equisdots
ENES
Menu

Installation

Requirements and the recommended way to install the equisdots desktop, plus first login and troubleshooting.

The recommended way to install equisdots is the dots meta installer. A single setup run installs the system pieces (packages, fonts, login theme, PAM service, external configs) and the user payload (compositor config, shell, palettes, engines) from every repository.

Requirements

  • Arch Linux or a derivative (EndeavourOS, Manjaro, CachyOS, Garuda).
  • Linux 6.x or newer recommended, 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended.
  • Hyprland 0.55 or newer (the configuration is Lua).
  • git, rsync, jq, Quickshell (qs), xwww-daemon, mpvpaper and the Hack Nerd Font.

dots doctor checks all of these and exits with an error code when something is missing; the full wallpaper pack is optional and about 1.37 GB.

One-command install

The installer clones the whole organization itself; no previous clone is needed:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/equisdots/dots/main/dots) setup -y

The -y flag answers the prompts with the recommended defaults and skips the wallpaper pack. After the first run, the dots command is available at ~/.local/bin/dots.

Manual install

Step by step, from a clone of the dots repository:

git clone https://github.com/equisdots/dots.git
cd dots

./dots system      # system stack (sudo): packages, fonts, login, PAM, xwww
./dots install     # clone every repo and place the user payload
./dots doctor      # verify binaries, clones and installed paths

Prefer setup when possible; it runs both phases in the right order:

./dots setup       # payload first when git/rsync exist, then the system stack
./dots setup -y    # non-interactive with defaults

If git or rsync are missing, setup runs the system stack first (it installs them) and then retries the payload. A failing system phase never aborts the payload phase, and the other way around.

What each phase does

dots system runs the hyprland installer:

  • Installs distro packages via an AUR helper (Hyprland, Quickshell, kitty, dunst, grim, slurp, cliphist, rofi, cava, gpu-screen-recorder and more), plus the Hack Nerd Font and themes (adw-gtk3, Papirus, Bibata).
  • Installs the xwww wallpaper daemon from the checksum-verified prebuilt release, with a source build as fallback.
  • Installs the static SDDM theme from equisdots/login.
  • Installs /etc/pam.d/quickshell for the lock screen and the kitty, Neovim and starship configs.
  • Configures NVIDIA when applicable, including kernel parameters.

dots install clones every repository under ~/.local/share/equisdots and places the payload:

  • Hyprland config to ~/.config/hypr, plus rofi, dunst and cava configs.
  • Quickshell shell, palettes, theme-sync, davincix, timex and xturing.
  • Wrapper scripts in ~/.local/bin and the monthly updater timer.

install copies over a live config but treats settings.json carefully: it is seeded only when missing and then always merged as defaults plus your values. For a full purge you must remove ~/.config/hypr yourself.

Standalone Hyprland install

Without the meta installer:

git clone https://github.com/equisdots/hyprland.git
cd hyprland
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh                 # full install
./install.sh --dotfiles-only # config only, no packages
./install.sh --nvidia-only   # NVIDIA setup only
./install.sh -y              # non-interactive defaults

The standalone installer skips the step that calls dots install when it is driven by dots system (DOTS_SYSTEM_RUN=1), because the meta installer runs the payload right after.

Wallpaper daemon

The installer pins a release of xwww. Override it when needed:

XWWW_VERSION=v0.13.1 ./scripts/install-xwww.sh
FORCE_XWWW=1 ./install.sh   # reinstall an existing binary

Verify the installation

dots doctor
dots list
command -v dots hyprland qs davincix theme-sync
fc-match "Hack Nerd Font"

dots list should report every repository as clean, and dots doctor should end without missing items. Every ! line names what needs attention.

First login

  1. Reboot, especially if the NVIDIA driver changed.
  2. Pick Hyprland at the display manager (SUPER + Return opens kitty, SUPER + D the launcher).
  3. The first boot initializes the wallpaper daemon, picks a random wallpaper and starts the background services.

Troubleshooting

  • git/rsync missing: run ./dots system first, then ./dots install.
  • Clone failed: check the network and rerun ./dots install. Failures are never fatal for the other repositories.
  • System phase failed: the payload is still installed. Inspect ls -t /tmp/hyprland-install-*.log | head -1 and retry ./dots system.
  • Glyphs render as boxes: the Hack Nerd Font is missing; rerun ./dots system.
  • dots or davincix not found: ~/.local/bin is not in PATH (dots doctor flags this).
  • xwww version mismatch: run ./dots update, which reinstalls the pinned release when the running binary differs.

Uninstall

./dots uninstall            # removes wrappers and the updater timer
./hyprland/uninstall.sh    # removes deployed configs (standalone installer)

dots uninstall keeps config files and the managed clones; the login theme has its own ./install.sh --uninstall in equisdots/login.

Next steps

Read Updating and diagnosing to keep the installation in sync, then Hyprland desktop for the configuration surface.

Edit this page on GitHub