] && return 0 || return 1
}
 
# ------- Check if a Process is running or not ------- #
checkProcess ()
{
  pgrep -x "$1" &> /dev/null && return 0 || return 1
}
 
# ------- Launch a {script,binary} as a process ------- #
launchProcess ()
{
  local -- _cmd=
  if [[ $1 = */* ]] ; then
    [[ -f $1 ]] && _cmd=$1 || return 1
  else
    checkCmd "$1" _cmd || return $?
  fi
  [[ -x $_cmd ]] && "$_cmd" &
}

---

Binary Files

One file is required →

• ~/.config/bspwm/bin/bspwm_resize.sh → sxhkd relates a specific input event (Hotkey) to this script execution

bin/bspwm_resize.sh

See here

POSIX Compliant Version

~/.config/bspwm/bin/bspwm_resize.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
 
if bspc query -N -n focused.floating > /dev/null ; then
    step=20
else
    step=100
fi
 
case $1 in
    west)   dir=right; falldir=left; x=-$step; y=0
            ;;
 
    east)   dir=right; falldir=left; x=$step; y=0
            ;;
 
    north)  dir=top; falldir=bottom; x=0; y=-$step
            ;;
 
    south)  dir=top; falldir=bottom; x=0; y=$step
            ;;
esac
 
bspc node -z "$dir" "$x" "$y" || bspc node -z "$falldir" "$x" "$y"