targets.genericLinux.gpu would ask for a root setup (a tmpfiles.d link
under /etc) for drivers that Nix-built GUI apps need and steam-frame-nix
doesn't; news.display = "silent" drops the unread news notice on each
switch (home-manager news still lists them).
It is built from source, which makes the first switch long. The template
lists it as a commented option; status shows clipboard-sync only while it
runs or its autostart link exists.
- The nix.mount drop-in is also removed when the uninstall fails or is
interrupted (exit trap), and when daemon-reload failed after writing it.
- --dir with a trailing slash no longer puts the temporary clone inside
the directory it replaces.
- The template's repository uses Nix's git when SteamOS has none, so the
template marker exists there too (--clone needs it).
- A failed Nix uninstall during the reinstall of a broken Nix says so.
- clone_config: one branch per case; shorter comments, help and docs.
- Tests: an interrupted uninstall, --dir with a trailing slash; a
redundant "used as it is" case dropped.
The template now enables git (SteamOS's own, package = null; Home
Manager writes its config) with the GitHub CLI's credential helper for
github.com and `store` (~/.git-credentials) for other hosts.
Without a Home Manager configuration, `install --clone` first creates
and activates the template in the target directory, then clones next to
it with git's helpers and GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 (never a password
prompt). If that fails with a terminal, it offers `gh auth login` and
retries once; otherwise the template stays active and the message says
how to continue. After the clone the template is removed, the clone
takes its place and Home Manager switches to it.
Only a missing (or empty) target or the untouched template is cloned
into: create_config marks its configuration with the hash of its files
in .git/steam-frame-nix-template. Anything else there is used as it is,
so a rerun continues where a run stopped (after a failed switch it just
switches); Nix and the template switch (helpers present) are skipped
when already done. The origin comparison and the pull are gone.
Examples showed specific apps as if the repository installed or
configured them.
- Docs, README, template and option examples: the Signal Flatpak
(org.signal.Signal, sgnl:// and signalcaptcha://) and a made-up
org.example.App instead of the previous chat and remote-desktop apps;
no install lines (the app is installed by the user, as noted).
- Portal fix: the file-dialog symptom phrased generically.
- Launcher check: made-up Flatpak entries org.example.Chat (Electron,
--file-forwarding @@u %U @@, an action, an SSO scheme) and
org.example.Remote (Qt, -qwindowtitle %c @@u %u @@, localized keys)
replace the copied ones; Firefox, gedit and Jellyfin stay.
docs/pet.md (usage, configuration, how it works), docs/pet-models.md
(the model spec), the README's feature line, options, changes outside
Nix and Credits (Toon Cat FREE and Tuxedo Cat, CC-BY 4.0; Quaternius
Shiba Inu and Fox, CC0), the cleanup artifact, the layout and runtime
names, and the template.
SteamOS only ships /etc/xdg/menus/plasma-applications.menu; the nested
desktop sets XDG_MENU_PREFIX=plasma-, the Steam session doesn't, so KDE
apps started there (Dolphin from the "+" menu) built an empty app
database: "no installed application can open" every file.
session.applicationsMenu (module applications-menu, on by default) links
~/.config/menus/applications.menu to Plasma's menu. Flake check: the link
is generated by default and absent when disabled.
steamFrame.launchers.<desktop ID> takes the app's own entry (a Flatpak's
export, a Nix package's or a host file) and rewrites only its command lines
(hostEnv, env, flatpakArgs, args, wrappers) and the keys asked for
(mimeTypes, defaultFor, settings), so name, icon, translations and actions
stay the app's and follow its updates.
- Package entries are rewritten at build time; Flatpak/host file entries at
runtime by steam-frame-nix-launchers into
<session.runtimeDir>/steam-frame-nix/applications (tmpfs), on switch, at
login and when Flatpak installs/updates apps (path unit); the Home Manager
links point there.
- keyring.{enable,electron} replaces steamFrame.keyring.{flatpaks,programs}
(clean break: the old options fail with the new form).
- Firefox's launcher is the Flatpak's entry with the profile wrapper in
front (no --profile for the profile manager); Jellyfin's hardware
decoding sets flatpakArgs and env.
