Integrating XMonad with systemd's graphical.target
XMonad is a popular tiling window manager for the X Window System in Unix-like operating systems. When using a display manager like LightDM, integrating XMonad with systemd's graphical.target can be beneficial for system administrators and users alike. This article will guide you through the process of integrating XMonad with systemd's graphical.target, providing detailed context and covering key concepts related to the topic.
Prerequisites
Before diving into the integration process, ensure you have the following prerequisites:
- A Linux distribution with systemd as the init system
- XMonad installed and configured
- A display manager, such as LightDM
Understanding systemd's graphical.target
systemd's graphical.target is a target unit that is used to start a graphical session. When a user logs in through a display manager, systemd starts the getty service on the console where the display manager is running, and then starts the graphical.target unit. This causes all the services that are needed for a graphical session to start, including the X Window System and the display manager.
Integrating XMonad with systemd's graphical.target
To integrate XMonad with systemd's graphical.target, you will need to create a new service unit that starts XMonad instead of the default display manager. This can be done by creating a new file in the /etc/systemd/system directory, such as xmonad.service, with the following contents:
[Unit]
Description=XMonad session
After=graphical.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/xmonad
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target
This service unit starts XMonad using the /usr/bin/xmonad command and sets the Restart option to always, which means that systemd will restart XMonad if it crashes or is otherwise stopped. The WantedBy option specifies that this service should be started when graphical.target is reached.
Once you have created the new service unit, you can enable it by running the following command:
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl enable xmonad.service
This will create a symbolic link from the xmonad.service file to the .wants directory of the graphical.target unit, which causes systemd to start the XMonad service when graphical.target is reached.
After enabling the new service unit, you can start XMonad by running the following command:
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl start xmonad.service
This will start XMonad and open a new X session. If you want XMonad to start automatically when the system boots, you can use the following command:
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl set-default graphical.target
This will set the default target unit to graphical.target, which will cause systemd to start XMonad automatically when the system boots.
Integrating XMonad with systemd's graphical.target can provide several benefits for system administrators and users. By using systemd's service management capabilities, you can ensure that XMonad starts reliably and is automatically restarted if it crashes. Additionally, by using systemd's target units, you can easily manage the services that are started during a graphical session, including XMonad and any other applications that you want to run.