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Install i3

1. Install latest stable release

1.1 Ubuntu repository

Stable

This Ubuntu repository is provided by sur5r and contains the latest stable release of i3. To use it, run the following commands:

$ /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper download-file https://debian.sur5r.net/i3/pool/main/s/sur5r-keyring/sur5r-keyring_2020.02.03_all.deb keyring.deb SHA256:c5dd35231930e3c8d6a9d9539c846023fe1a08e4b073ef0d2833acd815d80d48
# dpkg -i ./keyring.deb
# echo "deb https://debian.sur5r.net/i3/ $(grep '^DISTRIB_CODENAME=' /etc/lsb-release | cut -f2 -d=) universe" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sur5r-i3.list
# apt update
# apt install i3

Development releases

This Ubuntu repository contains packages which are automatically built a few minutes after every commit. To use it, run the following commands:

$ /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper download-file http://dl.bintray.com/i3/i3-autobuild-ubuntu/pool/main/i/i3-autobuild-keyring/i3-autobuild-keyring_2016.10.01_all.deb keyring.deb SHA256:460e8c7f67a6ae7c3996cc8a5915548fe2fee9637b1653353ec62b954978d844
# apt install ./keyring.deb
# echo 'deb http://dl.bintray.com/i3/i3-autobuild-ubuntu bionic main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/i3-autobuild.list
# apt update
# apt install i3

Development versions are only available for the latest version of Ubuntu, which is bionic at the moment.

1.2 Debian repository

Our Debian repository contains packages which are automatically built a few minutes after every commit. To use it, run the following commands:

$ /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper download-file http://dl.bintray.com/i3/i3-autobuild/pool/main/i/i3-autobuild-keyring/i3-autobuild-keyring_2016.10.01_all.deb keyring.deb SHA256:460e8c7f67a6ae7c3996cc8a5915548fe2fee9637b1653353ec62b954978d844
# apt install ./keyring.deb
# echo 'deb http://dl.bintray.com/i3/i3-autobuild sid main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/i3-autobuild.list
# apt update
# apt install i3

2. Install i3 and remove GNOME from Debian 10

  1. Install i3
sudo apt install i3
  1. Remove GNOME
sudo apt purge gnome-session gnome-shell
sudo apt autoremove
  1. Make a init for X Server that it should start i3 on start
echo "exec i3" > ~/.xinitrc
  1. Start X Server
startx