greetd
greetd is a minimal, agnostic and flexible login manager daemon which does not make assumptions about what the user wants to launch, should it be console-based or graphical. Any script or program which can be started from the console may be launched by greetd, which makes it particularly suitable for Wayland compositors. It can also launch a greeter to start user sessions, like any other display manager.
Installation
Install the greetd or greetd-gitAUR packages.
The default greetd configuration file is located at /etc/greetd/config.toml.
PAM-specific configuration is set in /etc/pam.d/greetd.
Greeters
Greetd has greetd-agreety as its built-in greeter, however this is a minimal implementation. You should consider using one of the several available greeters:
- greetd-agreety — The default, a text-based greeter similar to agetty.
- dlm — An fbdev greeter.
-
ddlm — An fbdev greeter. Enhanced/extended version of
dlm.
- gtkgreet — A GTK greeter.
- ReGreet — A GTK greeter. Supports various customization options. Wayland only.
- wlgreet — A Wayland greeter.
- tuigreet — A console UI greeter.
- qtgreet — A Qt greeter.
- nwg-hello — GTK3-based greeter for greetd written in python.
Starting greetd
Enable greetd.service so greetd will be started at boot.
See also Display manager#Loading the display manager.
Greeter configuration
Configuring the greeter run by greetd is done using the command option in the default_session section in /etc/greetd/config.toml.
The included agreety greeter will be used if no changes are made. Also see #agreety.
By default, greeters are run as the greeter user. This can be changed by editing the user option in the default_session section of the configuration file and replacing another_user with the chosen user:
... [default_session] user = "another_user" ...
Make sure the ownership of the /etc/greetd directory is set accordingly.
agreety
This is the default greeter. It is launched by greetd with the configuration file set as follows:
... [default_session] command = "agreety --cmd $SHELL" ...
agreety can launch any arbitrary command once a user logs in. For example, in order to start Sway, replace $SHELL in the example above with sway.
gtkgreet
In order to run, gtkgreet needs a compositor. For the full experience, a compositor with wlr-layer-shell-unstable support is required but others can work. As such, it is recommended to use sway, but something like cage can also be used. Examples for both cage and sway are provided below.
In order to specify which login environments can be started by gtkgreet, list them in /etc/greetd/environments.
For example:
sway bash
You can also invoke gtkgreet with the -c mycommand parameter, replacing mycommand with the desired program (for example, gtkgreet -c bash or gtkgreet -c sway). Do so in the below compositor examples as desired.
Using cage
Install cage and set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "cage gtkgreet" ...
Using sway
Install sway. When using Sway, it must be terminated once the user logs in. For that purpose, a specific configuration file must be created, for example in /etc/greetd/sway-config, with the following content:
# `-l` activates layer-shell mode. Notice that `swaymsg exit` will run after gtkgreet. exec "gtkgreet -l; swaymsg exit" bindsym Mod4+shift+e exec swaynag \ -t warning \ -m 'What do you want to do?' \ -b 'Poweroff' 'systemctl poweroff' \ -b 'Reboot' 'systemctl reboot' include /etc/sway/config.d/*
Then, greetd must be set to start Sway with the configuration file above. Set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "sway --config /etc/greetd/sway-config" ...
ReGreet
Similar to gtkgreet, ReGreet needs a compositor. For example, both Cage and Sway can be used just like they are used for gtkgreet, replacing the gtkgreet command with regreet. The config for Sway would thus look like:
# Notice that `swaymsg exit` will run after ReGreet. exec "regreet; swaymsg exit" bindsym Mod4+shift+e exec swaynag \ -t warning \ -m 'What do you want to do?' \ -b 'Poweroff' 'systemctl poweroff' \ -b 'Reboot' 'systemctl reboot' include /etc/sway/config.d/*
ReGreet picks up available sessions from /usr/share/xsession (for X11 sessions) and /usr/share/wayland-sessions (for Wayland sessions). Thus, there is no need to list sessions in /etc/greetd/environments.
