Installation

Installation

Ferese runs on Linux as its own Wayland session alongside your existing desktop. Launch it from a login manager, a command-based greeter or a local TTY.

The 0.1.0 release has packages for Fedora 44 and Arch Linux on x86_64. Follow package installation to use those builds.

The steps below build from main, which may include changes made after the release. The wiki follows main too.

Requirements

For a full session, you'll need a Wayland-capable graphics driver and a local user session with seat access through logind or seatd. A nested preview runs inside your existing Wayland desktop.

To build Ferese, install Rust 1.95.0, a C/C++ toolchain, CMake, pkg-config, Python 3.9 or newer, and the libraries below. Once those packages are installed, the installer builds the Ferese components.

Fedora

sudo dnf install python3 git curl gcc gcc-c++ make cmake pkgconf-pkg-config \
  wayland-devel libxkbcommon-devel libinput-devel systemd-devel libseat-devel \
  mesa-libgbm-devel mesa-libEGL-devel libdrm-devel fontconfig-devel \
  freetype-devel expat-devel dbus-daemon dbus-tools desktop-file-utils foot pam \
  clang clang-devel pipewire-devel pipewire wireplumber polkit polkit-libs \
  xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk \
  gstreamer1-devel gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-good pipewire-gstreamer pipewire-pulseaudio slurp

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S --needed python base-devel git curl cmake pkgconf wayland libxkbcommon \
  libinput systemd seatd mesa libdrm fontconfig freetype2 expat dbus \
  desktop-file-utils foot pam clang pipewire libpipewire wireplumber polkit \
  xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk \
  gstreamer gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugin-pipewire pipewire-pulse slurp

Debian and Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 build-essential git curl cmake pkg-config libwayland-dev \
  libxkbcommon-dev libinput-dev libudev-dev libseat-dev libgbm-dev libegl-dev \
  libdrm-dev libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype-dev libexpat1-dev dbus-bin \
  dbus-user-session desktop-file-utils foot libpam0g clang libclang-dev \
  libpipewire-0.3-dev libspa-0.2-dev pipewire wireplumber polkitd libpolkit-agent-1-0 \
  xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk \
  libgstreamer1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-pipewire gstreamer1.0-plugins-base \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-good pipewire-pulse slurp

Installation has been tested on Fedora. Package names or versions may differ on other distributions; check the Smithay dependencies for equivalent libraries.

X11 support (optional)

To run X11-only applications, Ferese launches xwayland-satellite, which in turn needs an Xwayland binary. Both are runtime dependencies, so neither is needed to build Ferese.

• Xwayland ships with the X.Org server packages: xorg-x11-server-Xwayland on Fedora and Debian/Ubuntu, xorg-xwayland on Arch.
• xwayland-satellite is not packaged by most distributions. Build or install it from its upstream releases with its systemd feature enabled (cargo build --release --features systemd), which sends the READY=1 notification Ferese waits for. Upstream's default feature set is empty, so a default build never sends that notification: even if the process remains alive, Ferese's fixed 10-second startup budget expires and the service reports a startup failure instead of a display.

Both the compositor's default and the packaged configuration ship with X11 enabled, so a session with the two pieces above needs no configuration change. If you maintain your own config.kdl, keep this block in ~/.config/ferese/config.kdl:

xwayland {
    enabled #true
    startup  on-demand
    path     "xwayland-satellite"
}

Start a new session, then check feresectl xwayland status. See X11 support for the full key list, diagnostics, and known limitations.

Sandboxed applications

Ferese keeps the X11 cookie in a private file under $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, and applications inherit it through XAUTHORITY. Sandboxed packaging formats do not all make that path visible, so an X11-only application may fail to start even though feresectl xwayland status reports a running service.

Flatpak masks /run/user/1000 with the application's own runtime directory, and a fallback-x11 permission is not granted inside a Wayland session. Both effects deny the sandbox access to the display, so the application exits without a window. Grant the socket explicitly:

flatpak override --user --socket=x11 com.spotify.Client

Snaps under strict confinement usually expose the real /run/user/1000, so a snap that speaks X11 typically connects without extra configuration. That is a confinement detail rather than a guarantee: if a snap application still cannot reach the display, check whether its sandbox can read the XAUTHORITY path reported by feresectl xwayland status.

Rust toolchain

Install Rust through rustup.rs. The checkout's rust-toolchain.toml selects the required compiler and rustfmt automatically. All workspace crates inherit their minimum Rust version from the root Cargo.toml.

From inside the checkout, verify the selected toolchain:

rustup show active-toolchain
cargo --version

Build and install

Run these commands as your normal user:

git clone https://github.com/ferese-wm/ferese.git
cd ferese
./scripts/install.sh

The script builds locked release binaries as your normal user, then asks for administrator access through sudo or pkexec to install them. Leave the build itself unprivileged. The first build needs network access to fetch Rust dependencies.

