Install

GemWM is built from source, with Meson. It runs on Linux, on wlroots 0.19.

What it needs

The compositor itself needs only the basics of a Wayland desktop:

• wlroots 0.19, Wayland and wayland-protocols
• xkbcommon, cairo, gdk-pixbuf and libdrm
• Meson and Ninja, to build

It needs 0.19 exactly: wlroots changes its API between versions, and 0.20 won’t do. On Arch Linux, where 0.20 has replaced it, wlroots0.19 is in the AUR:

sudo pacman -S meson ninja wayland wayland-protocols libxkbcommon cairo gdk-pixbuf2 libdrm
paru -S wlroots0.19        # or yay, or makepkg

Everything else is optional. Each of GemWM’s programs is built when what it needs is installed, and left out when it isn’t:

Build

git clone https://github.com/matthewp/gemwm
cd gemwm
meson setup build
ninja -C build

Try it in a window

You don’t have to log out to see it. From any Wayland desktop, GemWM opens nested, as a window, with a terminal in it:

./build/gemwm -s foot

The scale is picked from the screen’s pixel density: a whole number, so pixels stay crisp. -S 2 forces pixel doubling.

Install as a login session

sudo ninja -C build install

This installs under /usr/local: gemwm, the menu bar, the apps, the gemwm-session launcher, and /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gemwm.desktop. Choose GemWM in your display manager when you log in, or use GemWM’s own login screen.

gemwm-session sources ~/.config/gemwm/env at startup, for environment variables you want in the whole session (TERMINAL, say), and the session’s log goes to ~/.local/state/gemwm.log.

To update, pull, then build and install again. Changes to the compositor take effect when you next log in; most apps pick them up when they’re next started.

Next

Getting around shows the menu bar, windows and the keys you’ll want first.