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Problem loading i3 on new OpenBSD 5.4 install

asked 2014-01-18 20:30:44 +0000

i3in' gravatar image

updated 2014-01-22 18:18:58 +0000

I installed i3 downloaded from OpenBSD's repos. Laptop is AcerOne 756 w/4gig mem, 350gig HD, all dedicated to OpenBSD 5.4

At console, after I login OpenBSD, I type i3 -V and it responds...

01/18/14 10:20:32 - i3 4.5.2 (2013-03-18, branch "tags/4/5/2") starting
i3: Cannot open display
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answered 2014-01-22 10:30:12 +0000

cee gravatar image

You can just add following line to your ~/.xinitrc:

exec i3

If you don't have an .xinitrc, just create one. If you want to have debug information about i3 start then you can use

exec i3 -V >> ~/.i3/i3log 2>&1

in your .xinitrc.

You will just have a terminal login and no fancy GUI, but I prefer it that way.

At the moment you have to type startx manually after login, but it shouldn't be a big problem to startx from your loginshell. Normally you can just add a line to your ~/.zprofile or whatever shell you are using.

Disclaimer: This works on ArchLinux, but should not be much different on openBSD. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

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answered 2014-01-22 17:40:47 +0000

i3in' gravatar image

updated 2014-01-22 18:06:48 +0000

Thank you Michael.

OpenBSD login, followed by startx can load xdm or GDM but then installed i3 request only produces...

ERROR: Another window manager seems to be running (X error 10)

That was a big help cee...

To get i3 to load, I only needed to follow your file creation, in the log format, with the command...

mkdir ~/.i3

so startx would not get stopped, complaining about the >> redirect line.

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answered 2014-01-18 20:38:47 +0000

Michael gravatar image

Install a display manager such as GDM (or xdm if you like it more minimalistic), which will start X and launch a window manager (such as i3) for you.

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Asked: 2014-01-18 20:30:44 +0000

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Last updated: Jan 22 '14