Install beside COSMIC instead of replacing it

The packages could not be installed. Claiming the cosmic-* names put 62 files
in conflict with 25 distribution packages -- something dnf's depsolve never
reports, because it shows up only in rpm's transaction check -- and the only
way to satisfy that was Conflicts against all 25, which erases cosmic-greeter.
On a stock Fedora COSMIC that is the display manager, so the machine comes
back to a text console with no way to log in and no session to fall back to.

So the fork ships what it actually forks. The three changed binaries take
hyprcosmic-comp, hyprcosmic-session and hyprcosmic-conf, the workflow reduces
the staged tree to those plus this fork's own assets, and cosmic-settings, the
portal, the OSD and the rest come from the distribution at the version it
tested them at. No Conflicts, no Provides, nothing erased, and the stock
COSMIC entry stays on the greeter's menu to fall back to.

Debian is the exception and keeps the whole desktop, because COSMIC is not
packaged there in any suite: there is nothing to depend on and nothing to
install beside. Its stock session entry is dropped instead, since start-cosmic
execs the cosmic-session this rename takes away.

.github/workflows/packages.yml

@@ -229,26 +229,126 @@ jobs:
       - name: Stage the install
         run: just install "$PWD/stage" /usr
 
-      # The staged tree is what all three packages wrap, so it is worth failing
+      # The three binaries this fork actually changes, under their own names.
-      # here rather than shipping a package that is missing the compositor. The
+      #
-      # negative assertion is the one that would rot quietly: nothing may return
+      # Done on every distribution, because start-hyprcosmic and the session
-      # to the private libexec layout this fork used to install into, because a
+      # entry name these paths and there is no reason for those to differ per
-      # copy there is a second compositor that nothing runs and no uninstall
+      # distribution. cosmic-session takes the compositor as argv[1], so the
-      # removes.
+      # pair is arranged in start-hyprcosmic and needs no source change.
-      - name: Assert the staged tree is a complete desktop
+      - name: Give this fork's binaries their own names
         run: |
           set -eux
-          test -x stage/usr/bin/cosmic-comp
+          mv stage/usr/bin/cosmic-comp    stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-comp
-          test -x stage/usr/bin/cosmic-session
+          mv stage/usr/bin/cosmic-session stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-session
-          test -x stage/usr/bin/cosmic-conf
+          mv stage/usr/bin/cosmic-conf    stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-conf
+
+      # The stock session entry goes with it, on Debian only.
+      #
+      # start-cosmic execs /usr/bin/cosmic-session, which the rename above just
+      # took away, so cosmic.desktop would sit on the greeter's menu and die
+      # silently when chosen. Everywhere else the reduction below removes both
+      # and the distribution's own cosmic-session package supplies a working
+      # pair; on Debian there is no such package, so they are removed here and
+      # the greeter offers the HyprCosmic entry alone.
+      - name: Drop the stock session entry it can no longer start
+        if: matrix.distro == 'debian'
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          rm -f stage/usr/bin/start-cosmic
+          rm -f stage/usr/share/wayland-sessions/cosmic.desktop
+
+      # HyprCosmic installs beside COSMIC rather than over it, and this is the
+      # step that makes that true.
+      #
+      # `just install` stages the whole desktop, because it builds the whole
+      # tree. Nearly all of it is byte-identical to what the distribution
+      # already ships, and the parts that are not are file conflicts that stop
+      # the install outright -- 62 of them on a stock Fedora COSMIC, across 25
+      # packages, which rpm reports only in the transaction check, long after
+      # dnf's dependency solving has said the transaction is fine.
+      #
+      # The alternative to reducing the tree is to claim all 25 packages with
+      # Conflicts, which means erasing them to install this, which on Fedora
+      # includes cosmic-greeter -- the display manager. A fork you can only try
+      # by removing the desktop you would fall back to is a fork with no way
+      # back. So everything the distribution already owns is dropped, and the
+      # package depends on the distribution's COSMIC for it.
+      #
+      # Not on Debian, which has no COSMIC to depend on: neither cosmic-session
+      # nor cosmic-comp is packaged there, in any suite. Reducing the tree there
+      # would produce a package whose dependency can never be satisfied, so the
+      # Debian build keeps the whole desktop it just compiled and stands alone.
+      # Revisit when Debian packages COSMIC.
+      - name: Reduce the staged tree to this fork's own files
+        if: matrix.distro != 'debian'
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          # /usr/share/cosmic goes too, all of it. Those are the defaults the
+          # compositor reads at first run, and this fork carries upstream's
