This is a lightweight login/display manager for linux made with ncurses. It is based on linux-pam and systemd and was developped in good old C99. This program was designed to be simple, modular and highly configurable. Ly was made for crazy people. If you're not insane, run away.
Ly tries not to reinvent the wheel and uses linux-utils and xorg-xinit instead of providing heavy, incomplete and outdated implementations. Make sure all the following tools and libraries are available on your distribution before going further:
- make
- a c99 compiler
- systemd
- linux-pam
- ncurses
- tput
- libX11 (required if you wish to use X)
- xorg-xinit (required if you wish to use X)
- xorg-xauth (required if you wish to use X)
- mcookie (required if you wish to use X)
You can now configure Ly by editing "src/config.h". Modify "ly.service" as well if you changed the default tty, then build the executable:
make
Check if it works on the tty you configured (default is tty2). You can also run it in terminal emulators, but desktop environments won't start.
sudo build/ly
Then, install Ly and the systemd service file:
sudo make install
Now enable the systemd service to make it spawn on startup:
sudo systemctl enable ly.service
If you need to switch between ttys after Ly's start you also have to disable getty on Ly's tty to prevent "login" from spawning on top of it:
sudo systemctl disable [email protected]
If messages from other services pops-up over the login prompt, you have to edit the service in order to run it last. In order to do this, simply edit the following file:
/usr/lib/systemd/system/ly.service
Just under the "After getty", add another one with your last-launching service. Example on my computer:
After=tlp.service
Use the up and down arrow keys to change the current field, and the left and right arrow keys to change the target desktop environment while on the desktop field (above the username field).
The name "Ly" is a tribute to the fairy from the game Rayman. Ly was tested by oxodao, who is some seriously awesome dude. (you rock!) I wish to thank ncurses, linux-pam, X11 and systemd developers for not providing anything close to a reference or documentation.