I had a weird bug for a year: my linux mint cinnamon once logged in showed wrong (default) x11 cursor. For quite some time I though the problem had something to do with linux mint. But I had not time to debug the actual reason.
Recently I finally found what was happening and it was… surprising. The reason of my cursor failure was guix on foreign distro installation.
Currently when you install guix system on linux mint then the library named glfw. You get this thing in your manifest generated:
("glfw"
"3.4"
"out"
"/gnu/store/jdiv4qbf1mk7f1cs1083hprv0rz5f0zr-glfw-3.4"
(propagated-inputs
(...
("libxcursor"
"1.2.3"
"out"
"/gnu/store/kv9zpypjbfvba3lv56v775lbz4ri400i-libxcursor-1.2.3"
(propagated-inputs
(...))
(search-paths
(("XCURSOR_PATH" ("share/icons") ":" directory #f))))
...))
(search-paths
((...)
("XCURSOR_PATH" ("share/icons") ":" directory #f)))
...)
This later leads to this shell script line in generated GUIX_PROFILE
export XCURSOR_PATH="${GUIX_PROFILE:-/gnu/store/m951cfr6zn2r8ksis7j4mz0yir4gbqxr-profile}/share/icons${XCURSOR_PATH:+:}$XCURSOR_PATH"
Which… extends the XCURSOR_PATH or sets it if it was empty.
Well the thing which is responsible for setting cursor in X11 is libxcursor. Let’s read the source on freedesktop gitlab:
/*
* Copyright © 2024 Thomas E. Dickey
* Copyright © 2002 Keith Packard
*
* SPDX-License-Identifier: HPND-sell-variant
*
* Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its
* documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
* the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that
* copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
* documentation, and that the name of Keith Packard not be used in
* advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without
* specific, written prior permission. Keith Packard makes no
* representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It
* is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
*
* KEITH PACKARD DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE,
* INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO
* EVENT SHALL KEITH PACKARD BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR
* CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE,
* DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
* TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
* PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
*/
#include "xcursorint.h"
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#ifndef ICONDIR
#define ICONDIR "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/icons"
#endif
#ifndef XCURSORPATH
#define XCURSORPATH "~/.local/share/icons:~/.icons:/usr/share/icons:/usr/share/pixmaps:"ICONDIR
#endif
typedef struct XcursorInherit {
char *line;
const char *theme;
} XcursorInherit;
const char *
XcursorLibraryPath (void)
{
static const char *path;
if (!path)
{
path = getenv ("XCURSOR_PATH");
if (!path)
path = XCURSORPATH;
traceOpts((T_OPTION(XCURSOR_PATH) ": %s\n", NonNull(path)));
}
return path;
}
As you can see the logic libcursor has is the following: if XCURSOR_PATH is set — use this path.
Otherwise fallback to the default.
XCURSOR_PATH.$GUIX_PROFILE thus writes its location directly to the XCURSOR_PATH environment.glfw
(define-public glfw
(package
(name "glfw")
(version "3.3.10")
(source (origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (string-append "https://github.com/glfw/glfw"
"/releases/download/" version
"/glfw-" version ".zip"))
(sha256
(base32
"1f5xs4cj1y5wk1jimv1mylk6n6vh7433js28mfd1kf7p2zw3whz8"))))
(build-system cmake-build-system)
(arguments
(list
#:modules '((guix build cmake-build-system)
(guix build utils)
(ice-9 format))
#:tests? #f ;no test target
#:configure-flags #~(list "-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON")
#:phases
#~(modify-phases %standard-phases
(add-after 'unpack 'patch-sonames
(lambda* (#:key inputs #:allow-other-keys)
(let-syntax ((patch-sonames
(syntax-rules ()
((_ (file ...) soname ...)
(substitute* (list file ...)
(((format #f "(~@{~a~^|~})" soname ...) lib)
(search-input-file
inputs (string-append
"lib/" lib))))))))
;; Avoid looking in LD_LIBRARY_PATH for dlopen calls.
(patch-sonames ("src/egl_context.c"
"src/glx_context.c"
"src/vulkan.c"
"src/wl_init.c"
"src/x11_init.c")
"libEGL.so.1"
"libGL.so"
"libGL.so.1"
"libGLESv1_CM.so.1"
"libGLESv2.so.2"
"libvulkan.so.1"
"libwayland-cursor.so.0"
"libwayland-egl.so.1"
"libwayland-client.so.0"
"libxkbcommon.so.0"
"libXxf86vm.so.1"
"libXi.so.6"
"libXrandr.so.2"
"libXcursor.so.1"
"libXinerama.so.1"
"libX11-xcb.so.1"
"libXrender.so.1")))))))
(native-inputs (list doxygen unzip))
(inputs (list libxkbcommon wayland vulkan-loader))
(propagated-inputs
(list mesa ;included in public headers
;; These are in 'Requires.private' of 'glfw3.pc'.
libx11
libxrandr
libxi
libxinerama
libxcursor
libxxf86vm))
(home-page "https://www.glfw.org")
(synopsis "OpenGL application development library")
(description
"GLFW is a library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES and Vulkan development for
desktop computers. It provides a simple API for creating windows, contexts
and surfaces, receiving input and events.")
(license license:zlib)))
libxcursor
(define-public libxcursor
(package
(name "libxcursor")
(version "1.2.3")
(source
(origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (string-append "mirror://xorg/individual/lib/libXcursor-"
version ".tar.xz"))
(sha256
(base32
"1h62narayrhrkqalrmx7z3s6yppw1acbp5id3skrvrygshnl1sgx"))))
(build-system gnu-build-system)
(arguments
(list
#:configure-flags
#~(list "--disable-static"
;; Set default path, used when XCURSOR_PATH is unset.
(string-append "--with-cursorpath="
(string-join
'("~/.local/share/icons" "~/.icons"
"~/.guix-profile/share/icons"
"/run/current-system/profile/share/icons"
"/usr/share/icons")
":")))))
(propagated-inputs
(list libx11 libxrender libxfixes xorgproto))
(native-inputs
(list pkg-config))
;; FIXME: The search path below won't be very effective until the bugs
;; <http://bugs.gnu.org/20255> and <http://bugs.gnu.org/22138> are solved.
(native-search-paths
(list (search-path-specification
(variable "XCURSOR_PATH")
(files '("share/icons")))))
(home-page "https://www.x.org/wiki/")
(synopsis "Xorg Cursor management library")
(description "Xorg Cursor management library.")
(license license:x11)))
It is quite interesting isn’t it that there is actual –with-cursorpath which does a proper fallback?!
Well it is hard for me to say definitely. I guess guix?! Because since it already has –with-xcursorpath we should not even export XCURSOR_PATH in the first place when it actually does exactly the same we do by adding –with-xcursorpath
I need to investigate further how to properly fix the issue for other users. And investigate why it even works this way right now.