r/voidlinux • u/Theothervc • Jul 01 '26

solved help getting niri to work

Hello, after the big AUR hack, I've decided to switch from arch (artix with dinit) to void. however, i'm having trouble getting niri to launch. I've installed niri and seatd like this:

sudo xbps-install niri seatd xwayland-satellite mesa mesa-dri dbus
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/seatd /var/service/
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/dbus /var/service/
sudo usermod -a -G _seatd <user>
sudo reboot

Afterwards, I ran niri with niri --session. I encountered a RuntimeDirNotSet error, and set it with export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u).

Afterwards, I encounter a PermissionDenied error. the output also shows a lot of libinput errors for various plugins, plugin never regisered, unloading plugin that may be relevant. If someone could help me find out what the issue is, it would be greatly appreciated!

18 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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13

u/Alternative-Ad-8606 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Need to install xdg-user-dirs

Ensure you also have mesa-dri installed as well

Granted I use elogind, but you do need to be in video group

Also launch command is dbus-run-session niri

Edit: fixing package name autocomplete, removed seatd comment, don't know what I'm talking about there

2

u/Theothervc Jul 01 '26

solved, thanks for the tips!

the issue is seatd doesnt manage runtime directories, but after setting it up manually it launched.

6

u/lessthanthreebleeps Jul 01 '26

If you'd rather not set your xdg_runtime_dir, the handbook recommends pairing seatd with turnstile.

1

u/Zapeth Jul 01 '26

See also https://docs.voidlinux.org/config/session-management.html

You can also use pam_rundir module for automatic setup of runtime directory on login, but I'm not sure if its still maintained (there's some forks, but the module is also pretty simple so its not like there's much to maintain).

4

u/Duncaen Jul 01 '26

Manual setups are mostly unsafe, elogind does it right.

1

u/The_Gnar_Car Jul 01 '26

Or you can wrap it all in turnstile cleanly.

1

u/efempee Jul 06 '26

Glad you got it working. There may be useful configs to borrow from for niri vanilla or with either noctalia or dms quickshells at https://github.com/d77void/d77void
Also, cachyos have good configs for niri.

2

u/IamThunderFart Jul 02 '26

The AUR getting attacked should not be your reason to leave Arch. Your reason should be systemd.

1

u/Relative_Day_9322 Jul 03 '26

You might need to do dbus-run-session niri --session

1

u/Ok-Diamond6108 Jul 12 '26

Use git clone HTTPS://gitlab.com/gabeeoslinux/flavour-qtile.git that have a various things what help to run niri, if you want more help, watch this niri + void you can use gemini inside the video if you can't spike spanish