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.
Programs started from the Nix store (the Steam session itself, the
desktop portal) keep /nix busy until logout, so nix-installer's
`systemctl stop nix.mount` failed and the wait for them could never end.
A runtime drop-in (LazyUnmount=yes on nix.mount, in /run, removed again
afterwards) makes that stop detach /nix; the programs keep their open
files until they exit. They are listed for information only, without a
prompt. The re-exec of a bash from the Nix store is no longer needed.
- uninstall: nix-installer's copy outside /nix is made and run as root
(a user-writable copy run by sudo could be swapped); README uninstall
paragraph shortened to one account of what happens when Nix stays.
- session.nix: the restart-check activation after steamFrameUserServices,
so the latter's comment is above it again.
- install.sh: a duplicate `local` in port_listening; comments.
- docs/cleanup.md: the installer internals of --clone (how an existing
clone is recognised, which git) and restart-check (what it compares,
test overrides); README keeps the usage.
- README install paragraph: shorter list of the dashboard patches.
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.
nix-installer uninstall failed at `systemctl stop nix.mount` ("Job
failed") while programs started from the Nix store still ran: a terminal
session's tools, or apps that mapped Home Manager's mime.cache.
- Before nix-installer runs, after Home Manager is gone, uninstall scans
/proc for the user's processes whose exe, cwd, root, an fd or a mapped
file is in /nix, and lists them by name and PID (the shells it was
started from included; itself, its subshells and its curl | bash
pipeline skipped). Close them and press Enter to re-check, or abort;
with --yes or without a terminal it stops: "close these or reboot, then
run uninstall again". Nothing is killed (replaces the old kill prompt).
- nix-installer runs from a copy outside /nix.
- cleanup check H: a fake /proc (STEAM_FRAME_NIX_PROC) with programs from
the store stops before Nix; without them Nix is removed.
Clones your own config repository (git@host:owner/repo, https://...,
github:owner/repo) into ~/nix-config or --dir and installs it like
--flake <dir>. An existing clone of the same repository (any URL form) is
reused and, after asking, pulled with --ff-only; another repository, a
non-clone or a different branch is refused. A failed clone hints at SSH
URLs and gh auth login. Uses SteamOS' git, else Nix's.
Checked against local bare repositories through a logging git.
A fresh install into a running session left the keyboard layout and the
SteamVR dashboard patches (VR pet, the VR keyboard's suggestion strip, ...)
silently off until a reboot: gamescope reads XKB_DEFAULT_* only at its
start, and SteamVR opens its DevTools port (VRWebHelper.DebuggerEnabled)
only at its start. Neither can be applied at runtime.
- install.sh restart-check (run on every switch by session.nix, and by
install at its end): compares the keyboard-layout drop-in with the
running gamescope session's environment and checks whether SteamVR runs
without port 8087; install ends with "Restart once" listing them.
- uninstall: a failing nix-installer uninstall (e.g. /nix busy) no longer
aborts the script before the ~/.config/home-manager link and Home
Manager state are removed; it says to reboot and run uninstall again.
- cleanup check: restart-check on fake cgroup/proc dirs.
The Nix-package launcher example in docs and option examples is now
Signal (pkgs.signal-desktop, desktop ID "signal", sgnl:// and
signalcaptcha:// handlers). The check uses a made-up org.example.App
from a fake package (fake store path), covering the same Exec, action,
MimeType, source and missing-entry cases.
Screenshots: placeholder Steam account IDs in the docs, option example
and check.
The Toon Cat (sources/toon-cat/), the Tuxedo Cat glTF (sources/tuxedo-cat/)
and the Quaternius Shiba Inu and Fox (models/{shiba,fox}/model.glb), each
byte-identical to the previously fetched file and with a LICENSE.md
(author, original URL, licence, changes). The build no longer downloads
them; three.js (preview only) still comes from npm. The baked frames,
model dirs and icons are unchanged.