+          # copies unmodified -- every one of them is byte-identical to a file a
+          # distribution package already owns. rpm permits two packages to own
+          # an identical file, so keeping them would install today and then
+          # collide the first time the distribution changed one. They arrive
+          # with the cosmic-comp this package depends on.
+          ( cd stage && find . \( -type f -o -type l \) -printf '%P\n' ) |
+          while read -r p; do
+            case $p in
+              usr/bin/hyprcosmic-*|usr/bin/start-hyprcosmic) continue ;;
+              usr/share/hyprcosmic/*) continue ;;
+              usr/share/wayland-sessions/hyprcosmic.desktop) continue ;;
+            esac
+            rm -f "stage/$p"
+          done
+          find stage -type d -empty -delete
+
+      # Worth failing here rather than shipping a package that is missing the
+      # compositor. The negative assertions are the ones that would rot quietly:
+      # nothing may return to the private libexec layout this fork used to
+      # install into, and no cosmic-* name may come back, because either one is
+      # a file conflict that only shows up on a machine that has COSMIC
+      # installed -- which is every machine this is meant for.
+      - name: Assert the staged tree is this fork and nothing else
+        if: matrix.distro != 'debian'
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-comp
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-session
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-conf
           test -x stage/usr/bin/start-hyprcosmic
-          test -x stage/usr/bin/start-cosmic
           test -f stage/usr/share/wayland-sessions/hyprcosmic.desktop
-          test -f stage/usr/share/wayland-sessions/cosmic.desktop
-          test -f stage/usr/lib/systemd/user/cosmic-session.target
-          test -f stage/usr/share/cosmic/com.system76.CosmicSettings.Shortcuts/v1/defaults
           test -d stage/usr/share/hyprcosmic
           test ! -e stage/usr/libexec/hyprcosmic
+          test ! -e stage/usr/bin/cosmic-comp
+          test ! -e stage/usr/bin/cosmic-session
+          test ! -e stage/usr/share/wayland-sessions/cosmic.desktop
+          test ! -e stage/usr/share/cosmic
+          test -z "$(find stage/usr/bin -mindepth 1 ! -name 'hyprcosmic-*' ! -name 'start-hyprcosmic')"
+          echo "staged files: $(find stage -type f | wc -l)"
+
+      # Debian is not reduced, so the assertion is the opposite one: the package
+      # stands alone there and has to carry a desktop that starts. The renamed
+      # three must be present under their new names, and the components the
+      # session launches must still be in the tree rather than assumed to arrive
+      # from a distribution package that does not exist.
+      - name: Assert the staged tree is a complete desktop
+        if: matrix.distro == 'debian'
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-comp
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-session
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-conf
+          test -x stage/usr/bin/start-hyprcosmic
+          test -f stage/usr/share/wayland-sessions/hyprcosmic.desktop
+          test -d stage/usr/share/hyprcosmic
+          test -d stage/usr/share/cosmic
+          test ! -e stage/usr/libexec/hyprcosmic
+          test ! -e stage/usr/bin/cosmic-comp
+          test ! -e stage/usr/bin/cosmic-session
+          test ! -e stage/usr/bin/start-cosmic
+          test ! -e stage/usr/share/wayland-sessions/cosmic.desktop
+          for c in cosmic-settings cosmic-settings-daemon cosmic-osd cosmic-notifications; do
+            test -x "stage/usr/bin/$c" || { echo "missing $c" >&2; exit 1; }
+          done
           echo "staged files: $(find stage -type f | wc -l)"
 
       # Checked here, once, rather than in each of the three packaging recipes,

README.md

@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@ Three things distinguish a HyprCosmic session from a COSMIC one:
 - **HyDE's shell.** waybar instead of cosmic-panel, rofi instead of
   cosmic-launcher, `awww` instead of cosmic-bg. HyDE themes are imported
   directly, palette and wallpapers and all.
-- **It replaces COSMIC rather than sitting next to it.** The binaries install as
+- **It installs next to COSMIC rather than over it.** The binaries are
-  `/usr/bin/cosmic-comp` and `/usr/bin/cosmic-session`, the paths a cosmic-comp
+  `/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-comp`, `/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-session` and
-  and a cosmic-session go to, and the packages conflict with the distribution's
+  `/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-conf`, and nothing here writes a path the distribution
-  accordingly. Both session entries are installed, so the greeter still offers a
+  owns. The stock COSMIC entry stays on the greeter's menu, served by the
-  stock COSMIC shell for the day the HyDE one does not start — now served by
+  distribution's own binaries, so the day the HyDE session does not start is one
-  these binaries rather than by a second copy on disk.
+  logout away from a desktop that does. (On Debian, where COSMIC is not
+  packaged, the `.deb` carries the desktop itself — see [Installing](#installing).)
 
