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Installation

A supported Debian-, Arch-, or Fedora/RHEL-family distribution with Xorg is required.

The easiest way is via Linutil:

curl -fsSL https://christitus.com/linux | sh

In the TUI, press v to multi-select, then select dwm, bash prompt, and alacritty. Press Enter to install.

linutil-appinstall

Manual Install

1. Dependencies

The supported dependency path is the installer because it resolves package names for Debian-, Arch-, and Fedora/RHEL-family systems from the shared map:

./install.sh --dry-run --non-interactive --profile core
./install.sh --profile full

Use core for the required build/X11/session packages and one terminal, recommended for the desktop layer, or full for optional extras such as file-manager integration, portals, wallpapers, and display-manager setup.

2. Clone and Build

git clone https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/dwm-titus.git
cd dwm-titus
cp config.def.h config.h
make
sudo make install

Automated Installer

./install.sh

The script detects the distribution family and handles dependency installation, font copying, display-manager integration, and config placement. Existing user configuration and .xinitrc files are preserved.

Installer package profiles are selected with DWM_INSTALL_PROFILE:

  • core: required build packages, X11/session runtime, and one supported terminal.
  • recommended: core plus the recommended desktop layer such as Quickshell, Quickshell, Picom, Feh, Dex, fonts, theming, screenshot, audio, Bluetooth control and tray tools, and brightness tools. It also installs portable GTK theme packages where available and installs Nordic system-wide for the default Nord theme.
  • full: recommended plus optional extras such as file-manager integration, network tray utilities, portals, wallpapers, and display-manager setup.

The default is full to preserve the historical automated installer behavior. For a minimal install:

DWM_INSTALL_PROFILE=core ./install.sh

The same profile can be selected with a flag:

./install.sh --profile core

Interactive runs print the resolved package plan before prompting. For CI, packaging checks, or scripted validation, use the non-interactive flags:

./install.sh --dry-run --non-interactive --profile core
./install.sh --non-interactive --yes --profile recommended

Starting dwm

Display manager (SDDM, GDM, LightDM): log out and select dwm from the session list.

startx:

startx

The provided .xinitrc disables screen blanking, starts the configured Quickshell panel, and runs dwm.

Minimal Session Profile

The minimal supported profile is useful for lean systems, recovery sessions, and portability testing. It keeps only:

  • an X11 server and either a display-manager session or startx
  • D-Bus session support
  • dwm
  • one supported terminal available through dwm-terminal
  • required X11 helpers used by core startup and display commands, such as xrandr, xset, and xsetroot

Quickshell, Picom, Feh, Dex, a polkit agent, screenshot tools, wallpapers, tray utilities, and audio or brightness helpers are optional in this profile. Missing optional components should appear as degraded features in dwm-diagnostics, not as session-fatal failures.

For startx, a minimal .xinitrc can be:

#!/bin/sh
xset s off
xset -dpms
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
exec dbus-run-session dwm

If the login path already creates a user D-Bus session, use exec dwm instead of wrapping it with dbus-run-session.

After installation, verify the profile with:

dwm-diagnostics
dwm-terminal --print-command

dwm-diagnostics must report zero required failures before treating the minimal profile as ready. Optional degraded features can remain unresolved.

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