A SteamVR dashboard patch (vr-pet) drawing a baked 3D pet next to the
windows: the Toon Cat in five coats, a Shiba Inu, a Fox and a Dachshund,
plus models from steamFrame.pet.extraModels. It walks around, follows,
sits, lies and sleeps, can be picked up by its grip bar, petted and
switched in its menu; its spot, pose and model are saved state.
Also the vr-pet command, "Pet" in the "+" menu with the current model's
icon (steam-frame-nix-pet-icon), the flake outputs pet-models,
pet-icons and pet-preview, and the check pet. A built-in model with
"private": true fails evaluation; private models belong in extraModels.
<runtimeDir>/steam-frame-nix/vr-pet: icon.png when it links to a
*-vr-pet-icons store icon, its empty .lock and stray .icon.tmp.* links,
then the directory; kept by --orphans --keep pet. The empty runtime
directory now also goes with --orphans.
The controller bridge reads the poses with setTimeout instead of a fixed
11 ms interval: the next read after (distance - 10 cm) / 2.5 m/s, 11-250 ms,
the distance being the nearest tip's to the keyboard's rect plus a margin,
so a hand up to 2.5 m/s is read within 10 cm before it reaches the surface
(the tracker's crossing and 8 cm jump guard see 11 ms steps as before).
Full rate during a demand or with a pulled trigger. Without touch typing
(controllers.continuous, set by vr-keyboard-touch) no reads while the
keyboard is shown until a swipe demands them; a demand starting reads at
once. Bridge VERSION 6. Tests with a fake clock: bridge.test.mjs.
find.keyboardPopup() (finders.js VERSION 3) replaces the same
g_PopupManager lookup in the swipe, extra keys and touch typing patches
(VERSIONs 29, 24, 4). hub.js keeps its own: it gets no finder library.
Every executionContextCreated (Runtime.enable alone reports each existing
context) started its own resync timer; one debounced timer now, as the
injectors do.
textmodel's lastReset (the patch logs the reason itself), __sfuiSwipe.model,
corrector's distance/fold and the decoder's N/W/cost/resample exports were
read by nothing (patch, tests, replay script).
Its 0.5 s poll (a SharedJSContext timer) kept running until the next
injection and could publish a hidden strip with its own sequence numbers
over the new popup's, so a pick on the panel was dropped as stale. The
poll now detaches it once the popup's document is gone.
VRKBD_VERBOSE and VRKBD_DISPLAY were undocumented; the extra keys section
gets a Debugging line like the others. That the routing is harmless on
other keymaps was said twice; now once, under Layouts.
A CDP call sent after the socket closed (e.g. Steam restarting between
Runtime.enable and the first inject) waited forever, so the helper hung
instead of reconnecting. Such calls now resolve empty at once.
down:/up: were checked with MODKEY[arg], which inherited names like
constructor or toString pass (xdotool then got a junk key name). The check
is now allowedMod() in allowlist.mjs, covered by its test.
The attach handler set the 15 s interval after its awaits even when the
socket had closed meanwhile (onclose already ran), leaking a timer per
such session. Also documents the optional stateDir config key.
- docs/window-curvature.md holds the full contract (now also: the next
press starts at 1x, return values, a drag keeps its value, neither side
restores the other's state); the patch headers of window-curvature and
frame-controls point to it and keep only their own side.
- frame-controls header: the localStorage history points to
docs/ui-patches.md#persistent-state.
Comments only, no VERSION bumps.
The Float action's import alias (l.yWq) and the frame controls' local
names (p, v) change with every SteamVR build and would warn after each
update; match the stable parts only.
The patch list, keyring summary, triggers and icon fallback history are
in docs/launchers.md, docs/launcher-menu.md and next to the code they
describe.
steamFrameUserServices exported XDG_RUNTIME_DIR and DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
into the rest of the activation script; a subshell keeps them to its
systemctl calls.
- gesture-input.js: drop the unused mode getter and release().
- relay.mjs: both sides have a binding; no condition.
- hub.js: the frame cadence is documented once (bridge-patch.js); errors
listed.
- docs: the bridge's idle cost and "one word at a time" stated once;
twoHanded's README row points to the docs; rewrapped lines.
