My Wayland adventure

Disclaimer: This content reflects my personal opinions, not those of any organizations I am or have been affiliated with. Code samples are provided for illustration purposes only, use with caution and test thoroughly before deployment.

My Linux laptop is running the old Ubuntu 20.04 and is going to go out of support next year. I was planning to switch over to NixOS but I don’t have time right now to do a fresh reinstall and learn NixOS from scratch. That’s why I decided to simply upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04 and switch to Wayland.

I was using i3 on X11, so switching to Wayland means I have to change many of my settings and switch to utilities that supports Wayland. This post is a rundonw of all the changes I’ve made to switch to Wayland. Overall, I enjoy the smoothness of Wayalnd (abiet barely noticable), and being able to use newer, more polished utiltity tools.

Upgrading from Ubuntu 20.04 to 24.04

The upgrade process was smooth, I had to upgrade from 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS, then from 22.04 LTS to 24.04 LTS. The built-in upgrade tool sudo do-release-upgrade worked without issues. The only thing that didn’t work immedately after upgradeing is my Logseq AppImage binary. I have to do the following to make it work:

• sudo apt install libfuse2t64 because it complains about FUSE is missing
• sudo sysctl -w kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=0 because Ubuntu 24.04 implemented new restrictions for AppImage apps, which restricts the use of sandboxes. See https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/42510. This only applies to current session. You can set it permenantly in /etc/systctl.conf

Switching to Sway

After upgrading Ubuntu, the next step was to switch from i3 to Sway, a tiling window manager for Wayland that’s very similar to i3. Here’s how I set it up:

1. Installation is straightforward:

   sudo apt install sway
   

2. After installation, log out and select the Sway session in the Ubuntu login manager.

3. By default, Sway will load the ~/.i3/config file. If you encounter an error about the font, simply comment out the font line in the config.

4. To have separate configurations for i3 and Sway:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/sway
   cp ~/.i3/config ~/.config/sway/config
   

5. You can reload the Sway config at any time with:

   swaymsg reload
   

Configuring Waybar

To replace i3-bar with something more feature-rich, I opted for Waybar. Here’s how I set it up:

1. Install Waybar sudo apt install waybar

2. Add exec waybar to your Sway config file.

3. If you encounter an error about the bar needing to run under Wayland, try unsetting the GDK_BACKEND:

   unset GDK_BACKEND
   

4. Waybar is highly configurable. You can find configuration examples and documentation on the Waybar GitHub wiki.

Here is an example of how my Sway and Waybar looks like:

Input Method

For input methods, I found that ibus doesn’t work well with Wayland, so I switched to fcitx5:

1. Install fcitx5 and any language-specific modules you need:

   sudo apt install fcitx5 fcitx5-chewing
   

2. Add exec fcitx5 to your Sway config.

3. Right-click on the menu bar icon, go to configure, and add your desired input methods to the list.

   Display Management

I have one laptop built-in monitor and 2 external monitors. For managing multiple displays under Wayland, I found wdisplays to be a useful GUI tool:

1. Install wdisplays:

   sudo apt install wdisplays
   

2. Launch it with wdisplays command.

1. To make display settings persist after Sway reload, add output configurations to your ~/.config/sway/config:

   output "'Lenovo Group Limited XXXXXX YYYYYY'" pos 0 0 res 2560x1440
   output "'LG Display XXXXX'" pos 640 1440 res 1920x1080
   output "'Iiyama North America XXXXX YYYYY'" pos 2560 360 res 1920x1080
   

   The single quote in double quote is not a typo, the single quote is part of the name of the monitor.

2. To identify the monitor names, use the names found in swaymsg -t get_outputs.

3. The sway output config don’t work reliablely (I’m still investigating), so I create a shell script like this and bind it to a hotkey in sway so I can trigger it anytime:

    sway output "'Lenovo Group Limited XXXXXX YYYYYY'" pos 0 0 res 2560x1440
    sway output "'LG Display XXXXX'" pos 640 1440 res 1920x1080
    sway output "'Iiyama North America XXXXX YYYYY'" pos 2560 360 res 1920x1080
   

Controlling built-in monitor brightness

I use the tool light to contorl the brightness of my built-in monitor:

sudo apt install light
sudo light -A 10 # increase by 10%
sudo light -U 10 # decrease by 10%

autotiling

Autotiling is a script that automatically adjusts the split direction in Sway (or i3) based on the dimensions of the currently focused window. This creates a more intuitive tiling experience, where you get 1 > 1/2 > 1/4 > … smaller window splits as you open new windows. Here is an example:

1. Installation: As of my writing, autotiling is not available in the standard Ubuntu repositories for versions before 24.10. So we need to install it using pip:

   pyenv install 3.12
   pyenv global 3.12
   pip install autotiling
   

   If you don’t use pyenv, you can install it directly with pip, but make sure you’re using Python 3.12 or later.

2. Configuration: Add the following line to your ~/.config/sway/config file:

   exec /home/yourusername/.pyenv/shims/autotiling
   

   Make sure to use the full path, as Sway might not pick up the command from your PATH.

