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otter-greeter is the display manager. It runs before your user compositor session starts.

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Components

The greeter UI runs on Hyprland for the login screen only. Your session compositor is separate.

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Installation

After pikman install otter-shell, enable the systemd service:
The package installs:
  • /etc/otter-shell/otter-greeter.conf
  • /etc/otter-shell/otter-greeter-hyprland.conf
  • /etc/pam.d/otter-greeter
  • /etc/pam.d/otter-greeter-autologin
  • /usr/lib/systemd/system/otter-greeter.service
Package install creates a dedicated system user named otter-greeter.

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Configuration

Main config: /etc/otter-shell/otter-greeter.conf The greeter discovers Wayland sessions from configured .desktop directories. X11 sessions are ignored.

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Authentication

  • PAM handles password authentication
  • Fingerprint auth is PAM-controlled (via fprintd when configured)
  • Autologin runs once per daemon process per seat; failure falls back to interactive login
  • Expired-password flows use PAM conversation prompts on the auth surface
  • User listing prefers AccountsService; falls back to /etc/passwd for normal login users

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Dependencies

otter-greeter depends on otter-wallpaper (same version), Hyprland (greeter compositor only), accountsservice, and adduser.