My Sway setup

Sway is a modern tilling wayland compositor, that emulates i3. Based on wlroots, it's one of the most featureful wayland compositors.

Still, a lot of things wont work in Wayland.

sway systemd integration

I'm running sway as a user systemd service, started by sddm (the login manager).

• /usr/share/wayland-sessions/sway-service.desktop is added for a custom wayland session
• when I choose that session in sddm /usr/local/bin/sway-service.sh is started, which:
  • loads the sddm/pam environment into the user systemd service manager
  • then starts the sway.service
  • systemd/user/sway.service loads additional environment variables from ~/.config/sway/env
  • waits for the service to finish, which signals the end of the session
• next, sway initializes and starts running:
  • at the end sway calls exec "systemctl --user import-environment ; systemctl --user start sway-session.target"
    • which imports the additional sway env vars back into systemd
  • only then sway-session.target is getting started:
    • it has Wants=graphical-session-pre.target so any desktop non-gui services starts first
    • then it has BindsTo=graphical-session.target wayland-session.target, and any enabled gui/wayland and sway applets/services start from there
    • examples are swayidle.service which has WantedBy=sway-session.target (or wayland-session.target)
    • same with swaybar/waybar, mako, and similar.

Where do environment variables go?

Read man environment.d, environment variables set there will be read by the --user systemd, and since everything is started in its hierarchy variables will properly propagate.

Wayland tools

• https://github.com/gdamjan/swaylock (fork: implements a grace period before a password is required)
• https://gist.github.com/gdamjan/1415d93b83a38f64cffea0ff4c54fc4b (nm-applet with --indicator support)
• https://github.com/kennylevinsen/wldash (runner / dashboard)
• https://github.com/Hummer12007/brightnessctl/
• https://github.com/misterdanb/avizo (notification daemon for volume/backlight)
• https://github.com/cyclopsian/wdisplays (GUI display configurator for wlroots compositors)
• https://github.com/bugaevc/wl-clipboard (Command-line copy/paste utilities for Wayland)
• https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/pull/85#issuecomment-525223382 (sway-layout script for waybar)

… and more.

An unordered list of wayland bugs and issues

• all firefox issues https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635134

• ~copy by select / paste with middle click in QT/KDE apps~ (need to implement gtk_primary_selection_device_manager) (qt-5.14)

• ~ctrl-Ц/В doesn't copy/paste in QT/KDE~ https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-65503 (fixed qt-5.13)

• ~utf-8 paste~ https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-54786 (fixed qt-5.13)

• per window/app keyboard layout https://github.com/swaywm/sway/pull/3155 (see https://github.com/swaywm/sway/pull/4504/files)

• keyboard layout applet (waybar, protocol)

• ~mpv doesn't inhibit screensaver~ (fix is: --gpu-context=wayland) should be automatic in mpv > 0.29.1

• ~mpv error: failed to resolve wl_drm_interface(): /usr/lib/libEGL_mesa.so.0: undefined symbol: wl_drm_interface libva-intel-driver > 2.3.0~ (fixed in arch packages)

• xmag/zoom - double check font antialiasing

• ~networkmanager applet~ (recompiled nm-applet --indicator)

• ~pulseaudio applet~ (waybar kind of)

• bluetooth applet

• kdeconnect applet (and functionality: clipboard, remote control)

• ~KDE/Qt apps style~ (works fine with XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE)

• systemd --user support in sway https://github.com/swaywm/sway/pull/3486

• generic screen/window capture (chromecasting, webrtc screensharing, screencasting) - pipewire integration in firefox/chrome

ps: systemd-cgls -u user.slice

Unit user.slice (/user.slice):
└─user-1000.slice 
  ├─[email protected] 
  │ ├─dbus-broker.service 
  │ │ ├─1043 /usr/bin/dbus-broker-launch --scope user
  │ │ └─1044 dbus-broker --log 4 --controller 10 --machine-id dcf0d2b9b08f4fcf8…
  │ ├─run-r142215d057bf43d3bceb5cd0158dd792.service 
  │ │ ├─2290 /usr/bin/alacritty
  │ │ └─2310 /bin/bash
  │ ├─run-r93568e2d57e14e339b1b7f25e38b521c.service 
  │ │ ├─2131 /usr/bin/alacritty
  │ │ ├─2151 /bin/bash
  │ │ └─6512 systemd-cgls -u user.slice
  │ ├─swaykbdd.service 
  │ │ └─1115 /usr/bin/swaykbdd
  │ ├─run-r8d99f10d5f2e4bf58089b02b0a7791e8.service 
  │ │ ├─2184 /usr/bin/alacritty
  │ │ └─2204 /bin/bash
  │ ├─mako.service 
  │ │ └─1116 /usr/bin/mako
  │ ├─firefox.service 
  │ │ ├─1109 /opt/firefox/firefox
  │ │ ├─1329 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -parentBuildID 2020110616042…
  │ │ ├─1365 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -childID 1 -isForBrowser -pr…
  │ │ ├─1446 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -childID 2 -isForBrowser -pr…
  │ │ ├─1529 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -childID 3 -isForBrowser -pr…
  │ │ ├─1549 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -childID 5 -isForBrowser -pr…
  │ │ ├─1901 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -childID 6 -isForBrowser -pr…
  │ │ └─1980 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin -contentproc -childID 7 -isForBrowser -pr…
  │ ├─pulseaudio.service 
  │ │ ├─1004 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal
  │ │ └─1039 /usr/lib/pulse/gsettings-helper
  │ ├─swayidle.service 
  │ │ └─1113 /usr/bin/swayidle -w -l
  │ ├─init.scope 
  │ │ ├─878 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
  │ │ └─883 (sd-pam)
  │ ├─run-r68c60c3012ca412e81cc474fbc32b2ad.service 
  │ │ ├─2237 /usr/bin/alacritty
  │ │ └─2257 /bin/bash
  │ ├─sway.service 
  │ │ ├─1045 /usr/bin/sway
  │ │ ├─1098 swaybg -o * -i /usr/share/backgrounds/sway/Sway_Wallpaper_Blue_192…
  │ │ ├─1100 swaybar -b bar-0
  │ │ ├─1120 Xwayland :1 -rootless -terminate -listen 21 -listen 23 -wm 47
  │ │ └─1164 i3status-rs
  │ ├─org.kde.kdeconnect.service 
  │ │ ├─1112 /usr/lib/kdeconnectd
  │ │ ├─2493 kdeinit5: Running...
  │ │ ├─2494 /usr/lib/kf5/klauncher --fd=8
  │ │ └─2496 tags.so [kdeinit5] tags local:/run/user/1000/klauncherRBMkrF.1.sla…
  │ └─run-r652066f058184006ae1d462739e93b52.service 
  │   └─2062 /usr/bin/communi
  └─session-2.scope 
    ├─1012 /usr/lib/sddm/sddm-helper --socket /tmp/sddm-authe3be91ee-741e-41f8-…
    ├─1019 /usr/bin/kwalletd5 --pam-login 7 3
    └─1021 systemctl --wait --user start sway.service