MX Linux Forum

I wanted to request i3-gaps. It is a fork of the i3 tiling window manager with added functionality like the ability to make the bar transparent and (of course) set gaps between the tiled windows.

Here's the git hub: https://github.com/Airblader/i3

And according to Stevo: "The Readme says it's a tough build for beginners, but does refer to a PPA. http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed- ... 3-gaps-wm/" I tried to build it from the installation instructions on the git hub page unsuccessfully (I'm a beginner and it was tough!)

Thanks for your consideration!

I'm a bspwm user and @Koo uses i3wm (no gaps). The tiling community here is pretty tiny. If you ever want any of my tiler docs you may access them online here:
https://eirenicon.org/knowledge-base/

Yep, Koo encouraged me to try to build i3-gaps and I've been putting it off because I thought it would be beyond my skill level.

I did take a shot at it: https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=52981

I also tried to rebuild it from PPA source packages as suggested by Stevo but gave up after resolving the second error message I encountered in the process and getting spooked by reading all the warnings about ruining your computer with unknown/untrusted PPAs.

There's a git hub that has a deb file that will build it for you. I used it "successfully" on mx17 in VirtualBox. I say "successfully" because it appears to have worked, but I haven't used the VM enough so I don't really know if everything is okay or if I just haven't found the broken things yet.

Here's where I got the deb file: https://github.com/maestrogerardo/i3-gaps-deb

Also installed bspwm on mx18 according to your tutorial. I've had a few issues with it, though. Like if I have Thunar open and click on a file to open it in Featherpad and then click on a second file in Thunar to open it in Featherpad I get a line that splits Thunar's window in half without actually opening a new window resulting in half of the contents in the Thunar window to be blocked because bspwm didn't ACTUALLY open a new tiling window... the only way to get rid of it is to close both Featherpad and Thunar and start over. But since I need to view and change a lot of config files to get bspwm set up, it was happening over and over again--really frustrating. And polybar "freezes" when I run it with bspwm. (It "freezes" with i3, too. Not a big fan of polybar, though it looks great. I've switched over to yabar but since it doesn't have the ability to show all open workspaces, I run i3bar, too).

Anyway, I decided all I really want is gaps which bspwm has but I can't seem to get set up without the funky behavior... AND I would still want the scratchpad functionality (or I could live with it if I made the window sticky on bspwm and toggled back and forth between monocle and tiled view)... AND I would want certain windows to open as floating & to be a certain size (like orage calendar and galculator) but couldn't figure out how to do it on bspwm. Well, that's when I realized if I had i3gaps then I'd have everything I want without going through all the configuration and troubleshooting for bspwm (which I DO enjoy doing on occasion, but I've reached the point where I need my stuff to work and don't feel like messing around anymore).

I can "live with" i3 just the way it is. I love using it, and using yabar with it allows me to have transparency along the top (and bottom if I add a bar above/below the i3bar) which is okay (but not ideal). I could probably "live with" bspwm and just sacrifice being able to have a calculator or calendar that pop up on my desktop without taking up the whole screen. I could even use the deb file like I did on VirtualBox and get i3gaps that way. So many options...! But here's the thing, since finding mx linux I've gotten really spoiled. Instead of wishing things were different but ending up telling myself "I can live with it", I come to the forum and mention it and someone guides me to a solution. It's amazing! Mx linux and this community are amazing. And I'm not just saying that to butter somebody up to do my package request--I really mean it.

mikeswifty wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:30 am I wanted to request i3-gaps. It is a fork of the i3 tiling window manager with added functionality like the ability to make the bar transparent and (of course) set gaps between the tiled windows.

Here's the git hub: https://github.com/Airblader/i3

And according to Stevo: "The Readme says it's a tough build for beginners, but does refer to a PPA. http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed- ... 3-gaps-wm/" I tried to build it from the installation instructions on the git hub page unsuccessfully (I'm a beginner and it was tough!)

Thanks for your consideration!

Mike To install i3 gaps you first need to install i3wm itself then i3 gaps to add as you stated above.
After this you need to edit the .config for i3 to add the i3 gaps functionality
You must learn how to edit config files if you wish to run i3 in the first place, and how to use the mod keys and their are not a lot of then to start with, as you learn more about i3 the more keys you can setup..
And yes I have installed and run i3 on MX linux and it runs sweet but back then I installed i3 from the Debian server by add it to the MX repo list then gaps .I am not completely sure as now I think awesome Stevo has added i3 to the MX test server ? At the moment i am not running MX linux.
On my main machine I run only Debian 10 with i3 gaps. This does not mean you should do this. As I can not get my scanner to work with MX or antiX my scanner must work.. Please fix this on antiX I miss you babe.
But she is on both my laptop as is Debian 10..

(Also their is Good news for i3 gaps users as it will be integrated into future releases on i3wm) sometime ahead..

Below is how I install i3 gaps on Debian 10

Dependencies for i3 gaps--------

sudo apt install gcc make dh-autoreconf libxcb-keysyms1-dev libpango1.0-dev libxcb-util0-dev xcb libxcb1-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libyajl-dev libev-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libstartup-notification0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-xrm0 libxcb-xrm-dev libxcb-shape0-dev

# clone the repository
git clone https://www.github.com/Airblader/i3 i3-gaps
cd i3-gaps

# compile & install
autoreconf --force --install
rm -rf build/
mkdir -p build && cd build/

# Disabling sanitizers is important for release versions!
# The prefix and sysconfdir are, obviously, dependent on the distribution.

../configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --disable-sanitizers
make
sudo make install

Howdy manyroads

Tilers Unite! or perhaps we already are Tilers United...

@mikeswifty I do not use Featherpad so I can't offer anything wise or sage re: thunar and bspwm. I do use Thunar without any problems. I can say that @stevo has made the current version of bspwm available via the testrepos (I'm running my install built that way now...). I have built and run bspwm on antiX19b3 without difficulty. I tend to use polybar and tint2 for my bars. All y dotfiles are accessible from the http://eirenicon.org site.

Right now I am on hold waiting for the Buster versions of antiX and MX. I'll try to build bspwm (with i3wm, perhaps) on the new versions.

Got it installed by following Koo's directions (which is what I thought I did the first time). Anyway, it's working and looks really good!

Do I have to worry that updates might come through via mx updater for i3 (since I installed it with MXPI) that will mess with the i3gaps I just installed from git hub?

Apt doesn't know about anything you've built and installed manually, so it won't automatically overwrite your install. If you do decide to try a repo version if we get one, then you should uninstall yours first. Usually, that's "sudo make uninstall" in the same folder where you built and installed it.

Hey thanks, Stevo! That takes a load off my mind.

Sorry if post #4 was a repeat I have not been on for awhile and may have gotten a little lost.

@mikeswifty So clad you have it sorted.. I hope you enjoy Linux life as a tiler.
Some links that may be of interest.
https://www.reddit.com/search/?q=i3
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2eYFn ... vhA/videos Lukes older post may be better suited.
https://github.com/search?q=i3
http://dotshare.it/category/wms/i3/

@Stevo Thanks for just being you.

@manyroads My stickers should arrive this week..I have revive an MX post card already.

Damm, I've just got 13 configured to my satisfaction over the past few days so was looking forward to catching up on my book but hell...i3 gaps will have to give this ago now !!

Update, straightforward to install and worked like a dream