This is not necessarily a usage guide, more like a note to self.

GNOME/Keyring

1. PAM step

Add auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so at the end of the auth section and session optional pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start at the end of the session section.

/etc/pam.d/login

#%PAM-1.0

auth       required     pam_securetty.so
auth       requisite    pam_nologin.so
auth       include      system-local-login
auth       optional     pam_gnome_keyring.so <-- ADD THIS LINE
account    include      system-local-login
session    include      system-local-login
session    optional     pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start <-- ADD THIS LINE

2. Automatically change keyring password with user password

Append password optional pam_gnome_keyring.so to /etc/pam.d/passwd:

/etc/pam.d/passwd

...
password	optional	pam_gnome_keyring.so

getty

Automatic login to virtual console

I don't like using a login manager. I just use the shell lockscreen; see ~/.config/niri/scripts/autolock.fish. The script will trigger the Noctalia lockscreen when niri first starts.

Now, to make automatic login to virtual console work, create a drop-in file for getty@tty1.service with the following contents:

/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noreset --noclear --autologin USERNAME - ${TERM}

Replace USERNAME with your username.

Default Terminal

Set the default terminal emulator to kitty, run:

xdg-mime default kitty.desktop x-scheme-handler/terminal

I've also installed xdg-terminal-exec and added kitty.desktop to the list (~/.config/xdg-terminals.list). This step is already configured in the dotfiles. Not sure if this is necessary, but this makes Arch/Cachy-Update work properly with kitty as the terminal in my case.

Make browsers use Dolphin as file manager

This step is already configured in the dotfiles.

Mask the /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.FileManager1.service file by copying it to ~/.local/share/dbus-1/services/ and modifying the Exec= line to /bin/false.

~/.local/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.FileManager1.service

[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.freedesktop.FileManager1
Exec=/bin/false

Probably requires a restart or relogin.

Make Firefox-based browsers use KDE file picker

Set org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser to kde in niri-portal.conf.

~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/niri-portal.conf

[preferred]
...
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser=kde;
...

This part is already configured in the dotfiles, but you probably need to configure your browser flags as well.

Go to about:config and set widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker to 1. The possible values, as far as I know, are:

• 0 = Don't use xdg-desktop-portal file picker
• 1 = Always use xdg-desktop-portal file picker
• 2 = Automatic

Screencasting

This step is already configured in the dotfiles.

I don't know what happened during my setup, but screencasting doesn't work without these two lines in niri-portal.conf.

~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/niri-portal.conf

[preferred]
...
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Settings=gnome;
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.ScreenCast=gnome;
...

XWayland Applications

Some apps, like Electron apps, won't launch without setting the DISPLAY environment variable to :0. The simplest way is to just append DISPLAY=:0 before the executable, like DISPLAY=:0 discord.

Now, some extra steps are required to make this work with Vicinae. I'm still very new to niri, so this is the best I can come up for now. Create a wrapper script for your app; see the example in .config/niri/scripts/xwayland_{APP}.fish. Then edit the app's desktop file to point to the wrapper script. Example for Discord:

~/.config/niri/scripts/xwayland_discord.fish

#!/usr/bin/env fish

set DISPLAY :0
/usr/bin/discord $argv

~/.local/share/applications/discord.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Discord
...
Exec=/home/gegeh/.config/niri/scripts/xwayland_discord.fish
...