 ## Repository layout
 
@@ -54,8 +55,9 @@ current.
   deliberately small: `dispatch exec` and `dispatch killactive` are rejected,
   because this is the surface any process that can open the socket gets.
 - New windows open *beside* the focused window rather than inside it.
-- The install goes to `/usr/bin/cosmic-comp`, at upstream's paths and alongside
+- The install goes to `/usr/bin/hyprcosmic-comp`, alongside upstream's two
-  upstream's two `.ron` defaults files, which are carried unmodified.
+  `.ron` defaults files, which are carried unmodified. The distribution's
+  `cosmic-comp` is left where it is, for the stock session to keep using.
 
 **cosmic-session** — profiles. `HYPRCOSMIC_PROFILE=hyprcosmic` (set by
 `hyprcosmic.desktop`) skips cosmic-panel, cosmic-launcher, cosmic-app-library,
@@ -93,14 +95,24 @@ sudo pacman -U   ./hyprcosmic-*.pkg.tar.zst  # Arch
 sudo dpkg -i     ./hyprcosmic_*_amd64.deb    # Debian
 ```
 
-Expect this to fail the first time, and read what it says when it does. These
+Nothing is removed and nothing conflicts. COSMIC is a dependency rather than a
-packages provide `/usr/bin/cosmic-comp` and `/usr/bin/cosmic-session`, so they
+casualty: the package installs `hyprcosmic-comp`, `hyprcosmic-session` and
-**conflict with the distribution's `cosmic-comp` and `cosmic-session`** and your
+`hyprcosmic-conf` beside the distribution's, and takes cosmic-settings, the
-package manager will refuse until those are removed. That refusal is the design:
+portal, the OSD and the rest from the distribution at the version it tested
-installing HyprCosmic replaces the machine's desktop, and it should take a
+them at. Log out and pick **HyprCosmic** from the greeter; pick **COSMIC** to go
-deliberate `dnf remove cosmic-comp cosmic-session` to say so rather than a
+back.
-resolver deciding on your behalf. Both session entries survive the swap, so the
+
-greeter still offers a stock COSMIC shell afterwards.
+An earlier revision did take the `cosmic-*` names, and it could not be
+installed. Its files collided with 25 distribution packages, and the only way to
+satisfy that was to erase them — including cosmic-greeter, which on a Fedora
+COSMIC install *is* the display manager. A desktop you can only try by removing
+the desktop you would fall back to is not one worth shipping.
+
+**Debian is the exception**, because COSMIC is not packaged there — no
+`cosmic-session`, no `cosmic-comp`, in any suite. There is nothing to depend on
+and nothing to install beside, so the `.deb` carries the whole desktop it
+compiled and stands alone, and the greeter offers **HyprCosmic** only. The
+Fedora and Arch packages ship this fork's three binaries and nothing else.
 
 Building it yourself instead:
 
@@ -125,6 +137,13 @@ This installs all of COSMIC — the 27 unmodified components as well — plus
 `cosmic-conf` at `$prefix/bin/cosmic-conf`, the shared waybar and rofi assets
 under `$prefix/share/hyprcosmic/`, and `hyprcosmic-powermenu`.
 
+Note that `just install` is not what the packages do. It writes upstream's whole
+desktop at upstream's names, so run against `/usr` on a machine that has COSMIC
+packaged it will overwrite files your package manager owns. The packages are
+built from this same tree and then reduced to this fork's own files and renamed;
+that step lives in `.github/workflows/packages.yml`, not in the justfile, which
+is upstream's. Stage to a directory and inspect it, or install a package.
+
 `install` depends on `build`, which is upstream's arrangement and means `sudo
 just install` compiles as root. That is inherited, not chosen; if you would
 rather not, build into a staging root as your own user and copy it into place.
@@ -161,9 +180,9 @@ Font for the bar's glyphs.
 `cosmic-config` by:
 
