fht-compositor

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Configuration in fht-compositor ​

fht-compositor is configured using a TOML, a very simple and obvious key-value language. The configuration contents itself is broken down into multiple sub-sections:

Loading ​

The compositor will try to load your configuration from the following paths, with decreasing order of precedence:

  1. --config-path/-c command line argument.
  2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fht/compositor.toml
  3. ~/.config/fht/compositor.toml

If there's no configuration in second/third paths, the compositor will generate a template configuration file. You should use it as a base for further modifications.

Configuration reloading ​

The configuration is live-reloaded. You can edit and save the file and fht-compositor will automatically pick up and apply changes.

If you made a mistake when writing your configuration (let that be syntax, invalid values, unknown enum variant, etc.), the compositor will warn you with a popup window sliding from the top of your screen. You can run fht-compositor check-configuration to get that error in your terminal.

Top-level section ​

imports ​

We support importing other configuration files in fht-compositor. Example:

toml
imports = [
    "/path/to/compositor.toml",
    "~/dot/fht/compositor.toml", # tildes are expanded to $HOME
]

The merging logic does as so: For each file (starting from the main compositor.toml) we:

  1. Load the values from that file
  2. If a key already exists in the config table:
    • If the key value is an array, it will be extended
    • For other values, override with the value
  3. If a key didn't exist in any previous configuration files, use the last found value
autostart ​

Command lines to run whenever the compositor starts up. Each line is evaluated using /bin/sh -c "<command line>", meaning you have access to shell-expansions like using variables, or exapding of ~ to $HOME

Autostart with systemd units

While using this approach for autostart can work, using systemd user services are a much better! You benefit from having logs using journalctl -xeu --user {user-service}, restart-on-failure, and bind them to specific targets.

XDG autostart on non-systemd distros

Most desktop programs under Linux that have a "Run on computer startup" or programs that make use of XDG autostart will not work by default! You will need a program like dex for it.

toml
autostart = ["dex -a"] # autostart XDG desktop entries/programs

A notable example is PipeWire that makes use of this to startup with the desktop session.

env ​

Environment variables to set. They are set before anything else starts up in the compositor, and before autostart is exxecuted

toml
[env]
DISPLAY = ":727"
_JAVA_AWT_NONREPARENTING = "1"