punktfunk/docs-site/content/docs/ubuntu-gnome.md

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Ubuntu — GNOME	Set up a punktfunk host on Ubuntu with the GNOME desktop (Mutter).

Set up a punktfunk host on Ubuntu (Desktop or Server) running GNOME. The host uses GNOME's Mutter compositor to create a per-client virtual display. Tested on Ubuntu 24.04+ and GNOME 48+.

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

1. NVIDIA driver

Install the recommended NVIDIA driver:

sudo ubuntu-drivers install      # or: sudo apt install nvidia-driver-<version>

Then make sure the GL/EGL userspace is present — GNOME on NVIDIA needs it, and the base driver package doesn't always pull it in. Install the libnvidia-gl package matching your driver version:

sudo apt install libnvidia-gl-<version>   # e.g. libnvidia-gl-550

Reboot, then confirm the driver and KMS modeset:

nvidia-smi
cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset   # should print Y

If modeset is not Y:

echo 'options nvidia-drm modeset=1' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u && sudo reboot

Secure Boot: on a machine with Secure Boot enabled, the NVIDIA kernel module won't load until you enrol its signing key. If nvidia-smi reports it can't talk to the driver, run sudo mokutil --import /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der (set a one-time password), reboot, and choose Enrol MOK at the blue screen. Or disable Secure Boot in firmware.

2. Install the host (apt)

punktfunk-host is published as a .deb to the public Gitea apt registry, so the box installs and updates with plain apt. The registry is public — no auth needed, just trust its signing key:

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/debian/repository.key \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/punktfunk.asc >/dev/null

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/punktfunk.asc] https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/debian stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/punktfunk.list

sudo apt update
sudo apt install punktfunk-host

punktfunk-host Recommends the browser console (punktfunk-web), so apt pulls it in by default. The desktop client (punktfunk-client) is a separate package for the machine you stream to — not installed on a host. The NVIDIA driver is not a dependency — you installed it out of band in step 1. Later updates are just sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade.

3. Configure

The package ships the systemd user unit, the /dev/uinput udev rule, the socket-buffer sysctl tuning, and an example config. As the desktop user, grant gamepad access and write the GNOME config:

sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"     # /dev/uinput for virtual gamepads (re-login to apply)
mkdir -p ~/.config/punktfunk
cat > ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env <<'ENV'
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR=mutter
PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_SOURCE=virtual
PUNKTFUNK_ZEROCOPY=1
PUNKTFUNK_INPUT_BACKEND=libei
ENV

See the Configuration reference for every option.

4. Run

Start the host as a user service from inside your GNOME session (so it can reach Mutter):

systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host
journalctl --user -u punktfunk-host -f      # watch it come up + print its fingerprint

The host listens on UDP 9777 (native punktfunk/1) plus the GameStream ports, and advertises itself over mDNS. It requires PIN pairing by default (secure on a LAN) — arm pairing from the web console (next step) and pair once from your client.

Web console

The console (status, paired devices, arm pairing) ships as punktfunk-web:

systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-web
# read the auto-generated login password, then open http://<host-ip>:47992
journalctl --user -u punktfunk-web-init | sed -n 's/.*password generated: //p'

Console login password

The console is password-protected. On first start punktfunk-web-init generates a random login password and saves it to ~/.config/punktfunk/web-password (as PUNKTFUNK_UI_PASSWORD=…). Read it back at any time — from the init service's journal, or straight from the file:

journalctl --user -u punktfunk-web-init | sed -n 's/.*password generated: //p'
sed -n 's/^PUNKTFUNK_UI_PASSWORD=//p' ~/.config/punktfunk/web-password

To set your own password, edit that file (PUNKTFUNK_UI_PASSWORD=<your-password>) and restart the console: systemctl --user restart punktfunk-web. Forgot it? This is the recovery path linked from the console login screen — see Forgot your Password?.

To run the host automatically at boot — including on a headless machine with no monitor — see Running as a Service.

Troubleshooting

• gnome-shell fails to start / "GPU … not supported by EGL": the NVIDIA GL/EGL userspace is missing. Install libnvidia-gl-<version> (step 1) and confirm /usr/share/glvnd/egl_vendor.d/10_nvidia.json exists.
• Capture fails with "Session creation inhibited": a locked GNOME session blocks screen capture. On a headless/always-on host, disable the lock — see Running as a Service.
• More in Troubleshooting.

Appendix — build from source

If the apt registry doesn't have a build for your release, or you want to track main directly, compile the host yourself (no clean updates / no packaged units — you wire those up by hand).

Install the build toolchain and runtime libraries:

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config cmake clang libclang-dev nasm git curl \
  pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber libpipewire-0.3-dev libspa-0.2-dev \
  libwayland-dev wayland-protocols libxkbcommon-dev libopus-dev \
  libdrm-dev libgbm-dev libegl-dev libgles-dev mesa-common-dev libva-dev \
  ffmpeg libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libavfilter-dev libavdevice-dev \
  libnvidia-egl-wayland1 libnvidia-egl-gbm1 libei-dev

Install Rust if you don't have it, then build:

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 -p punktfunk-host

The host binary lands at target/release/punktfunk-host. Write ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env as in step 3, then run it inside your GNOME session:

cargo run --release -p punktfunk-host -- serve --gamestream

(The native plane is always on; --gamestream adds the Moonlight-compat surface this guide's GameStream ports refer to — trusted LAN only. Drop it for a secure native-only host.)