The installer adds the session launcher, desktop tools, portal backend, login entry, icons, default wallpaper and example config. Releases live under /usr/local/lib/ferese/releases/ and commands under /usr/local/bin/, with current and previous links for switching between releases during updates and rollback.

On first user setup, the installer detects Fish, Bash or Zsh, installs its Live Activities hook, and adds Activities to your panel. It backs up changed config and shell startup files, preserves an explicit shell-hook #false, and leaves later activity and panel edits alone. Open a new terminal to load the hook, or pass --no-activities to skip this setup.

Other desktop sessions and existing PAM policy are preserved. Ferese starts its authentication agent and portal services with the session. The authentication agent registers for the login session, so requests from desktop apps use the Ferese dialog. Remove other polkit agents from your Ferese autostart configuration to avoid competing session registrations.

Initial configuration

Activities setup creates a config file if one doesn't exist. You can edit that file in Settings. If you skipped setup, Ferese uses its built-in defaults; you can copy the example config to start a file yourself:

mkdir -p "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/ferese"
if [ ! -e "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/ferese/config.kdl" ]; then
  cp /usr/local/lib/ferese/current/config.example.kdl \
    "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/ferese/config.kdl"
fi

After login, open Control Center → Settings or run ferese-settings to configure your desktop. See Configuration for themes, displays, shortcuts and startup apps. The default terminal is foot, which you can replace with your preferred terminal command in Settings.

Start a session

Graphical login managers

Save your work and log out, then open your login screen’s session selector, choose Ferese and sign in. Login managers that support Wayland sessions can discover the installed entry in /usr/share/wayland-sessions/.

If Ferese is missing, confirm that the session entry exists and its launcher is executable:

ls -l /usr/share/wayland-sessions/ferese.desktop
test -x /usr/local/bin/ferese-session && echo "Session launcher is ready"
desktop-file-validate /usr/share/wayland-sessions/ferese.desktop

If the entry still doesn’t appear, check your login manager’s documentation for Wayland session discovery, or use a Wayland-capable greeter or the TTY method below if your manager only launches X11 sessions.

Command-based greeters

If your greeter asks for a session command instead of reading desktop files, use:

/usr/local/bin/ferese-session

For greetd, set this as the session command after authentication; see the greetd documentation. The launcher starts the compositor, shell and session services together.

The session launcher supervises the desktop helper. If the shell exits, Ferese restarts the helper with fresh private Wayland connections after a delay of one second. Repeated failures increase that delay up to 30 seconds; a minute of uptime resets it. The polkit agent recovers independently, and shell recovery does not repeat desktop autostart. Compositor shutdown cancels pending restarts and stops the helper. Standalone clients passed to ferese -- COMMAND are only supervised when --supervise-client is explicitly supplied before --.

From a TTY

Log out of your graphical session and switch to a local console with Ctrl+Alt+F2, or another available function key, then sign in as your normal user and run:

/usr/local/bin/ferese-session

Your login needs to provide XDG_RUNTIME_DIR and access to the active seat through logind or seatd; if either is missing, fix your distribution’s login and session setup rather than running Ferese as root or making device nodes writable. On non-systemd systems, follow the distribution’s seatd and user-session instructions, and use a nested preview whenever you’re already inside a graphical session.

Optional desktop tools

Install these through your distribution when you want the corresponding features:

Feature	Tools or services
Wallpaper file picker	zenity
Screenshots and editing	slurp, satty, wl-clipboard, Python 3
Idle locking	swayidle with the included ferese-lock
Network controls	NetworkManager and its running service
Audio controls	PipeWire, WirePlumber, and wpctl
Bluetooth controls	BlueZ, bluetoothctl, and its running service

Package names and availability vary by distribution. Use Satty’s upstream instructions if it isn’t in your repositories. Ferese leaves service setup to you and preserves your existing service configuration during installation.

Use Print Screen to capture the active monitor, Super+Shift+S to select an area, or ferese-screenshot --all to capture all monitors in one image.

The native locker follows your shell theme. Customize it in Settings → Lock Screen, and run ferese-lock --preview to open an ordinary preview window. Before enabling automatic locking, test real unlocking and read Native locker for authentication, idle locking and limits.

Preview and logs

ferese selects a nested window when WAYLAND_DISPLAY or DISPLAY is set, and DRM otherwise. Nested instances have separate control sockets. Clients launched by Ferese inherit that instance’s FERESE_SOCKET. Use --backend=nested or --backend=drm to override detection.

Nested previews leave the host activation environment and session target alone. They skip XDG autostart and run configured autostart entries only with nested true.

