Gabriel Brown
13f3648e4d
Phase 3 of the fresh-install spec: the parts of a run that depend on what the machine actually is. NVIDIA, Secure Boot, Fedora's preinstalled extras, firmware. Two of these looked like they would force a compromise, and neither did. sunhat opened an editor in the middle of its run so grub could be hand-corrected, and that single step is why walking away from an install did not work. The step existed to delete duplicated kernel arguments -- and grubby replaces an argument that already exists rather than appending a second copy, so the duplicates cannot accumulate and there is nothing to correct. The editor was load-bearing for a problem that a different tool does not have. MOK enrolment needs a password now and the same password at the next boot's blue screen, which reads like a prompt that has to happen mid-run. mokutil has --generate-hash and --hash-file for exactly this: the interview asks, hashes it on the spot, and records only the hash. The plaintext never reaches the answers file, the environment, or a command line, and the stage runs without asking. The stage runs last rather than fourth as the spec's table had it. The constraint was always "late" and fourth of eight is not late: enrolment arms a prompt for the next boot and firmware may want a reboot, so a machine that reboots out of this stage should already be completely configured. Every question names what was found -- the card, the packages actually installed -- and is not asked at all on a machine it would do nothing to. sunhat's debloat list no longer describes Fedora 44: totem became showtime and LibreOffice is not preinstalled, so the list is curated and a package that is not installed is never passed to dnf, which is what lets it outlive a release. This stage cannot be verified by running it. It installs a proprietary driver and queues a Secure Boot enrolment, and this machine is an AMD desktop. So every privileged command is stood in on PATH and the contract asserts which answer led to which call: that no answers means no commands, that a failed driver install is not followed by arguments and services for a driver that is not there, that the hash reaches mokutil through a file and never a command line, and that removal is offered only for packages that are installed. The contract was checked by breaking the stage three ways and confirming it caught each. It does not verify that akmod-nvidia builds, and says so where a reader would otherwise assume it did. The README's stage table listed three of seven stages; the interview and identity work never reached it. Corrected rather than extended, since a table that lists three of seven is worse than one that lists none. The Desktops section still describes a GNOME session nothing installs -- that is phase 5. Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NvgBuSWB5sE43yWmg21ozj
Panama
Formerly Sunhat. A personal config for Fedora, with the intention of helping a user set up their Fedora system with one command.
git clone https://git.gbrown.org/gib/Panama.git ~/.local/share/Panama
~/.local/share/Panama/install
install asks its questions first and then runs the stages in setup/scripts/
in order, without stopping again:
| Script | Does |
|---|---|
interview |
Every prompt, before anything is installed. Answers last one run and are never written to a durable path |
install-packages |
Repos (RPM Fusion, Terra, Hyprland COPR), then the package lists in setup/packages/ |
link-dotfiles |
Symlinks config/dot/<name> → ~/.config/<name>, and seeds the wallpaper and cursor theme |
change-settings |
Copies config/copy/ over /, applies gsettings, enables user services |
link-vicinae-scripts |
Publishes the Vicinae script commands |
setup-identity |
git config, gh auth login, an SSH key — whichever were asked for |
install-hardware |
NVIDIA, Secure Boot enrolment, Fedora's extras, firmware — each only if it was asked for. Last, because enrolment and firmware are consumed at the next boot |
The run ends with a health summary from panama-doctor, which reports what is
actually running rather than what was attempted. It never fails the install: on a
fresh machine it legitimately reports things as not yet configured.
Existing configs are moved to config/old/ rather than overwritten.
Desktops
Panama configures two desktops that coexist. Both sessions stay available in GDM, so you can switch back and forth while you settle in.
GNOME
The original setup: Forge for tiling, Dash-to-Dock, Openbar, Vitals,
AppIndicator support. Configured through config/dot/forge/ and gsettings.
Hyprland
A from-scratch replacement built to reproduce the GNOME setup closely enough that muscle memory transfers — same keybinds, same panel contents, same dock, same Tokyo Night Moon palette.
| Piece | What it is |
|---|---|
config/dot/hypr/ |
Compositor config. Lua, not hyprlang — see its README |
config/dot/quickshell/ |
The shell: bar, dock, Continuum overview, Settings, Screen Intelligence, focus sessions, quick settings, notifications, screenshot UI |
config/dot/vicinae/ |
Raycast-style launcher, themed |
config/dot/uwsm/ |
Session environment (see the uwsm caveat in the hypr README) |
config/dot/wofi/ |
Fallback launcher, in case the shell fails to start |
config/dot/xdg-desktop-portal/ |
Portal backend routing |
Start here: config/dot/hypr/README.md — it
covers the Lua migration, the uwsm environment gotcha, the HDR decision, the
full keymap, and troubleshooting.
Log in as "Hyprland (uwsm-managed)", not plain "Hyprland".
Layout
bin/ Small user-facing commands on PATH
config/
bash/ .bashrc, aliases, env (env is gitignored)
copy/ Files copied verbatim over / (needs sudo)
dot/ Symlinked into ~/.config
old/ Backups of whatever was replaced (gitignored)
setup/
packages/ One package per line
scripts/ Run in order by ./install