#1 2026-09-10 17:44:11

hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,451

Website

(Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

niri, a scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor, is not yet available in Debian, though it's in the works...
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … ug=1065355

However, it's easy to build on forky/sid thanks to cargo-deb (please leave rust discussions out of this thread ).

Here's some eye candy...
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 23#p152623

niri recommends using xwayland-satellite, so we'll also build that. See here for more info...
https://github.com/niri-wm/niri/wiki/Xwayland

Install git to grab the sources, cargo (rust) to build, cargo-deb to create *.deb packages, and dpkg-dev to take care of a warning in the deb builds because cargo didn't find dpkg-shlibdeps...

sudo apt install git dpkg-dev cargo

cargo install cargo-deb

Install the xwayland-satellite dependencies...

sudo apt install libxcb1-dev libxcb-cursor-dev

Install the niri dependencies...

sudo apt install gcc clang libudev-dev libgbm-dev libxkbcommon-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libwayland-dev libinput-dev libdbus-1-dev libsystemd-dev libseat-dev libpipewire-0.3-dev libpango1.0-dev libdisplay-info-dev

These packages aren't needed at build time, but are at runtime. Install them now or run 'sudo apt -f install' later when apt complains about the niri deb package...

alacritty fuzzel libfcft4t64 libutf8proc3 libxcb-xkb1 libxkbcommon-x11-0

We're ready to build. First, xwayland satellite...

git clone https://github.com/Supreeeme/xwayland-satellite.git

cd xwayland-satellite

The moment of truth!

cargo deb

Believe it or not, that's it. If it succeeds you'll have a deb package in the subfolder target/debian. Install it...

cd target/debian

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Build niri in exactly the same way...

git clone https://github.com/niri-wm/niri.git

cd niri

cargo deb

cd target/debian

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Create ~/.config/niri/config.kdl and start with the default, which is well commented and has most of the options listed...
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/niri- … config.kdl

Thus endeth the tutorial. I'll start a thread about configs and integration with Noctalia's shell and greeter later. If you try this, please post if the builds succeed for you or not, and/or if my instructions are wrong or unclear. Cheers.

Last edited by hhh (Yesterday 01:24:39)

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PackRat

jgmenu user Numero Uno

Registered: 2015-10-02

Posts: 3,038

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

Nice.

Pretty straight forward process.

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You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,079

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

^^@hhh
Thank you for your work. 

At first I was a bit confused because I remembered having the 'xwayland-satellite' package installed here...
Then I found it. @cog made it available in his repo for mango. 

❯ apt policy xwayland-satellite
xwayland-satellite:
  Installiert:           0.8.2-1~gila+1
  Installationskandidat: 0.8.2-1~gila+1
  Versionstabelle:
 *** 0.8.2-1~gila+1 500
        500 https://apt.hatcherylinux.org gila/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,079

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

@hhh, it's worked out. 
   

Due to bad experiences, this time I prepared the system directly with unstable/siduction. 

This meant the packages
-git dpkg-dev and
-libxcb-xkb1 libxkbcommon-x11-0
already exists.

You have a typo here:

sudo apt gcc clang ...

Otherwise, your instructions are masterful!    I made absolutely no mistakes!
I'm waiting now until you're back (I assume thunar, mousepad, waybar, my beloved xfce4-terminal etc ppp) need to be installed to use the desktop.

Last edited by unklar (2026-09-11 10:20:51)

hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,451

Website

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

@PackRat thanks!

@unklar, also thanks, but I don't see the typo, what is it?

Yes install apps. Other than a file manager, browser, text editor and probably your terminal of choice instead of alacritty, I recommend on sid Wayland...

loupe (image viewer)
celluloid (audio/video player, an mpv front-end)
hyprpicker (color picker, run it in a floating terminal)
pavucontrol (sound input/output controller)

For audio I like gapless to handle a music library and audacious to quickly play files/folders and stream URLs. Enable the 'Desktop Notifications' plugin in audacious.

I'd also encourage you to NOT install desktop management apps like xfce4-volumed or lxpolkit, try Noctalia shell instead...

https://docs.noctalia.dev/noctalia/gett … ian#debian
https://docs.noctalia.dev/noctalia/comp … ings/niri/
https://docs.noctalia.dev/noctalia/getting-started/faq/
https://docs.noctalia.dev/noctalia/gett … uninstall/

-edit- Ah, I forgot 'install'. Fixed, thanks!

You will need portals, I can't remember if those get brought in by anything.

sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-desktop-portal-wlr

If you're using Nautilus, I'd maybe install -portal-gnome instead of -portal-wlr. Nautilus is a dependency of portal-gnome, boo. But gcolor3 works with portal-gnome, yay. Install it with --no-install-recommends or you'll get gnome-session and more installed as well...

