Making the switch to xmonad (on ubuntu)

I have been using xmonad under unbuntu for nearly a year now (and have been VERY happy). I thought it was finally time that I share my method for configuring/setting up xmonad.

I run xmonad under gnome, this allows a lot of the magic of Ubuntu to continue working (such as network manager configuring wifi), and helps keep the amount of manual configuration down to a minimum.



To get xmonad running do the following:

#!/bin/bash

# 1. Install the required packages
sudo aptitude install xmonad libghc6-xmonad-contrib-dev dmenu dzen2 fbpanel

# 2. Modify your gnome config so that it uses xmonad instead of the gnome window manager
echo 'export WINDOW_MANAGER="/usr/bin/xmonad"' > ~/.gnomerc
gconftool-2 --type string --set /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/windowmanager xmonad

# 3. Disable the gnome-panel
REQUIRED_COMPONENTS_LIST="$(gconftool-2 --get '/desktop/gnome/session/required_components_list')"
REQUIRED_COMPONENTS_LIST="${REQUIRED_COMPONENTS_LIST/,panel/}"
gconftool-2 --set --type list --list-type string '/desktop/gnome/session/required_components_list' "${REQUIRED_COMPONENTS_LIST}"

# 4. Stop nautilus from showing the desktop (icons only)
gconftool-2 --type boolean --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop false

# 5. Install the xmonad config files and xsessionrc file
HG_REV="86dd222345d8"
wget -O ~/.xprofile "http://tsukasa.net.au/~hg/hgdotfiles-generic/raw-file/${HG_REV}/.xprofile"
wget -O ~/.xsessionrc "http://tsukasa.net.au/~hg/hgdotfiles-generic/raw-file/${HG_REV}/.xsessionrc"
mkdir ~/.xmonad && 
wget -O ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs "http://tsukasa.net.au/~hg/hgdotfiles-generic/raw-file/${HG_REV}/.xmonad/xmonad.hs"

Now all that is required is to log out and back in again (and pray my instructions work in your config ^^).