Sway: Difference between revisions
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==== Missing file picker in Firefox (Flatpak)/cannot download ==== | ==== Missing file picker in Firefox (Flatpak)/cannot download ==== | ||
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==== Failing to start under certain graphics cards/multiple wlroots stacked windows spawning upon start ==== | ==== Failing to start under certain graphics cards/multiple wlroots stacked windows spawning upon start ==== |
Revision as of 22:06, 3 January 2023
Sway is a tiling Wayland compositor. It's a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager.
Installation
eudev:
# apk add eudev # setup-devd udev
Graphics drivers:
Add user to the input and video groups:
# adduser $USER input # adduser $USER video
Install some TTF fonts:
# apk add ttf-dejavu
seatd daemon:
# apk add seatd # rc-update add seatd # rc-service seatd start # adduser $USER seat
elogind, optional for suspending with a key (otherwise you can run echo mem > /sys/power/state as a root
), or lid close support
loginctl list-sessions
Install sway:
# apk add sway sway-doc # apk add \ # Install optional dependencies: xwayland \ # recommended for compatibility reasons foot \ # default terminal emulator. Modify $term in config for a different one. bemenu \ # wayland menu swaylock swaylockd \ # lockscreen tool swaybg \ # wallpaper daemon swayidle # idle management (DPMS) daemon
Configure XDG_RUNTIME_DIR. Add the following to shell init scripts, for the default ash shell it is ~/.profile:
if test -z "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}"; then export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/$(id -u)-runtime-dir if ! test -d "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}"; then mkdir "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}" chmod 0700 "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}" fi fi
If you have also installed elogind, which depends on the package linux-pam, you will also need to prepend the above code with
export XDG_SEAT=seat0 export XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
For inter-program communication and functionality such as screensharing, install and enable dbus and PipeWire, see PipeWire and set SWAYSOCK
environmental variable to
/tmp/$(id -u)-runtime-dir/sway-ipc.1000.$(pgrep -x sway).sock
in your login shell's init script.
Note that it has to be set after the line responsible for launching Sway.
Re-login or reboot to allow above modifications to take effect.
Launch Sway with dbus support:
dbus-run-session -- sway #prepend with exec in your login shell init script
Configuration
An example config is provided at /etc/sway/config
. Copy it to ~/.config/sway/config
and read through it to learn the default keybindings.
For additional information, start at man 5 sway
and read the upstream wiki.
Firefox screensharing
For some programs, additional configuration is needed to launch them natively under Wayland and to support special features such as screen sharing.
To launch Firefox natively under Wayland and to enable support for screensharing, you need:
- Install and configure PipeWire
- Install xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-wlr package
- Install wofi for screen selection
- Launch support programs on sway startup:
exec /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher #pipewire must be launched first exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
- Export the following variables:
export MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND="1" export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=sway export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland export QT_QPA_PLATFORM="wayland-egl"
Scaling for high resolution screens
Without further configuration, program interfaces might be too small to use on high resolution screens.
Via sway
Sway supports the per-display configuration of
- fractional (e.g., 1.5x), and
- integer scaling (e.g., 2x)
However, fractional scaling is discouraged due to both the performance impact and the blurry output it produces. In this case, where 1x scaling is too small and 2x scaling is too large, program-specific GTK/QT based scaling is recommended. See below.
To enable Sway scaling, the user can first preview different scaling factors with wdisplays
package. Note the output name (eDP-1, LVDS-1) and try apply scaling factors such as 1 and 2. To make changes permanent, add
output <name> scale <factor>
to ~/.config/sway/config.
Via GTK/Qt
# for GTK-based programs such as firefox and emacs: export GDK_DPI_SCALE=2 # for QT-based programs export QT_WAYLAND_FORCE_DPI="physical" # or if still too small, use a custom DPI export QT_WAYLAND_FORCE_DPI=192 # 2x scaling export QT_QPA_PLATFORM="wayland-egl"
Make clipboard content persistent
By default the clipboard content does not persist after terminating the program: you copy some text from Firefox and then exit Firefox, the copied text is also lost.
