punktfunk/docs-site/content/docs/fedora.md

title, description

title	description
Fedora	Install the Punktfunk host on Fedora from the RPM registry.

Install a Punktfunk host on Fedora from the self-hosted RPM registry. The host installs as an RPM-managed systemd --user service and updates with dnf upgrade like the rest of your system — no building required. It works with either KDE Plasma or GNOME; the desktop-specific setup (which compositor captures, headless sessions, quirks) lives on the desktop configure pages. Host encode is NVENC on NVIDIA; on AMD/Intel HEVC and AV1 go through Vulkan Video, with VAAPI for H.264 and as the fallback (PUNKTFUNK_ENCODER=auto picks per GPU).

New here? Read Security & Safe Use first — a streaming host is remote control of the machine, so keep it on a trusted LAN or VPN and require pairing.

Install is two parts: GPU driver → host RPM. Then open the firewall and point the host at your desktop from the desktop configure pages.

1. NVIDIA driver (RPM Fusion akmod)

Enable RPM Fusion (free + nonfree), then install the akmod driver + CUDA. RPM Fusion's nonfree NVIDIA repo is sometimes pre-enabled on some spins; the full free/nonfree repos below are still needed (they carry the NVENC ffmpeg in the next step).

sudo dnf install \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda

NVENC ffmpeg. Fedora ships ffmpeg-free, which is built without NVENC — the host can't encode with it. Swap to RPM Fusion's ffmpeg:

sudo dnf install --allowerasing ffmpeg ffmpeg-libs
ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders | grep nvenc   # expect hevc_nvenc / av1_nvenc / h264_nvenc

Secure Boot. If mokutil --sb-state says enabled, the akmod module is signed with a locally-generated key that must be enrolled once:

sudo akmods --force                                              # build + sign the module
sudo mokutil --import /etc/pki/akmods/certs/public_key.der       # set a one-time password
sudo reboot

On the next boot a blue MOK Manager screen appears on the machine's console (not over SSH): Enroll MOK → Continue → Yes → (the password) → Reboot. Then verify:

nvidia-smi                              # driver loads
ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders | grep nvenc

(Or disable Secure Boot in firmware to skip the MOK step — fine for a dedicated test box.)

AMD / Intel. No akmod needed — the Mesa stack carries both encode paths. HEVC and AV1 go through Vulkan Video by default (the Mesa Vulkan driver, present on any normal Fedora desktop), and VAAPI is the H.264 path and the fallback. Install the freeworld VAAPI drivers for full codec support (mesa-va-drivers-freeworld for AMD from RPM Fusion, intel-media-driver for Intel); on a desktop these are usually already present.

2. Install the host (RPM)

The host is published to the self-hosted Gitea RPM registry, in a per-release group (an RPM is soname-coupled to its base, so each Fedora release gets its own group). Pick the one matching your release — rpm -E %fedora prints the number you're on:

• Fedora 44 → fedora-44
• Fedora 43 → bazzite — that group is a plain Fedora 43 build of the same punktfunk package, so it's the right one for a regular Fedora 43 box too

Put your group in the baseurl below, then add the repo and install:

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/punktfunk.repo >/dev/null <<'REPO'
[punktfunk]
name=punktfunk
# The group for your release: fedora-44 on Fedora 44, bazzite on Fedora 43.
baseurl=https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/rpm/fedora-44
enabled=1
# Packages are GPG-signed (gpgcheck=1) AND the repo metadata is Gitea-signed (repo_gpgcheck=1).
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/rpm/repository.key
       https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/generic/punktfunk-keys/1/RPM-GPG-KEY-punktfunk
REPO

sudo dnf install punktfunk
sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"     # /dev/uinput access for virtual gamepads (re-login to apply)

Also join punktfunk if either applies — you want the virtual Steam Deck controller (paddles, trackpads, gyro — it reaches games as a real USB pad, which is why Steam Input adopts it), or this box autologins into Steam Gaming Mode (Nobara and friends) and you want the host to take that session over at the client's resolution:

sudo usermod -aG punktfunk "$USER"  # usbip/vhci + display-manager takeover (re-login to apply)

That is a second group on purpose: it grants write access to the usbip attach file, which materialises an arbitrary emulated USB device, so it stays off the input group everyone is routinely told to join. Join it only on a machine you trust. Skip it on a plain desktop host and the pad simply arrives as an ordinary Xbox 360 controller; skip it on a Gaming Mode box and the takeover silently degrades to mirroring the box's own screen — see gamescope.

Updates later are just sudo dnf upgrade punktfunk, followed by systemctl --user restart punktfunk-host so the running host picks up the new binary. The package ships the systemd user units, the udev rule, the UDP socket-buffer sysctl tuning, and example configs.

