wayray/vm

WayRay VM Testing Setup

Visual testing environment for the WayRay compositor using an Ubuntu 22.04 aarch64 VM on macOS Apple Silicon via UTM.

Prerequisites

• MacBook with Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• UTM installed (free download from website)

Create the VM

1. Get the Ubuntu 22.04 image from the UTM Gallery

1. Open UTM
2. Click + to create a new VM
3. Select Browse UTM Gallery...
4. Find and download Ubuntu 22.04
5. The VM is pre-configured with reasonable defaults

2. Adjust VM settings (optional)

The gallery image works out of the box, but for faster Rust compilation:

1. Select the VM in UTM, click the settings icon
2. Under System:
   • CPU: 4 cores (or more)
   • RAM: 8192 MB (8 GB)

3. Boot and run the setup script

1. Start the VM and log in (gallery image credentials are shown in UTM)
2. Open a terminal and run:

# Clone WayRay and run the setup script
git clone https://github.com/CloudNebulaProject/wayray.git ~/wayray
bash ~/wayray/vm/setup.sh

# Reboot to apply auto-login and start Sway
sudo reboot

The setup script installs all dependencies (Wayland libs, Mesa, Sway, Rust), builds WayRay, and configures auto-login into a minimal Sway session.

Testing the Compositor

After reboot, the VM auto-logs in and starts Sway. A foot terminal opens automatically.

# Build and run the compositor
cd ~/wayray
cargo run --bin wrsrvd

The wrsrvd window opens inside Sway. Note the Wayland socket name from the log output (e.g., wayland-1).

Open another terminal with Super+Return, then:

# Launch a client inside the compositor
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1 foot

A foot terminal should appear inside the wrsrvd window. You can:

• Type in it (keyboard input works)
• Click on it (pointer input works)
• See it render (compositor rendering works)

Keyboard Shortcuts (Sway)

Shortcut	Action
Super+Return	Open a new terminal
Super+Shift+Q	Close focused window
Super+Shift+E	Exit Sway

Troubleshooting

Sway fails to start

If Sway fails with a GPU or seat error:

# Check seatd is running
systemctl status seatd

# Check group membership (need seat and video)
groups

# If missing, add and reboot
sudo usermod -aG seat,video $USER
sudo reboot

If the VirtIO GPU isn't working, try switching UTM to QEMU backend:

1. Shut down the VM
2. Edit VM settings
3. Under System, uncheck "Use Apple Virtualization"
4. Boot again

Black screen after reboot

Switch to TTY2 with Ctrl+Alt+F2, log in, and check:

# Try starting Sway manually
sway

# Check the auto-login override
cat /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf

# Check .profile for Sway launch
tail ~/.profile

Build fails

# Make sure Rust is up to date
rustup update

# Check Rust version (need 1.85+ for edition 2024)
rustc --version

# Retry
cargo build --workspace

Missing Wayland/EGL libraries

If cargo build fails with missing -lwayland-client or EGL errors:

# Reinstall dev packages
sudo apt-get install -y libwayland-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libgles2-mesa-dev libxkbcommon-dev