labwc
labwc is a stacking Wayland compositor in the style of Openbox: windows float and overlap as on a classic desktop, with a right-click menu and window decorations, configured with XML files.
| Login screen | greetd |
| Terminal | kitty |
| Bar | Waybar |
| Launchers | fuzzel, nwggrid, d77run |
| Notifications | SwayNotificationCenter |
| Lock screen | swaylock, with Super + T or after 5 minutes idle; screen off after 10 |
| File manager, mail, browser | PCManFM, Geary, Brave |
Where to change things
All of labwc’s own files are in ~/.config/labwc/:
| File | What it holds |
|---|---|
rc.xml | key and mouse bindings, theme, touchpad |
autostart | programs started with the session, idle and lock settings |
environment | environment variables, including the keyboard layout |
menu.xml | the menu shown with a right click on the desktop |
themerc | window decoration colours |
| Other | File |
|---|---|
| the bar | ~/.config/waybar/config_labwc.jsonc and the style files next to it |
| notifications | ~/.config/swaync/ |
| lock screen | ~/.config/swaylock/config |
labwc-tweaks-qt, included, changes the theme and other settings from a
window. To apply changes to rc.xml or menu.xml, log out and in again, or
run labwc --reconfigure. The originals are in /etc/skel/.config/labwc/.
On every login ~/.lmu rebuilds menu.xml from the installed applications
(labwc-menu-generator), so edits to menu.xml are replaced; to keep a
hand-made menu, remove the ./.lmu & line from autostart.
Keys
Super is shown as W- in rc.xml.
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Super + Return | terminal |
| Super + A | fuzzel (application launcher) |
| Super + N | nwggrid (application grid) |
| Super + R | d77run |
| Super + F | file manager |
| Super + M | |
| Super + W | web browser |
| Super + B | random wallpaper from ~/Wallpaper/ |
| Super + P | screenshot (grim) |
| Super + T | lock screen |
| Super + X | power menu |
labwc’s own default bindings also apply, for example Alt + Tab to switch windows and Alt + F4 to close one.
Keyboard layout
In ~/.config/labwc/environment:
XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT=pt
Log out and in again to apply it.
Wallpaper
The swaybg line in autostart sets ~/Wallpaper/background1.png at
start-up; change the file name to use another image. Super + B picks a
random one from ~/Wallpaper/ for the current session.
Weather in the bar
Waybar’s weather module, ~/.config/waybar/wittr.sh, asks wttr.in for the
weather at latitude 41.6, longitude −8.62 (Porto, Portugal); change the two
numbers in it to your own location.