The TICK_MS loop ran (and returned at once) at ~90 Hz all the time; it now
runs only while SteamVR shows the keyboard, started and stopped by the
250 ms poll. The pose query's 1 s timeout timer is cleared once the query
settles. Frames are unchanged.
keyboard.vr.functionKeys.enable (default off): while AltGr (Fn on layouts
without AltGr) is one-shot, locked or held, the strip shows F1-F12 instead
of the suggestions. A tap types the extra key VKX_F<n>, which the extra
keys' patch presses with xdotool together with the active Ctrl/Alt/Shift
(Alt+F4, Ctrl+F5) and releases the toggles; the text model resets, like
for Esc. The suggestions are kept as they are meanwhile, so when AltGr goes
off the strip shows the same items and selection again.
- vr-keyboard/function-keys.js: what the strip shows, the F-key keys.
- patch.js (VERSION 27): the strip's view, F-key picks, AltGr changes via
a componentDidUpdate on the keyboard instance (and the poll).
- Allowlist: F1-F12 with any modifiers; Enter still refused.
- relay.mjs: up to 12 strip items.
- Assertions: needs keyboard.vr.enable, extraKeys.enable and a strip
position "above"/"below" ("inside" would hide the AltGr number row).
- Tests: function-keys.test.mjs (switching and restoring, keys against
the allowlist, text model), allowlist F-key cases.
With both lasers on the keyboard SteamVR forwards per poll only one laser's
movement, so the pressing one may get no touchmoves and its swipe became a
tap. keyboard.vr.swipe.twoHanded (default on; turns on the controller
bridge): a press is attributed to the hand whose laser hit is nearest to it
(within 30 px, the trigger as a tiebreak; without recent frames the first
frame after the press decides, within 60 px). The path comes from runs of
one source: the touch's own moves while they flow, that hand's laser hit
per bridge frame once they pause for 60 ms, touchmoves again if frames
pause. A touchend disagreeing with the laser during a bridge run ends at
the laser. Touchmoves on the other hand's laser move the attribution.
Without fresh frames: touch events only, as before. A second press during
a swipe stays Steam's tap (one text field, one word at a time).
The bridge sends full rate only on demand now: hub.js demand(ms) goes
back through the relay (CDP binding __sfuiCtlIn) to systemui's
__sfuiCtl.demand; the swipe patch asks from the press to the release.
Tests: gesture-input with the two-controller recording and synthetic bridge
frames (a pressing hand without touchmoves, attribution with both lasers on
the keyboard, a stale bridge, frames stopping mid-swipe, re-attribution,
interleaved hover and presses); hub demand.
Steam's UpdateTouchState counts the event's `touches` per key: that count
is the pressed highlight (rgLayoutTouchCount -> Touched) and where the long
press (Backspace repeat, accents) starts. The touch-start event left the
new touch out of `touches`, like a touchend; now it is in, as in a DOM
touchstart (tracker.js touchEvent, with a test against a model of Steam's
handlers).
The relay no longer enables the Runtime domain on systemui (bindings work
without it; it streamed the page's console and context events). Full-rate
frames only while a tip is within 10 cm of the keyboard or a trigger is
pulled (not for a laser resting on it); idle frames every 1 s instead of
250 ms. Nothing while the keyboard is hidden.
keyboard.vr.touchTyping (off by default): a key is pressed when a
controller's tip, where SteamVR's laser starts (/pose/tip: the device pose
times the render model's "tip" component), passes through it from the
front; released when pulled back 1 cm, re-armed 5 mm in front. Both hands,
also at once. Keys go through the keyboard's own HandleTouchStart /
HandleTouchEnd, like a laser press (Backspace repeats while held). Options
depth (cm) and haptics.
The geometry lives in a reusable controller bridge (vr-keyboard-controllers,
internal option): a systemui patch reads the keyboard's pose with SteamVR's
SGQueryService (an empty transform of ours in the keyboard's mount) and both
controllers' poses, and streams per hand the tip, the laser's hit on the
keyboard and the trigger (~90 Hz while relevant) through the
vr-keyboard-controllers-relay service to __sfuiControllers in Steam's
SharedJSContext. Tests: flake checks vr-keyboard-controllers and
vr-keyboard-touch.
