2mo ago

Those who use DWM, how do you get the autostart scripts to work?

I'm talking about this patch:

Now, the notes seem simple: after apply the patch, dwm will look for the autostart script in ~/.dwm/autostart.sh.

But if you read it carefully, the file is:

~/.dwm/autostart.sh &

Wth does a "&" have to do with file name? I tried to just use the normal file: autostart.sh with exec dunst. It doesnt work..

I tried to create in the Thunar this weird file name, "autostop.sh &". The system does not recognize it as sh script anymore. .

Any help is welcome.

11 comments

It's not a file name. It's shell syntax. Specifically, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_control_(Unix)
That's a pretty terrible article on the subject, but I don't have a better one at hand. You could read some shell scripting tutorial or manual or maybe a beginners guide to Unix. A decent one should explain job control well.
But basically, in a script or command line, an ampersand ends a command and runs it in the background without waiting for it to finish before running the next command. A semicolon works the same but waits on the foreground.