The group you picked above is the stable channel. For the latest main build, point baseurl at fedora-44-canary (or bazzite-canary) instead — see Release Channels. Updating in general, including the opt-in one-click button in the web console, is covered in Updating the Host.

fedora-44 and bazzite are the only stable groups published, so on Fedora 42 or older — or on a release newer than 44 — there's nothing matching yet. Build one with the same toolchain CI uses — docker build --build-arg FEDORA_VERSION=NN -f ci/fedora-rpm.Dockerfile -t pf-rpm ci then run packaging/rpm/build-rpm.sh inside it — or build from source (appendix below).

3. Check it installed

Before moving on, confirm the binary is there and nothing else is competing for the same job:

punktfunk-host --version           # the binary is on PATH
punktfunk-host detect-conflicts    # exits 1 if Sunshine/Apollo is also installed

If detect-conflicts reports another streaming host, remove it before going further — two hosts on one machine is the most common reason a clean install never streams. See Troubleshooting → another streaming host is installed.

Once you've enabled the service on your desktop page below, these are how you watch it:

systemctl --user status punktfunk-host      # active
journalctl --user -u punktfunk-host -f      # watch a client connect

4. Open the firewall

Fedora runs firewalld by default and the package never edits your firewall, so the host stays unreachable until you allow it. The RPM installs the service definitions — enable them once.

The packaged unit runs serve --gamestream — the RPM installs it as it ships and only rewrites the binary path — so a host you enabled with systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host serves both the native punktfunk/1 plane and stock Moonlight clients, and needs both services:

sudo firewall-cmd --reload                                            # load the installed definitions
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=punktfunk-native
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Enabled GameStream/Moonlight compat (PUNKTFUNK_GAMESTREAM=1 in host.env — see What the unit starts)? Then also:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=punktfunk-gamestream && sudo firewall-cmd --reload

punktfunk-native opens UDP 9777 (QUIC control), UDP 5353 (mDNS discovery) and TCP 47990 (the mgmt/library API — HTTPS + mTLS, read-only off loopback). punktfunk-gamestream opens the fixed Moonlight ports — TCP 47984, 47989 and 48010, UDP 47998–48000 — plus the same mDNS. The media data plane uses an ephemeral UDP port the client opens with a hole-punch, so there is nothing fixed to open for video.

And if you want the web console reachable from another device, open TCP 47992:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=punktfunk-web && sudo firewall-cmd --reload

5. Configure your desktop

How the host creates its virtual display and injects input depends on your desktop, not your distro. Continue on the page for the desktop you run — it covers your host.env, any compositor quirks, and starting the host:

• KDE Plasma (KWin)
• GNOME (Mutter)
• Steam / gamescope
• Hyprland
• Sway / wlroots

Enable the browser management console (status, paired devices, arm pairing) — see Web Console.

For a headless KWin appliance that streams at boot with no graphical login, see KDE → Headless session.

Full config reference: Configuration. Service model: Running as a Service.

6. Connect a client

From any client, --discover finds the host on the LAN. On first connect, complete the PIN pairing — arm it from the host's web console, which displays a 4-digit PIN to type into the client. See Clients and Pairing.

Next steps

• Keep it current — Updating the Host.
• Remove it again — Uninstalling.
• Something not working? — Troubleshooting.

Appendix — build from source

If there's no RPM for your Fedora release and you don't want to build one, compile the host directly (no clean updates / no packaged units — you wire those up by hand):

sudo dnf install gcc gcc-c++ make cmake clang clang-devel nasm git pkgconf-pkg-config \
  pipewire-devel wayland-devel wayland-protocols-devel libxkbcommon-devel opus-devel \
  libdrm-devel mesa-libgbm-devel mesa-libGL-devel mesa-libEGL-devel mesa-libGLES-devel libva-devel \
  ffmpeg-devel libei-devel
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
git clone https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk.git && cd punktfunk
cargo build --release --locked \
  --features punktfunk-host/nvenc,punktfunk-host/vulkan-encode \
  -p punktfunk-host

mesa-libGL-devel isn't optional — the zero-copy GPU path links libGL, and without it the build fails at the link step with cannot find -lGL. The two --features are what the packaged builds use: leave them off and the host has no direct NVENC (NVIDIA) and no Vulkan Video encode (AMD/Intel), and quietly falls back to the slower libav backends.

Then write ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env (as in /usr/share/punktfunk/host.env.kde, but the host binary is target/release/punktfunk-host) and run it inside your desktop session — for a headless KWin appliance see KDE → Headless session.