Awesome-3.4.11/git-Ubuntu-Lucid

This provides no warranty.

First install the dependecies of awesome

$ sudo apt-get build-dep awesome

Tip to have apps versions well organized

Now install packages xstow, and autoconf for managing manually installed software. (Install git-core if building from git version.)

$ apt-get install git-core xstow autoconf

Setup xstow dir structure.

$ [ ! -d /usr/local/stow ] && sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/stow

Make sure installed files have proper permissions:

$ umask 022

Ubuntu Lucid uses old version of Freedesktop software - *xcb*.

You need:

libxcb-1.8, xcb-proto-1.7, xcb-util-0.3.8 and xcb-util-wm-0.3.8

Download *xcb* package from [1].

Install libxcb-1.8, xcb-proto-1.7, xcb-util-0.3.8 and xcb-util-wm-0.3.8, use following action (replace $app with proper name of application as written above) to build and install each app.

$ cd /tmp/
$ tar xvzf $app.tar.gz
$ cd $app
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/stow/$app
$ sudo make install clean
$ cd /usr/local/stow
$ sudo xstow -v $app

In the final you should have following apps build in /usr/local/stow.

$ ls /usr/local/stow/
libxcb-1.8  xcb-proto-1.7  xcb-util-0.3.8  xcb-util-wm-0.3.8

Building awesome-3.4.11 or git version

Download awesome-3.4.11.tar.bz2 or clone git repo for awesome (if using git replace 3.4.11 with yours date).

$ cd /tmp
$ tar xvjf awesome-3.4.11.tar.bz2
$ cd awesome-3.4.11
$ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/stow/awesome-3.4.11
$ make
$ sudo make install clean
$ cd /usr/local/stow
$ sudo xstow -v awesome-3.4.11

Now you should see in /usr/local/stow. (If using git there would be date instead of version.)

$ ls
awesome-3.4.11  libxcb-1.8  xcb-proto-1.7  xcb-util-0.3.8  xcb-util-wm-0.3.8

Post build/install tips

Check you $PATH if it contains /usr/local/bin.

$ echo $PATH | grep -q /usr/local/bin ; echo $? # 0 = successfull
0

Rebuild cache for libraries

$ sudo ldconfig -v
$ ldconfig -p | egrep "/usr/local/lib/.*xcb" # if you see your new libs in /usr/local it is OK

Config tips

I recommend to backup your old rc.lua and move it to somewhere else. Let's start with new version's rc.lua first.

$ [ -d $HOME/.config/awesome ] && mv $HOME/.config/awesome $HOME/.config/awesome.backup
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.config/awesome

$ find /usr/local/ -type f -name 'rc.lua'
/usr/local/stow/awesome-3.4.11/etc/xdg/awesome/rc.lua
$ cp /usr/local/stow/awesome-3.4.11/etc/xdg/awesome/rc.lua $HOME/.config/awesome

During awesome building paths to awesome is hardcored, so replace it to be ready for new version.

$ perl -i -pe 's#stow/awesome-[^/]*/##;' $HOME/.config/awesome/rc.lua
$ grep 'beautiful.init' $HOME/.config/awesome/rc.lua # just check if paths are OK
beautiful.init("/usr/local/share/awesome/themes/default/theme.lua")

Start now your new fresh awesome, if it works try to merge your old config with example coming from your new version.

And the proof and little propaganda :)