Using X without a Display Manager: Difference between revisions

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-== X without a Display Manager is unsupported ==
+'''''Please note''': this page is presently being rewritten by someone very new to nixOS, so do not use it as an example of best practices. The previous content of this page was 2 years out of date and factually incorrect.''
-Many people (especially coming from Arch Linux) are used to starting X manually, e.g. with `startx`. In NixOS, this is currently unsupported.
-The reason that it is unsupported is that the upstreams (Xorg and systemd) by default do not support this functionality. Arch Linux has special hacks in place to make it work at all.
+To run X11 as a regular user, ''without'' `services.xserver.enable = true;` in configuration.nix, do the following:
-If you really care about this feature, you are welcome to port these hacks to NixOS - there is no philosophical objection to having manual startx working. However, to date no one in the community has cared enough to get it working.
+First, '''install packages'''; you need X11 itself, some X11 input modules (e.g. xf86-input-evdev, xf86-input-synaptics, xf86-input-libinput), and possibly video modules as well (xf86-video-intel, xf86-video-ati, xf86-video-nouveau).
-== Use xlaunch ==
+You probably want to use '''DRI acceleration''' for X; enable it and OpenGL in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix: `hardware.opengl.enable = true;` and `hardware.opengl.driSupport = true;`.
-{{outdated|Several users on IRC have reported that this no longer works on unstable. (2015/07)}}
-. Edit configuration.nix appropriately - the following has relevant bits for fluxbox:
+Then, it's just necessary to '''gather X configuration files''' into one directory and create a config file that also points X at the correct module paths.
-<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
+This script does that (though it hard-codes `pkgs` which should instead be computed from the current configuration):
-environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
+<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
-  xlaunch
+#!/bin/sh
-];
+#generate unprivileged user xorg.conf for nixOS
+#TODO: obey XDG guidelines rather than assuming ~/.config
-security.setuidPrograms = [
+mkdir -p ~/.config/xorg.conf.d
-  "xlaunch"
+cd ~/.config/xorg.conf.d
-];
-services.xserver = {
+#failed glob expansions become empty, not literal 'foo/*'
-  autorun = false;
+shopt -s nullglob
-  enable = true;
-  enableTCP = false;
-  exportConfiguration = true;
-  layout = "us";
-  desktopManager = {
-    xterm.enable = false;
-    xfce.enable = false;
-  };
-  # XXX: slim must not be disabled for xlaunch to work
-  # displayManager = {
-  #  slim.enable = false;
-  #  job.execCmd = "";
-  # };
-  windowManager = {
-    fluxbox.enable = true;
-  };
-};
-</syntaxhighlight>
-. nixos-rebuild as usual:
+#TODO: don't hard-code package names!
+pkgs="
+i0r09miwjk8z9wd2261gh3a3mdzln4w4-xf86-input-evdev-2.10.5
+av8542xr7kn44abja120hk3ppd2vp8l8-xf86-video-intel-2017-10-19
+vp93ci2lkcg9c5jh7csfz24npjcnhhx-xf86-input-synaptics-1.9.0
+q2zwjrn0cqkjj6cy861pkazs6yrs0-xorg-server-1.19.6
+"
-<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
+echo 'Section "Files"' > 00-nix-module-paths
-# nixos-rebuild switch
+for pkg in $pkgs; do
+	for conf in /nix/store/"$pkg"/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/*; do
+		ln -s "$conf" ./
+	done
+	echo '	ModulePath "/nix/store/'"$pkg"'/lib/xorg/modules/"' >> 00-nix-module-paths.conf
+done
+echo 'EndSection' >> 00-nix-module-paths.conf
 </syntaxhighlight>
-. Possibly reboot
+You can now '''start X11''' by running:
+<syntaxhighlight lang="sh">
-. Start xlaunch from command line, e.g. for fluxbox:
+startx -- :0 -configdir ~/.config/xorg.conf.d
-<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
-$ xlaunch startfluxbox
 </syntaxhighlight>