The .xsessionrc File

Here we are, the (kind of) final step! After this, you should have a basic, working instance of xmonad. The .xsessionrc file basically sets up all the instances needed (xmobar, stalonetray, etc) at login. It’s simply a bash script, with the whole “shebang” so to speak! (I couldn’t resist, look here if you’re a little confused)

Anyways, bad jokes aside, here’s the joe-basic script that’ll get you going for now. It will have to be placed in ~/.xsessionrc (you can do touch ~/.xsessionrc or like I also mentioned, vim ~/.xsessionrc:

#!/bin/bash

# Load resources

xrdb -merge .Xresources

# Set up an icon tray
stalonetray &

# Fire up apps

xscreensaver -no-splash &

if [ -x /usr/bin/nm-applet ] ; then
   nm-applet --sm-disable &
fi

exec xmonad

Now, this is very simple: it starts stalonetray, the xscreensaver daemon, the wifi applet, and then does some magic with stdout and xmonad (look here if you’re interested).

Congratulations! You’ve taken the first big step in the world of DIY window managing.

Further Tweaks

Now, at this point, many simple things about xmonad are working, like:

  • xmonad itself
  • xmobar
  • stalonetray (your icon bar)
  • xscreensaver

However, as I said before, xmonad doesn’t assume anything – meaning, there are many things you may still want working that xmonad does not do automatically like gnome or xfce. I chose to end part of the tutorial here for people who don’t care about those things yet, but if you want the following, try out the next section:

  • Wallpaper
  • Automatic handling of external media (mounting cd’s, usb drives, etc)
  • Power management (battery info, suspension, etc)