Build from Source

Build from Source

Language: English · 简体中文

Prefer to build manually instead of using install.sh? Here's how.

1. Install dependencies

Distro	Command
Arch	sudo pacman -S gtk4 libevdev json-glib ncurses gettext pkgconf gcc make
Fedora	sudo dnf install gtk4-devel libevdev-devel json-glib-devel ncurses-devel gettext pkgconf-pkg-config gcc make
Debian / Ubuntu	sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev libevdev-dev libjson-glib-dev libncursesw5-dev gettext pkg-config build-essential
openSUSE	sudo zypper install gtk4-devel libevdev-devel ncurses-devel json-glib-devel gettext-tools pkg-config gcc make
Alpine	sudo apk add gtk4-dev libevdev-dev ncurses-dev json-glib-dev gettext pkgconf gcc make musl-dev
Void	sudo xbps-install gtk4-devel libevdev-devel ncurses-devel json-glib-devel gettext pkg-config gcc make

Optional: gtk4-layer-shell

This is what lets seekey anchor to the bottom edge and stay put across workspaces on niri / Hyprland / Sway / river / Wayfire / labwc. Without it, seekey falls back to a plain transparent window (see Compositor Compatibility).

# Arch
sudo pacman -S gtk4-layer-shell
# Fedora
sudo dnf install gtk4-layer-shell-devel

On Debian/Ubuntu there is no official package yet — see the gtk4-layer-shell project for build instructions. Seekey works without it (fallback mode).

2. Build

make                # build seekey

The Makefile auto-detects gtk4-layer-shell via pkg-config (probing both gtk4-layer-shell and gtk4-layer-shell-0 pc-file names) and links it before GTK4. That ordering is required: gtk4-layer-shell registers a static constructor that must run before libwayland-client is initialized, otherwise gtk_layer_init_for_window() fails.

3. Run

./seekey                       # run from the build dir
./seekey --init-config         # create ./seekey.ini with defaults
./seekey --config-tui          # edit settings interactively

4. (Optional) Install manually

make install        # installs to PREFIX (default /usr/local)
make uninstall      # removes installed files

Override the prefix:

make install PREFIX=$HOME/.local

make install puts the binary in $PREFIX/bin/seekey, the example config in $PREFIX/share/seekey/seekey.ini.example, the desktop entry in $PREFIX/share/applications/, and translations in $PREFIX/share/locale/<lang>/.

You still need input permissions — see Installation#input-permissions.

Makefile targets

Target	What it does
make / make all	Build seekey + compile translations (.mo)
make check	Build and run the unit tests
make install	Install binary, config sample, desktop entry, translations
make uninstall	Remove installed files
make pot	Regenerate po/seekey.pot from source (needs xgettext)
make mo	Compile .po → .mo under locale/
make format	Run clang-format on src/ and tests/ (if installed)
make clean	Remove build artifacts + locale/

See Testing for the test setup and Translations for the i18n workflow.