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Build Instructions: Windows Modern Boot Greeter (Plasma Login Manager)

The boot greeter is a patched build of plasma-login-manager (vendored as a git submodule at third_party/plasma-login-manager/, branch Plasma/6.6). A single patch (patches/main-cpp.patch) redirects the greeter to load our Main.qml from the dark look-and-feel's contents/lockscreen/ instead of the bundled qrc resource.

Because it is a compiled C++ binary that replaces the system login manager, it must be built during installation.

Prerequisites

A C++ compiler, CMake, and the Qt6/KF6/Plasma development headers. The PLM dependency set differs slightly from the System Tray / Icon Tasks applets — it adds Qt6 ShaderTools, LayerShellQt, libkscreen, and PAM.

Install build dependencies

Fedora:

sudo dnf install gcc-c++ cmake extra-cmake-modules pkgconf-pkg-config \
  qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtdeclarative-devel qt6-qttools-devel \
  qt6-qtshadertools-devel \
  kf6-kconfig-devel kf6-kpackage-devel kf6-kwindowsystem-devel \
  kf6-ki18n-devel kf6-kdbusaddons-devel kf6-kcmutils-devel \
  kf6-kauth-devel kf6-kio-devel \
  libplasma-devel plasma-workspace-devel \
  layer-shell-qt-devel libkscreen-devel \
  pam-devel

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S cmake extra-cmake-modules pkgconf \
  qt6-base qt6-declarative qt6-tools qt6-shadertools \
  kconfig kpackage kwindowsystem ki18n kdbusaddons kcmutils kauth kio \
  plasma-framework plasma-workspace \
  layer-shell-qt libkscreen pam

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install cmake extra-cmake-modules pkg-config \
  qt6-base-dev qt6-declarative-dev qt6-tools-dev \
  qt6-shadertools-dev qt6-quickcontrols2-dev \
  libkf6config-dev libkf6package-dev libkf6windowsystem-dev \
  libkf6i18n-dev libkf6dbusaddons-dev libkf6kcmutils-dev \
  libkf6auth-dev libkf6kio-dev \
  libplasma-dev plasma-workspace-dev \
  layer-shell-qt-dev libkscreen-dev \
  libpam0g-dev

The two packages most likely missing if you already build the System Tray / Icon Tasks applets are qt6-qtshadertools-devel (Fedora) / qt6-shadertools (Arch) / qt6-shadertools-dev (Debian) and layer-shell-qt-devel (Fedora) / layer-shell-qt (Arch).

Build and test (user, no system changes)

./install.sh greeter

This applies the patch, builds plasma-login-greeter into third_party/plasma-login-manager/build-user/, reverts the patch to keep the submodule clean, and installs the theme QML to ~/.local/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.windowsmodern.dark/contents/lockscreen/.

Test in a window without touching the system login manager:

third_party/plasma-login-manager/build-user/bin/plasma-login-greeter --test

Install as the real boot greeter (system-wide, needs root)

sudo bash scripts/install-greeter-live.sh

This backs up /usr/libexec/plasma-login-greeter to .orig, stops plasmalogin.service so the running binary can be overwritten, copies the patched binary into place, and installs the theme + wallpaper system-wide. Requires typing YES.

You must reboot to activate the patched greeter. The script does not start plasmalogin.service again, because doing so while you are logged into a graphical session spawns a greeter overlay on top of your desktop.

Keep a TTY open (Ctrl+Alt+F3) before proceeding — if the patched binary crashes, you log in via TTY and revert.

Revert

Quick revert from the pristine backup (no package manager):

sudo cp /usr/libexec/plasma-login-greeter.orig /usr/libexec/plasma-login-greeter
sudo reboot

Do not run sudo systemctl restart plasmalogin while logged into a graphical session — restarting the display manager spawns a greeter overlay on top of your running desktop.

Full revert (restores the distro package):

sudo bash scripts/uninstall-greeter-system.sh
sudo reboot

Remove the user theme + revert any applied patches:

./uninstall.sh greeter

Update the PLM submodule

To track a newer upstream release (e.g. Plasma 6.7):

./scripts/update-plm.sh Plasma/6.7

This fetches the new branch, reapplies main-cpp.patch, and rebuilds. If the patch no longer applies cleanly, edit plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.windowsmodern.dark/patches/main-cpp.patch against the new src/frontend/greeter/main.cpp.

Notes

  • The greeter QML lives in the dark look-and-feel package only (org.kde.windowsmodern.dark/contents/lockscreen/). PLM runs before any user session, so there is no light/dark variant switch — the dark greeter is used regardless of the user's preferred scheme.
  • The greeter wallpaper defaults to the Windows Modern dark wallpaper at /usr/share/wallpapers/Windows-modern/contents/images_dark/2560x1440.png. install-greeter-live.sh ensures it is installed system-wide. In --test mode with no system install, the background renders black (the overlay rectangle), which is expected.