- cleanup --all removes the tmpfs entries.
- Check on copies of the real Element, KRDC, Firefox, gedit, Jellyfin and
Claude entries, quoting and generator behaviour.
- keyring.flatpaks / keyring.programs: desktop entries shadowing an app's
own that run it on the outer bus (one kwalletd6 for both sessions), with
the wallet's D-Bus names as `flatpak run --talk-name` options (no Flatpak
overrides), --password-store=kwallet6 for Electron, and login callback
schemes as default + recommended handlers.
- firefox.defaultBrowser: the launcher as default for http, https and
text/html.
- docker: rootless dockerd as a user service, socket in the outer runtime
dir, CLI with DOCKER_HOST for both sessions.
- Intro: no longer claims that everything reverts by activating an older
generation; points to the exceptions and steam-frame-nix-cleanup.
- "Changes outside Nix (exceptions)": path, feature, lifetime, removed by
(the SteamVR debugger key while SteamVR runs, its .armed file, the
runtime drop-in and restore script, the dashboard patches' saved state,
hicolor's mtime); what steam-frame-nix-cleanup does and what of older
versions it removes; what exists only while running (UI patches,
clipboard-sync, the Firefox desktop user.js, Jellyfin's flatpak run
options); what install.sh sets up; app data that stays yours.
- Rollback: `cleanup --all` (curl or nix run) after rolling back to a
generation without steam-frame-nix or older than the cleanup.
- Uninstall: what install.sh uninstall does; dropping steam-frame-nix from
a kept configuration (cleanup --all first, or `uninstall = true;`).
- Per-module notes and options: icon fallbacks, SteamVR debugger, Firefox,
Jellyfin; template comment for iconFallbacks.
prefs and vrFullscreenFix become default prefs (pref()) in
defaults/pref/steam-frame-nix.js of /app/etc/firefox, the mount point of
the org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig extension point. home-manager
provides the extension as a user "unmaintained extension" link
($XDG_DATA_HOME/flatpak/extension/<id>/aarch64/stable) to a store dir,
which Flatpak mounts itself: the sandbox doesn't see /nix. Default prefs
are never written to prefs.js, so removing one leaves nothing behind.
The desktop profile undoes the fullscreen fix with a user.js linked to
/app/etc/firefox/steam-frame-nix-desktop-user.js. The sync (on switch,
and before each launch) removes the user.js copies and store links of
older versions and takes their values out of prefs.js, for each profile
not in use (Firefox holds .parentlock open).
Jellyfin Desktop hard-sets mpv's hwdec=auto-copy, whose probe list leaves
out V4L2 M2M, and the Flatpak can't see the Frame's V4L2 decoder. An
LD_PRELOAD shim (preloaded straight from the store, only that path exposed
read-only) rewrites hwdec to v4l2m2m-copy,auto-copy; devices=all makes the
decoder visible. Overrides via nix-flatpak, or a home-manager-owned override
file without it.
steamFrame.dashboard.frameControls: a long press (longPressMs, default
1.5 s; a ring shows the progress from half of it) on a control under a
dashboard window or on a More Options (three-dot) menu row opens a popup
with "Show in bar", which moves that control between the window's bottom
bar and the menu, for all windows. Placement is keyed by the control's
action icon, kept in the page and its localStorage (survives SteamVR
restarts); inBar / inMenu set defaults. floatInTheater gives theater
windows the Float control back.
The popup is a scene-graph panel of its own, attached to the pressed
button's (or the menu's) anchor like SteamVR's tooltips and menu, so the
bar and menu panels don't change; the menu's focus auto-close is held back
while its popup is open. Coordinates with window-curvature through its
sfui-curv-* contract. Lookups by signature ("frame-controls" in
lib/signatures.json, check-only anchors for the rest).
