XMonad on Ubuntu 12.04

An anamorphism of words into meanings. Anamorphisms of meanings into experience

on May 27, 2012

I upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04; configuring xmonad took longer than expected. How it worked for me:

0. If you are planning to use multiple monitors/xmonad-contrib, I had to:

   sudo apt-get install libxinerama-dev libxft-dev zlib1g-dev libxft-dev

1. Install xmonad and xmonad-contrib, either with <a href="#ref0">cabal <sup id="sup0">[0]</sup></a> orapt-get`. I prefer cabal:

   cabal install xmonad
   cabal install xmonad-contrib

2. Write a file to /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-xmonad.desktop containing:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=XMonad
   Icon=
   Comment=Tiling wm
   TryExec=/usr/bin/gnome-session
   Exec=gnome-session --session=xmonad
   Type=XSession

3. Write a file to /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/xmonad.session containing:’

   [GNOME Session]
   Name=Xmonad/GNOME
   RequiredComponents=gnome-settings-daemon;unity-2d-panel;
   RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
   DefaultProvider-windowmanager=xmonad

4. Write a file to /usr/share/applications/xmonad.desktop,

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=xmonad
   Exec=/home/you/.xmonad/xmonad.start  #path to your init script
   Icon=
   Terminal=false
   Type=Application
   StartupNotify=false
   Categories=
   NoDisplay=true

   Note: Instead of a path to your init script (be sure it has +x flags), you might write only Exec=xmonad or Exec=/home/you/.cabal/bin/xmonad. Whatever works for you, I had to play with this bit in my laptop (see Notes).

5. Tell xmonad to ignore the unity panel, in your .xmonad.hs, add:

   myManageHook = composeAll [
      manageHook gnomeConfig
    , className =? "Unity-2d-panel" --> doIgnore
   ]
   
   main = xmonad gnomeConfig { manageHook = myManageHook }

6. Test it: Logout and login with the xmonad session.

   Notes

   • Troubleshooting: If xmonad doesn’t start, add your xmonad.start script to Startup Applications (on the Unity panel), this was needed in my laptop but not in my desktop, I didn’t debug further really.

   • You could also install gnome-panel and use it instead of Unity-2d-panel. For me, it didn’t work well with xinerama. You would have to replace the appropiate lines in xmonad.session and xmonad.hs.

   • You could try to have “Unity-2d-shell” as well (the dock and launcher popup from Unity), but it didn’t work at its best, see Avgoustinos Kadis’s comment for help.

↑ sudo apt-get install cabal-install or via the Haskell Platform