logind-idle-control

A lightweight Rust daemon for managing systemd-logind idle inhibitor locks with per-session D-Bus event system.

Documentation

📚 Wiki - Comprehensive guides and integration examples:

• UI Integration
• Custom D-Bus Consumers
• Multi-Session Setup
• Troubleshooting

Overview

logind-idle-control provides per-GUI-session idle inhibition control through systemd-logind's native D-Bus API. Each graphical session (TTY) gets its own isolated daemon instance.

Key Features:

• 🎯 Per-session isolation - Each GUI session (TTY) has independent control
• ✨ Native systemd-logind integration via D-Bus
• 📡 Event-driven D-Bus interface - consumers listen to signals directly
• 💾 Session-specific persistent state
• 🔒 Auto-disable on screen lock (configurable, listens to logind Lock signal)
• 🎨 Pure D-Bus interface - UI consumers listen directly, no wrapper scripts

Session Isolation

Critical Design: Each graphical session runs its own daemon instance:

TTY1 (Session 2):  /com/logind/IdleControl/session_2
                   → State: enabled
                   → Inhibitor: active

TTY2 (Session 3):  /com/logind/IdleControl/session_3  
                   → State: disabled
                   → Inhibitor: inactive

Sessions don't interfere with each other.

D-Bus Interface (Per-Session)

Service Information

• Service: com.logind.IdleControl (shared session bus)
• Object Path: /com/logind/IdleControl/session_<SESSION_ID>
• Interface: com.logind.IdleControl

Control Methods (Call the owning service)

Method	Returns	Description
Enable	boolean enabled	Enable idle inhibitor for this session
Disable	boolean enabled	Disable idle inhibitor for this session
Toggle	boolean enabled	Toggle idle inhibitor state for this session

Missing daemon is an error: the CLI and tray call these methods on com.logind.IdleControl and do not report success unless the daemon applied the change.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
Enabled	boolean	Whether this daemon currently holds the logind idle inhibitor

State Signals (Emitted by daemon)

Signal	Parameters	Description
StateChanged	boolean enabled	Emitted when inhibitor state changes

Installation

Arch Linux

Add the [mason] repo to /etc/pacman.conf:

[mason]
# Import the signing key first: https://github.com/MasonRhodesDev/arch-repo#use-it
SigLevel = Required DatabaseRequired
Server = https://masonrhodesdev.github.io/arch-repo/x86_64

sudo pacman -Syu logind-idle-control

Fedora (COPR)

sudo dnf copr enable solaris765/logind-idle-control
sudo dnf install logind-idle-control

From source (dev fallback)

make            # builds daemon + tray
sudo make install   # DESTDIR/PREFIX-correct; default PREFIX=/usr/local

After installing

The package ships both user units and the tray icons; enable per user:

systemctl --user enable --now logind-idle-control.service
systemctl --user enable --now logind-idle-control-tray.service   # optional

The tray is optional and requires an SNI-compatible tray host that provides org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher on the session bus. If the watcher is not available during login, the tray service waits for it instead of restart-looping.

CLI Usage

The CLI automatically detects which graphical session you're in:

logind-idle-control enable   # Enable idle inhibitor
logind-idle-control disable  # Disable idle inhibitor
logind-idle-control toggle   # Toggle state
logind-idle-control status   # Check current status
logind-idle-control monitor  # Monitor state changes via D-Bus
logind-idle-control daemon   # Run daemon (typically started by systemd)

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/logind-idle-control/config.toml

state_on_start = false    # Enable inhibitor when daemon starts
disable_on_lock = true    # Auto-disable when screen locked
log_level = "info"        # Logging verbosity

UI Integration

UI applications can monitor idle inhibitor state via D-Bus signals directly.

The bundled tray icon in Waybar: inhibitor enabled (full cup) vs disabled (crossed-out cup).

D-Bus Integration Pattern

Your UI module should:

1. Detect current session ID via loginctl
2. Connect to session-specific D-Bus path
3. Listen for StateChanged signals
4. Read initial state from: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-<ID>.state

Example D-Bus Listener (pseudocode)

session_id = get_session_id()
object_path = "/com/logind/IdleControl/session_" + session_id

# Read initial state
state_file = "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-{session_id}.state"
display_icon(read(state_file))

# Listen for changes
dbus_monitor("com.logind.IdleControl", object_path, "StateChanged", callback)

Minimal Shell Script Example

#!/bin/bash
SESSION=$(loginctl session-status | head -1 | awk '{print $1}')
STATE_FILE="$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-${SESSION}.state"

if [[ -f "$STATE_FILE" ]] && [[ "$(cat $STATE_FILE)" == "1" ]]; then
    echo "enabled"
else
    echo "disabled"
fi

For real-time updates, use the monitor command or listen to D-Bus StateChanged signals directly.