3. Usage: Once configured, autotiling will work automatically. You’ll notice that as you open new windows, they’ll be tiled in a way that maintains a balanced layout, alternating between vertical and horizontal splits based on the dimensions of the current window.

Screenshots

For taking screenshots in Wayland, I use a combination of grim, slurp, and wl-copy:

```
sudo apt install grim slurp wl-clipboard
``` Here are their responsibilities: * `grim`: screenshot tool * `slurp`: screen region selection tool * `wl-copy`: copy to clipboard tool (part of `wl-clipboard` apt packge)

1. Some useful commands:
   • Screenshot all monitors: grim
   • Select a region to screenshot: grim -g "$(slurp)"
   • Screenshot to clipboard: grim -g "$(slurp)" - | wl-copy
2. I created a custom script using fuzzel in dmenu mode to provide a nice screenshot selection interface, see the fuzzel section below.

fuzzel: application launcher and custom menu selector

Fuzzel is a fast, lightweight application launcher and dmenu replacement designed for Wayland. It’s an excellent alternative to tools like rofi or dmenu that were primarily designed for X11.

1. Installation: Fuzzel should be available in the Ubuntu repositories:

   sudo apt install fuzzel
   

2. Basic usage: To use fuzzel as an application launcher, simply run:

   fuzzel
   

   This will open a prompt where you can start typing the name of the application you want to launch.

1. Using fuzzel as a dmenu replacement: Fuzzel can also work as a dmenu replacement, allowing you to create custom menus and selection interfaces. Here’s an example of how to use fuzzel to create a custom screenshot selection menu:

   #!/bin/bash
   
   options="Screenshot\nScreenshot to Clipboard\nScreenshot All Windows"
   
   choice=$(echo -e "$options" | fuzzel --dmenu --prompt="Select Screenshot Option: ")
   
   case "$choice" in
       "Screenshot")
           grim -g "$(slurp)"
           nautilus ~/Pictures
           ;;
       "Screenshot to Clipboard")
           grim -g "$(slurp)" - | wl-copy
           ;;
       "Screenshot All Windows")
           grim
           nautilus ~/Pictures
           ;;
       *)
           echo "No valid option selected."
           ;;
   esac
   

   This script creates a simple menu for selecting different screenshot options using fuzzel in dmenu mode.

Here’s a section on using cliphist for clipboard management in Wayland:

Clipboard Management with cliphist

Managing clipboard history in Wayland can be a bit tricky, but cliphist provides a robust solution that integrates well with our existing setup. Here’s how to set it up and use it effectively:

Installation

First, install cliphist using apt:

sudo apt install cliphist

Starting the Clipboard Manager

To start monitoring and storing clipboard content, add the following line to your Sway config file (~/.config/sway/config):

exec wl-paste --watch cliphist store

This command tells wl-paste to watch for changes in the clipboard and store them using cliphist.

Using the Clipboard History

I use to use CopyQ for clipboard management. It is Wayland-compatible, but things like global hotkeys don’t work, make it less usable on Wayland. I decided to switch to cliphist:

1. Installation:

   sudo apt install cliphist
   

2. Start listing to copies:

   wl-paste --watch cliphist store
   

3. Select a history item and copy it into the clipboard:

bindsym $mod+v exec cliphist list | fuzzel -d | cliphist decode | wl-copy

This command does the following: 1. cliphist list shows the clipboard history 2. fuzzel -d presents the list in a dmenu-style interface 3. cliphist decode decodes the selected item 4. wl-copy copies the selected item to the clipboard

Now, when you press your mod key + V, you’ll see a fuzzel window with your clipboard history. Select an item to copy it to your clipboard.

Troubleshooting

Browser Compatibility

I use Brave Browser, which initially had some input lag issues under Wayland. To resolve this:

1. Launch Brave with these flags:

   brave-browser --gtk-version=4 --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland
   

2. The --gtk-version=4 flag is necessary for enabling fcitx5 input method.

3. You may need to disable the “Quick command” shortcut in Brave (Ctrl + Space) to avoid conflicts with input method switching shortcuts.

Screen Sharing

Getting screen sharing to work properly under Wayland required some additional setup:

1. Install the necessary package:

   sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
   

2. Ensure the WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variable is properly set:

   dbus-update-activation-environment --systemd WAYLAND_DISPLAY XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=sway
   

3. Restart the relevant services:

   systemctl --user stop pipewire xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-wlr wireplumber pipewire.socket
   systemctl --user start wireplumber
   systemctl --user start xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
   systemctl --user start xdg-desktop-portal
   

   Running old X11 application

   If the old X application (e.g. gparted) does not launch with error “cannot open display :0”, run xhost +local:

Conclusion

Switching to Wayland with Sway has been a mostly smooth experience. While there were some initial hurdles to overcome, particularly with input methods and screen sharing, the end result is a modern, smooth, and customizable desktop environment. The availability of Wayland-compatible tools like Waybar, wdisplays, and fuzzel has made the transition easier and more enjoyable.

There are still a few areas I’m exploring, such as finding a good clipboard manager that works well with Wayland (with auto-expiring for passwords…). Overall, I’m satisfied with the switch and looking forward to further improvements in the Wayland ecosystem.