Shepherd environment question

Shepherd environment question

[Fredrik Salomonsson]

Hi Guix,

After reading the Shepherd 1.0.0 blog post [0], it got me thinking that
with the log rotation etc it would be nice to let shepherd handle sway
and the programs it launches.

As right now I got a simple line in my ~/.bash_profile that if logging
in to tty1 exec sway.  And all the output from sway and its program just
outputs into the ether.

So I migrated all the programs that sway launches from the config to
shepherd services.  And made a shepherd service for sway but disable the
auto-start for it.  So that I can kick it off with my .bash_profile:

Sway launches fine when I login, and I can now see some logs when
checking the status: 

```
herd status sway
● Status of sway:
  It is running since 18:45:58 (27 seconds ago).
  Main PID: 1100
  Command: /gnu/store/c990qdj2nqcgfif7qs2gnyfbshskkp4y-sway-1.10/bin/sway
  It is enabled.
  Provides: sway
  Will be respawned.
  Log file: /home/plattfot/.local/state/log/sway.log

Recent messages (use '-n' to view more or less):
  2025-01-05 18:46:15 (process:1425): GLib-CRITICAL **: 18:46:15.714: g_string_insert_len: assertion 'len == 0 || val != NULL' failed
  2025-01-05 18:46:15 00:00:16.666 [ERROR] [wlr] [xwayland/xwm.c:1500] Unhandled message 'new: ID=rofi/|gnu|store|9z44nwi28zvw3cay7m9q6388b26d74kd-emacs-pgtk-29.4|bin|emacs/1425-0-surt_TIME43379 SCREEN=0 NAME=Emacs DESCRIPTION=Launching\ '/gnu/store/9z44nwi28zvw3cay7m9q6388b26d74kd-emacs-pgtk-29.4/bin/emacs'\ via\ rofi WMCLASS=Emacs BIN=/gnu/store/9z44nwi28zvw3cay7m9q6388b26d74kd-emacs-pgtk-29.4/bin/emacs ICON=emacs APPLICATION_ID=emacs'
  2025-01-05 18:46:15 
  2025-01-05 18:46:15 00:00:16.666 [ERROR] [wlr] [xwayland/xwm.c:1633] xcb error: op ChangeWindowAttributes (no minor), code Window (no extension), sequence 173, value 4194320
  2025-01-05 18:46:21 warn: wayland.c:1619: compositor does not implement the XDG toplevel icon protocol

```

Pretty cool! 🤓

However, the programs that requires a running wayland session did not
go that well — for example mako and swayidle.  Here is a line from the
swayidle log:

```
2025-01-05 18:29:34 2025-01-05 18:29:34 - [Line 1096] Unable to connect to the compositor. If your compositor is running, check or set the WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variable.
```

What I think I need to do to run them properly, is to run them in the
environment sway creates.  The `make-forkexec-constructor` does have a
`#:environment-variables` argument so I need to somehow extract the
environment variables required from the sway service and feed that into
the constructor for the services that require a wayland session.  Anyone
have any idea how to set that up?  Or am I going about this the wrong way?

Thanks!

Here is what I got so far:

~/.bash_profile
```
# Start sway when logging in on tty
if [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then
  herd start sway
fi

```

My sway shepherd services:
```
(define-configuration/no-serialization plt-sway-configuration
  (turn-off-displays?
   (boolean #t)
   "Specify if it should turn off the displays when the machine is idle."))

(define (plt-sway-shepherd config)
  (list
   (shepherd-service
    (provision '(sway))
    (documentation "Start sway")
    (auto-start? #f)
    (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
              (list (string-append #$sway "/bin/sway"))
              #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/sway.log"
                                 (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
    (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
   (let ((turn-off-displays? (plt-sway-configuration-turn-off-displays? config)))
     (shepherd-service
      (requirement '(sway))
      (provision '(swayidle))
      (documentation (string-append "Lock screen after 5 min"
                                    (if turn-off-displays?
                                        "and turn them off after 10 min."
                                        ".")))
      (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
                (append
                 (list (string-append #$swayidle "/bin/swayidle") "-w")
                 (if #$turn-off-displays?
                     '("timeout" "600" "swaymsg 'output * dpms off'"
                       "resume" "swaymsg 'output * dpms on'")
                     '())
                 (list "timeout" "300" (string-append #$swaylock "/bin/swaylock -f -c 000000")
                       "before-sleep" (string-append #$swaylock "/bin/swaylock -f -c 000000")))
             #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/swayidle.log" (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
      (stop #~(make-kill-destructor))))
   (shepherd-service
    (provision '(waybar))
    (requirement '(sway))
    (documentation "Start waybar.")
    (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
              (list (string-append #$waybar "/bin/waybar"))
              #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/waybar.log"
                                 (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
    (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
   (shepherd-service
    (provision '(mako))
    (requirement '(sway))
    (documentation "Start mako; lightweight Wayland notification daemon.")
    (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
              (list (string-append #$mako "/bin/mako"))
              #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/mako.log"
                                 (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
    (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
   (shepherd-service
    (provision '(dbus-update-activation-environment))
    (requirement '(dbus sway))
    (documentation "Tell dbus that we are using sway")
    (one-shot? #t)
    (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
              (list (string-append #$dbus "/bin/dbus-update-activation-environment")
                    "DISPLAY SWAYSOCK"
                    "WAYLAND_DISPLAY"
                    "XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=sway")
              #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/dbus-activate-environment.log"
                                 (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
    (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
   (shepherd-service
    (requirement '(sway))
    (provision '(playerctld))
    (documentation "Controll the latest active player over MPRIS")
    (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
              (list (string-append #$playerctl "/bin/playerctld"))
              #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/playerctld.log" (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
    (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))))
```


