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suckless-101

Guide on how to patch, compile and install suckless software.

Table of contents:

Introduction

The guide explains how to patch, compile and install suckless software.

dwm is used for examples.

Toolchain

To successfully compile program source code you'll need a C compiler and several other tools installed on your system:

  • C compiler gcc, (clang or tcc should work as well)
  • git
  • make
  • pkg-config
  • patch

Some distributions provide a package that includes most of the desired tools:

  • base-devel in Void Linux, Arch Linux
  • build-essential in Debian, Ubuntu

You may find similar packages for other Linux distributions by searching for "build-essential equivalent [DISTRO NAME]".

After you've installed required tools ensure all of them present:

$ which gcc git make pkg-config patch
/usr/bin/gcc
/usr/bin/git
/usr/bin/make
/usr/local/bin/pkg-config
/usr/bin/patch

Manual pages

To get documentation for installed programs use man:

$ man patch

Most manual pages you will read with man will include a program description and comprehensive guide on command line parameters and configuration options.

An important plus of reading man pages locally is that the manual page will provide documentation of the actual program you have installed and not some other older/newer version of it.

Getting the source

After installing required tools you may continue with cloning the program source code.

To get the source code of dwm use git:

$ git clone https://git.suckless.org/dwm

You may find source code for other programs by browsing suckless git repositories:

https://git.suckless.org/

Dependencies

To compile program you'll need to install runtime and build dependencies.

To find required dependencies examine config.mk and Makefile.

For example dwm dependencies on Void Linux are satisfied by the following packages:

  • libX11-devel
  • libXft-devel
  • libXinerama-devel

NOTE: It is important to install development variants of packages to get C header files. These files are required to compile the source code.

Another way to find dependencies would be to examine compile errors. Here error text says that Xft.h header file is missing:

drw.c:6:10: fatal error: X11/Xft/Xft.h: No such file or directory
    6 | #include <X11/Xft/Xft.h>
    |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Examine each error to find a name of a missing C header file and install the package which provides it.

One way to quickly locate the desired package is by using a package manager or a separate utility to search packages by filenames they contain.

For example on Void Linux such program can be installed with xtools package:

$ xlocate Xft.h
libXft-devel-2.3.3_1	/usr/include/X11/Xft/Xft.h

Compiling

To compile a program run make in its root directory:

$ make

In case of compilation errors:

  • check that required build tools present,
  • check missing dependencies.

Installation

Most suckless software will have a Makefile target to install built binaries, man files, etc.

To install in home directory run

$ make PREFIX=$HOME/.local/ install

This way you won't need root rights and program files won't mess with system files. This is a prefered way to install built software.

NOTE: You'll need to add $HOME/.local/bin to your PATH variable.

To install system-wide run

# make install

Here # in front of command meens a root shell. Run such commands as root user (with sudo for example).

Patching

Patches are files that tell the differences between two files. With the difference, you can, for instance, include lines in a source code that create new functionality.

There are lots of patches available for various suckless programs. You can find patches for dwm and others by browsing the website:

https://tools.suckless.org/dwm/patches/

Download patch file with curl:

$ curl -O https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/alpha/dwm-alpha-20201019-61bb8b2.diff

Apply downloaded patch file with patch tool:

$ patch -i dwm-alpha-20201019-61bb8b2.diff

Don't forget to rebuild and install program after you've made changes to source code.

Some patches will change config.def.h file. This file is copied by Makefile once to config.h file. Remove config.h and run make or run make -B. Note: any changes you've made in config.h will be lost.

In case you feel you are totally messed something run

$ git checkout .

to undo changes made by patches (and you).

Another way to manage patches is by using git branches.

Customization

Most suckless programs are customized by editing source code or config.h file:

https://dwm.suckless.org/customisation/

Don't forget to rebuild and install program after you've made changes to source code.