📚 node [[exwm]]

EXWM is an Emacs window manager that I used for a few months as a full-time software developer. It's a fun idea with a lot of flaws - inheriting those flaws from emacs, naturally.

It's a simple wrapper for X11 functions that allows for the user to interface primarily with Emacs. I'm making use of a Firefox compatibility layer to allow for the use of Firefox's keybindings through Emacs. My configuration can be found here.

Thankfully, even if I'm not using EXWM, Emacs just displays an error that 'another X window manager is running' when the EXWM configuration is loaded. It's no problem to keep the configuration in my dotfiles even when I'm using bspwm or another window manager.

As I make more extensive use of org-mode, I find myself using fewer and fewer tools outside of Emacs. I've found that the tools I do use often have Emacs plugins that allow them to be used as Emacs functions as well.

Really, Emacs (and EXWM) are partial solutions to a more systemic issue – the way in which the Unix philosophy has lost its way on the modern Linux system.

Fixing issues

run emacs in emacs for better exwm performance in which a path is charted through the coming apocalypse - Technomancy: On adopting EXWM to re-enable comfortable keyboard shortcuts and interface tooling for Emacs.

📖 stoas
⥱ context