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@angel333
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Updated for .xinitrc.d and $USERWM, simplified

Installing and configuring dwm on OS X (tested on Mountain Lion, Mavericks)

  1. Install XQuartz.

  2. Install dwm using Homebrew (or whatever):

    brew install dwm
    
  3. Create a xinitrc.d script for dwm:

    mkdir ~/.xinitrc.d
    echo "USERWM=/usr/local/bin/dwm" > ~/.xinitrc.d/00-dwm.sh
    chmod +x ~/.xinitrc.d/*
    
  4. Run XQuartz, dwm should start.


It might be useful to tweak some XQuartz settings (just press ⌘,) like full screen, clipboard, etc.

@meysamnick
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hey this might be such old topic to discuss but reply back if you have a sec!

  1. Quartz is installed
  2. dwm is installed
    but running dwm is still a problem. I get:

Meysams-iMac:~ meysam$ /usr/local/bin/dwm
warning: no locale support
dwm: another window manager is already running

I'm even not sure if I have my all conf files correctly edited. I used the same post that you used earlier. seems I'm lost a bit!

to be honest I want to switch to dwm or any other window manager in my iMac to get back to some learning! give me a hand if you can please.

@angel333
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Do you still have ~/.xinitrc? If so, try to remove it..

//edit: I've noticed that you try to run it manually - from xterm. That's probably not gonna work because you already have quartz-wm (the built-in wm) running - which is likely the reason why dwm is complaining. Just try the steps above and make sure you don't have a .xinitrc. It worked for me right now.

@andrew678122
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Hey angel333, I want to thank you for this! I've been trying to get twm(don't ask why) running on my iMac and your suggestion did it! I now have an iMac that at the click of the X icon, looks like it's 30 years old! I love it!

@afh
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afh commented May 2, 2014

Very helpful, thanks! 👍

@aronj
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aronj commented May 9, 2014

You can also hide the os x top bar by editing xquartz's plist.
sudo nano /Applications/Utilities/XQuartz.app/Contents/Info.plist
and add among the other keys

<key>LSUIPresentationMode</key>
<string>AllSuppressed</string>

However, the space underneath the hidden bar is unusable. Using Meta-b retracts this space further. One step closer to fullscreen!

@twe4ked
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twe4ked commented Apr 9, 2015

I had to run the following to get the meta key working:

touch ~/.xmodmaprc
xmodmap -e 'remove Mod2 = Meta_L' -e 'add Mod1 = Meta_L' ~/.xmodmaprc

Thanks for the simplified instructions :)

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