What is this?

This repository contains an opinionated set of config files for quickly setting up a freshly-installed Debian-ishsystem without a desktop environment into a basic i3 desktop environment with standard development tooling.

The setup, after complete, is fully usable as-is. It can also be used as a base system to transition or upgrade to Sway.

How to use this repository

This repository is intended to be used to assist in setting up newly-formatted Debian systems without a desktop environment. It has been tested on the following distributions:

• Debian 11
• Raspberry Pi OS

Install dependencies

Install the following through the package manager:

• xorg
• rxvt-unicode
• i3-wm
• i3status
• tree
• locate
• tmux
• git
• chromium (chromium-browser if on Rasbian)
• dmenu
• gnome-themes-standard
• ninja-build
• clang
• zsh
• lxappearance
• cmake
• make
• doxygen
• liblua5.2
• liblua5.2-0-dev
• luarocks
• xwayland
• xdg-desktop-portal-wlr

Install the following from source, using the linked instructions from the repos:

• neovim

Install the following from luarocks:

sudo luarocks install luasocket

Clone and rename the dotfiles repository

Clone the repository in ~ and rename the directory from base-i3-dotfiles to ~/dotfiles.

Source .zshenv

Run the following to pick up the environment variables before running the installer:

source ~/dotfiles/zsh/.zshenv

Run install.sh

Change mode on install.sh to executable:

sudo chmod u+x install.sh

Run install.sh:

./install.sh

Run tree in ~/.config to confirm the symlinks were created correctly.

Change shell to zsh

Change the shell to zsh:

chsh -s $(which zsh)

Reboot

Reboot and, if successful, you will see the i3 status bar. Use MENU+ENTER to invoke the terminal (unicode-rxvt).

How does this work?

Xinit invokes i3 in the .zshrc file, which along with .zshenv, are sourced on boot and new shell creation in Zsh.

Common problems and questions

• Errors when launching Neovim

Make sure the Lua dev headers are installed. Run :PlugInstall to install the lsp-config plugin.

• Error in status bar

Make sure i3status is installed.

• What about Alacritty?

Alacritty install is optional but if you're transitioning to Sway you'll need a terminal emulator that supports Wayland, which rxvt does not.

• What is the color theme?

Seoul256 by junegunn.