[SOLVED] Start compton as systemd service

Roken · 2016-11-13 08:24:51

Hi folks,

I have a problem starting compton as a systemd service. The service file is

[Unit]
Description=Compositing manager
After=dbus.service
Requires=dbus.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/compton --backend glx --paint-on-overlay --vsync opengl-swc
Environment=DISPLAY=:0

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

and the error

● compton.service - Compositing manager
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/compton.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2016-11-13 08:20:18 GMT; 2s ago
  Process: 24252 ExecStart=/usr/bin/compton --backend glx --paint-on-overlay --vsync opengl-swc (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 24252 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Nov 13 08:20:18 Tex systemd[1]: Started Compositing manager.
Nov 13 08:20:18 Tex compton[24252]: No protocol specified
Nov 13 08:20:18 Tex compton[24252]: session_init(): Can't open display.
Nov 13 08:20:18 Tex systemd[1]: compton.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 13 08:20:18 Tex systemd[1]: compton.service: Unit entered failed state.
Nov 13 08:20:18 Tex systemd[1]: compton.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

I can start it manually, though I still assume it's a permissions error. Any idea where to look?

Last edited by Roken (2016-11-13 13:09:49)

Trilby · 2016-11-13 12:54:29

Is compton a wayland compositor, I thought compton was just for X?

In either case, is this a user service, or a system service? It looks like the latter as you've put it in multiuser target.

If compton is a wayland compositor now, then just making this a user service should work.

You say you can start compton manually - really, from a tty without X?

EDIT: the DISPLAY environment variable seems to indicate this is for X.

Roken · 2016-11-13 12:57:55

It's for X, and I can start it from a regular xterminal without issue. It only fails when started as a service. Started from /etc/systemd/system/ and multi-user.target

Trilby · 2016-11-13 13:04:24

Well there you go.

It needs to be started as a regular user while X is running. Making a system-level service leads to it being run as root without X started.

Why are you trying to make this into a systemd service anyways? You should start your comptom in your xinitrc.

Roken · 2016-11-13 13:09:27

I tried that as well, it wouldn't auto start. Having said that, I went back to xfce's session and startup and altered the launch to daemonize it (it wasn't before, and used to work this way), and that's got it auto starting again. I'll mark as SOLVED.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-11-13 08:24:51

[SOLVED] Start compton as systemd service

#2 2016-11-13 12:54:29

Re: [SOLVED] Start compton as systemd service

#3 2016-11-13 12:57:55

Re: [SOLVED] Start compton as systemd service

#4 2016-11-13 13:04:24

Re: [SOLVED] Start compton as systemd service

#5 2016-11-13 13:09:27

Re: [SOLVED] Start compton as systemd service

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