My .xmonad configuration

Installation in two easy steps

Clone repo:

git clone https://github.com/saliola/xmonad-conf.git ~/.xmonad

Recompile and restart xmonad:

xmonad --recompile
xmonad --restart

Instructions on configuring xmonad with gnome-panel on Ubuntu

These are instructions to get xmonad working with Gnome, Gnome panel, and dmenu (as launcher) on ubuntu-13.10.

Note

• Xsession errors are logged to ~/.xsession-errors.
• You cannot start a panel or launcher from within tmux (perhaps a reattached tmux session that was launched in another X session...); so use a new terminal instead.
• I had issues with the system finding the correct xmonad.desktop or xmonad.session file (not sure what the problem was, however). If there are problems, move the default files provided by Ubuntu out of the way.

Instructions

• install xmonad, gnome-panel and dmenu (for use with Mod-p):

  apt-get install xmonad
  apt-get install gnome-panel
  apt-get install suckless-tools         # dmenu
  

• If /usr/share/applications/xmonad.desktop does not exist, then create it; the following is the file that is distributed with the xmonad package:

  [Desktop Entry]
  Type=Application
  Name=Xmonad
  Exec=xmonad
  NoDisplay=true
  X-GNOME-WMName=Xmonad
  X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=WindowManager
  X-GNOME-Provides=windowmanager
  X-GNOME-Autostart-Notify=true
  

• create /usr/share/xsessions/xmonad.desktop (move any existing file with this name out of the way):

  [Desktop Entry]
  Name=Xmonad-Gnome Hybrid of Amazingness
  Comment=Tiling window manager
  TryExec=/usr/bin/gnome-session
  Exec=gnome-session --session=xmonad
  Type=XSession
  

• create /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/xmonad.session:

  [GNOME Session]
  Name=Xmonad-Gnome Hybrid of Amazingness
  RequiredComponents=gnome-settings-daemon;gnome-panel;xmonad
  

• clone/copy/link ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs into place (see above)

• launch gnome-terminal and create a profile with the following settings (this is used by the "scratchpad" terminal (Mod-t)):

  General
  > Profile name: scratchpad
  > [Deselect] Show menubar by default in new terminals
  
  Title and Command
  > Initial title: scratchpad
  > When terminal commands set their own titles: Keep initial title
  
  Scrolling
  > Scrollbar is: Disabled
  > Scrollback: Unlimited
  

• prevent nautilus from handling the desktop.

  Execute dconf-editor, then go to:

  org > gnome > desktop > background
  

  deselect:

  show-desktop-icons
  

  Possibly, you might have to deselect:

  draw-background
  

• log out; log in and enjoy!

Notes

• Previously, I had xmonad configured to work with the unity-2d-launcher and the unity-2d-panel. I used the following /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/xmonad.session file:

  [GNOME Session]
  Name=Xmonad-Gnome Hybrid of Amazingness
  RequiredComponents=gnome-settings-daemon;
  RequiredProviders=windowmanager;panel;launcher;
  DefaultProvider-windowmanager=xmonad
  DefaultProvider-panel=unity-2d-panel
  DefaultProvider-launcher=unity-2d-launcher
  

  However, with Ubuntu 13.04, the commands unity-2d-panel and unity-2d-launcher are no longer available as Ubuntu migrated from unity-2d-panel and unity-2d-launcher to the combined unity interface.

• I haven't looked into this yet, but it could be cool to integrate Ubuntu's HUD with XMonad.

References

• Xmonad/Using xmonad in Gnome
• Using Xmonad in Unity 2D