🚀 MATE Wayland Session

Wayland session using Wayfire for the MATE desktop

📦 Building MATE-WAYLAND-SESSION

You need Wayfire installed to run this session, as the startup script and configuration file are Wayfire-specific. Autotools or Meson will install the files in the correct places.

🔥 Wayfire Firedecor Plugin Recommended

It is recommended to install the Firedecor Wayfire plugin. This allows the use of a window decorator theme similar to the Menta Marco theme. If unavailable, the session will still work. The initial setup will not attempt to set a MATE-specific window decoration theme but will do everything else the same way.

📝 Notes on Install Directories for Firedecor Theme

To use the Menta style window control buttons instead of Firedecor's default buttons, ensure the data directory used in installing mate-wayland-session matches the one used by Firedecor. Here are some scenarios:

1. Firedecor installed to /usr, mate-wayland-session installed to /usr: Menta window buttons on first run.

   • Common when installed from distro packages.

2. Firedecor installed to /usr/local, mate-wayland-session installed to /usr/local: Menta window buttons on first run.

   • Common for local builds installed to /usr/local.

3. Firedecor installed to /usr, mate-wayland-session installed to /usr/local: Firedecor default window buttons used on first run.

   • To show Menta buttons, copy or symlink buttons from /usr/local/firedecor/button-styles/mate/ to /usr/firedecor/button-styles/mate/.

4. Firedecor installed to /usr/local, mate-wayland-session installed to /usr: Firedecor default window buttons used on first run.

   • Copy or symlink buttons from /usr/firedecor/button-styles/mate/ to /usr/local/firedecor/button-styles/mate/.

🐞 Reporting Bugs and Submitting Patches

Report new bugs on GitHub. Please check for duplicates, especially for feature requests.

📋 Details of MATE-WAYLAND-SESSION

This is a simple and experimental MATE session using Wayfire, a Wayland compositor reimplementing much of the look and feel of Compiz.

• Display Managers: Tested and known to work under SDDM, should work with any Wayland-supporting display manager.
• Session Launcher: A script (mate-wayland-components.sh) launches MATE programs inside Wayfire. This session cannot run simultaneously with an X11 session using dbus on another TTY.
• Startup Configuration: Edit ~/.config/wayfire.ini to add mate-wayland-components.sh and disable the default Wayfire shell.
• Components: Starts MATE components like Caja and Mate-panel without interfering with other parts of the user's Wayfire configuration.

🛠 Configuration

• GSettings: GNOME, not MATE, gsettings preferences apply for fonts and icon themes under Wayland. For XWayland apps, MATE settings are applied.
• GTK Options: Many options selectable in X11 are hardcoded in Wayland. For example, headerbars on dialogs clash with the MATE UI and can be fixed by installing GTK 3 with gtk3-classic patches.

🔧 Setting Themes and Fonts

Use dconf-editor to reset the GTK theme, icon theme, and fonts in org/gnome/desktop/interface. Apply preferences under both MATE and GNOME to theme Wayland and XWayland apps consistently.

📑 GSettings Override

A gsettings override file sets the MATE icon theme and Menta GTK theme, and turns off overlay scrolling on a new or default install.

🎨 Window Decoration

Install the "Firedecor" plugin for a window decorator theme similar to the Menta Marco theme in X11. If not installed, Wayfire's default SSD decoration theme is used.

• Future Development: Another decorator under development can read Marco themes from wf-external-decoration.
• Default to SSD: Server-side decoration is preferred due to issues with CSD on MATE apps.

❌ No XSettings Manager

Wayland compositors control more of the session than X11 window managers. Wayfire in Wayland handles much of what Marco, mate-session-manager, and mate-settings-daemon do in X11.

📂 Wayfire Configuration Manager (WCM) Recommended

Wayfire Configuration Manager provides a GUI similar to CCSM for Compiz, allowing control over many options managed by the compositor in a Wayland session.