# Ferese Ferese is a Wayland scrolling compositor written in Rust with Smithay. Scrolling columns are the default, tree tiling remains available as an optional per-workspace mode, and geometry changes use timestamp-driven animation. See the [window-manager specification](docs/ferese-window-manager-spec.md) for the current architecture and milestones. For a versioned installation alongside Plasma in SDDM, see [installation and recovery](docs/installation.md). `Super+Shift+E` or `feresectl exit` logs out immediately; save your work first. ## Development Install the native dependencies required by Smithay's winit and GLES backends, then run: ```bash cargo run -p ferese ``` Pass a client and its arguments after `--` to launch it inside Ferese: ```bash cargo run -p ferese -- foot ``` Set `RUST_LOG=ferese=debug` for detailed compositor logging. `Super+F` toggles decorated maximization inside the workspace (bar and outer gaps remain visible). In scrolling mode this expands the column to full width, keeps it in the strip, and restores its previous width when toggled off. New windows open to its right and scroll into focus. `Super+Shift+F` toggles true fullscreen (no bar or window decorations). Leaving fullscreen restores the previous maximized/tiled state. Set `FERESE_TRACE_PERFORMANCE=1` to emit five-second per-output summaries under the `ferese::render` tracing target. Summaries include rendered frames, damaged pixels, average and longest render time, and DRM missed-deadline totals. The native-client soak runner and its nested/DRM procedure are documented in [docs/native-soak-testing.md](docs/native-soak-testing.md). The M7 semantic-effects probe must use a compositor-created private connection. Build it, then grant only the `effects` capability to that launched process: ```bash cargo build -p ferese-effects-probe cargo run -p ferese -- --grant-effects -- target/debug/ferese-effects-probe ``` Add `--preview` to keep a solid popover visible in the nested compositor: ```bash cargo build -p ferese-effects-probe cargo run -p ferese -- --backend nested --grant-effects -- \ target/debug/ferese-effects-probe --preview ``` Press `Super+Enter` in the Ferese window to open `foot`, then move or update the terminal beneath the popover to inspect stacking, rounded clipping, and shadows. Stop the preview with `Ctrl+C` in the host terminal. To verify that the private global is absent from the public Wayland socket: ```bash cargo run -p ferese -- target/debug/ferese-effects-probe --expect-hidden ``` Ferese reads `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ferese/config.toml`, or `~/.config/ferese/config.toml` when `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is unset. New scrolling columns use half the viewport by default. To make every newly opened column use the full viewport width: ```toml [scrolling] default_column_width = "full" ``` `default_column_width = 1.0` is equivalent. `Super+M` switches the active workspace between scrolling and tree modes. Outer gaps remain visible with one window by default. To intentionally remove them for a lone tiled window: ```toml [layout] outer_gap = 4.0 smart_gaps = true ``` Managed-window borders use theme tokens and overlay the window edge without adding inner padding or changing client geometry: ```toml [theme.colors] border = "#FFFFFF18" accent = "#5B8CFF" shadow = "#00000055" [theme.geometry] border_width = 1.0 focus_ring_width = 2.0 window_radius = 14.0 [theme.shadow.soft] offset_y = 4.0 blur = 18.0 opacity = 0.20 [theme.material] style = "solid" # solid or translucent blur_radius = 12.0 # logical pixels; translucent only, 0 disables blur [appearance.inactive_dim] enabled = true # opt-in; disabled by default amount = 0.15 # dark tint over unfocused windows, 0–1; 0 disables duration_ms = 150 # 0 snaps immediately; reduced motion also snaps ``` Inactive dimming follows window focus with a smooth, interruption-safe fade. It keeps window opacity intact, respects animated geometry and rounded corners, and leaves shell bars/popovers untouched. Overview temporarily removes dimming. Material roles use the configured surface color and role-specific shadows. Solid is the default. Translucent adds backdrop blur behind the same surface color, without grain, glossy lighting, saturation boosts, or inset highlights. The radius is clamped to 32 logical pixels. A shader/allocation failure falls back to a plain translucent fill. Shell popovers report rounded card regions; their outer padding and gaps stay transparent. Each surface shares one capture across its cards, so cards do not sample already blurred neighboring cards. Use `--preview --regions` with the effects probe to inspect two cards over a patterned background, including the sharp gap between them. ```toml [appearance] corner_radius = 14.0 ``` Shell shadows use restrained logical-pixel presets: panel `1/5/4%`, popover and menu `2/8/7%`, HUD `1/4/4%`, and notification/modal `3/10/9%` (vertical offset / blur / opacity). Private effects capabilities remain required; public background-effect requests cannot select these materials. Fullscreen windows are borderless and