Installation instructions ------------------------- $ mkdir tmp $ cd tmp $ git clone http://unix4lyfe.org/git/i3-gnome $ cd i3-gnome $ dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -tc $ cd .. $ sudo dpkg -i i3-gnome_1_all.deb After this point, lightdm should show "i3-gnome" as one of the sessions available to you. You'll want to add a keybinding to ~/.i3/config to log out of gnome-session: bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec gnome-session-quit Or bring up the suspend / restart / shutdown dialog with: bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec gnome-session-quit --power-off