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends xdg-desktop-portal-gnome

I'll post about noctalia-greeter tomorrow. I also have instructions for building and installing mangowm and it's dependencies (wl-roots, scenefx) from source, I've been having some fun with a side of frustration!

Last edited by hhh (Today 01:49:19)

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hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,451

Website

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

I think noctalia-greeter is fairly straightforward...

Install greetd and noctalia-greeter.

Create /etc/greetd/greetd.conf with the content...

[terminal]
vt = 7

# The default session, also known as the greeter.
[default_session]
command = "/usr/bin/noctalia-greeter-session"
user = "_greetd"

Add 'greeter' to the video group...

sudo useradd -M -G video greeter

Fix permissions...

sudo chmod -R go+r /etc/greetd/

Reboot. Let me know if that's right.

If it works, in Noctalia settings type 'authentication' and enable Polkit Agent, reboot. Open settings again, search for "greeter", click the Noctalia Greeter "Sync Now" button and enter your password (install pkexec if it doesn't work). Don't enable auto-sync unless you want to constantly enter your password with every theme and/or wallpaper change.

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unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,079

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

I think noctalia-greeter is fairly straightforward...

Install greetd and noctalia-greeter.

Create /etc/greetd/greetd.conf with the content...

[terminal]
vt = 7

# The default session, also known as the greeter.
[default_session]
command = "/usr/bin/noctalia-greeter-session"
user = "_greetd"

Add 'greeter' to the video group...

sudo useradd -M -G video greeter

Fix permissions...

sudo chmod -R go+r /etc/greetd/

Reboot. Let me know if that's right.

If it works, in Noctalia settings type 'authentication' and enable Polkit Agent, reboot. Open settings again, search for "greeter", click the Noctalia Greeter "Sync Now" button and enter your password (install pkexec if it doesn't work). Don't enable auto-sync unless you want to constantly enter your password with every theme and/or wallpaper change.

^^^@hhh,
the simplicity overwhelms me! 

From your linked page: I followed the suggestion to install 'greetd' (noctalia-greeter).
This eliminated the need to create a 'greetd.conf' file.
In the specified directory, I found 'config.toml' and 'noctalia-greeter.toml'.

The latter is configured exactly like your greetd.conf.

After rebooting, I saw a welcome screen saying "Let's get started."
Unfortunately, this screen hasn't reappeared since, as I had to enter my password in another window (I assume that was the Polkit).

hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,451

Website

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

Copy the contents of noctalia-greeter.toml to a new file named greetd.conf. That takes precedence over the toml file that's being used and won't be overwritten by a greetd package upgrade, which will restore the conf execute line back to agetty.

If you do swap -portal-wlr to -portal-gnome, use the --no-install-rocemmends flag or gnome-session and more will be brought in.

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unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,079

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

Copy the contents of noctalia-greeter.toml to a new file named greetd.conf. That takes precedence over the toml file that's being used and won't be overwritten by a greetd package upgrade, which will restore the conf execute line back to agetty.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work.

I absolutely cannot access the settings of 'noctalia', neither here:

still via the terminal:

$ noctalia
09:41:00.645 [INF] [fdlimit] RLIMIT_NOFILE already at hard limit (524288)
error: noctalia is already running

Could it be that the file 'greetd.conf' should be located in ~/.config/noctalia/(which is empty), instead of /etc/greetd/?

Last edited by unklar (Today 08:18:08)

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 3,079

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

^BINGO!

In the Noctalia FAQ, I read that they are switching to the toml format starting with Noctalia version 5. There should be no mixing of the .conf and toml files.

So I renamed greetd.conf to greetd.toml and moved it to ~/.config/noctalia.
Now it works as you described above from you with authentication and Polkit.

Thank you so much! I almost installed lxpolkit... 

hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,451

Website

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

^BINGO!
https://i.imgur.com/L2Tsc8tt.png
In the Noctalia FAQ, I read that they are switching to the toml format starting with Noctalia version 5. There should be no mixing of the .conf and toml files.

So I renamed greetd.conf to greetd.toml and moved it to ~/.config/noctalia.
Now it works as you described above from you with authentication and Polkit.

Thank you so much! I almost installed lxpolkit... 

Right, don't. Enable the Noctalia polkit (search 'polkit' in the settings panel).

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hhh

Hercule Poirot

From: Belgium

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 17,451

Website

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm (easy!)

^BINGO!
https://i.imgur.com/L2Tsc8tt.png
In the Noctalia FAQ, I read that they are switching to the toml format starting with Noctalia version 5. There should be no mixing of the .conf and toml files.

Can you link that? I don't see it...

https://docs.noctalia.dev/greeter/troubleshooting/
https://docs.noctalia.dev/noctalia/getting-started/faq/

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