Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions for sysc-greet.

Greeter Won't Start

Check greetd Service Status

sudo systemctl status greetd

Expected output: Active: active (running)

If inactive, start the service:

sudo systemctl start greetd

View greetd Logs

journalctl -u greetd -n 50

Look for:

• IPC socket creation errors
• Permission denied errors
• Compositor startup failures

Verify Configuration

Check that greetd config exists at /etc/greetd/config.toml:

cat /etc/greetd/config.toml

Expected content:

[terminal]
vt = 1

[default_session]
command = "niri -c /etc/greetd/niri-greeter-config.kdl"
user = "greeter"

IPC Client Errors

"FATAL: Failed to create IPC client"

This error means sysc-greet cannot communicate with greetd.

Causes:

1. Running sysc-greet directly without greetd (not in production mode)
2. GREETD_SOCK environment variable not set
3. greetd socket doesn't exist

Solutions:

1. Verify greetd is running:

   sudo systemctl status greetd

2. Check if socket exists:

   ls -la /run/greetd/

3. Test with greetd directly:

   sudo -u greeter sysc-greet

Wallpaper Issues

gSlapper Not Working

Check gSlapper status:

ps aux | grep gslapper

View gSlapper debug log:

cat /tmp/sysc-greet-wallpaper.log

Verify compositor config starts gSlapper:

# For niri
cat /etc/greetd/niri-greeter-config.kdl

# For cagebreak
cat /etc/greetd/cagebreak-greeter-config

# For sway
cat /etc/greetd/sway-greeter-config

# For mango
cat /etc/greetd/mango-greeter-config.conf

# For Hyprland 0.55+
cat /etc/greetd/hyprland-greeter-config.lua

Look for gSlapper startup command.

Install gSlapper if missing:

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S gslapper

# Build from source
git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/gSlapper
cd gSlapper
make
sudo make install

Wallpapers Not Appearing

Check for themed wallpapers:

ls -la /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/

Ensure sysc-greet-{theme}.png files exist for your selected theme.

Check permissions:

ls -la /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers/
sudo chown -R greeter:greeter /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers/

Compositor Issues

Screen Remains Black

Check compositor logs:

Compositors run as user processes, not systemd services. Check greetd logs which include compositor output:

journalctl -u greetd -n 50

For compositor-specific debugging, check their log files or stderr output in greetd logs.

Verify compositor config syntax:

# Test niri config
niri -c /etc/greetd/niri-greeter-config.kdl --check

# Check Hyprland 0.55+ Lua config syntax
luac -p /etc/greetd/hyprland-greeter-config.lua

Cagebreak has no syntax-check flag. Run it from a TTY to see parse errors — a bad config makes it exit immediately, so greetd relaunches the greeter in a loop:

cagebreak -e -c /etc/greetd/cagebreak-greeter-config

Stuck at a black screen after login (cagebreak): verify socat is installed. Without it the compositor never quits and greetd waits forever.

Check the mango greeter config (unknown keys fail the parse):

mango -c /etc/greetd/mango-greeter-config.conf -p

Stuck at a black screen after login (mango): verify mmsg is installed (it ships with mangowm) and /etc/greetd/mango-greeter-session.sh is executable.

Kitty Terminal Issues

If kitty doesn't start:

# Check kitty config exists
cat /etc/greetd/kitty.conf

# Test kitty independently
kitty --start-as=fullscreen --config /etc/greetd/kitty.conf sysc-greet --test

The greeter config disables kitty's keyboard shortcuts and mouse actions. sysc-greet still receives keyboard input and mouse events.

An upgrade needs the updated kitty and compositor configs as well as the binary. If your package manager keeps a modified config, merge the changes while preserving your keyboard layout. The kitty config needs clear_all_shortcuts yes, clear_all_mouse_actions yes and allow_remote_control no. Compositor launches should use XDG_CACHE_HOME=/var/lib/greeter/.cache. Void packages use /etc/greetd/sysc-greet/ and /var/lib/_greeter/ instead.

Debug Mode

sysc-greet opens a debug log only with --debug:

sysc-greet --test --debug

View the log under the home directory of the account running sysc-greet:

cat "$HOME/.cache/sysc-greet/debug.log"

The production greeter uses the greeter account's home. If sysc-greet cannot open that log, it tries /tmp/sysc-greet-debug.log with the same private-file checks.

Debug logs append and can contain usernames and session details. Remove old logs if you no longer need them; disabling debug mode leaves existing files intact.

Debug logs include:

• Key press events
• Mode transitions
• Animation state changes
• IPC communication
• Wallpaper commands

Cache Issues

If preferences aren't being saved:

# Check cache directory exists and has correct permissions
ls -la /var/cache/sysc-greet/
sudo chown -R greeter:greeter /var/cache/sysc-greet/
sudo chmod 755 /var/cache/sysc-greet/

Clear cache if needed:

sudo rm -rf /var/cache/sysc-greet/*

Getting Help

For unresolved issues:

1. Check existing GitHub Issues
2. Enable debug mode and collect logs
3. Review Architecture Documentation
4. Check greetd documentation: https://git.sr.ht/~kennylevinsen/greetd/