If not done yet, please follow the detailled build instructions to build and install from source.
The commands below assume that dependencies and wlmaker
were installed to
${HOME}/.local
.
Once running: Press Ctrl-Window-Alt+T
to open a terminal (foot
), or
Ctrl-Window-Alt+Q
to exit.
The most accessible option is to run Wayland Maker in a window in your already-running graphical environment. It can run both on a X11 or a Wayland session. Easiest is to run it via the wrapper script:
${HOME}/.local/bin/wrap-wlmaker.sh
Important
Make sure your distribution has seatd
installed and running.
${HOME}/.local/bin/wrap-wlmaker.sh
Note: You may need to su -c "pkill seatd"
to stop seatd
after you're done.
Note
As of 2024-07-14, this appears to work only with Wayland-only display
managers. gdm3
has been found to work, but lightdm
did not.
Important
It is not recommended to run wlmaker as your main compositor. This approach will not work if dependencies are not all operating correctly, and is hardest to debug.
- Copy
${HOME}/.local/share/wlmaker.desktop
to/usr/share/wayland-sessions/wlmaker.desktop
- Restart your session manager, to reload the sessions.
The desktop entry will execute ${HOME}/.local/bin/wrap-wlmaker.sh
.
-
etc/wlmaker.plist is the where keyboard options, key bindings, screensaver details and more can be configured. That file in the source tree is the compiled-in default.
To extend: Create a copy of the file to
~/.wlmaker.plist
and modify it according to your needs. Or, move it somewhere else and callwlmaker
with the--config_file=...
arugment. -
To run X11 applications in Wayland Maker, XWayland must be enabled. It is compiled in, if the
xwayland
package is installed. In that case, use the--start_xwayland
option. TheDISPLAY
environment variable will be set suitably. -
etc/style-default.plist is the compiled-in default theme. With etc/style-debian.plist, there is an alternative theme you can use -- or extend it on your own.
Run
wlmaker
with--style_file=...
to use an alternative style. -
To make Wayland Maker look well on a high-resolution screen, you can either set the
Output
Scale
in etc/wlmaker.plist (and use--config_file=...
). This will scale all surfaces.Or, you can configure the style with larger decorations & fonts, as is done in etc/style-debian.plist. This will not scale application surfaces.
Note
Run wlmaker
with the --log_level=DEBUG
argument to get more verbose debug
information.
-
wlmaker
fails with an ERROR log ofCould not initialize renderer
.This indicates that
wlroots
was unable to pick a suitable renderer. For triaging & debugging, try the following:-
Verify whether another
wlroots
-based compositor 1 starts up. If not, it's awlroots
issue, please follow up there. -
Try using a different renderer, eg. by setting
WLR_RENDERER=pixman
2.
If that does not help: Please file an issue, including a full paste of your the configuration & build log, and of the startup attempt.
-