Tessa 0.2.2

Tessa 0.2.2

Tessa 0.2.2 fixes the remaining ways the pointer can become invisible over the
desktop and panel. It also handles virtual machines whose DRM cursor plane does
not render.

Fixed

• Panel and wallpaper cursor: the compositor now restores the default
  cursor when pointer focus moves to a new layer surface. Previously a client
  could clear its cursor while leaving, and the panel (which does not set
  wl_pointer.set_cursor) would inherit the empty image indefinitely.
  Restoring on layer focus does not override a normal window's own cursor.
• Cursor name fallback: Tessa checks for default, left_ptr, and arrow
  before setting the Xcursor image, and logs the selected name. Legacy
  xcursor-themes themes such as whiteglass only provide left_ptr.
• VM cursor planes: tessa-session sets WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1
  automatically when systemd-detect-virt reports a virtual machine. Hardware
  cursors remain enabled on physical machines. Direct launches can use
  WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1 tessa.
• Earlier 0.2.1 fixes are included: child signal reset, XWayland readiness
  for DISPLAY, startup-hook ordering, initial fractional scale, output
  policies on hotplug, and tracked-input cleanup.

What was not the cause

• Setting the cursor before an output exists is safe: wlroots stores the
  xcursor manager/name and applies the image when the output layout gains an
  output.
• Missing default in xcursor-themes alone does not force a NULL cursor in
  wlroots 0.19, which falls back to left_ptr. The explicit name selection and
  logging make this reliable and observable.
• Terminal=true commands that exit immediately close their terminal by
  design; Kitty's desktop entry is Terminal=false.

Verification

• Added tests/cursor-theme.sh, which synthesizes a theme containing only
  arrow and verifies the fallback log.
• Existing spawn, XWayland, fractional-scale, Kitty, XIM, input, and smoke
  tests pass.
• The .deb was installed in an Ubuntu 26.04 rootfs and runtime-tested with
  Kitty and a missing XWayland satellite.

Install (Ubuntu 26.04 amd64)

curl -fLO https://github.com/Keychrom/Tessa/releases/download/v0.2.2/tessa_0.2.2_amd64.deb
curl -fLO https://github.com/Keychrom/Tessa/releases/download/v0.2.2/SHA256SUMS
grep ' tessa_0.2.2_amd64.deb$' SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
sudo apt install ./tessa_0.2.2_amd64.deb

Then log out and select Tessa in the display manager.

The binaries are unsigned; verify SHA256SUMS before installing.

SHA-256:
c09f2c57bcba450415ad9cc1362ba41038a32b458058e68c7c29f6abd9336b08 tessa_0.2.2_amd64.deb