With both controllers on the keyboard, the idle one's hover (mouse events,
pointerId 1) arrived during the other's press and went into the swipe path
("tust" for "test"). A gesture now belongs to the contact that started it
(touch identifier, pointerId or mouse; gesture-input.js): other contacts'
moves, releases and cancels are ignored, a second press meanwhile stays
Steam's tap. Test with a recorded two-controller swipe.
Steam keeps VR screenshots (Steam button + trigger) in
~/.local/share/Steam/userdata/<account ID>/760/remote/250820/screenshots,
where Dolphin, Gwenview and the file pickers don't look.
screenshots (module screenshots, opt-in) links ~/Pictures/<name> (default
"SteamVR Screenshots") there. The account ID comes from steamUserId, or,
unset, at runtime: the Home Manager link points to
<runtimeDir>/steam-frame-nix/screenshots (tmpfs), which the oneshot user
service steam-frame-nix-screenshots points to the account last logged in
(loginusers.vdf MostRecent, else latest timestamp, else the only userdata
folder), on switch, at login and when loginusers.vdf or userdata changes.
install.sh cleanup knows the tmpfs link (--keep screenshots while used).
Flake checks: account detection on fake Steam dirs; cleanup of the link.
Steam sends Tab as the text "\t" and drops Shift. With Shift, Tab now
goes to the xdotool helper (shift+Tab, ISO_Left_Tab on any keymap); the
suggestions text model resets on it like on Shift+arrows. The helper's
allowlist moves to allowlist.mjs with a test (flake check
vr-keyboard-extra-keys).
Neither Valve backend (gamescope, holo) implements FileChooser, so sandboxed
apps fell back to an in-sandbox dialog without the home dir (e.g. Element's
Attachments). session.portalFix.fileChooser (on) links kde.portal into the
Steam session's portal dir and selects kde for FileChooser;
xdg-desktop-portal-kde is D-Bus activated with DISPLAY=:0. Flake check
for the portal config.
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.
- firefox: the prefs.js patterns built once; the extension link condition
without the redundant desktopFix (it implies a pref).
- install.sh steamvr-debugger-arm: no second copy of the old-marker
migration (cleanup, run on every switch before the arm unit exists,
already does it).
- steam-ui-patches: shorter state option description; lib's description
mentions extraArgs.
- README: uiPatches.patches fields in the options table (moved from
docs/ui-patches.md); docs/ui-patches.md: the finder helpers;
docs/steamvr-debugger.md: repeated sentences removed.
- finders.js (VERSION 2): resolvePatch (resolveAll or the "signature not
found, ... left unpatched" status), ensureStyle and logger, used by the
patches instead of their own copies.
- hooks.js (VERSION 2) no longer unwinds per-patch wrappers of old patch
versions; dashboard-windows and steam-close-button drop their handling of
versions <= 2 / <= 6 (in-page only, gone with any SteamVR restart).
- VERSIONs: dashboard-windows 4, steam-close-button 9, window-curvature 21,
frame-controls 7, steam-keyboard-patch 22, launcher-menu grid 7,
pinned-desktop 4, show-all 2.
- session.services.stop: stop only units that are active; stopping a unit
that isn't loaded printed "Failed to stop" on every switch (by default
for steam-ui-patches, steam-keyboard-patch and vr-keyboard-relay).
- keyring: a scheme in the schemeHandlers of two apps is an assertion
instead of one app silently winning.
- vr-keyboard-replay.mjs: recorded paths have no time; label them by index.
- webpack-modules.mjs: skip page files that are missing instead of throwing.
On SIGTERM the periodic (and debounced) re-injection of injector.mjs and
helper.mjs could still run while or after the unpatch was evaluated, leaving
the page patched after the service was gone (e.g. a feature just turned off).
helper.mjs also gets a timeout on /json/list, like the injector.
Pierre Kisters