EMPTTY(1)

NAME
emptty - Dead simple CLI Display Manager on TTY

SYNOPSIS
emptty [-v] [--version] [-d] [--daemon] [-c PATH] [--config PATH] [-i] [--ignore-config] [-t TTY] [--tty TTY] [-u defaultUser] [--default-user defaultUser] [-a [session]] [--autologin [session]]

DESCRIPTION
emptty Simple CLI Display Manager, that allows one to select DE/WM after login, use predefined config or allows autologin, if selected user is part of nopasswdlogin group.

OPTIONS

-v, --version
    Display the version of the program.

-d, --daemon
    Starts emptty as daemon, that does not require agetty.

-c, --config PATH
    Loads configuration from specified path.

-C, --print-config
    Only prints loaded configuration and exits.

-i, --ignore-config
    Skips loading of configuration from file, loads only argument configuration.

-t, --tty TTY
    Overrides loaded configuration by setting defined TTY. May be specified as a number (e.g. "7") or a TTY name (e.g. "tty7").

-u, --default-user defaultUser
    Overrides loaded configuration by setting defined defaultUser.

-a, --autologin [session]
    Overrides loaded configuration by enabling autologin. If session is defined, it overrides autologin session.

CONFIG
/etc/emptty/conf

TTY_NUMBER
    TTY, where emptty will start.

SWITCH_TTY
    Enables switching to defined TTY number. Default is true.

PRINT_ISSUE
    Enables printing of /etc/issue in daemon mode.

PRINT_MOTD
    Enables printing of default motd, static motd or dynamic motd.

DEFAULT_ENV
    Defines default environment used for starting undefined sessions (e.g. from `emptty` file). Possible values are "xorg" and "wayland". Default of default is xorg.

DEFAULT_USER
    Preselected user, if AUTOLOGIN is enabled, this user is logged in.

DEFAULT_SESSION
    Preselected desktop session, if user does not use `emptty` file. Has lower priority than AUTOLOGIN_SESSION

DEFAULT_SESSION_ENV
    Optional environment of preselected desktop session, if user does not use `emptty` file. Possible values are "xorg" and "wayland".

AUTOLOGIN
    Enables Autologin, if DEFAULT_USER is defined. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false. NOTE: to enable autologin DEFAULT_USER must be in group nopasswdlogin , otherwise user will NOT be authorized.

AUTOLOGIN_SESSION
    The default session used, if Autologin is enabled. If session is not found in list of session, it proceeds to manual selection.

AUTOLOGIN_SESSION_ENV
    Optional environment of autologin desktop session. Possible values are "xorg" and "wayland".

AUTOLOGIN_MAX_RETRY
    If session does not start correctly in specified period, the number of retries in short period is kept to eventually stop the infinite loop of restarts. -1 is for infinite retries, 0 is for no retry. Default value is 2.

AUTOLOGIN_RETRY_PERIOD
    Time period in seconds, that is used for checking session login retries. Default value is 2.

LANG
    defines locale for all users. Default value is "en_US.UTF-8"

DBUS_LAUNCH
    Starts "dbus-launch" before desktop command. After end of session "dbus-daemon" is interrupted. Default value is true. If user config is handled as script (does not contain Exec option), this config is overridden to false.

ALWAYS_DBUS_LAUNCH
    Starts "dbus-launch" before desktop command in any case, DBUS_LAUNCH value is ignored. It also starts even if XINITRC_LAUNCH is set to `true`. After end of session "dbus-daemon" is interrupted. Default value is false.

XINITRC_LAUNCH
    Starts Xorg desktop with calling ~/.xinitrc script with session exec as argument, if is true, file exists and selected WM/DE is Xorg session, it overrides DBUS_LAUNCH. If user config is handled as script (does not contain Exec option), this config is overridden to false.

VERTICAL_SELECTION
    Prints available WM/DE each on new line instead of printing on single line.

INDENT_SELECTION
    Horizontal offset for vertical selection, useful for centering the menu on screen.

LOGGING
    Defines how logging is handled. Possible values are "rotate", "appending" or "disabled". Default value is "rotate".