State Files (Per-Session)

$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-2.state  # Session 2
$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-3.state  # Session 3

Integration Examples

Lock Screen

#!/bin/bash
logind-idle-control disable
hyprlock

The daemon auto-disables on lock if disable_on_lock = true.

Hyprland Keybind

bind = $mainMod, I, exec, logind-idle-control toggle

Multi-Session Example

# TTY1
$ loginctl session-status
2 - user (1000)
$ logind-idle-control enable
Idle inhibitor enabled

# TTY2 (same user, different session)
$ loginctl session-status
3 - user (1000)
$ logind-idle-control status
0  # Independent!

Verification

# Check daemon
systemctl --user status logind-idle-control.service

# Check tray service
systemctl --user status logind-idle-control-tray.service

# Check session
loginctl session-status | head -1

# Check inhibitor lock
systemd-inhibit --list | grep logind-idle-control

# Monitor D-Bus
SESSION=$(loginctl session-status | head -1 | awk '{print $1}')
dbus-monitor --session "path='/com/logind/IdleControl/session_${SESSION}'"

# Check state file
cat $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-${SESSION}.state

# Follow tray logs
journalctl --user -u logind-idle-control-tray.service -f

Architecture

flowchart TD
    CLI["CLI: logind-idle-control enable / disable / toggle"]
    BIND["Hyprland keybind (exec logind-idle-control toggle)"]
    TRAY["Tray icon — ksni StatusNotifierItem (requires a StatusNotifierWatcher host, e.g. sni-watcher or the bar's own)"]

    BIND --> CLI
    CLI -->|"Enable / Disable / Toggle methods on com.logind.IdleControl at /com/logind/IdleControl/session_N"| CTRL
    TRAY -->|"click: Toggle method on the same object path"| CTRL

    subgraph DAEMON ["Per-session daemon"]
        CTRL["control method handler"]
        LOCK["InhibitorLock — RAII holder of the logind fd (Drop = close fd = release)"]
        STATE["state file: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/logind-idle-control-session-N.state"]
        CTRL --> LOCK
        CTRL --> STATE
    end

    LOCK -->|"org.freedesktop.login1.Manager Inhibit('idle', ...) returns held fd"| LOGIND["systemd-logind"]
    LOGIND -->|"Session Lock signal: auto-release inhibitor"| CTRL
    LOGIND -->|"Session Unlock signal: re-acquire inhibitor"| CTRL
    CTRL -->|"StateChanged(enabled) D-Bus signal: tray updates icon"| TRAY

Loading

TTY1 (Session 2):
  systemd graphical-session.target
  → Starts logind-idle-control daemon instance 1
  → Detects session 2 via GetSessionByPID()
  → Creates D-Bus path: /com/logind/IdleControl/session_2
  → State file: .../session-2.state
  → Listens: /org/freedesktop/login1/session/_32

TTY2 (Session 3):
  systemd graphical-session.target
  → Starts logind-idle-control daemon instance 2
  → Detects session 3 via GetSessionByPID()
  → Creates D-Bus path: /com/logind/IdleControl/session_3
  → State file: .../session-3.state
  → Listens: /org/freedesktop/login1/session/_33

Both instances run independently on the same session D-Bus.

How It Works

Session Detection

1. Daemon calls org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.GetSessionByPID()
2. Verifies session type is x11 or wayland (rejects TTY/SSH)
3. Uses session ID for all paths

Native systemd-logind

1. Daemon calls org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.Inhibit("idle", ...)
2. logind returns file descriptor (FD)
3. FD held open = inhibitor active
4. FD closed = inhibitor released (automatic cleanup)

Lock Detection

When disable_on_lock = true, daemon listens to session-specific org.freedesktop.login1.Session.Lock signal and disables inhibitor before lock screen appears.

Troubleshooting

Daemon won't start

journalctl --user -u logind-idle-control.service -f
loginctl session-status  # Must show Type: x11 or wayland

Tray waits for a host

The tray binary requires an SNI-compatible tray host that owns org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher. On login, the tray service may start before the watcher exists. That is now expected: the process stays alive and waits locally until the watcher appears.

Expected tray log messages:

• StatusNotifierWatcher not available yet; waiting for tray host
• StatusNotifierWatcher detected; registering tray icon
• Tray icon registered

If the watcher disappears during registration, the tray retries and logs:

• Tray registration raced with watcher disappearance; retrying

For actual tray startup failures unrelated to watcher availability, inspect:

systemctl --user status logind-idle-control-tray.service
journalctl --user -u logind-idle-control-tray.service -f

Session detection issues

loginctl show-session $(loginctl session-status | head -1 | awk '{print $1}') -p Type
# Must be x11 or wayland, not tty

D-Bus debugging

SESSION=$(loginctl session-status | head -1 | awk '{print $1}')
dbus-monitor --session "interface='com.logind.IdleControl'"

License

MIT

See Also

• systemd Inhibitor Locks
• org.freedesktop.login1
• hypridle
• schema-tui