Hypr to Cosmic GPT - Deprecated

🧭 Migration: ML4W Hyprland → COSMIC Wayland (GDM, Arch Linux)

✅ Goal

Switch from ML4W Hyprland (SDDM) to a stable COSMIC desktop running Wayland, with clean login and no screen drift.

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🧱 Environment Recap

Layer	Final State	Notes
Display Manager	GDM	Clean separation between greeter & user session.
Session File	/usr/share/wayland-sessions/cosmic-manual.desktop	Launches COSMIC directly via dbus-run-session cosmic-session.
User Config	/var/lib/AccountsService/users/lwoodard	Set to XSession=cosmic-manual.
Compositor	cosmic-comp (reset)	Parallax & camera motion disabled.
Hyprland / ML4W	Still installed	Selectable manually via GDM gear.

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🪜 Final Working Procedure

1️⃣ Install and activate GDM

sudo pacman -S --needed gdm xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
sudo systemctl disable sddm
sudo systemctl enable --now gdm

2️⃣ Create a manual COSMIC session

sudo tee /usr/share/wayland-sessions/cosmic-manual.desktop >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Name=COSMIC (manual Wayland)
Comment=Run COSMIC in a clean dbus-run-session
Type=Application
TryExec=/usr/bin/cosmic-session
Exec=/usr/bin/env XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session cosmic-session
EOF

3️⃣ Make GDM use it by default

sudo tee /etc/gdm/custom.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[daemon]
WaylandEnable=true
DefaultSession=cosmic-manual.desktop
EOF

4️⃣ Register it for the user (AccountsService)

echo -e "[User]\nXSession=cosmic-manual" | sudo tee /var/lib/AccountsService/users/$USER >/dev/null
sudo chown root:root /var/lib/AccountsService/users/$USER
sudo chmod 644 /var/lib/AccountsService/users/$USER

5️⃣ Remove per-user overrides and restart GDM

rm -f ~/.dmrc
sudo systemctl restart accounts-daemon
sudo systemctl restart gdm

🟢 Result: GDM logs directly into COSMIC Wayland.

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🧹 Compositor Fix (“floating screen” bug)

Reset and disable camera/parallax

pkill -9 cosmic-comp
rm -f ~/.config/cosmic/cosmic-comp.toml
/usr/bin/cosmic-comp --reset-settings &
 
mkdir -p ~/.config/cosmic
cat > ~/.config/cosmic/cosmic-comp.toml <<'EOF'
[compositor]
enable_head_tracking = false
enable_parallax = false
camera_movement = false
EOF
 
nohup /usr/bin/cosmic-comp >/dev/null 2>&1 &

🟢 Check:
Move your mouse — the desktop and panels should remain still.

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🔍 Verification Checklist

Check	Command	Expected Output
Current desktop	echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP	COSMIC
Session type	echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE	wayland
Compositor active	pgrep cosmic-comp	PID shown
Parallax off	Inspect ~/.config/cosmic/cosmic-comp.toml	All false
GDM session file	cat /etc/gdm/custom.conf	DefaultSession=cosmic-manual.desktop

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🔁 Optional – Switch Back to Hyprland

To restore ML4W Hyprland as default:

sudo sed -i 's/cosmic-manual.desktop/hyprland.desktop/' /etc/gdm/custom.conf
echo -e "[User]\nXSession=hyprland" | sudo tee /var/lib/AccountsService/users/$USER >/dev/null
sudo systemctl restart gdm

Hyprland will appear normally under the GDM gear menu.

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🧩 Summary

What worked:

• Switched display manager → GDM
• Created manual COSMIC session with dbus-run-session
• Updated AccountsService + GDM defaults
• Reset cosmic-comp config to disable motion

Result:
→ Boots cleanly into COSMIC Wayland
→ No Hyprlock interference
→ No screen drift or parallax
→ Still able to launch Hyprland manually when desired

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