Last updated: 2026-02-25

genpack/devlauncher Metapackage

Overview

genpack/devlauncher is a metapackage that bundles the tools needed for GUI development work in a Wayland environment. It installs a GTK4-based application launcher (devlauncher) along with editors, browsers, terminal emulators, container tools, and command-line utilities.

Dependency Package List

Development Foundation (via genpack/devel)

Package	Description
`sys-devel/binutils`	Binary utilities
`sys-devel/gcc`	GCC compiler
`dev-debug/gdb`	GDB debugger

GUI Applications

Package	Description
`www-client/google-chrome`	Web browser
`app-editors/vscode[wayland]`	Visual Studio Code
`x11-terms/ghostty` (<1.2)	Ghostty terminal emulator
`app-text/xournalpp`	Handwriting notes & PDF annotation (GTK3)
`dev-util/claude-code`	Claude Code CLI

GUI Foundation

Package	Description
`gui-apps/waypipe[lz4,zstd]`	Wayland remote display forwarding
`gui-libs/gtk[wayland]`	GTK4 (used by devlauncher itself)
`x11-libs/gtk+[wayland]`	GTK3 (used by xournalpp etc.)
`dev-python/pygobject`	Python GObject bindings
`media-fonts/noto`	Noto fonts
`media-fonts/noto-cjk`	Noto CJK fonts
`media-fonts/noto-emoji`	Noto emoji fonts
`media-sound/alsa-utils`	ALSA audio utilities

Containers

Package	Description
`app-containers/docker`	Docker container engine
`app-containers/docker-compose`	Docker Compose

Command-Line Tools

Package	Description
`app-admin/sudo`	Privilege escalation
`sys-process/psmisc`	Process management utilities
`app-misc/jq`	JSON processor
`sys-apps/fd`	File search
`app-text/tree`	Directory tree display
`sys-apps/bat`	cat with syntax highlighting
`dev-python/pip`	Python package manager
`dev-python/pylint`	Python linter
`dev-python/pytest`	Python test framework

devlauncher Application

A GTK4 (PyGObject) based application launcher installed as /usr/bin/devlauncher. When launched, it displays installed .desktop applications in a grid view and allows launching them by clicking.

Automatic Wayland Environment Detection

devlauncher checks the following conditions at startup and automatically sets environment variables:

WAYLAND_DISPLAY is set
DISPLAY is not set (not X11)
XDG_SESSION_TYPE is not wayland

When these conditions are met, it sets XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland and MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1. This compensates for cases where Wayland session information is incomplete during remote connections via waypipe SSH.

Indirectly Required Flags

To correctly build devlauncher and its dependencies, there are USE flags required by indirect dependencies beyond what is directly specified in the ebuild’s RDEPEND. When using the weston profile, these are set by the profile itself, but when combining with profiles that lack GUI settings such as paravirt, they must be explicitly specified in the use section of genpack.json5.

License Acceptance

Proprietary packages require acceptance in the license section of genpack.json5:

license: {
    "www-client/google-chrome": "google-chrome",
    "dev-util/claude-code": "all-rights-reserved",
    "app-editors/vscode": "Microsoft-vscode"
}

Wayland/Display Related

For GTK to work with the Wayland backend, the graphics stack also needs Wayland support.

Package	USE Flag	Reason
`gui-libs/gtk`	`wayland`	GTK4 Wayland backend. Directly used by devlauncher
`x11-libs/gtk+`	`wayland`	GTK3 Wayland backend. Used by xournalpp etc.
`media-libs/mesa`	`vulkan wayland`	`gtk[wayland]` requires `mesa[wayland]`. `vulkan` is REQUIRED_USE for lavapipe/zink
`x11-libs/cairo`	`X`	Required by `gtk+[X]`. Needed for Chrome/Electron dependency chain
`media-libs/libglvnd`	`X`	Required via `gtk+`
`app-crypt/gcr`	`gtk`	VSCode → gnome-keyring → gcr dependency chain
`media-libs/freetype`	`harfbuzz`	Font rendering. Has circular dependency with harfbuzz
`app-text/poppler`	`cairo`	Required for xournalpp PDF rendering

Circular Dependency Resolution

media-libs/freetype and media-libs/harfbuzz have a mutual dependency, requiring circulardep_breaker configuration:

circulardep_breaker: {
    packages: ["media-libs/freetype", "media-libs/harfbuzz"],
    use: "-harfbuzz -truetype"
}

genpack.json5 Configuration Example

Minimal USE flag settings when using devlauncher with the paravirt profile:

{
    profile: "paravirt",
    packages: ["genpack/devlauncher"],
    use: {
        "gui-libs/gtk": "wayland",
        "x11-libs/gtk+": "wayland",
        "media-libs/mesa": "vulkan wayland",
        "x11-libs/cairo": "X",
        "media-libs/libglvnd": "X",
        "media-libs/freetype": "harfbuzz",
        "app-crypt/gcr": "gtk",
        "app-text/poppler": "cairo"
    },
    circulardep_breaker: {
        packages: ["media-libs/freetype", "media-libs/harfbuzz"],
        use: "-harfbuzz -truetype"
    },
    license: {
        "www-client/google-chrome": "google-chrome",
        "dev-util/claude-code": "all-rights-reserved",
        "app-editors/vscode": "Microsoft-vscode"
    }
}

Relationship with weston Profile

The weston profile globally sets USE="wayland -X" in make.defaults and covers most of the above USE flags in package.use. However, the weston/paravirt profile assumes a full desktop environment including the Weston compositor, which is excessive when only using remote display via waypipe. Individually specifying the required USE flags on the paravirt profile results in lighter images.

Source References

Update History

2026-02-25 — Add genpack/devlauncher metapackage documentation

See all update history