To preview a source build before installing, run these commands from the checkout inside an existing Wayland desktop:

cargo build --release --locked -p ferese -p ferese-shell -p ferese-settings -p feresectl -p ferese-lock -p xdg-desktop-portal-ferese
FERESE_ENABLE_SCREENCOPY=1 target/release/ferese \
  --grant-effects --grant-shell-control -- \
  target/release/ferese-shell

After installation, the equivalent launcher is:

ferese-session --nested

The session launcher saves logs in ${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/ferese/, while a source build launched directly writes to its terminal. Keep another desktop available when testing scaling, monitor hotplug, suspend or locking so you have a way back if something goes wrong.

The launcher enables screencopy for screenshot tools, allowing Wayland clients to capture the unlocked desktop and making feresectl screenshot available. Set FERESE_ENABLE_SCREENCOPY=0 in the session environment to disable every screen-reading path, including the built-in screenshot command, at your next login; capture is always blocked while the session is locked.

When you launch the compositor directly, set FERESE_ENABLE_SCREENCOPY=1 to enable screenshots, since that variable is otherwise unset and screen capture stays disabled.

Updating

From your existing checkout, with any local edits saved:

git pull --ff-only
./scripts/install.sh

Log out and back in to use the new release. A running session keeps its existing processes and release paths until it restarts.

The installer prepares a complete release bundle before asking for administrator access. Its manifest records the source commit, dirty-tree status, build features, file modes and SHA-256 checksums. The installer verifies the bundle again after copying it into a root-owned staging directory. These checks detect changed or incomplete bundles; they are not a publisher signature.

The installer reports system installation and user setup separately. If user setup fails after installation, retry it as your normal user:

python3 scripts/installer/install.py user-setup

This backs up the exact old development portal override when present and reloads user systemd configuration. It preserves custom overrides and does not restart the running desktop or portal. It also installs the detected shell's Activities hook and performs first-time Activities configuration if needed. See existing installations for details.

Installer options:

./scripts/install.sh --dry-run
./scripts/install.sh --offline --release-id my-build
./scripts/install.sh --resize-metrics
./scripts/install.sh --no-activities
./scripts/install.sh --bundle-only ./target/bundles/my-build --release-id my-build
./scripts/install.sh --bundle ./target/bundles/my-build

--bundle replaces --skip-build and installs a complete bundle instead of loose files in target/release/. Build options cannot be combined with --bundle. The install.sh dry run prints commands. To inspect the filesystem changes planned for an existing bundle, run:

./scripts/install-session.sh install ./target/bundles/my-build --dry-run

Modified administrator files stop installation before activation. To explicitly replace Ferese's portal definition and preferences, use ./scripts/install.sh --bundle ./target/bundles/my-build --replace-portal-config. Transaction backups live under /usr/local/lib/ferese/transactions/; each journal.json maps the numbered backups to their original paths. Existing PAM policies are preserved.

A lock prevents concurrent installations. The installer records recovery data before changing system files, then updates integration files and switches current last. If an operation fails, it restores the previous files. After an interruption, recovery runs on the next install, or you can run it yourself:

sudo ./scripts/install-session.sh recover

Recovery stops if a recorded file was subsequently changed by an administrator. Inspect the conflict and the retained .transaction/journal.json before restoring the recorded old or new contents and retrying. Multi-file installation is recoverable, not a single atomic filesystem operation.

Logout and recovery

Save your work before leaving: Super+Shift+E and feresectl request-logout ask for confirmation, while feresectl exit ends the session immediately. If Ferese freezes, switch to another TTY with Ctrl+Alt+F1–F12, sign in and find the affected compositor process:

pgrep -a -u "$USER" -x ferese

Replace PID with the affected session’s process ID and use kill PID to end it. Its applications will close and unsaved work may be lost. You can then choose another desktop at the next login.

Roll back a release

Stop the Ferese session, then run from the checkout:

sudo ./scripts/install-session.sh rollback
# Or select a retained bundle by its release ID:
sudo ./scripts/install-session.sh rollback my-build

Rollback restores both the binaries and that release's session, systemd, portal and icon files. It refuses to overwrite modified administrator files and preserves existing PAM policy. Log in again to use the selected release. After rollback, previous points to the release you just left.

Releases installed before bundle manifests can be upgraded using their retained ownership records, but cannot be selected by this rollback command. Keep the old release directory until you have validated the first bundled installation.

To remove managed commands and desktop integration while retaining release bundles, transaction backups, PAM policy and user configuration:

sudo ./scripts/install-session.sh uninstall

Remove the login option

To hide Ferese from login managers while keeping its releases and your config:

sudo mv /usr/share/wayland-sessions/ferese.desktop \
  /usr/local/lib/ferese/ferese.desktop.disabled

For a command-based greeter, remove Ferese from its session choices in the greeter’s configuration; reinstalling Ferese restores the desktop session entry.

Screen sharing and recording

The installer includes Ferese’s native ScreenCast portal and backs up the old user service override pointing to ~/.local/libexec/ferese, so new sessions use the installed release. Custom overrides are preserved and reported before building. See Screen sharing for consent, PipeWire setup, supported sources and recording limits.