Ly is a lightweight, TUI (ncurses-like) display manager for Linux.

Make sure all the following packages are properly installed and configured before going further:

• a C99 compiler (tested with gcc and tcc)
• a C standard library
• make
• linux-pam
• xorg
• xorg-xinit
• xorg-xauth
• mcookie
• tput
• shutdown

This repository uses submodules, to clone it properly please use

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/cylgom/ly.git

To compile you just need to launch make in the created folder

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 make run

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 pop over the login prompt, edit open the configuration and make sure force_update is enabled

[box_main]
force_update=1

All the configuration takes place in /etc/ly/config.ini. The file is commented, and includes useful defaults.

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 login field).

The numlock and capslock state is printed in the top-right corner. Use the F1 and F2 keys to respectively shutdown and reboot. Take a look at your .xsession if X doesn't start, as it can interfere (this file is launched with X to configure the display properly).

The name "Ly" is a tribute to the fairy from the game Rayman. Ly was tested by oxodao, who is some seriously awesome dude. I wish to thank linux-pam, X11 and systemd developers for not providing anything close to a reference or documentation.