Arch Linux

cristovaozr

Member

Registered: 2020-10-08

Posts: 4

[SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

Hello! This is the first time I post here. I hope to have posted on the correct forum.

Since I updated to GNOME 3.38 GDM (I think) overwrites /etc/gdm/custom.conf and sets WaylandEnable=false. So the next time I log in, GNOME Shell starts as a X11 session. So I have to reset this value and restart GDM. I have another computer with GNOME 3.38 and this does not happen.

I've been trying to find what and why this is happening. I don't think this is a bug. At least it doesn't seems to be a bug but everytime I restart the computer this happens.

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by cristovaozr (2020-10-10 17:01:39)

Pierrre

Member

Registered: 2014-10-27

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

I've got exactly the same problem.

charlie

Member

Registered: 2013-09-18

Posts: 57

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

Might be related: It also changes some of the permissions inside the /var/lib/gdm folder as seen when reinstalling gdm:

Reinstal gdm while removing the /var/lib/gdm directory:

pacman -R gdm
rm -rf /var/lib/gdm
pacman -S gdm

This produces no warning.

Then uninstall and reinstall again but this time not removing the directory yields a permission warning:

pacman -R gdm
pacman -S gdm

One gets something like:

warning: directory permissions differ on /var/lib/gdm/.config/pulse/
filesystem: 700  package: 755

Last edited by charlie (2020-10-09 09:34:59)

CarbonChauvinist

Member

Registered: 2012-06-16

Posts: 413

Website

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

Assuming all reporting this issue are using proprietary NVIDIA drivers?

As usual, the best place to check first is the wiki

Wayland and the proprietary NVIDIA driver
GDM doesn't work well in Wayland mode with the proprietary NVIDIA driver. When using this driver, GDM will use Xorg instead.[7]

To force-enable Wayland, disable the udev rule responsible for disabling Wayland in GDM:

# ln -s /dev/null /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/61-gdm.rules

---

"the wind-blown way, wanna win? don't play"

charlie

Member

Registered: 2013-09-18

Posts: 57

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

Every time gdm/x tries to use my nvidia card it fails and login screen doesn't even show. It's too much work to try solve that problem as I need a working computer now (I tried though, but couldn't figure out what to do or what was wrong). It's running fine on Wayland (and maybe without the full power of the graphic card but I don't really care). So I guess I'll deactivate the udev rule.

Wouldn't just commenting the line

DRIVER=="nvidia", RUN+="/usr/lib/gdm-disable-wayland"

be enough?

Last edited by charlie (2020-10-09 13:29:51)

cristovaozr

Member

Registered: 2020-10-08

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

I have a NVIDIA discrete graphics card on my notebook but I don't use it during normal usage (to save power). I indeed have the proprietary graphics drivers installed - nouveau drivers would panic the kernel.

I'll try disabling the udev rule and check if the problem disapears. I generally check the wiki for hints and I assumed that this would not happen if using Intel's video driver.

Thanks in advance. As soon as the test concludes I'll mark this thread as solved!

liewkj

Member

Registered: 2019-07-08

Posts: 210

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

If you had wanted Wayland, then you shouldn't have used NVIDIA GPUs. Use AMD or Intel.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,657

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

Since wayland (afaik still) doesn't support optimus setups nor nvidia eglstreams (at least the gnome implementation is "beta" unless they completely removed it by now) if one feels negatively affected by this rule, one probably wants to seek to disable the dedicated GPU in the BIOS/UEFI (which will also raise chances of an output redirection on that layer, ie. the ability to use external outputs)

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

cristovaozr

Member

Registered: 2020-10-08

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED]GDM /etc/gdm/custom.conf setting WaylandEnable=false everytime

If you had wanted Wayland, then you shouldn't have used NVIDIA GPUs. Use AMD or Intel.

I'm using Intel GPU. It so happens that my notebook has both Intel and NVIDIA GPUs. I have Optumus/Bumblebee enabled but rarely use them.

Anyway! It seems that my problem is gone now. Thanks for all your help!