The sddm package contains a lightweight display manager based upon Qt and QML.
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Development versions of BLFS may not build or run some packages properly if LFS or dependencies have been updated since the most recent stable versions of the books.
Download (HTTP): https://github.com/sddm/sddm/archive/v0.20.0/sddm-0.20.0.tar.gz
Download MD5 sum: 7af67d5fb767639861d35c80eb4e1191
Download size: 3.4 MB
Estimated disk space required: 22 MB
Estimated build time: 0.3 SBU (Using parallelism=4)
CMake-3.28.1, extra-cmake-modules-5.113.0, and (Qt-5.15.12 or qt-alternate-5.15.12)
docutils-0.20.1 (for the man pages), Linux-PAM-1.6.0, and UPower-1.90.2
First, create a dedicated user and group to take control of the sddm daemon after it is started. Issue the following commands as the root user:
groupadd -g 64 sddm &&
useradd -c "sddm Daemon" \
-d /var/lib/sddm \
-u 64 -g sddm \
-s /bin/false sddm
Install sddm by running the following commands:
mkdir build &&
cd build &&
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-DENABLE_JOURNALD=OFF \
-DNO_SYSTEMD=ON \
-DRUNTIME_DIR=/run/sddm \
-DUSE_ELOGIND=ON \
-DBUILD_MAN_PAGES=ON \
-DDATA_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/share/sddm \
-DDBUS_CONFIG_FILENAME=sddm_org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.conf \
.. &&
make
This package does not come with a test suite.
Now, as the root user:
make install && install -v -dm755 -o sddm -g sddm /var/lib/sddm /usr/bin/sddm --example-config > /etc/sddm.conf
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release: This switch is used to apply additional compiler optimizations.
-DENABLE_JOURNALD=OFF and -DNO_SYSTEMD=ON: These switchs are used because this version of BLFS does not support systemd.
-DDBUS_CONFIG_FILENAME=sddm_org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.conf: This switch prevents the file /etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.conf from being overwritten, as it may be used by other DM's.
-DBUILD_MAN_PAGES=ON: This switch is used to build and install man pages.
/etc/sddm.config
Normally, you want to edit this file. For example, if Xorg is installed in /opt, use your preferred editor as the root user to replace the default XauthPath value by /opt/xorg/bin/xauth. Or, as the root user, issue:
sed -i.orig '/ServerPath/ s|usr|opt/xorg|' /etc/sddm.conf
This command will do the substitution and create a copy of the original file with name /etc/sddm.conf.orig.
From now on, we will describe how to modify configurations using sed. Of course, you may instead use your preferred editor as the root user.
For security reasons, you normally want the default ServerArguments=-nolisten tcp, unless a remote machine needs access to the local X server. In that case, as the root user, issue:
sed -i 's/-nolisten tcp//' /etc/sddm.conf
Desktop (Notebook) users, normally want the Num Lock key on (off). For that, as root, issue:
sed -i '/Numlock/s/none/on/' /etc/sddm.conf
for Desktop users. For Notebook users, replace /on/ by /off/ in the command above.
By default, a virtual keyboard is presented for the user. If this is not desired, run as root:
sed -i 's/qtvirtualkeyboard//' /etc/sddm.conf
Install the /etc/rc.d/init.d/xdm init script from the blfs-bootscripts-20231119 package, as the root user:
make install-sddm
The install procedure above installed a set of PAM configuration files. These procedures overwrite them and use versions compatible with a BLFS environment.
If you have built sddm with Linux PAM support, create the necessary configuration files by running the following commands as the root user:
cat > /etc/pam.d/sddm << "EOF"# Begin /etc/pam.d/sddm auth requisite pam_nologin.so auth required pam_env.so auth required pam_succeed_if.so uid >= 1000 quiet auth include system-auth account include system-account password include system-password session required pam_limits.so session include system-session # End /etc/pam.d/sddmEOF cat > /etc/pam.d/sddm-autologin << "EOF"# Begin /etc/pam.d/sddm-autologin auth requisite pam_nologin.so auth required pam_env.so auth required pam_succeed_if.so uid >= 1000 quiet auth required pam_permit.so account include system-account password required pam_deny.so session required pam_limits.so session include system-session # End /etc/pam.d/sddm-autologinEOF cat > /etc/pam.d/sddm-greeter << "EOF"# Begin /etc/pam.d/sddm-greeter auth required pam_env.so auth required pam_permit.so account required pam_permit.so password required pam_deny.so session required pam_unix.so -session optional pam_systemd.so # End /etc/pam.d/sddm-greeterEOF
If the sddm bootscript has been installed, start sddm by running, as the root user:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/xdm start
By convention, X should be executed at runlevel 5, consequently, the same is true for sddm. However, the default runlevel is 3. Changing to runlevel 5, from a console terminal, as root user, starts the sddm bootscript, bringing up the greeter screen:
init 5
In order to permanently set the default to 5, starting the sddm greeter screen automatically, modify /etc/inittab as the root user:
cp -v /etc/inittab{,-orig} &&
sed -i '/initdefault/ s/3/5/' /etc/inittab
The greeter offers a list of available sessions, depending on the Window Managers and Desktop Environments installed. The list includes sessions which have a corresponding .desktop file installed under /usr/share/xsessions or /usr/share/wayland-sessions. Most of the Window Managers and Desktop Environments automatically provide those files, but if necessary, you may include a custom one.
Three themes are installed at /usr/share/sddm/themes: elarun, maldives, and maya. There is also a default theme, which is not present in that directory. You can install other themes in that directory. In order to change the theme, you need to edit /etc/sddm.conf, to change the default (empty) theme, replacing “Current=” with “Current=<new theme>”, e.g. “Current=maldives”.
In order to see the theme without leaving the session, issue:
sddm-greeter --test-mode --theme <theme path>