can't install window manager?

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#1

I try to install two window manager under openSUSE 11.4 x64.
AmiWb and WindowLab. I compiled them and there were no errors, but they don’t show up in the login menu.
If i start them by switching ALT-F2 i can’t connect to the xserver.
As far as i can see, it is not in USR/X11 either. Have to check where it ended up in. But in my previous experience in installing a WM i did not have any problems. Very strange. Maybe i did a mistake?

#2

I’d never heard of either of these managers so I hst had to check them out, couldn’t even find amiwb with some searches but I did find and download windowlab, haven’t tried installing it as I’m booted into windows with some steam downloads goping that I don’t wanna interrupt but I did find two things that may be of use to you with a quick look at the files

From the readme:

To make WindowLab your default window manager, edit ~/.xinitrc (if you start X from the console by typing “startx”) or ~/.xsession (if you start with a graphical login manager) and change the last line to “exec windowlab”

That one might help you at least get into windowlab

You said you couldn’t find it in usr/x11 and had to check where it ended up, I had a look at the makefile and these are the default directories for where it puts it’s files:

PREFIX = /usr/local
CONFPREFIX = $(PREFIX)
CONFDIR = /etc/X11/windowlab
SYSCONFDIR = $(CONFPREFIX)$(CONFDIR)
BINDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
MANDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)$(MANBASE)/man1
CFGDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(SYSCONFDIR)

DESTDIR isn’t set anywhere but with PREFIX being /usr/local I can’t see what else it could be but /

So it looks like the file you need to start windowlab is probably in /usr/local/bin

Hope that helps and here’s the full code from the makefile in case it helps you or someone else more knowledgeable make more sense of it than I can

# Makefile for WindowLab

# Comment out to remove shape support (for X11R5 or just a tiny bin)
DEFINES += -DSHAPE
EXTRA_LIBS += -lXext

# Set this to the hardcoded location of all files if it's not /
PREFIX = /usr/local

# Set this to the directory, below PREFIX, where man pages 
# are expected. Below this directory, the target "install"
# will put "windowlab.1x" in section "man1".
MANBASE = /man

# Set this to the location of the X installation you want to compile against
XROOT = /usr/X11R6

# Some flexibility for configuration location
CONFPREFIX = $(PREFIX)
CONFDIR = /etc/X11/windowlab

# Set this to the location of the global configuration files
SYSCONFDIR = $(CONFPREFIX)$(CONFDIR)

# Information about the location of the menurc file
ifndef MENURC
MENURC = $(SYSCONFDIR)/windowlab.menurc
endif

DEFINES += -DDEF_MENURC="\"$(MENURC)\""

# Uncomment to add MWM hints support
#DEFINES += -DMWM_HINTS

# Uncomment to add freetype support (requires XFree86 4.0.2 or later)
# This needs -lXext above, even if you have disabled shape support
#DEFINES += -DXFT
#EXTRA_INC += `pkg-config --cflags xft`
#EXTRA_LIBS += `pkg-config --libs xft`

# Uncomment for debugging info (abandon all hope, ye who enter here)
#DEFINES += -DDEBUG

# --------------------------------------------------------------------

CC = gcc
ifndef CFLAGS
CFLAGS = -g -O2 -Wall -W
endif

BINDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
MANDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)$(MANBASE)/man1
CFGDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(SYSCONFDIR)
INCLUDES = -I$(XROOT)/include $(EXTRA_INC)
LDPATH = -L$(XROOT)/lib
LIBS = -lX11 $(EXTRA_LIBS)

PROG = windowlab
MANPAGE = windowlab.1x
OBJS = main.o events.o client.o new.o manage.o misc.o taskbar.o menufile.o
HEADERS = windowlab.h

all: $(PROG)

$(PROG): $(OBJS)
	$(CC) $(OBJS) $(LDPATH) $(LIBS) -o $@

$(OBJS): %.o: %.c $(HEADERS)
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(DEFINES) $(INCLUDES) -c $< -o $@

install: all
	mkdir -p $(BINDIR) && install -m 755 -s $(PROG) $(BINDIR)
	mkdir -p $(MANDIR) && install -m 644 $(MANPAGE) $(MANDIR) && gzip -9vfn $(MANDIR)/$(MANPAGE)
	mkdir -p $(CFGDIR) && cp -i windowlab.menurc $(CFGDIR)/windowlab.menurc && chmod 644 $(CFGDIR)/windowlab.menurc

clean:
	rm -f $(PROG) $(OBJS)

.PHONY: all install clean
#3

On 07/08/2011 05:06 PM, JoergJaeger wrote:
>
> I try to install two window manager under openSUSE 11.4 x64.
> AmiWb and WindowLab. I compiled them and there were no errors, but they
> don’t show up in the login menu.
…]

Some window managers ‘register’ themselves with the login/display
manager like KDM. Some don’t, even if they compile properly.

Become ‘root’:
$ su
[give ‘root’ password]
Then:

cd /usr/share/xsessions

You should see a few entries like ‘twm.dekstop’, ‘kde-plasma.desktop’,
‘icewm.desktop’. The simplest way to create’ an entry for a window
manager, I find, is to copy an already-existing entry and edit the copy
for the new window manager.

cp twm.desktop windowlab.desktop

‘twm’ is always installed]

vim [or gedit/kate/xemacs] windowlab.desktop.

The file ‘windowlab.desktop’ should look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=XSession
Exec=windowlab
TryExec=windowlab
Name=WindowLab
Comment=a small and simple window manager of novel design

“X-SuSE-translate=true” is in the ‘twm.desktop’. I don’t know what that
means; perhaps, it is about packaging for openSUSE.

“Exec” and “TryExec” point to the executable, in this case,
‘/usr/local/bin/windowlab’. Since ‘/usr/local/bin’ is in the PATH set by
openSUSE, ‘windowlab’ is enough’. I’m guessing that ‘TryExec’ is for a
possible alternate location for the executable.

“Name” can be anything. This is what appears on the KDM screen. So long
as you know which window manager it refers to, it can be ‘windowlab’,
‘WindowLab’, ‘winlab’, ‘my_installed_wm’.

“Comment” seems optional.

The next time you log out, a new entry should be visible among the
choices for KDM.

#4

Actually, that was the problem. First the .xinitrc file wasn’t there and then it was. Strange. But the problem with this is, you always have that windowmanager. No matter what you select at login.
But it did eventually work. So it was not a problem because of the compiling. That is what i feared.
Thanks.

#5

This is good plan. Because i noticed that it did not write in to the menu. I think this is a better approach than with the .xinitrc file. I have to write that down (scrible). :slight_smile:
Still have one windowmanager to test > Amiwm.
I think i learned again something valuebale. Thanks guys.