Without Steam's Developer Mode the "+" menu hides konsole, systemsettings,
dolphin, plasma-discover, vlc and a few more by executable name. The patch
empties only that list's iterator, leaving the setting itself untouched.
steamFrame.dashboard.windowCurvature: the "Toggle Curvature" row of a
window's More Options menu becomes a control (click: curved -> flat,
flat -> stock; drag up/down with the laser: curvature relative to
SteamVR's stock curve, snapping to 0 and 1). The patch moves each frame's
curvature-origin node to stock distance / value in outgoing scene graphs;
per-window values live in the systemui page. Lookups by signature
("window-curvature" in signatures.json, incl. check-only anchors).
Shared method hooks (lib/hooks.js, passed by mkPatch as 4th argument):
one SendMessage wrapper for dashboard-windows (now VERSION 3) and
window-curvature instead of a chain of per-patch wrappers; legacy
wrappers on top are unwound.
steamFrame.dashboard.steamCloseButton.enable (default false) gives the
SteamVR dashboard's main Steam window a close button: it docks the window
back into the dashboard, then switches to the previously active window or,
with none, leaves just the dashboard bar. Bar-only survives dashboard
reopens and patch restarts (state in window.__sfuiSteamCloseState, taken
over from the earlier personal version 4 of this patch); the stock
"no active frame -> show Steam" paths are suppressed while it lasts.
MobX, the dock-location enum and the closing component class are found by
signature; check-only signatures cover the dashboard internals it uses.
launcherMenu.grid = { enable; columns; maxRows; } restyles the "+" menu's
programs section as a grid of tiles (icon, name below): Steam's own items
stay in place, maxRows limits the visible rows, and Steam's scroll fade is
recomputed so it only shows where there is more to scroll. The pinned
Desktop row is slim and centred in tile mode.
launcherMenu.iconFallbacks (default utilities-terminal, preferences-system)
installs hicolor copies of Breeze app icons, since Steam resolves program
icons only in hicolor; Konsole and KDE System Settings had none.
The checker gains checkOnly "stylesheet" signatures (matched against the
bundle's CSS files) to cover the scroll fade's gradient; launcher-menu-grid
signatures cover the section keys and the ScrollFade classes.
dashboard-windows: steamFrame.dashboard.windowMaxScale and
windowDistance.{world,theater,dashboard}.{min,max}, one runtime patch of the
SteamVR dashboard (systemui, 127.0.0.1:8087) that rewrites
frame-resize-scale-max and grab min/max-distance in the scene graph sent to
vrcompositor, then asks for one resend so changes apply immediately.
Registered only when an option is set. The mailbox class and the
scene-graph scheduler are found by signature (mkPatch, "dashboard-windows"
in lib/signatures.json, bundle vrwebui-systemui), so
scripts/check-signatures.mjs checks them offline too.
steamvr-debugger: steamFrame.steamvrDebugger.enable, defaulting to true when
a UI patch uses port 8087; merges VRWebHelper.DebuggerEnabled into
steamvr.vrsettings before every SteamVR start, and reverts it (only if it
set it) when turned off.
Stock, clicking a program in the VR dashboard's "+" menu only calls
SteamClient.Apps.LaunchNonSteamApp; the menu stays open until the
program's window appears, so users click again and launch it twice.
New launch/ patch (SharedJSContext) wraps LaunchNonSteamApp, whose only
caller is this menu: closeOnLaunch closes the menu through the "+" bar
button's own popup handle right after a launch; launchDebounce ignores
repeated launches of the same command line within N seconds (logged to
the steam-ui-patches journal). Both opt-in, like the other launcherMenu
options.
steamFrame.uiPatches.patches registers JS patches that the
steam-ui-patches user service keeps injected into Steam's (or SteamVR's)
web UI over the local CEF DevTools ports and reverts when it stops.
steamFrame.launcherMenu uses it for the VR "+" menu: sort = true sorts
the programs by name; pinDesktop = "top" / "bottom" pins Desktop above or
below the scrolling list.
install.sh installs Nix (nix-installer, steam-deck planner, flakes
enabled) and activates a Home Manager configuration, creating one from
the new flake template if there is none; uninstall stops Home Manager's
user services, runs home-manager uninstall and removes Nix and per-user
leftovers; status shows the current state. Works piped from curl.
Pierre Kisters