testsAndMisc/linux_configuration/dwm/README.md

dwm (i3-like, compiled from source)

Versioned customisation for suckless dwm. This directory is the source of truth; the installer ../scripts/single_use/features/setup_dwm.sh clones upstream dwm master, copies these files on top, applies the two dwm.c patches, and builds. Nothing here is a full fork of dwm — only the files we actually change live in the repo, so upstream stays bleeding-edge.

How a build works

setup_dwm.sh runs, in order:

1. git clone / git reset --hard origin/master into ~/.local/src/dwm (always the latest upstream).
2. Copy config.h over the clone.
3. heal_config — auto-merge any new upstream scalar knob (e.g. refreshrate) that the current dwm.c needs but our config.h predates.
4. Apply patches/focus-on-click.patch and patches/fullscreen-pointer-confine.patch to dwm.c — done with perl rewrites (robust against upstream line shifts), not git apply. The .patch files are the human-readable record of exactly those changes.
5. make && sudo make install.
6. Compile pointer-confine.c and install bin/* to /usr/local/bin.

Because the clone is reset every run, the patches are re-applied each build, which is what keeps "always latest master" working.

Files

Path	What it is
config.h	dwm config: Mod4, Dracula colours, 10 tags, bottom bar, vim-style focus/move, multi-monitor keys, media keys, movestack/togglefullscr defined inline so dwm.c needs no extra patch for them.
pointer-confine.c	Standalone helper: traps the X pointer on the current monitor with XFixes pointer barriers until killed. Used for fullscreen gaming so the cursor can't slide onto the other screen.
patches/focus-on-click.patch	No-ops enternotify/motionnotify so the pointer never changes focus or switches monitors — focus only changes on click or via keys.
patches/fullscreen-pointer-confine.patch	Hooks setfullscreen/unmanage to start/stop pconfine-auto so the cursor-lock turns on automatically when a window goes fullscreen.
bin/dwm-session	lightdm session launcher (autostart + dwmstatus + exec dwm).
bin/dwmstatus	Status feeder: CPU/GPU/board temps, RAM, load, volume, clock → root window name. dwmstatus once prints the line without xsetroot.
bin/dwm-rebuild	Recompile ~/.local/src/dwm in place (quick local rebuild).
bin/switch-wm	Flip the lightdm boot session between i3 and dwm.
bin/pconfine-auto	on/off single-instance control of the pointer-confine daemon (called by the dwm hooks and the panic key).

Customising

• Permanent change: edit the file here (e.g. config.h), then re-run setup_dwm.sh. Log out / back in to apply (dwm has no live restart).
• Quick experiment: edit ~/.local/src/dwm/config.h directly and run dwm-rebuild — but note the next setup_dwm.sh run overwrites it from here.

Notable bindings (Mod = Super)

• Mod+Return terminal, Mod+d dmenu, Mod+f fullscreen, Mod+Shift+q kill, Mod+Shift+e exit, Mod+Shift+r recompile.
• Multi-monitor: Mod+,/Mod+. (or Mod+Ctrl+←/→) focus the other screen; Mod+Shift+,/Mod+Shift+. (or Mod+Ctrl+Shift+←/→) throw the window there.
• Mod+Shift+p force-releases the fullscreen cursor-lock if a barrier sticks.

Dependencies

Build/runtime: libx11 libxft libxinerama gcc make dmenu terminator, plus xorg-xsetroot for the status bar and libxfixes for pointer-confine (present as a dep of Xorg). Install missing ones interactively — this system's pacman is a wrapper that deadlocks when driven non-interactively.