Setup BSPWM

BSPWM stands for Binary Space Partitioning Window Manager, referring to its window splitting scheme.

Installation §

Install X server.

sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit

Install bspwm,sxhkd, a terminal emulator, and any other tools you use.

sudo pacman -S bspwm sxhkd alacritty

Basic Configuration §

Window Manager §

Since bspwm doesn’t have a configuration file by default, we need to give it one. We can copy the default one to ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc. Since this location changes per distro, we can just use the find command, then copy that file to the right location.

find / -name bspwmrc
 
mkdir ~/.config/bspwm
cp {FILE FROM ABOVE} ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

Keyboard Shortcuts §

If we just start bspwm with that configuration, it will be unusable. We won’t be able to control it. Enter sxhkd, the Simple X11 HotKey Daemon made by the creator of bspwm.

We’ll make a file at ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc. Edit the file with the following:

super + enter
 alacritty

Now at least we can start a terminal!

.xinitrc §

The way we start all of these programs is the ~/.xinitrc file. This file will run with the command startx. Create ~/.xinitrc, and edit it with the following:

exec bspwm

Now run startx, and watch the magic! if you press super + enter, a full screen alacritty window will open.