5 LFS VERSION: LFS 3.3 (using gcc-3.1)
6 AUTHOR: Roy Ens <ens@cs.ttu.edu>
9 How to add and configure Blackbox using various Blackbox tools to your
10 personal X configured LFS system.
15 -------------------------
16 This hint is going to attempt to show you how to install Blackbox and
17 eventually how to configure some of it as well. It will also eventually
18 have a brief overview of some of the most common Blackbox tools (also known as
19 bb-tools). Blackbox is very simple to install and does not have any major
20 library requirements. The hint assumes that you have an LFS system that has
21 XFree86 installed and configured on it. It will not attempt to show you how to
22 install and configure X since there is already a good hint on that.
23 This hint is going to attempt to show you how to install Blackbox and
24 eventually how to configure it as well. It will also give you a brief overview of some of the
25 most commmon Blackbox tools (also known as bb-tools). Blackbox is very simple
26 to install and does not have any major library requirements. The hint assumes
27 that you have an LFS system that has XFree86 configured on it. It will not
28 attempt to show you how to install and configure X since there is already a
32 -------------------------
33 For this I'm going to take a quote directly off of the Blackbox homepage
34 <http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net>.
35 "Blackbox is that fast, light window manager you have been looking for
36 without all those annoying library dependencies. If you have a C++
37 compiler and the X Window system you can compile and use it."
38 So there you have it. There really are no dependencies except those that you
39 get when you create a LFS system and the XFree86 dependency which is just
43 ------------------------
49 -------------------------
50 We are going to use stable versions for this. Even though the beta versions
51 are very good with only a few bugs.
54 http://prdownloads.sf.net/blackboxwm/blackbox-0.62.1.tar.gz
56 5. Installing Blackbox
57 -------------------------
58 The installation for Blackbox is quite simple. It's just like all the other
59 packages you have installed. I like to install Blackbox in /usr because it
60 doesn't create a whole lot of files and therefore I have everything a little
61 more centralized. I don't like having it in the /usr/X11R6/ directory because
62 the best way to upgrade or even get a new installation of XFree86 is normally
63 easier when getting rid of the entire /usr/X11R6 directory. But following is
64 how to compile Blackbox:
66 ./configure --prefix=/usr --with-x --enable-slit &&
71 ./configure --prefix=/usr --with-x --enable-slit
72 You should know what --prefix does. I put in --with-x just to make
73 sure it uses X. Of course this isn't necessary but I like to use it
74 for the sake of completeness. --enable-slit is also not necessary
75 but I use it for completeness sake as well. We'll talk about the
78 6. Editting ~/.xinitrc
79 -------------------------
80 Once you have installed Blackbox you will have to edit your ~/.xinitrc file to
81 make sure it reflects that Blackbox is now installed and working. If you have
82 no other window managers than edit the line in your ~/.xinitrc that has
84 as the list line of the file to the following
85 exec /usr/bin/blackbox
87 If you have more than one window manager then you will have to add Blackbox to
88 your ~/.xinitrc in whatever way you add window managers.
90 For more information and a good ~/.xinitrc for changing window managers see:
91 http://www.rapierbit.org/linux/winmgrs.html
94 -------------------------
95 If you have only one window manager like Blackbox in your ~/.xinitrc then all
96 you have to do is the following ($ signifies prompt):
100 If you have an ~/.xinitrc that takes arguments for different window managers
101 than add the argument to the above to get blackbox started. For instance for
102 my personal system I use the following
104 $ startx blackboxBeta
106 This should load your brand new Blackbox window manager. If you have never
107 used it before right-click on the mouse will bring up the menu.
110 -------------------------
111 1. Add configuration information
112 2. Add bbkeys information
113 3. Add bbconf information
114 4. Add other sources for blackbox information
116 -------------------------