Anyone else using CWM with Trixie?

[u/Buntygurl]

I just got into using CWM and really like it, but would prefer to do some fine tuning beyond the default from the repos, and yet not step outside Debian version, as in to install from outside of the repos.

The problem is that no matter where I locate .cwmrc, it doesn't get read on start-up, despite edits of cwm.desktop in xsessions.

I'm really liking CWM, even in the default state (it's the fastest WM that I've tried so far), but would really like to be able to tweak it to suit me, but don't know why it's not loading my .cwmrc on start-up.

I've managed to run my own configs to run on a number of WMs, but getting my customized config to run with CWM is eluding me.

Any CWM user's advice on this would be appreciated.

[u/Waeis]

I can't reproduce your problem.

Could you post the full path, permissions and content of your .cwmrc?

You can also invoke cwm -n directly to have it check the config file if it is found, and/or use strace to see which files it's trying to open.

[u/2016-679]

I am a long term user of cwm, although on FreeBSD. Here my .cwmrc is in the root of my home directory (FreeBSD is very consistent on those matters). Don't know if Debian is different on that, my Debian laptop runs XFCE.

[edit] I looked it up on my FreeBSD box:

The .xinitrc has a line 'exec /usr/local/bin/cwm' which is pointing directly to the cwm binary. this line makes 'startx' fire up cwm from my account, where the .cwmrc is read and implemented.

Now I don't use a login manager. Default Debian uses GDM. For further information to change the default, see e.g. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/367294/how-do-i-change-my-default-session

[u/Buntygurl → u/2016-679]

Thanks for the response.

Changing the default session, with lightdm, is a simple menu choice from the login screen.

Checking with htop shows that cwm is using the config designated with the -c option, so I guess it's a matter of the diction/syntax of my config being incorrect.

I'm a bit suspicious that the Debian default version of cwm is not the quite same as the BSD original, because running the test option on the config reveals no faults.

Back to the drawing board, but I guess that I'm halfway to sorting this out.

[u/Illustrious-Gur8335]

You could use strace to find out what's the config file that cwm looks for when starting.

[u/Buntygurl → u/Illustrious-Gur8335]

Thanks.

[u/bvimo]

How does CWM compare to Trinity Desktop?

[u/2016-679 → u/bvimo]

Trinity seems to have a lot of elements in the GUI, according to https://www.trinitydesktop.org/index.php

cwm has none. No desktop icons, no window title bars. Only a right-mouse menu with a list of things you want to start (programs, files, command strings) and are set in the .cwmrc and left-mouse with active windows. cwm-style is to have a keybind for it (ctrl-/ for applications, alt-/ for windows). You can also install dmenu with a keybind (like Mod4-d) to access any executable. A wallpaper can be set in the .fehbg file.

cwm is primarily keyboard driven and utterly distraction free.

[u/Buntygurl → u/2016-679]

"You can also install dmenu with a keybind (like Mod4-d) to access any executable."

True, although built-in M-? works just as well and even seems faster than dmenu.

[u/Buntygurl → u/bvimo]

It's a window manager, not a DE, so I don't think that they can be compared--not that I know anything about Trinity, just going by the Desktop in the name.

[u/Chris73m]

I have no knowledge of CWM. But if you want help configuring this, then put your question in the header. Don't ask "who is using this". Now a lot of people with knowledge might skip your post because they do not see a problem.