BSPWMRC config

Issues & Assistance Unsupported Software (AUR & Other)
1

Well I have been troubleshooting this all day. I have looked at others bspwmrc and have entered the same line as they have in theirs but I have yet to get mine working.

I have a rule setup to open chrome on desktop 2 and it just won’t go to desktop 2.

bspc rule -a google-chrome-stable desktop=^2 state=floating follow=on focus=on

Does anyone see a problem with that rule??
If I have done anything wrong my apologies I am a newbie to the forums. I usually figure out my issues, but I was getting nowhere on this one.

Specs:

System:
  Kernel: 6.7.4-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 13.2.1 clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=6175aced-ff46-4d8b-8a4c-54245f06370a rw
    rootflags=subvol=@ quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
  Desktop: bspwm v: 0.9.10 with: polybar
    tools: xscreensaver,xscreensaver-systemd
    avail: physlock,xfce4-screensaver vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda
    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: Z390-A PRO (MS-7B98) v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.B0 date: 08/10/2020
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-9700K bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Coffee Lake
    gen: core 9 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm
    family: 6 model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 0xD (13) microcode: 0xFA
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 512 KiB
    desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 2 MiB desc: 8x256 KiB L3: 12 MiB
    desc: 1x12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2394 high: 3101 min/max: 800/5000 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 2244 2: 2208
    3: 3101 4: 2502 5: 2200 6: 2200 7: 2201 8: 2500 bogomips: 57600
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU116 [GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: nvidia v: 545.29.06
    alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+ status: current
    (as of 2024-02; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Turing code: TUxxx
    process: TSMC 12nm FF built: 2018-2022 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s ports: active: none
    off: DP-2,HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-3 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:2187 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.4
    compositor: Picom v: git-fc1d1 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa
    gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 81
    s-size: 1204x343mm (47.40x13.50") s-diag: 1252mm (49.29")
  Monitor-1: DP-2 note: disabled pos: right model: BenQ GW2780
    serial: <filter> built: 2023 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2
    size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23") diag: 686mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled pos: primary,left
    model: Asus VG278HE serial: <filter> built: 2015 res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2 size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23")
    diag: 686mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia
    device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11:
    drv: nvidia inactive: wayland,device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 545.29.06
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
    SUPER/PCIe/SSE2 memory: 3.91 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.276 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER driver: nvidia v: 545.29.06
    device-ID: 10de:2187 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU116 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:1aeb class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.7.4-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.3 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa
    type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: e1000e
    v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bc class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8161 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: N/A
  Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: ASUSTek ASUS USB-BT500 driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-6:6
    chip-ID: 0b05:190e class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
    bt-v: 5.1 lmp-v: 10 status: discoverable: no pairing: no
    class-ID: 6c0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.55 TiB used: 367.21 GiB (7.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Seagate
    model: WDS200T3X0C-00SJG0 size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 102430WD temp: 46.9 C scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4B6Q scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 100.5 GiB (5.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 512 MiB size: 511 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 724 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 100.5 GiB (5.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 100.5 GiB (5.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 100.5 GiB (5.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
    zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 62.73 GiB used: 3.5 MiB (0.0%)
    priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842
    max-streams: 8 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C pch: 49.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia
    temp: 46 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Info:
  Memory: total: 64 GiB note: est. available: 62.73 GiB
    used: 6.49 GiB (10.3%)
  Processes: 362 Power: uptime: 11h 45m states: freeze,mem,disk
    suspend: deep avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform
    avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 25.05 GiB
    services: power-profiles-daemon,upowerd Init: systemd v: 255
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 2052 libs: 460 tools: octopi,paru
    Compilers: clang: 16.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: Zsh
    v: 5.9 running-in: alacritty inxi: 3.3.33
Garuda (2.6.23-1):
  System install date:     2023-12-28
  Last full system update: 2024-02-10 ↻
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Failed units:
2

It looks like you have two monitors, is that right? Don’t forget, desktop numbers are zero-indexed in BSPWM, so desktop 2 would be desktop=^1.

2 Likes
3

Yes I have 2 monitors. In my bspwmrc i have desktops 1-5 going to the first monitor and 6-10 going to the second monitor. Everything seems to be working correctly other than few applications aren’t starting on the desired desktop. Some apps work just fine.

4

It looks like the -a flag is for specifying a class name. I’m not certain, but I don’t think google-chrome-stable is correct. Take a look at this thread: BSPWM rule issues. - r/bspwm

Try using Google-chrome instead (bspc rule -a Google-chrome blah blah blah) as suggested in that thread, or better yet check the window class for yourself with xprop: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/bspwm#Rules

5

It is funny you mentioned that about xprop. That indeed was what my problem was. After using xprop I was able to get my rules working. It’s funny because other rules work just fine the way they were. Here is what I ended up with. I appreciate your reply and assistance with this. I hope you have a good day :).

## workspace 2 (web browsers)
bspc rule -a "google-chrome" state=floating manage=on layer=normal desktop=2
bspc rule -a "firefox" state=floating manage=on layer=normal focus=on follow=o>
bspc rule -a "privateinternetaccess" state=floating manage=on layer=normal des>
bspc rule -a Bitwarden desktop='^2' state=floating follow=on
6

This topic was automatically closed 2 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.