code-backups/linux/install-labwc-on-parabola.md

How to install labwc (wayland) on Parabola GNU+Linux-libre (Arch Linux based)

labwc is a good Openbox alternative in the land of Wayland. It supports (at least mostly) already existing Openbox configs, so it is easier to switch to it. Waybox project has similar objectives but it may have hard time utilizing existing Openbox configs.

Install

These instructions are tested under Parabola x86_64.

Install some prerequisites:

$ sudo pacman -S polkit ttf-dejavu
## polkit is to fix a libseat related error:
## https://github.com/labwc/labwc/issues/50
## ttf-dejavu can be replaced by any other font package. If no fonts are
## installed, we just need a font. Otherwise may show a
## "wlr_texture_from_pixels" assertion error

Install a AUR manager. For example, to install pakku:

sudo pacman -S git fakeroot binutils make patch gcc
git clone --depth=1 https://aur.archlinux.org/pakku.git
cd pakku
makepkg -si
cd .. && rm -rf pakku
sudo pacman -R nim # optional

Then install packages from AUR:

$ pakku -S labwc

Now run from a tty:

NOTE: Do not run labwc with root user. Check output of whoami to confirm that it does not say "root".

$ labwc

A labwc session will run. And if you right click on desktop you should see an Exit menu item by which you can log out. This is a minimal labwc setup and at this point the system could take around 2gigs of space.

Obviously you can't run or do anything unless you have a config, but to have at least a terminal to do basic things, you can do:

$ sudo pacman -S lxterminal
$ mkdir -p ~/.config/labwc
$ echo 'lxterminal &' > ~/.config/labwc/autostart

Now run labwc again from tty and you should have a terminal running.

From there, for example, you can run setsid thunar or nohup thunar &. If there is no trash and other partitions on the system, you may have to install gvfs, ntfs-3g. And so on. Follow the usual Arch path from there.

Apps

This is not an exhaustive list. There could be other packages not listed here. If you know of a good one, feel free to post an issue.

Some basic apps that support wayland:

• Text editing: mousepad, geany
• Terminal: lxterminal
• Web Browser: iceweasel/librewolf/Tor Browser/firefox, epiphany, badwolf
• File manager: thunar, pcmanfm-qt (pcmanfm gtk version not supported)
• Image viewer: imv, gpicview
• Media player: mpv
• Other:
  • Launcher: wofi (rofi alternative, doesn't implement every rofi feature yet, such as, combi mode), bemenu-wayland (dmenu alternative)
  • Screen management: wlr-randr
  • Screen locker: swaylock
  • Wallpaper manager: swaybg
  • Screenshot utility: grim (cli), wayland-screenshot-git (with wl-clipboard for clipboard support)