Install clipman from test repo and add the following to sway config:
exec wl-paste --type text/plain --watch clipman store --histpath="~/.local/state/clipman-primary.json" bindsym $mod+h exec clipman pick --tool wofi --histpath="~/.local/state/clipman-primary.json"
Troubleshooting
If you encounter any issues, try running sway -Vc /etc/sway/config
. It will run sway with the default config file and set the output to be more verbose. It is generally a good idea to track your config files with git (when and if at all you use a remote repository for them, keep it private for security reasons).
Disappearing cursor in GTK apps or in Firefox (Flatpak)
You may need to get an icon pack and possibly a theme from Pling store and set GTK_THEME
environmental variable. Alternatively you can install a theme for all users (search Alpine Linux Packages for *-icon-theme) using apk add
.
Missing file picker in Firefox (Flatpak)/cannot download
Go to [about:config about:config] and set widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker to 0.
Failing to start under certain graphics cards/multiple wlroots stacked windows spawning upon start
As of Dec 31 2022, Nvidia still doesn't fully support Wayland. Therefore, the possible solutions are as outlined in the link, or setting your WLR_BACKENDS environmental variables to drm,libinput
or x11
(add libinput here as well if you cannot use your mouse and keyboard after starting Sway). The latter also works for AMD/ATI cards (make sure to install libinput first).
Sway socket not detected
See Installation for instructions on how to set this environmental variable. This issue may occur with terminal multiplexers, such as tmux
Tips and tricks
Sway configuration is mostly backwards-compatible with that of i3 and if you are looking for a solution for a specific issue, you may also try checking if it hasn't been provided for i3WM.
Firefox picture-in-picture mode/floating windows
Add this to your sway config file (modify the numeric values to suit your needs and your display):
for_window [app_id="firefox" title="^Picture-in-Picture$"] floating enable, move position 877 450, sticky enable, border none
Screenshots
A simple tool that works well under Wayland is Grimshot. Example keybindings:
bindsym Print exec grimshot copy area bindsym Shift+Print exec grimshot copy screen bindsym Control+Print exec grimshot save area ~/Pictures/$(date +%d-%m-%Y-%H-%M-%S).png bindsym Control+Shift+Print exec grimshot save screen ~/Pictures/$(date +%d-%m-%Y-%H-%M-%S).png
Start with NumLock enabled
Add this to your sway config file:
input type:keyboard xkb_numlock enabled
Change cursor theme and size
Add to your sway config:
seat seat0 xcursor_theme my_cursor_theme my_cursor_size
You can inspect their values with echo $XCURSOR_SIZE
and echo $XCURSOR_THEME
. If reloading your config does not result in change, try logging out and in.
$XCURSOR_SIZE
and $XCURSOR_THEME
.Start as a service
Although this is not necessary, you may write an init script like the following:
{{/etc/init.d/sway| #!/sbin/openrc-run description="Sway Compositor" command="/usr/bin/sway" command_args="" pidfile="/run/sway.pid" start_stop_daemon_args="--background --pidfile ${pidfile}" depend() { need localmount after elogind use seatd dbus }
Then as a root run chmod +x /etc/init.d/seat
and rc-update add sway default
. Make sure you have elogind installed or specify another service, like your display/login manager after which the sway service will run.
Custom keyboard layout
Since wayland does not support setxkbmap, you will also need to add similar content to your /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml, after </modelList>
and after <layoutList>
:
<layout> <configItem> <name>[the name of your layout, same as the name of the file in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols]</name> <shortDescription>[usually just two letters]</shortDescription> <description>[description of your layout]</description> <countryList> <iso3166Id>US</iso3166Id> <iso3166Id>NO</iso3166Id> </countryList> <languageList> <iso639Id>eng</iso639Id> </languageList> </configItem> </layout> <!--[other layouts]-->
Then, to enable for all keyboards, navigate to the input section of ~/.config/sway/config and modify it to
input * { xkb_layout "my_layout" }
If you have enabled xkb_numlock
, include this setting inside those braces as well.