shadowless. Other managed windows use GPU rounded clipping, matching rounded focus rings, and an analytic soft shadow. These effects overlay or surround the allocation without adding client padding. Scrolling keeps windows in stable workspace coordinates and animates the viewport only when focus must be revealed. Set `focus_strategy = "center_on_focus"` under `[scrolling]` to center focused columns instead. Use `focus_strategy = "paged"` to pack consecutive columns into viewport-sized pages. Half-width columns form pairs, thirds form triples, and full-width columns occupy their own page. Mixed widths and client minimum sizes use their actual allocated widths, including gaps. Focusing within a page keeps it still; crossing a page boundary scrolls to that page. Explicit centering remains in effect until focus changes or the output resizes. Scrolling controls use `Super+R` to cycle configured width presets, `Super+C` to center the focused column, `Super+[` to consume the focused window into an adjacent column, and `Super+]` to expel it. `Super+Ctrl+H/J/K/L` resizes in the corresponding direction. `Super+Tab` toggles the compositor overview. Its live window previews retain their client surfaces, `Super+H/J/K/L` moves the selection using the presented preview geometry, and clicking a preview activates it without forwarding the selection click to the application. The shell provides an edge-to-edge libcosmic menu bar backed by the private shell-control connection. Build and preview it nested with: ```bash cargo build --release -p ferese -p ferese-shell target/release/ferese --backend nested --grant-effects --grant-shell-control -- \ target/release/ferese-shell ``` The Ferese mark enters overview, where workspace indicators become available. The active workspace's window list appears on the left, with click-to-focus and a highlighted active window; status controls and day/time sit on the right. The 28px bar has square screen edges, 19px icons, and no border or drop shadow. Window spacing uses the workspace outer gap; `top_bar_window_gap` under `[theme.geometry]` adds optional extra space (default 0). Solid and translucent shell surfaces also omit outlines. The dark startup fallback matches the material palette. The compositor decodes wallpaper in parallel with startup. Small shell surfaces prefer the lightweight software renderer, with GPU rendering available as a fallback. Set `ICED_BACKEND=wgpu` to explicitly use GPU rendering for shell content. Use release builds when evaluating startup and animation performance; debug image processing is considerably slower. Resize presentation configures the destination once and coordinates the matching client commits with the workspace motion (300 ms maximum wait). Application content stays at native pixel size; animated bounds crop/reveal it rather than stretching text. A resize-only previous-frame snapshot fades out over 80 ms, with a 64 MiB total snapshot budget and automatic release. All monitors share one elapsed-time animation clock, and window content, clips, borders and shadows use the same physical-pixel edges. Overview has a horizontally scrollable workspace strip with live window thumbnails and an accent outline on the workspace shown by each output. Click a workspace to change the window grid without leaving overview; click a window to focus it and exit, or press Escape to dismiss. Only the workspace strip has a tinted surface; the window grid sits directly over the wallpaper. Strip labels use `[theme.typography].font_family` and rasterize at output scale. The strip fades independently and preserves its opacity on rapid reversals, including when the selected workspace is empty. Ferese renders `[theme.background]` wallpapers directly: `path` selects the image and `mode = "fill"` or `"fit"` controls crop/letterboxing. One decoded image and one texture per GPU context serve every output; resizing requires no image reload or full-screen shell buffers. The launched shell receives `FERESE_COMPOSITOR_WALLPAPER=1` to disable its redundant wallpaper surfaces. When no valid image path is configured, the shell's existing fallback remains. Keyboard and direct-session touchpad settings are applied at startup: ```toml [input] focus_follows_mouse = false xkb_layout = "us" xkb_variant = "" xkb_options = [] repeat_rate = 25 repeat_delay_ms = 600 [input.touchpad] tap = true natural_scroll = true disable_while_typing = true ``` Touchpad settings apply to libinput devices in the direct DRM session. In the nested backend, the host compositor remains responsible for physical touchpad configuration. The direct DRM backend selects the first output profile whose listed monitors are all connected. Match either the connector name reported by `get-outputs` or its persistent EDID-derived identity: ```toml [[output_profiles]] name = "docked" [[output_profiles.outputs]] match = "HDMI-A-1" mode = "3840x2160@119.998" scale = 1.6 position = [0, 0] [[output_profiles.outputs]] match = "eDP-1" enabled = false [[output_profiles]] name = "laptop" [[output_profiles.outputs]] match = "eDP-1" mode = "2880x1800@120" scale = 1.6 position = [0, 0] ``` Unspecified