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Problem loading i3 on new OpenBSD 5.4 install

asked Jan 18 '14

i3in' gravatar image

updated Jan 22 '14

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 Jan 22 '14

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 Jan 22 '14

i3in' gravatar image

updated Jan 22 '14

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.

0

answered Jan 18 '14

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: Jan 18 '14

Seen: 1,334 times

Last updated: Jan 22 '14