LOGGING_FILE
    Overrides path of log file. Default value is /var/log/emptty/[TTY_NUMBER].log NOTE: It expects existence of directories to defined logging file.

XORG_ARGS
    Arguments passed to Xorg server.

DYNAMIC_MOTD
    Allows using dynamic motd script to generate custom MOTD. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false. NOTE: Be sure, that dynamic motd has correct content and permissions (e.g. 744), the script is started as default user; in daemon mode it means root

DYNAMIC_MOTD_PATH
    Allows overriding default path to dynamic motd. Default value is "/etc/emptty/motd-gen.sh".

MOTD_PATH
    Allows overriding default path to static motd. Default value is "/etc/emptty/motd".

FG_COLOR
    Foreground color, available only in daemon mode. List of colors is listed below.

BG_COLOR
    Background color, available only in daemon mode. List of colors is listed below.

DISPLAY_START_SCRIPT
    Script started before Display (Xorg/Wayland) starts. NOTE: The script is started as default user; in daemon mode it means root

DISPLAY_STOP_SCRIPT
    Script started after Display (Xorg/Wayland) stops. NOTE: The script is started as default user; in daemon mode it means root

ENABLE_NUMLOCK
    Enables numlock in daemon mode. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

SESSION_ERROR_LOGGING
    Defines how logging of session errors is handled. Possible values are "rotate", "appending" or "disabled". Default value is "disabled".

SESSION_ERROR_LOGGING_FILE
    Overrides path of session errors log file. Default value is /var/log/emptty/session-errors.[TTY_NUMBER].log NOTE: It expects existence of directories to defined logging file.

NO_XDG_FALLBACK
    Disallows setting of fallback values for all XDG environmental variables and leaves it on Login Controls. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false. NOTE: Be aware, that setting to "true" could lead to unexpected behaviour.

DEFAULT_XAUTHORITY
    If set true, it will not use .emptty-xauth file, but the standard ~/.Xauthority file. This allows handling xauth issues. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

ROOTLESS_XORG
    If set true, Xorg will be started as rootless, if system allows and emptty is running in daemon mode. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

IDENTIFY_ENVS
    If set true, environmental groups are printed to differ Xorg/Wayland/Custom/UserCustom desktops. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

HIDE_ENTER_LOGIN
    If set true, "hostname login:" is not displayed. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

HIDE_ENTER_PASSWORD
    If set true, "Password:" is not displayed. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

XORG_SESSIONS_PATH
    Path to directory, where Xorg sessions' desktop files are stored. Default value is "/usr/share/xsessions/".

WAYLAND_SESSIONS_PATH
    Path to directory, where Wayland sessions' desktop files are stored. Default value is "/usr/share/wayland-sessions/".

SELECT_LAST_USER
    Enables funtionality of saving last successfully logged in user for next login. Possible values are "false", "per-tty" or "global". Default value is false.

AUTO_SELECTION
    If set to "true" and only one desktop is available, it automatically select that desktop. Possible values are "true" or "false". Default value is false.

ALLOW_COMMANDS
    If set to "true" and no default user is selected, it allows to enter commands into login input. Possible values are "true" or "false", Default value is true.

CMD_POWEROFF
    Command to be used to perform poweroff. Default value is "poweroff".

CMD_REBOOT
    Command to be used to perform reboot. Default value is "reboot".

CMD_SUSPEND
    Command to be used to perform suspend. Default value is blank, but it tries to use "systemctl suspend", "loginctl suspend" or "zzz".

WAIT_EXIT_TIMEOUT
    Timeout in seconds before emptty automatically exits. If value is 0 or lower, there is no timeout. Default value is -1.

COMMANDS
If commands are allowed and default user is not defined, there could be used commands in login input. All of these commands need to start with colon ":". Escape characters are ignored to prevent issues with muscle memory from VI.
 - :help, :? - prints available commands
 - :poweroff, :shutdown - processess poweroff command
 - :reboot - processes reboot command
 - :suspend, :zzz - processes suspend command

DYNAMIC MOTD
Optional file stored by default as /etc/emptty/motd-gen.sh. Could be overridden. If DYNAMIC_MOTD is set to true, this file exists and is executable for its owner, the result is printed as your own MOTD. Be very careful with this script!