 ```shell
-cosmic-conf apply           # once
+hyprcosmic-conf apply           # once
-cosmic-conf apply --diff    # show what would change, write nothing
+hyprcosmic-conf apply --diff    # show what would change, write nothing
-cosmic-conf watch           # recompile on every edit, for the whole session
+hyprcosmic-conf watch           # recompile on every edit, for the whole session
 ```
 
 `watch` is the first line of the shipped `autostart`, which is what makes "the
@@ -208,7 +227,7 @@ the reference for what is supported.
 ## Theming
 
 ```shell
-cosmic-conf import-theme ~/.config/hyde/themes/'Tokyo Night'/hypr.theme \
+hyprcosmic-conf import-theme ~/.config/hyde/themes/'Tokyo Night'/hypr.theme \
     --out ~/.config/hyprcosmic/theme.conf --report --assets
 ```
 

config/autostart

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # A malformed edit is not fatal. It is reported to the session log and the last
 # good configuration stays in place, so a typo cannot leave you at a broken
 # desktop -- fix the file and the next save applies.
-cosmic-conf watch
+hyprcosmic-conf watch
 
 # The bar. The layout is shared and lives under /usr/share, but the stylesheet
 # has to be per-user: it imports a sibling theme.css holding the installed HyDE

cosmic-conf/src/assets.rs

@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ fn render_local_rasi(icon_theme: Option<&str>, wallpaper_link: Option<&Path>) ->
     let mut out = String::from(
         r#"/* Per-machine launcher settings for HyprCosmic.
  *
- * Generated by `cosmic-conf import-theme --assets`. It is the last of the four
+ * Generated by `hyprcosmic-conf import-theme --assets`. It is the last of the four
  * imports in config.rasi, so anything here wins; it is also overwritten by the
  * next import run with --overwrite, so keep hand edits somewhere else.
  *

cosmic-conf/src/import.rs

@@ -272,9 +272,9 @@ fn render_conf(
     notes: &[Note],
 ) -> String {
     let mut out = format!(
-        "# Generated by `cosmic-conf import-theme` from the HyDE theme {theme_name:?}.\n\
+        "# Generated by `hyprcosmic-conf import-theme` from the HyDE theme {theme_name:?}.\n\
          # Edit freely — this file is the source of truth; cosmic-settings changes\n\
-         # are overwritten on the next `cosmic-conf apply`.\n"
+         # are overwritten on the next `hyprcosmic-conf apply`.\n"
     );
 
     let dropped: Vec<&Note> = notes

cosmic-conf/src/main.rs

@@ -7,14 +7,18 @@ use std::process::ExitCode;
 
 use cosmic_conf::{assets, emit::Emitter, import, render_diagnostic, watch};
 
+// Names the installed binary, hyprcosmic-conf, not the crate. The package
+// installs beside COSMIC and keeps every path it owns under a hyprcosmic-*
+// name, so a usage line saying `cosmic-conf` would name something that is not
+// on the system.
 const USAGE: &str = "\
-cosmic-conf — compile cosmic.conf into the cosmic-config tree
+hyprcosmic-conf — compile cosmic.conf into the cosmic-config tree
 
 USAGE:
-    cosmic-conf apply [--diff] [--config <path>]
+    hyprcosmic-conf apply [--diff] [--config <path>]
-    cosmic-conf watch [--config <path>]
+    hyprcosmic-conf watch [--config <path>]
-    cosmic-conf import-theme <hypr.theme> [--out <path>] [--report]
+    hyprcosmic-conf import-theme <hypr.theme> [--out <path>] [--report]
-                             [--assets [--source <dir>] [--overwrite] [--dry-run]]
+                                 [--assets [--source <dir>] [--overwrite] [--dry-run]]
 
 COMMANDS:
     apply             Compile the config once and exit

cosmic-conf/src/workspace.rs

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 //!    when you use it, which is Hyprland's behaviour rather than a compromise.
 //! 3. **It lands at the next login, not on apply.** `Workspaces::new` reads the
 //!    key once when the compositor starts and there is no reload path for it,
-//!    while `cosmic-conf watch` is started from the autostart file *after*
+//!    while `hyprcosmic-conf watch` is started from the autostart file *after*
 //!    COSMIC's own components. So an edit is written immediately and takes
 //!    effect the next time the session starts. Every other key in cosmic.conf
 //!    is live, so this one is worth saying out loud.
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(render(&[ws("1")], false).contains(r#"output: (name: "", edid: None)"#));
