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authorNikita Langer <nikitalanger@icloud.com>2026-04-06 22:26:07 +0200
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+# dwl - dwm for Wayland
+
+Join us on our [Discord server]
+Or Matrix: [#dwl-official:matrix.org]
+Or on our IRC channel: [#dwl on Libera Chat]
+
+dwl is a compact, hackable compositor for [Wayland] based on [wlroots]. It is
+intended to fill the same space in the Wayland world that [dwm] does in X11,
+primarily in terms of functionality, and secondarily in terms of
+philosophy. Like [dwm], dwl is:
+
+- Easy to understand, hack on, and extend with patches
+- One C source file (or a very small number) configurable via `config.h`
+- Tied to as few external dependencies as possible
+
+## Getting Started:
+
+### Latest semi-stable [release]
+This is probably where you want to start. This builds against the [wlroots]
+versions currently shipping in major distributions. If your
+distribution's `wlroots` version is older, use an earlier dwl [release].
+The `wlroots` version against which a given `dwl` release builds is specified
+with each release on the [release] page
+
+### Development branch [main]
+Active development progresses on the `main` branch. The `main` branch is built
+against the latest release of [wlroots]. PRs should target this branch unless they
+depend on functionality that is not in the current release of `wlroots`.
+
+### Preview branch [wlroots-next]
+The `wlroots-next` branch is built against the git version of [wlroots], which
+is unstable and changes frequently. PRs requiring functionality from the git
+version of `wlroots` should target this branch.
+
+### Building dwl
+dwl has the following dependencies:
+- libinput
+- wayland
+- wlroots (compiled with the libinput backend)
+- xkbcommon
+- wayland-protocols (compile-time only)
+- pkg-config (compile-time only)
+
+dwl has the following additional dependencies if XWayland support is enabled:
+- libxcb
+- libxcb-wm
+- wlroots (compiled with X11 support)
+- Xwayland (runtime only)
+
+Install these (and their `-devel` versions if your distro has separate
+development packages) and run `make`. If you wish to build against a released
+version of wlroots (*you probably do*), use a [release] or a [0.x branch]. If
+you want to use the unstable development `main` branch, you need to use the git
+version of [wlroots].
+
+To enable XWayland, you should uncomment its flags in `config.mk`.
+
+## Configuration
+
+All configuration is done by editing `config.h` and recompiling, in the same
+manner as [dwm]. There is no way to separately restart the window manager in
+Wayland without restarting the entire display server, so any changes will take
+effect the next time dwl is executed.
+
+As in the [dwm] community, we encourage users to share patches they have
+created. Check out the [dwl-patches] repository!
+
+## Running dwl
+
+dwl can be run on any of the backends supported by wlroots. This means you can
+run it as a separate window inside either an X11 or Wayland session, as well as
+directly from a VT console. Depending on your distro's setup, you may need to
+add your user to the `video` and `input` groups before you can run dwl on a
+VT. If you are using `elogind` or `systemd-logind` you need to install polkit;
+otherwise you need to add yourself in the `seat` group and enable/start the
+seatd daemon.
+
+When dwl is run with no arguments, it will launch the server and begin handling
+any shortcuts configured in `config.h`. There is no status bar or other
+decoration initially; these are instead clients that can be run within the
+Wayland session. Do note that the default background color is grey. This can be
+modified in `config.h`.
+
+If you would like to run a script or command automatically at startup, you can
+specify the command using the `-s` option. This command will be executed as a
+shell command using `/bin/sh -c`. It serves a similar function to `.xinitrc`,
+but differs in that the display server will not shut down when this process
+terminates. Instead, dwl will send this process a SIGTERM at shutdown and wait
+for it to terminate (if it hasn't already). This makes it ideal for execing into
+a user service manager like [s6], [anopa], [runit], [dinit], or [`systemd
+--user`].
+
+Note: The `-s` command is run as a *child process* of dwl, which means that it
+does not have the ability to affect the environment of dwl or of any processes
+that it spawns. If you need to set environment variables that affect the entire
+dwl session, these must be set prior to running dwl. For example, Wayland
+requires a valid `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR`, which is usually set up by a session manager
+such as `elogind` or `systemd-logind`. If your system doesn't do this
+automatically, you will need to configure it prior to launching `dwl`, e.g.:
+
+ export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/xdg-runtime-$(id -u)
+ mkdir -p $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
+ dwl
+
+### Status information
+
+Information about selected layouts, current window title, app-id, and
+selected/occupied/urgent tags is written to the stdin of the `-s` command (see
+the `STATUS INFORMATION` section in `_dwl_(1)`). This information can be used to
+populate an external status bar with a script that parses the
+information. Failing to read this information will cause dwl to block, so if you
+do want to run a startup command that does not consume the status information,
+you can close standard input with the `<&-` shell redirection, for example:
+
+ dwl -s 'foot --server <&-'
+
+If your startup command is a shell script, you can achieve the same inside the
+script with the line
+
+ exec <&-
+
+To get a list of status bars that work with dwl consult our [wiki].
