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Release News

Second Orbit

v0.2.0

Halley v0.2.0 is out with focus cycling, maximize sessions, cluster slots, session launch support, and native rendering fixes.

Halley's second release is about making the compositor easier to live in every day. v0.2.0 adds faster focus switching, monitor-local maximize sessions, numbered cluster slots, display-manager session assets, and configurable compositor-drawn shadows.

This release also spends a lot of work on native tty reliability: udev-driven output rescans, stronger DRM frame recovery, better vblank pacing, explicit sync waits, and safer fullscreen direct-scanout behavior for stricter drivers. Existing configs are carried forward through bootstrap merging so new defaults can arrive without wiping local rules, env, or autostart blocks.

Included

In This Release

Focus cycling

Alt+Tab and Alt+Shift+Tab now open a modal switcher with window previews, app icons, monitor labels, and keyboard hints.

Monitor-local maximize

mod+m centers and maximizes the focused field window on its monitor, snapshots displaced windows, then restores the camera and layout cleanly.

Cluster slots

Each monitor gets slots 1 through 10 with default mod+1 through mod+0 bindings and matching halleyctl cluster slot commands.

Fullscreen overlap fixes

Overlap-rule windows can appear above fullscreen content without immediately forcing apps windowed or breaking the fullscreen lock.

Smoother edge panning

Drag edge panning now uses camera smoothing, zoom-aware speed, and edge pressure so field motion feels less abrupt.

Display-manager sessions

Halley now ships Wayland session assets and a native halley --session path for SDDM and other display managers.

Config merging

Existing user configs pick up new template sections, options, and default keybinds without overwriting custom rules, env, or autostart blocks.

Configurable shadows

Window, node, and overlay shadows are now controlled through decorations.shadows with per-layer blur, spread, offset, and color.

Native tty recovery

DRM page-flip recovery, udev rescans, timestamp-paced vblank throttling, explicit sync waits, and frame diagnostics reduce native rendering stalls.

Installation

Get v0.2.0

AUR

AUR 
yay -S halley
AUR 
paru -S halley

Development Version

dev package 
yay -S halley-dev
dev package 
paru -S halley-dev

From Source

source build 
git clone https://github.com/saltnpepper97/halley
cd halley
cargo build --release

Notes

Still Growing

  • The wiki now defaults to v0.2.0 while v0.1.0 remains available from the version picker.
  • If you already have a config, Halley can merge in newly introduced defaults while preserving custom rules, env, and autostart blocks.
  • For native tty troubleshooting, v0.2.0 includes direct-scanout controls and frame diagnostics such as HALLEY_DISABLE_DIRECT_SCANOUT, HALLEY_FORCE_COMPOSED, and HALLEY_FRAME_STATS.

Thanks

To The Early Orbit

Thanks to everyone who tested fullscreen games, native tty sessions, config reloads, and multi-monitor workflows after the first release.

The feedback from those rough edges directly shaped this release.

Second orbit is about daily-driver stability.