[0] https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2024/the-shepherd-1.0.0-released

-- 
s/Fred[re]+i[ck]+/Fredrik/g

Re: Shepherd environment question

[jbranso]

January 5, 2025 at 10:45 PM, "Fredrik Salomonsson" <plattfot@posteo.net mailto:plattfot@posteo.net?to=%22Fredrik%20Salomonsson%22%20%3Cplattfot%40posteo.net%3E > wrote:



> 
> Hi Guix,
> 
> After reading the Shepherd 1.0.0 blog post [0], it got me thinking that
> with the log rotation etc it would be nice to let shepherd handle sway
> and the programs it launches.
> 
> As right now I got a simple line in my ~/.bash_profile that if logging
> in to tty1 exec sway. And all the output from sway and its program just
> outputs into the ether.
> 
> So I migrated all the programs that sway launches from the config to
> shepherd services. And made a shepherd service for sway but disable the
> auto-start for it. So that I can kick it off with my .bash_profile:

If guix doesn't already have a sway-service (home-service or system
service), then it might be a good idea to throw this patch to
guix-patches@gnu.org.

Joshua

> 
> Sway launches fine when I login, and I can now see some logs when
> checking the status: 
> 
> ```
> herd status sway
> ● Status of sway:
>  It is running since 18:45:58 (27 seconds ago).
>  Main PID: 1100
>  Command: /gnu/store/c990qdj2nqcgfif7qs2gnyfbshskkp4y-sway-1.10/bin/sway
>  It is enabled.
>  Provides: sway
>  Will be respawned.
>  Log file: /home/plattfot/.local/state/log/sway.log
> 
> Recent messages (use '-n' to view more or less):
>  2025-01-05 18:46:15 (process:1425): GLib-CRITICAL **: 18:46:15.714: g_string_insert_len: assertion 'len == 0 || val != NULL' failed
>  2025-01-05 18:46:15 00:00:16.666 [ERROR] [wlr] [xwayland/xwm.c:1500] Unhandled message 'new: ID=rofi/|gnu|store|9z44nwi28zvw3cay7m9q6388b26d74kd-emacs-pgtk-29.4|bin|emacs/1425-0-surt_TIME43379 SCREEN=0 NAME=Emacs DESCRIPTION=Launching\ '/gnu/store/9z44nwi28zvw3cay7m9q6388b26d74kd-emacs-pgtk-29.4/bin/emacs'\ via\ rofi WMCLASS=Emacs BIN=/gnu/store/9z44nwi28zvw3cay7m9q6388b26d74kd-emacs-pgtk-29.4/bin/emacs ICON=emacs APPLICATION_ID=emacs'
>  2025-01-05 18:46:15 
>  2025-01-05 18:46:15 00:00:16.666 [ERROR] [wlr] [xwayland/xwm.c:1633] xcb error: op ChangeWindowAttributes (no minor), code Window (no extension), sequence 173, value 4194320
>  2025-01-05 18:46:21 warn: wayland.c:1619: compositor does not implement the XDG toplevel icon protocol
> 
> ```
> 
> Pretty cool! 🤓
> 
> However, the programs that requires a running wayland session did not
> go that well — for example mako and swayidle. Here is a line from the
> swayidle log:
> 
> ```
> 2025-01-05 18:29:34 2025-01-05 18:29:34 - [Line 1096] Unable to connect to the compositor. If your compositor is running, check or set the WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variable.
> ```
> 
> What I think I need to do to run them properly, is to run them in the
> environment sway creates. The `make-forkexec-constructor` does have a
> `#:environment-variables` argument so I need to somehow extract the
> environment variables required from the sway service and feed that into
> the constructor for the services that require a wayland session. Anyone
> have any idea how to set that up? Or am I going about this the wrong way?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Here is what I got so far:
> 
> ~/.bash_profile
> ```
> # Start sway when logging in on tty
> if [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then
>  herd start sway
> fi
> 
> ```
> 
> My sway shepherd services:
> ```
> (define-configuration/no-serialization plt-sway-configuration
>  (turn-off-displays?
>  (boolean #t)
>  "Specify if it should turn off the displays when the machine is idle."))
> 
> (define (plt-sway-shepherd config)
>  (list
>  (shepherd-service
>  (provision '(sway))
>  (documentation "Start sway")
>  (auto-start? #f)
>  (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
>  (list (string-append #$sway "/bin/sway"))
>  #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/sway.log"
>  (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
>  (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
>  (let ((turn-off-displays? (plt-sway-configuration-turn-off-displays? config)))
>  (shepherd-service
