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^AUR or greetd-git^AUR packages.

The default greetd configuration file is located at /etc/greetd/config.toml. PAM-specific configuration is set in /etc/pam.d/greetd.

Greeters

In order to allow user sessions to be started, greetd requires a greeter. Several greeters are available:

agreety (the default, shipped with greetd^AUR/greetd-git^AUR), a text-based greeter similar to agetty.
dlm (provided by greetd-dlm-git^AUR), an fbdev greeter.
ddlm (provided by greetd-ddlm-git^AUR), an fbdev greeter. Enhanced/extended version of dlm.
gtkgreet (provided by greetd-gtkgreet^AUR/greetd-gtkgreet-git^AUR), a GTK greeter.
wlgreet (provided by by greetd-wlgreet^AUR/greetd-wlgreet-git^AUR), a Wayland greeter.
tuigreet (provided by greetd-tuigreet^AUR), a console UI greeter.
qtgreet (provided by greetd-qtgreet^AUR), a Qt greeter.

Starting greetd

Enable greetd.service so greetd will be started at boot.

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"
...

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. wayfire^AUR, sway).

Using Wayfire

Install wayfire^AUR 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.

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 won't be able to run local programs. Greetd won't have access to .bashrc or .zshrc, so don't define the PATH there.

~/.profile

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"