My config for running Labwc (Window Manager) in an LXQt (Wayland) session.
I am using Endeavour OS (Arch Linux) as my base OS. It makes sense to use a rolling release OS to get the latest packages for LabWC, though in future I may use something like Mabox, a 'relaxed' rolling release based on Manjaro for less frequent Arch Linux updates. I began using lightweight Wayland window compositors a couple of years back, beginning with Sway and moving onto Hyprland & Wayfire. When Raspberry Pi switched switched from Wayfire to LabWC in their Bookworm release (Oct '24) I decided use it on my laptop as well.
Labwc is a wlroots-based stacking compositor for wayland. It is light-weight and independent with a focus on simply stacking windows well and rendering some window decorations. It relies on clients for panels, screenshots, wallpapers and so on to create a full desktop environment. It takes a no-bling/frills approach and says no to features such as animations. It's inspired by openbox and BunsenLabs (lightweight Debian + Openbox-based distro).
LXQt 2.1, released in November 2024, offers the option to run LabWC, as one of several Wayland compositors within LXQt itself. Instead of having to set up a bar etc. separately you get lxpanel and lxqt-runner and labwc-tweaks and other LXQt desktop components. Some (not all) setting can be made in LXQt Configuration Center. In general, you'll want to poke around in the menu and read the wiki.
Users can select the Wayland session (“LXQt (Wayland)”) from the SDDM login manager and choose labwc in LXQt Session Settings > Wayland Settings > Wayland compositor.
To install LXQt and LabWC:
sudo pacman -S lxqt lxqt-config lxqt-policykit lxqt-powermanagement lxqt-wayland-session labwc labwc-tweaks
I drew my configs, theme and other elements from various sources including https://github.com/stefonarch. His Vent-dark theme belongs in ~/.local/share/themes/ (& can also be specified via labwc-tweaks)