>  (requirement '(sway))
>  (provision '(swayidle))
>  (documentation (string-append "Lock screen after 5 min"
>  (if turn-off-displays?
>  "and turn them off after 10 min."
>  ".")))
>  (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
>  (append
>  (list (string-append #$swayidle "/bin/swayidle") "-w")
>  (if #$turn-off-displays?
>  '("timeout" "600" "swaymsg 'output * dpms off'"
>  "resume" "swaymsg 'output * dpms on'")
>  '())
>  (list "timeout" "300" (string-append #$swaylock "/bin/swaylock -f -c 000000")
>  "before-sleep" (string-append #$swaylock "/bin/swaylock -f -c 000000")))
>  #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/swayidle.log" (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
>  (stop #~(make-kill-destructor))))
>  (shepherd-service
>  (provision '(waybar))
>  (requirement '(sway))
>  (documentation "Start waybar.")
>  (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
>  (list (string-append #$waybar "/bin/waybar"))
>  #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/waybar.log"
>  (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
>  (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
>  (shepherd-service
>  (provision '(mako))
>  (requirement '(sway))
>  (documentation "Start mako; lightweight Wayland notification daemon.")
>  (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
>  (list (string-append #$mako "/bin/mako"))
>  #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/mako.log"
>  (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
>  (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
>  (shepherd-service
>  (provision '(dbus-update-activation-environment))
>  (requirement '(dbus sway))
>  (documentation "Tell dbus that we are using sway")
>  (one-shot? #t)
>  (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
>  (list (string-append #$dbus "/bin/dbus-update-activation-environment")
>  "DISPLAY SWAYSOCK"
>  "WAYLAND_DISPLAY"
>  "XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=sway")
>  #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/dbus-activate-environment.log"
>  (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
>  (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))
>  (shepherd-service
>  (requirement '(sway))
>  (provision '(playerctld))
>  (documentation "Controll the latest active player over MPRIS")
>  (start #~(make-forkexec-constructor
>  (list (string-append #$playerctl "/bin/playerctld"))
>  #:log-file (format #f "~a/log/playerctld.log" (getenv "XDG_STATE_HOME"))))
>  (stop #~(make-kill-destructor)))))
> ```
> 
> [0] https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2024/the-shepherd-1.0.0-released
> 
> -- 
> s/Fred[re]+i[ck]+/Fredrik/g
>

Re: Shepherd environment question

[Fredrik Salomonsson]

jbranso@dismail.de writes:

> January 5, 2025 at 10:45 PM, "Fredrik Salomonsson" <plattfot@posteo.net mailto:plattfot@posteo.net?to=%22Fredrik%20Salomonsson%22%20%3Cplattfot%40posteo.net%3E > wrote:
>
>
>
>> 
>> Hi Guix,
>> 
>> After reading the Shepherd 1.0.0 blog post [0], it got me thinking that
>> with the log rotation etc it would be nice to let shepherd handle sway
>> and the programs it launches.
>> 
>> As right now I got a simple line in my ~/.bash_profile that if logging
>> in to tty1 exec sway. And all the output from sway and its program just
>> outputs into the ether.
>> 
>> So I migrated all the programs that sway launches from the config to
>> shepherd services. And made a shepherd service for sway but disable the
>> auto-start for it. So that I can kick it off with my .bash_profile:
>
> If guix doesn't already have a sway-service (home-service or system
> service), then it might be a good idea to throw this patch to
> guix-patches@gnu.org.

It does have a home service for generating the configuration and
launching programs [0].  I do have a plan to send some patches to be
able to set options for the bindsym call.  Right now my thing is too
hacky and specific to my use case to be in the main channel.  But if I
can figure out how to tell shepherd to automagically launch sway if you
log in to a specific tty then it would be worth sharing.

[0] https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Sway-window-manager.html

-- 
s/Fred[re]+i[ck]+/Fredrik/g