ReGreet can be configured through a TOML file in /etc/greetd/regreet.toml. A sample file is provided in /usr/share/doc/greetd-regreet/regreet.sample.toml with all available options. Copy this to /etc/greetd/regreet.toml and make the changes you want, commenting out or deleting the lines you do not need. Any invalid options are ignored.
wlgreet
In order to start wlgreet, a compositor with wlr-layer-shell-unstable is required. Follow the steps required to set up gtkgreet with Sway as described above but use the following for /etc/greetd/sway-config instead:
exec "wlgreet --command sway; swaymsg exit" bindsym Mod4+shift+e exec swaynag \ -t warning \ -m 'What do you want to do?' \ -b 'Poweroff' 'systemctl poweroff' \ -b 'Reboot' 'systemctl reboot' include /etc/sway/config.d/*
tuigreet
tuigreet does not require any special setup, just set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "tuigreet --cmd sway" ...
tuigreet --help will display customization options.
ddlm
ddlm does not require any special setup, just set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "ddlm --target sway" ...
qtgreet
In order to use qtgreet, you need a WLR based compositor (e.g. wayfireAUR, sway).
Using Wayfire
Install wayfireAUR and set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "wayfire --config /etc/qtgreet/wayfire.ini" ...
The Wayfire configuration file referred to is included with qtgreet.
Using Hyprland
Set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "Hyprland --config /etc/greetd/hyprland.conf" ...
Then create /etc/greetd/hyprland.conf as:
/etc/greetd/hyprland.conf
exec-once = qtgreet; hyprctl dispatch exit
nwg-hello
In order to use nwg-hello, you either need sway or hyprland.
Using Sway
Install sway and set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "sway -c /etc/nwg-hello/sway-config" ...
The Sway configuration file referred to is included with nwg-hello.
Using Hyprland
Install hyprland and set the command option as follows:
... [default_session] command = "Hyprland -c /etc/nwg-hello/hyprland.conf" ...
The Hyprland configuration file referred to is included with nwg-hello.
Tips and tricks
Enabling autologin
If you want a user to be logged in automatically, an initial_session section must be defined in /etc/greetd/config.toml:
... [initial_session] command = "sway" user = "myuser" ...
The command option may contain the name of any executable file. In the example above, Sway will be started by myuser at boot and gtkgreet will be launched after the user logs out.
If you do not want to use greetd and always want autologin to be enabled, see autologin.
Run local programs
Add your PATH to ~/.profile, or the DE called by greetd will not be able to run local programs. Greetd will not have access to .bashrc or .zshrc, so do not define the PATH there.
~/.profile
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
Setting the Environment
By default greetd does not set environment variables such as XDG_SESSION_TYPE and XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, unless the greeter sets them based on the session you chose (for example TUI will set the session type based on the location of the session file chosen). One way to solve this is to use a wrapper script that sets any desired environment variables before running the actual command. For example to start sway:
/usr/local/bin/start-sway
#!/bin/sh export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland export XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=sway export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=sway # Wayland stuff export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland export SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland export _JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1 exec sway "$@"
then use this wrapper script as the command the greeter runs. For example with gtkgreet you could use
/etc/greetd/config.toml
... [default_session] command = "gtkgreet -c /usr/local/bin/start-sway" ...
or put start-sway in /etc/greetd/environments.
See How to Set XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland
Setting logind session type
The logind session type is set by the XDG_SESSION_TYPE environment variable. However, it must be set before the PAM session is opened. Because of this, setting the variable through ~/.profile or a wrapper script will not work (both happen after session open).
The correct way to achieve this is through the environment variables sent by greeters (these are set before session open). So if your greeter supports it, just make it send the appropriate XDG_SESSION_TYPE=xxx.
If your greeter does not support this, it is also possible to use pam_env under the auth group. The drawback is that all the sessions spawned by greetd will use that session type, which may or may not be problematic depending on your use case.
Here is how one could use the pam_env method to have a Wayland session:
/etc/greetd/config.toml
[general] service = "greetd-spawn"
/etc/greetd/greetd-spawn.pam_env.conf
XDG_SESSION_TYPE DEFAULT=wayland OVERRIDE=wayland
/etc/pam.d/greetd-spawn
auth include greetd auth required pam_env.so conffile=/etc/greetd/greetd-spawn.pam_env.conf account include greetd session include greetd
Missing mouse cursor
If you are using qtgreet with a compositor such as wayfire and generally need to export variables, such as WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1 to get the mouse cursor working, one solution would be to create a separate executable script and then calling that from /etc/greetd/config.toml.
/usr/local/bin/greetd-startup.sh
#!/bin/sh export WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1 exec wayfire --config /etc/qtgreet/wayfire.ini
/etc/greetd/config.toml
... [default_session] command = "/usr/local/bin/greetd-startup.sh" ...