Desktop

I use Emacs as a Desktop Environment with the EXWM¹ package. It allows Emacs to function as a complete tiling window manager for X11².

Profile

Ensure that ~/.local/bin is added to the $PATH variable.

PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
export PATH

When launching into a new session on TTY1, if the display server is not running, run StartX³. This will launch the window manager.

if [ -z "${DISPLAY}" ] && [ "${XDG_VTNR}" -eq 1 ]; then
    exec startx
fi

Startup

My workflow includes launching the window manager with Xinit³, without the use of a display manager, controlling everything within Emacs.

exec dbus-launch --exit-with-session emacs -mm --debug-init

Browser

Write out the $BROWSER variable so other applications can pick up the custom browser.

(setenv "BROWSER" dotfiles/browser)

Displays

When the window manager first launches the init-hook executes, allowing us to define some custom logic.

Display time and date
Display battery info (if available)

In my personal configuration, I do not want the battery or time displayed within Emacs when it's not running as desktop environment because that information is typically already available.

(defun dotfiles/init-hook ()
  (exwm-workspace-switch-create 1)
  (setq display-time-and-date t)
  (display-battery-mode 1)
  (display-time-mode 1))

Using autorandr with pre configured profiles, switching screens (AKA hot plugging) is also handled through a hook.

(defun dotfiles/update-display ()
  "Update the displays by forcing a change through autorandr."
  (dotfiles/run-in-background "autorandr --change --force"))

Methods

Define a method to run an external process, allowing us to launch any application on a new process without interferring with Emacs.

(defun dotfiles/run (command)
  "Run an external process."
  (interactive (list (read-shell-command "λ ")))
  (start-process-shell-command command nil command))

Apply methods to the current call process to avoid issues with hooks.

(defun dotfiles/run-in-background (command)
  (let ((command-parts (split-string command "[ ]+")))
    (apply #'call-process `(,(car command-parts) nil 0 nil ,@(cdr command-parts)))))

Place keybindings for executing shell commands behind SPC x.

Run shell commands with x
Run async shell commands with z

(dotfiles/leader
  "x" '(:ignore t :which-key "Run")
  "xx" '(dotfiles/run :which-key "Run")
  "xz" '(async-shell-command :which-key "Async"))

Configuration

Connect our custom hooks and configure the input keys, a custom layer for key capture layers.

Enable randr support
Pass through to Emacs
- M-x to Emacs
- C-g to Emacs
- C-SPC to Emacs
Bindings with S (Super / Win)
- Reset S-r
- Launch S-&
- Workspace S-[1..9]

(use-package exwm
  :custom (exwm-workspace-show-all-buffers t)
          (exwm-input-prefix-keys
            '(?\M-x
              ?\C-g
              ?\C-\ ))
          (exwm-input-global-keys
            `(([?\s-r] . exwm-reset)
              ,@(mapcar (lambda (i)
                          `(,(kbd (format "s-%d" i)) .
                          (lambda ()
                          (interactive)
                          (exwm-workspace-switch-create ,i))))
                          (number-sequence 1 9))))
  :config (require 'exwm-randr)
          (exwm-randr-enable)
          (add-hook 'exwm-init-hook #'dotfiles/init-hook)
          (add-hook 'exwm-randr-screen-change-hook #'dotfiles/update-display)
          (add-hook 'exwm-update-class-hook (lambda () (exwm-workspace-rename-buffer exwm-class-name)))
          (dotfiles/update-display)
          (exwm-enable))

Resources

https://github.com/ch11ng/exwm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinit

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