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StaticRocket merged 1 commit into from
Jul 23, 2025
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feat(weston): explain the wayland_display variable #404

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22 changes: 21 additions & 1 deletion source/linux/Foundational_Components/Graphics/Common/Weston.rst
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ If you need to interact with this instance with any other user, then make sure
that user is capable of interacting with the wayland socket. This will be
:file:`wayland-1` under the ``weston`` user's ``XDG_RUNTIME_DIR``,
:file:`/run/user/1000/`. We do not recommend running graphical applications as
root.
root. See :ref:`running-weston-clients` for more information.

To start the systemd service manually, do the following:

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ following will stop it:
It is also possible to start Weston from the native console, exit
Weston by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.

.. _running-weston-clients:

**********************
Running Weston clients
**********************
Expand All @@ -155,6 +157,24 @@ Weston client examples can run from the command line on a serial port
console or an SSH console. After launching Weston, the user should be
able to use the keyboard and the mouse for various controls.

The ``WAYLAND_DISPLAY`` variable informs clients what socket they should
interact with. Typically these sockets are under the ``XDG_RUNTIME_DIR``,
allowing ``WAYLAND_DISPLAY`` to be a file name. The ``WAYLAND_DISPLAY`` variable
can also be a full path to the socket.

Applications stated from terminal sessions running under the Weston process will
have this variable set automatically. If it is not set automatically and the
process is running under the same user as Weston, then you should only have to
set ``WAYLAND_DISPLAY`` to :file:`wayland-{X}`. Here ``X`` is the session
number, which should start at 1 and increment for each simultaneous instance of
Weston started.

Do not set the ``XDG_RUNTIME_DIR`` variable to any other user's runtime
directory. This will cause issues with other applications. If that user can
interact with another users socket, point ``WAYLAND_DISPLAY`` to the full path
of the socket instead. For example ``WAYLAND_DISPLAY=/run/user/1000/wayland-1``
allows an application to interact with user ID 1000's session.

.. code-block:: console

# /usr/bin/weston-flower
Expand Down