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https://github.com/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter

A Minimal, Configurable, Single-User GTK3 LightDM Greeter
https://github.com/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter

c configurable display-manager greeter gtk3 lightdm lightdm-greeter minimal

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A Minimal, Configurable, Single-User GTK3 LightDM Greeter

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README 

        
# Mini-Greeter



[![AUR package](https://repology.org/badge/version-for-repo/aur/lightdm-mini-greeter.svg)](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lightdm-mini-greeter) [![Codacy Badge](https://app.codacy.com/project/badge/Grade/a1c58074072542be8ea60d1bf14863fc)](https://www.codacy.com/gh/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter/dashboard)



A minimal but highly configurable single-user GTK3 greeter for LightDM.



Inspired by the SLiM Display Manager & LightDM GTK3 Greeter.



## Goals



Eventually this is will present a more customizable interface:



* Randomized Background Wallpapers

* Configurable language/session info? (lightdm provides this already?)

* Handle GdkDisplay's `monitor-added` & `monitor-removed` signals



[Open Feature Requests](http://bugs.sleepanarchy.com/projects/mini-greeter/issues/)



## Current Status



Right now you can:



* log in

* hide the `Password:` label & customize the text

* hide the password input's cursor

* show the user, hostname, & current time

* set the password masking character

* set the size of the login window, the font, & every color

* set & scale a background image

* use modifiable hotkeys to cycle through sessions or trigger a shutdown,

  restart, hibernate, or suspend



![A screen with a dark background and a single password input box in the center](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter/refs/heads/master/screenshot.png "Mini Greeter Screenshot")



## Install



### Arch Linux



Install the [lightdm-mini-greeter package][aur-package] from the Arch User

Repository:



```sh

yay -S lightdm-mini-greeter

```



### Gentoo Linux



Emerge the [lightdm-mini-greeter package][gentoo-package]:



```sh

emerge x11-misc/lightdm-mini-greeter

```



### NixOS



Enable & configure the greeter & default session in your `configuration.nix`:



```nix

{

    services.xserver = {

        enable = true;

        displayManager.lightdm.greeters.mini = {

            enable = true;

            user = "your-username";

            extraConfig = ''

                [greeter]

                show-password-label = false

                [greeter-theme]

                background-image = ""

            '';

        };

        # Optionally, set a default session

        windowManager = {

            default = "awesome";

            awesome.enable = true;

        };

    };

}

```



Then rebuild & switch your configuration with `nixos-rebuild switch`.



### Debian



Debian packages for the latest `stable` branch are available on the

[Releases][releases] page.



You can use `debhelper` to build the package yourself:



```sh

sudo apt-get install build-essential automake pkg-config fakeroot debhelper \

    liblightdm-gobject-dev libgtk-3-dev

cd lightdm-mini-greeter

fakeroot dh binary

sudo dpkg -i ../lightdm-mini-greeter_*.deb

```



Note: on Ubuntu, you need `liblightdm-gobject-1-dev` instead of

`liblightdm-gobject-dev`.



### Manual



You will need `automake`, `pkg-config`, `gtk+`, & `liblightdm-gobject` to build

the project.



Grab the source, build the greeter, & install it manually:



```sh

./autogen.sh

./configure --datadir /usr/share --bindir /usr/bin --sysconfdir /etc

make

sudo make install

```



Run `sudo make uninstall` to remove the greeter.



## Configure



Once installed, you should specify `lightdm-mini-greeter` as your

`greeter-session` in `/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf`. If you have multiple Desktop

Environments or Window Managers installed, you can specify the default

selection by changing the `user-session` option as well(look in

`/usr/share/xsessions` for possible values).



Modify `/etc/lightdm/lightdm-mini-greeter.conf` to customize the greeter. At

the very least, you will need to set the `user`. All other settings are

optional & can be commented out or removed.



You can test it out using LightDM's `test-mode`:



    lightdm --test-mode -d



Or with `dm-tool`:



    dm-tool add-nested-seat



Note: If you've added a `background-image` it will appear in this preview, but

it may not appear during normal use if the file is not in directory which

lightdm has permission to read(like `/etc/lightdm/`). A symlink into this

location won't work.



### Keyboard layout



If your keyboard layout is loaded from your shell configuration files (`.bashrc`

for example) then it might not be possible to type certain characters after

installing lightdm-mini-greeter. You should consider modifying your

[Xorg keyboard configuration](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg/Keyboard_configuration#Using_X_configuration_files).



For example for a french keyboard layout (azerty) you should edit/create

`/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf` with at least the following options:



```

Section "InputClass"

        Identifier "system-keyboard"

        MatchIsKeyboard "on"

        Option "XkbModel" "pc104"

        Option "XkbLayout" "fr"

EndSection

```



### Config file in $HOME



You may wish to include your config file in their your home folder/dotfiles so

it is version controlled & easily transferable between systems. This is

possible, but on most systems, LightDM will not be able to read the

configuration file due to permission errors.



The proper way to handle this is to loosen the permissions on your home

directory a bit.



Start off by adding the `lightdm` user to your user's group:



    sudo usermod -aG $(whoami) lightdm



Allow your user group to read your home directory:



    chmod g+rx ~



Move the mini-greeter config file:



    sudo mv /etc/lightdm/lightdm-mini-greeter.conf ~/.dotfiles/mini-greeter.conf



And then add a symlink pointing to the file in your home directory:



    sudo ln -s ~/.dotfiles/mini-greeter.conf /etc/lightdm/lightdm-mini-greeter.conf



And finally log out & restart LightDM:



    sudo systemctl restart lightdm



If LightDM fails to start back up, check the greeter's log file(usually at

`/var/log/lightdm/seat0-greeter.log`) for the following line:



    Could not load configuration file: Permission denied



If present, your permissions need further adjustment. You can test your

permissions by attempting to read the file with `sudo`:



    sudo -u lightdm cat ~/.dotfiles/mini-greeter.conf



## Contribute



You can submit feature requests, bug reports, pull requests or patches on

either [github](http://github.com/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter) or

[redmine](http://bugs.sleepanarchy.com/projects/mini-greeter/).



If you like Mini-Greeter, please consider packaging it for your distribution.



### Style



* Use indentation and braces, 4 spaces - no tabs, no trailing whitespace.

* Declare pointers like this: `char *p1, *p2;`, avoid: `char* p1;`.

* Function braces should be on their own line.

* If/else/while/do should always use braces and indentation.

* Use `g_critical` for irrecoverable user errors, `g_error` for programming

  errors.



When in doubt, check surrounding code.



## License



GPL-3



[aur-package]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lightdm-mini-greeter/

[gentoo-package]: https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/x11-misc/lightdm-mini-greeter

[releases]: https://github.com/prikhi/lightdm-mini-greeter/releases