+
+### (Known) Java nonreparenting WM issue
+Certain IDEs don't display correctly unless an environmental variable for Java AWT
+indicates that the WM is nonreparenting.
+
+For some Java AWT-based IDEs, such as Xilinx Vivado and Microchip MPLAB X, the
+following environment variable needs to be set before running the IDE or dwl:
+
+ export _JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1
+
+## Replacements for X applications
+
+You can find a [list of useful resources on our wiki].
+
+## Background
+
+dwl is not meant to provide every feature under the sun. Instead, like [dwm], it
+sticks to features which are necessary, simple, and straightforward to implement
+given the base on which it is built. Implemented default features are:
+
+- Any features provided by [dwm]/Xlib: simple window borders, tags, keybindings,
+ client rules, mouse move/resize. Providing a built-in status bar is an
+ exception to this goal, to avoid dependencies on font rendering and/or drawing
+ libraries when an external bar could work well.
+- Configurable multi-monitor layout support, including position and rotation
+- Configurable HiDPI/multi-DPI support
+- Idle-inhibit protocol which lets applications such as mpv disable idle
+ monitoring
+- Provide information to external status bars via stdout/stdin
+- Urgency hints via xdg-activate protocol
+- Support screen lockers via ext-session-lock-v1 protocol
+- Various Wayland protocols
+- XWayland support as provided by wlroots (can be enabled in `config.mk`)
+- Zero flickering - Wayland users naturally expect that "every frame is perfect"
+- Layer shell popups (used by Waybar)
+- Damage tracking provided by scenegraph API
+
+Given the Wayland architecture, dwl has to implement features from [dwm] **and**
+the xorg-server. Because of this, it is impossible to maintain the original
+project goal of 2000 SLOC and have a reasonably complete compositor with
+features comparable to [dwm]. However, this does not mean that the code will grow
+indiscriminately. We will try to keep the code as small as possible.
+
+Features under consideration (possibly as patches) are:
+
+- Protocols made trivial by wlroots
+- Implement the text-input and input-method protocols to support IME once ibus
+ implements input-method v2 (see https://github.com/ibus/ibus/pull/2256 and
+ https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/pulls/235)
+
+Feature *non-goals* for the main codebase include:
+
+- Client-side decoration (any more than is necessary to tell the clients not to)
+- Client-initiated window management, such as move, resize, and close, which can
+ be done through the compositor
+- Animations and visual effects
+
+## Acknowledgements
+
+dwl began by extending the TinyWL example provided (CC0) by the sway/wlroots
+developers. This was made possible in many cases by looking at how sway
+accomplished something, then trying to do the same in as suckless a way as
+possible.
+
+Many thanks to suckless.org and the [dwm] developers and community for the
+inspiration, and to the various contributors to the project, including:
+
+- **Devin J. Pohly for creating and nurturing the fledgling project**
+- Alexander Courtis for the XWayland implementation
+- Guido Cella for the layer-shell protocol implementation, patch maintenance,
+ and for helping to keep the project running
+- Stivvo for output management and fullscreen support, and patch maintenance
+
+
+[wlroots]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wlroots
+[dwm]: https://dwm.suckless.org/
+[`systemd --user`]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd/User
+[#dwl on Libera Chat]: https://web.libera.chat/?channels=#dwl
+[0.7-rc1]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/releases/tag/v0.7-rc1
+[0.x branch]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/branches
+[anopa]: https://jjacky.com/anopa/
+[dinit]: https://davmac.org/projects/dinit/
+[dwl-patches]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl-patches
+[list of useful resources on our wiki]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/wiki/Home#migrating-from-x
+[main]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/src/branch/main
+[wlroots-next]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/src/branch/wlroots-next
+[release]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/releases
+[runit]: http://smarden.org/runit/faq.html#userservices
+[s6]: https://skarnet.org/software/s6/
+[wlroots]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wlroots/wlroots/
+[wiki]: https://codeberg.org/dwl/dwl/wiki/Home#compatible-status-bars
+[Discord server]: https://discord.gg/jJxZnrGPWN
+[Wayland]: https://wayland.freedesktop.org/
+[#dwl-official:matrix.org]: https://matrix.to/#/#dwl-official:matrix.org