     }
 
-    /// Ids have to survive a re-apply, or every `cosmic-conf apply` would hand
+    /// Ids have to survive a re-apply, or every `hyprcosmic-conf apply` would hand
     /// the same workspaces new identities.
     #[test]
     fn ids_are_stable_across_runs_and_unique_per_index() {

packaging/arch/PKGBUILD

@@ -19,10 +19,14 @@ arch=('x86_64')
 url="https://github.com/outbackdingo/hyprcosmic"
 license=('GPL-3.0-only')
 
-# The HyDE shell. Without these the session starts to a blank screen: no bar,
+# cosmic-session is COSMIC itself, which this runs on rather than replaces: one
-# no launcher, no wallpaper.
+# entry pulls the whole desktop, and cosmic-settings, cosmic-osd, the portal and
-depends=('waybar' 'rofi-wayland' 'wayland' 'libxkbcommon' 'libinput' 'seatd'
+# the rest are taken from the repositories at the version they were tested at.
-         'mesa' 'pixman' 'libdisplay-info' 'systemd-libs')
+#
+# The rest is the HyDE shell. Without those the session starts to a blank
+# screen: no bar, no launcher, no wallpaper.
+depends=('cosmic-session' 'waybar' 'rofi-wayland' 'wayland' 'libxkbcommon'
+         'libinput' 'seatd' 'mesa' 'pixman' 'libdisplay-info' 'systemd-libs')
 
 # awww is in the AUR rather than in the repositories, so it cannot be a hard
 # depends without making the package uninstallable for anyone who has not built
@@ -32,15 +36,11 @@ optdepends=('awww: wallpaper daemon, required for HyDE theme wallpapers'
             'ttf-nerd-fonts-symbols: glyphs the waybar config draws with'
             'qt5ct: Qt application theming to match the GTK theme')
 
-# What "complete replacement" means in packaging terms. Every path this writes
+# No conflicts and no provides, deliberately. This installs beside COSMIC: its
-# under /usr/bin is one cosmic-comp and cosmic-session also own, so the two
+# binaries are hyprcosmic-comp, hyprcosmic-session and hyprcosmic-conf, and it
-# cannot coexist -- which is correct, they are two builds of the same programs.
+# writes no path that cosmic-comp or cosmic-session owns. An earlier revision
-#
+# took the cosmic-* names and could not be installed over a COSMIC system
-# conflicts without replaces/provides-driven auto-removal: pacman stops and
+# without erasing the desktop it forked.
-# names the conflict rather than quietly removing the desktop the machine is
-# currently running.
-conflicts=('cosmic-comp' 'cosmic-session')
-provides=("cosmic-comp=$pkgver" "cosmic-session=$pkgver")
 
 options=('!strip' '!debug')
 
@@ -56,13 +56,12 @@ package() {
     fi
     cp -a "$HYPRCOSMIC_STAGEDIR/." "$pkgdir/"
 
-    # No desktop-file-validate on the session entries. It rejects DesktopNames,
+    # No desktop-file-validate on the session entry. It rejects DesktopNames,
     # the key a display manager reads to set XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, because the
     # Desktop Entry Specification registers keys for application launchers and
-    # these are session files. cosmic.desktop here is upstream cosmic-session's,
+    # this is a session file. The copy Fedora ships as cosmic-session-1.5.0-1.fc44
-    # unchanged by this fork apart from the Exec path, and the copy Fedora ships
+    # fails the identical check -- so this is the validator's gap, not something
-    # as cosmic-session-1.5.0-1.fc44 fails the identical check -- so this is the
+    # the fork introduced. The workflow checks what actually matters instead --
-    # validator's gap, not something the fork introduced. The workflow
+    # that Exec names a file this package installs -- against the staged tree,
-    # checks what actually matters instead -- that Exec names a file this
+    # before makepkg sees it.
-    # package installs -- against the staged tree, before makepkg sees it.
 }

packaging/debian/control.in

@@ -9,16 +9,13 @@ Installed-Size: @INSTALLED_SIZE@
 Depends: @SHLIB_DEPENDS@
 Recommends: waybar, rofi
 Suggests: fonts-hack-ttf, qt5ct
-Conflicts: cosmic-comp, cosmic-session
-Provides: cosmic-comp, cosmic-session
-Replaces: cosmic-comp, cosmic-session
 Description: COSMIC configured in Hyprland's idiom, with a HyDE shell
  HyprCosmic is a fork of the COSMIC desktop that takes its configuration in
  Hyprland's idiom and wears a HyDE-style shell.
  .
  A single ~/.config/hyprcosmic/cosmic.conf -- with general { } blocks, bind =
