i3-gaps Installation Tutorial

Update 22/09/2021

Parts of the tutorial are taken from other tutorials.
I put my dot files to take inspiration from.

Install from Repository

i3-gaps can be installed directly from repository, no need to mess with dependecies and manual installing pain. Add the kali linux repository.

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

If there is an error about a missing key similar to the following one:

W: GPG error: http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling InRelease. The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY F6BC817356A3D45E

Execute the following command with the key specified in the error message:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys <MISSING KEY>

and finally update and install i3-gaps.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install i3-gaps

Manually installing i3-gaps is not suggested because many libraries has changes and they dont work any more and many repositories doesent have the libraries needed.

Manual Installaion's dependencies

i3-gaps has some packages that are required for it to work so install them:

sudo apt install libxcb1-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libpango1.0-dev libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev
sudo apt install libyajl-dev libstartup-notification0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libev-dev libxcb-cursor-dev
sudo apt install libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev autoconf
sudo apt install xutils-dev libtool automake

You also need to install libxcb-xrm-dev in case its missing.

sudo apt install libxcb-shape0-dev
sudo apt install libxcb-xrm-dev

Installing

i3-gaps also needs to be installed from source so run these commands (use sudo just in case):

cd tmp
git clone https://www.github.com/Airblader/i3 i3-gaps
cd i3-gaps
git checkout gaps && git pull
sudo autoreconf --force --install
sudo rm -rf build
mkdir build
cd build
sudo ../configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --disable-sanitizers
sudo make
sudo make install

Now i3-gaps should be installed.

Configuring

To enable gaps you need to set some variables in your i3 config:

gaps inner <# of pixels>
gaps outer <# of pixels>

I suggest to add the previews two lines at the bottom of your i3 config file to keep it organized from what's default and what you are adding, your i3 config file should be in:

~/.config/i3/config

If you don't find it you can create it manually. Add this to get rid of titlebars because gaps doesen't work with titlebars:

for_window [class="^.*"] border pixel 2

Refresh i3 (Mod+r) and you're good to go!

i3-gaps Troubleshooting

ERROR: Dependency: i3 Error: Status_command not found (exit 127).

sudo apt install i3status

ERROR: Mod+d not working.

sudo apt-get install dmenu

Desktop Background

To change the desktop background we need to install the following program:

sudo apt install feh

and add the following line to your i3 config file:

exec_always feh --bg-scale /path/to/image

now refresh i3 (Mod+r).

Terminal tranbsparency

In order to get ther fancy terminal trasparency compon is needed. Follow the guide to install and set compton config file.

Install compotn (updating is suggested before installing)

sudo apt install compton

Create a config file for compton to the following location

~/.config/compton.conf

Put this line inside the config file and replace with your terminal.

opacity-rule = ["85:class_g = 'Gnome-terminal'"];

Add the execution of compton on thr i3 config file.

exec --no-startup-id compton

Now the trasparency is set to default. You can change the active and inactive window trasparency level with the following lines.

active-opacity = 0.75;
inactive-opacity = 0.75;

In order to see the trasparency now (at least for Gnome-terminal) I can set it from the terminal preferences menu and chose what level of transparency I want without messing up with the configuration file of compton.

In order to see the result from compton config file you have to exit i3 and log in back.

Enable copy/paste between host and i3-vm

Install open-vm-tools

sudo apt install open-vm-tools
sudo apt install open-vm-tools-desktop

add the following line to the i3 config file and reboot.

exec --no-startup-id vmware-user

If not working try unistalling vmware-tools installed via vmware.

System Troubleshooting

Changing default terminal bind in $Mod+d exec urxvt doesent work any more. For more information follow the tutorial here. The solution is to install URxvt.

sudo apt install rxvt-unicode

and change the whole system's default terminal.

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

then customize your ~/.Xresources file to customize your URxvt terminal.
Sometimes i3-gaps doesen't start the network manager for some reason and you are disconnected, you need to restart the network manager.

sudo service network-manager restart