connected outputs remain enabled with their preferred mode, scale `1.0`, normal transform, and automatic horizontal placement. Supported transforms are `normal`, `rotate_90`, `rotate_180`, `rotate_270`, `flipped`, and their rotated flipped variants. Output configuration is applied at startup and on hotplug; live configuration reload remains deferred. On DRM, closing the laptop lid disables internal panels when a usable external output is available. With no usable external output, the panel stays enabled; Ferese does not change the system's suspend policy. Workspaces are evacuated to a remaining output without merging their windows, and return to their original output when the lid reopens or a disconnected monitor returns. Normal use of an evacuated workspace does not cancel its automatic return. Commands are argv arrays and are started directly, without a shell. The default `Super+Enter` binding runs the built-in `terminal = ["foot"]` command: ```toml [commands] terminal = ["foot", "--app-id", "terminal"] [[bindings]] keys = "Super+Enter" action = "spawn" argument = "terminal" ``` A configured binding replaces the built-in binding with the same normalized chord and match mode. Disable a default explicitly with no action: ```toml [[bindings]] keys = "Super+Q" disabled = true ``` Bindings follow the active layout by default. To bind a keyboard position instead, set `match = "physical"` and use an XKB physical key name such as `AD06`. Invalid chords, actions, arguments, duplicate bindings, and missing command references stop startup with an error. Initial window rules match `app_id`, exact title, and/or transient status. All matching rules are applied in declaration order; later rules override only the fields they specify. Width or height implies floating placement when `floating` is omitted: ```toml [[window_rules]] app_id = "org.example.Editor" workspace = 3 floating = true width = 900.0 height = 600.0 fullscreen = false ``` Rules are finalized on the first toplevel commit, before its buffer is presented, and are not re-applied when an application later changes its title. `feresectl` controls the running compositor through the same-user socket at `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ferese/control.sock`. For example: ```bash cargo run -p feresectl -- focus left cargo run -p feresectl -- workspace 2 cargo run -p feresectl -- get-workspaces cargo run -p feresectl -- get-outputs ``` The v0 IPC slice also supports `move`, `resize`, `move-to-workspace`, `toggle-floating`, `toggle-maximized`, `toggle-fullscreen`, `toggle-layout`, `cycle-column-width`, `center-column`, `consume`, `expel`, `close`, `get-focused-window`, and `get-outputs`. Requests use versioned, 1 MiB-limited length-prefixed JSON. The runtime directory and socket are restricted to modes `0700` and `0600`, and the server rejects peers whose effective UID differs from the compositor's. IPC has a bounded request queue and accepts at most 64 concurrent client connections. `get-outputs` includes disabled-but-connected monitors, connector and persistent identity matchers, current and available modes with refresh rates, fractional scale, transform, logical position and size, and physical dimensions. Text-input-v3 is available to applications by default. Input-method-v2 is hidden unless the session explicitly opts in, because an input method can request privileged keyboard access. Enable it only when launching a trusted IME for the session: ```bash FERESE_ENABLE_INPUT_METHOD=1 cargo run -p ferese ``` `Ctrl+Alt+Escape` always releases an active client shortcut inhibitor. Keyboard-shortcut inhibition is hidden unless a trusted VM or remote-desktop session explicitly enables it: ```bash FERESE_ENABLE_SHORTCUT_INHIBIT=1 cargo run -p ferese ``` The emergency `Ctrl+Alt+Escape` binding remains available while inhibition is active. Screen capture is hidden by default. A session that has already made an explicit capture-policy decision can expose screencopy-v1 to its clients with: ```bash FERESE_ENABLE_SCREENCOPY=1 cargo run -p ferese ``` The current M5 implementation supports one-shot output and region capture into ARGB8888 shared-memory buffers. Cursor overlays are included only when the capture client requests them. ### Direct DRM session Run the hardware backend from a spare TTY, outside another graphical session: ```bash RUST_LOG=ferese=debug cargo run -p ferese -- --backend=drm -- foot ``` Do not run that command from a terminal inside the active desktop: the direct backend requests control of the seat and primary DRM device. Use Ctrl+Alt+F1–F12 to switch virtual terminals. M4 validation requires the direct session to: - start `foot` and render the same animated tiling workload as the nested path; - retain keyboard and pointer input; - pause when switching away and redraw after switching back; and - log page-flip timing and any missed presentation deadlines on the reference integrated GPU. The direct path creates an independent render pipeline per connected output and rescans connectors on hotplug. Physical unplug/replug acceptance testing on the reference hardware is still pending.