CUSTOM MOTD
Optional file stored by default as /etc/emptty/motd. Could be overridden. Custom file, that prints your own MOTD. Reading this file supports colors (e.g. \m or \ 33[32m )

USER CONFIG
Optional file stored as ${HOME}/.config/emptty or ${HOME}/.emptty Configuration file stored as ${HOME}/.config/emptty has higher priority on loading.

Name
    Optional name to be used as Session Name.

Exec
    Defines command to start Desktop Environment/Window Manager. This value does not need to be defined, if user config is presented as shell script (with shebang at the start and execution permissions).

Environment
    Selects, which environment should be defined for following command. Possible values are "xorg" and "wayland", "xorg" is default.

Lang
    Defines locale for logged user, has higher priority than LANG from global configuration

Selection
    Requires selection of desktop, basically turns emptty file into .xinitrc for Xorg and Wayland. In this case Exec is skipped. Possible values are "false" for never using selection, "true" for always showing selection or "auto" for showing selection or first option autoselect, if there is no other desktop. Default value is false.

LoginShell
    Defines custom shell to be used to start the session. This allows starting the session with non-interactive shell e.g. "/bin/bash --login"

DesktopNames
    Value passed into XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP variable.

USER EXIT SCRIPT
Optional script file stored as ${HOME}/.config/emptty-exit, that is handled as shell script and is started, when session is going to end. Script is started even if emptty is being terminated. The default timeout to finish script is 3 seconds, but it is configurable from the script itself.

Timeout
    Optional custom timeout for script to finish its run, number represents seconds. Default is 3.

CUSTOM SESSIONS
Optional folders for custom sessions, that could be available system-wide (in case of /etc/emptty/custom-sessions/) or user-specific (in case of ${HOME}/.config/emptty-custom-sessions/), but do not have .desktop file stored on standard paths for Xorg or Wayland sessions. Expected suffix of each file is ".desktop".

Name
    Defines name of Desktop Environment/Window Manager.

Exec
    Defines command to start Desktop Environment/Window Manager. It could contain multiple arguments same as in *.desktop files.

Environment
    Selects, which environment should be defined for following command. Possible values are "xorg" and "wayland", "xorg" is default.

DesktopNames
    Value passed into XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP variable.

NoDisplay/Hidden
    Boolean value, that controls visibility of desktop session.

LAST SESSION
The last user selection of session is stored into ~/.cache/emptty/last-session

LOGGING
As it is mentioned in configuration, there are three options to handle logging of emptty. The logs contains not just logs from emptty, but also from Xorg (if used) and user's WM/DE. Described log location could differ according configuration LOGGING_FILE , that is stored in /etc/emptty/conf

default
    This option provides simple solution, when current instance of emptty logs into /var/log/emptty/[TTY_NUMBER].log and the previous version is stored as /var/log/emptty/[TTY_NUMBER].log.old NOTE: Current instance always move previous log into old file, if emptty crashes and is started again, previous log is in /var/log/emptty/[TTY_NUMBER].log.old

appending
    This option provides functionality that logs everything into /var/log/emptty/[TTY_NUMBER].log and does not handle log rotation by itself. It leaves the option for user to handle it themselves (e.g. with logrotate). NOTE: Appending without roration could cause large log file, be sure that log file is rotated.

disabled
    This option points all log into /dev/null , so no log is available. NOTE: If any issue starts to appear and you want to report it, ensure you do not use this option.

COLORS
Please, be aware that LIGHT_ colors could be unavailable as background color. BLACK, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, PURPLE, CYAN, WHITE LIGHT_BLACK, LIGHT_RED, LIGHT_GREEN, LIGHT_YELLOW, LIGHT_BLUE, LIGHT_PURPLE, LIGHT_CYAN, LIGHT_WHITE