  lines and $variables -- is compiled into COSMIC's own configuration tree by
- cosmic-conf. The file is the source of truth: keys it names are applied at
+ hyprcosmic-conf. The file is the source of truth: keys it names are applied at
  every login over whatever the settings UI last stored, and keys it does not
  name are left alone.
  .
@@ -27,6 +24,9 @@ Description: COSMIC configured in Hyprland's idiom, with a HyDE shell
  COSMIC's, with a Hyprland-compatible IPC socket so that HyDE's scripts and
  waybar's hyprland modules work unmodified.
  .
- This package replaces the distribution's COSMIC. It installs both session
+ This package carries the whole desktop, which on Debian it has to: COSMIC is
- entries, so the greeter offers a stock COSMIC shell as well as the HyDE one,
+ not packaged there, in any suite, so there is nothing to depend on and nothing
- both served by these binaries.
+ to install beside. The Fedora and Arch packages ship only this fork's three
+ binaries and take the rest from the distribution. Here the forked binaries are
+ hyprcosmic-comp, hyprcosmic-session and hyprcosmic-conf, the components they
+ launch are included, and the session entry is the HyprCosmic one alone.

packaging/fedora/hyprcosmic.spec

@@ -20,14 +20,19 @@
 # it on the release you intend to install it on. The workflow does that by
 # running the whole job inside a container of the target distribution.
 #
-# WHY IT IS ONE PACKAGE AND NOT TWENTY-SEVEN
+# WHY IT IS ONE PACKAGE, AND WHY IT IS A SMALL ONE
-# ------------------------------------------
+# ------------------------------------------------
 # Fedora splits COSMIC into a package per component, which is right for a
-# distribution tracking upstream. This is a fork that replaces the desktop as a
+# distribution tracking upstream. This fork changes three of them -- the
-# unit: the compositor, the session and the config compiler are versioned and
+# compositor, the session and the config compiler it adds -- and they are
-# tested together, and there is no supported combination in which you take the
+# versioned and tested together, so one package is an accurate description of
-# HyprCosmic cosmic-comp and the distribution's cosmic-session. One package is
+# what is actually supported.
-# an accurate description of what is actually supported.
+#
+# It is not a package per component and it is not the whole desktop either. The
+# build tree produces all of COSMIC, because it is COSMIC's tree, but shipping
+# all of it would mean owning files that 25 distribution packages already own.
+# The workflow reduces the staged tree to what this fork actually produces
+# before any of the three packaging recipes see it.
 
 %global _hardened_build 1
 
@@ -45,34 +50,22 @@ License:        GPL-3.0-only
 URL:            https://github.com/outbackdingo/hyprcosmic
 BuildArch:      x86_64
 
-# These are what "complete replacement" means in packaging terms. Every path
+# COSMIC itself, which this runs on rather than replaces.
-# this package writes under /usr/bin and /usr/share/cosmic is owned by one of
-# these on a stock Fedora, so the two cannot be installed at once -- which is
-# correct, because they are two builds of the same programs.
 #
-# Conflicts rather than Obsoletes, deliberately. Obsoletes would let a routine
+# One line pulls the whole desktop, because cosmic-session requires every
-# `dnf install hyprcosmic` quietly remove the desktop the machine is currently
+# component. That is exactly what is wanted: HyprCosmic forks the compositor,
-# running. Conflicts stops and says so, and removing the COSMIC packages stays
+# the session and adds the config compiler, and takes cosmic-settings,
-# something a person decides to do rather than something a resolver does on
+# cosmic-osd, the portal and the rest from the distribution at the version the
-# their behalf.
+# distribution tested them at.
-Conflicts:      cosmic-comp
-Conflicts:      cosmic-session
-
-# What it stands in for, so anything depending on a COSMIC session is satisfied.
 #
-# Versioned at the COSMIC release this fork stands in for, not at this package's
+# There is deliberately no Conflicts and no Provides here. An earlier revision
-# own version, and that distinction is the whole point. cosmic-greeter requires
+# had both, on the reading that a fork of the desktop replaces the desktop, and
