GNOME (Mutter)

Stream a GNOME desktop, or keep one up for an always-on host. Install the host first: Ubuntu, Fedora or Arch.

What worksCopy Anchor Link

• Each client gets its own virtual display at its exact mode, created over Mutter's own D-Bus API, so no portal dialog asks for permission.
• Input goes in through Mutter's remote-desktop API, headless included.
• A display scale you set for a client comes back on its next connect.

It needs GNOME 48 or newer on a Wayland session.

host.envCopy Anchor Link

Nothing is required: the host finds Mutter on every connect.

Don't set PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR, WAYLAND_DISPLAY or XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP. A pinned compositor turns off detection and session following, and stale session values point the host at dead sockets. Every other option is in Configuration.

Start the hostCopy Anchor Link

Turn off the lock screen first: a locked session blocks capture, and an always-on host has nobody to unlock it.

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver lock-enabled false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 0

Then, from inside your GNOME session:

systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host
journalctl --user -u punktfunk-host -f    # watch it start and print its fingerprint

Add the drop-in from Restart the host with your desktop, or restarting GNOME Shell leaves the host tied to a Mutter that is gone.

Open the web console to pair a client. To serve Moonlight too, see What the unit starts.

Headless sessionCopy Anchor Link

With no monitor and no one logging in, keep a GNOME session up through GDM autologin:

# /etc/gdm3/custom.conf (Ubuntu, Debian) · /etc/gdm/custom.conf (Fedora, Arch)
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable = true
AutomaticLogin = your-user

Turn off the lock screen as above, enable the host, and let it run without a login:

systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host
sudo loginctl enable-linger "$USER"

Reboot; the host comes up on the autologin session. Full setup: Running as a Service.

Known limitsCopy Anchor Link

• The virtual display streams SDR: Mutter records virtual displays in 8-bit. GNOME 50 can stream a real monitor in HDR to Moonlight clients — see HDR → Linux + GNOME.
• X11 sessions can't stream.

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

Capture fails: "Session creation inhibited"Copy Anchor Link

The session is locked. Unlock it, and turn the lock screen off as in Start the host.

gnome-shell won't start, or the host logs "GPU … not supported by EGL"Copy Anchor Link

The NVIDIA GL/EGL userspace is missing; the base driver package doesn't always pull it in. Install it — on Ubuntu libnvidia-gl-<version> matching your driver; on Fedora and Arch it comes with the driver package — then check the vendor file exists:

ls /usr/share/glvnd/egl_vendor.d/10_nvidia.json

More fixes — black screen, discovery, pairing — in Troubleshooting.