-# `cosmic-comp >= 1.5.0`; a Provides of 0.1.0 does not satisfy it, so dnf
+# it could not be installed: this package's files collided with 25 others in
-# resolves the swap by removing the greeter -- which on a stock Fedora COSMIC is
+# rpm's transaction check, and satisfying that by claiming all 25 with Conflicts
-# the display manager, and the machine comes back to a text console. The failure
+# would have erased cosmic-greeter, which on a stock Fedora COSMIC is the
-# is silent, in that the transaction succeeds and you find out at the next boot.
+# display manager. Installing beside COSMIC costs three renamed binaries and
-#
+# leaves the stock session on the greeter's menu to fall back to.
-# Bump this when rebasing on a newer COSMIC. It has to be at least the version
+Requires:       cosmic-session >= 1.5.0
-# the target distribution ships, because the packages that stay behind pin it.
-%global cosmic_compat_version 1.5.0
-
-Provides:       cosmic-comp = %{cosmic_compat_version}
-Provides:       cosmic-session = %{cosmic_compat_version}
 
 # The HyDE shell. These are separate programs this fork drives rather than
 # builds, and without them the session starts to a blank screen with no bar and
@@ -97,7 +90,7 @@ Hyprland's idiom and wears a HyDE-style shell.
 
 A single ~/.config/hyprcosmic/cosmic.conf -- with general { } blocks, bind =
 lines and $variables -- is compiled into COSMIC's own configuration tree by
-cosmic-conf. The file is the source of truth: keys it names are applied at every
+hyprcosmic-conf. The file is the source of truth: keys it names are applied at every
 login over whatever the settings UI last stored, and keys it does not name are
 left alone.
 
@@ -106,9 +99,11 @@ cosmic-bg, and HyDE themes are imported directly. The compositor is COSMIC's,
 with a Hyprland-compatible IPC socket so that HyDE's scripts and waybar's
 hyprland modules work unmodified.
 
-This package replaces the distribution's COSMIC. It installs both session
+This package installs beside the distribution's COSMIC rather than over it. Its
-entries, so the greeter offers a stock COSMIC shell as well as the HyDE one,
+binaries are hyprcosmic-comp, hyprcosmic-session and hyprcosmic-conf, and it
-both served by these binaries.
+adds one session entry; the stock COSMIC entry stays on the greeter's menu,
+served by the distribution's own binaries, so a session that will not start is
+one logout away from a desktop that will.
 
 %prep
 # Nothing to unpack. See the note at the top of this file.
@@ -118,15 +113,14 @@ test -n "%{stagedir}" || { echo "define stagedir: see .github/workflows/packages
 test -d "%{stagedir}/usr" || { echo "%{stagedir}/usr missing; run just install first" >&2; exit 1; }
 cp -a "%{stagedir}/." "%{buildroot}/"
 
-# The session entries are checked by the workflow against the staged tree, not
+# The session entry is checked by the workflow against the staged tree, not
 # with desktop-file-validate here. desktop-file-validate rejects DesktopNames,
 # the key a display manager reads to set XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, because the
 # Desktop Entry Specification registers keys for application launchers and this
-# is a session file. cosmic.desktop here is upstream cosmic-session's, unchanged
+# is a session file. The copy Fedora already ships as cosmic-session-1.5.0-1.fc44
-# by this fork apart from the Exec path, and the copy Fedora already ships as
+# fails the identical check -- so this is the validator's gap, not something the
-# cosmic-session-1.5.0-1.fc44 fails the identical check -- so this is the
+# fork introduced. Dropping the key would satisfy the validator and break the
-# validator's gap, not something the fork introduced. Dropping the key would
+# session.
-# satisfy the validator and break the session.
 # See "Check the session entries" in .github/workflows/packages.yml, which
 # tests what actually matters: that Exec names a file this package installs.
 
@@ -138,4 +132,5 @@ cp -a "%{stagedir}/." "%{buildroot}/"
 
 %changelog
 * Mon Aug 10 2026 dingo <[email protected]> - 0.1.0-1
-- First package of the fork: COSMIC replaced as a unit, HyDE shell, cosmic-conf.
+- First package of the fork: hyprcosmic-comp, hyprcosmic-session and
+  hyprcosmic-conf installed beside the distribution's COSMIC, with a HyDE shell.