Without a Wayland Session

⚠️ WARNING: This method is not recommended for normal desktop use. It bypasses proper session integration and will fail if:

• No Wayland compositor is running
• Environment variables aren't properly configured

1. Create the D-Bus Service File

Create $XDG_DATA_HOME/dbus-1/services/org.noti_rs.noti.service with:

[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.freedesktop.Notifications
Exec=/bin/false  # Forces systemd activation
SystemdService=noti.service

Why? This makes D-Bus delegate service management to systemd while claiming the notification bus.

2. Create the systemd Service File

Use the same noti.service file as the Wayland session guide, but there is no requirement to enable service.

Also you may want to add the Environment=XDG_CONFIG_HOME=%/.config line because the environment variable won't be forwarded by session.

3. Restart D-Bus and Test

Restart the user D-Bus session to apply changes:

systemctl --user restart dbus.service

If issues persist, reboot for full D-Bus reinitialization.

Test activation:

noti server-info # Should trigger service start

Note: The service will start on first notification attempt, but fail if no Wayland compositor exists.

Troubleshooting

• Service Not Found

ls $XDG_DATA_HOME/dbus-1/services/  # Verify file exists

Or try ~/.local/share/dbus-1/services/ location instead of using XDG_DATA_HOME environment variable. If fails, then try /usr/share/dbus-1/services/, but only as a last resort.

• Environment Issues

# List all environment variables of noti.service process by `systemctl` and `strings`.
strings /proc/$(systemctl --user show --property MainPID --value noti.service)/environ

• Manual Testing

# Start the service
systemctl --user start noti.service

# Check status of the service
systemctl --user status noti.service

# Follow live service logs
journalctl --user --unit noti --follow

Common Issues:

• Ensure the executable path is correct.
• Check file permissions.
• Verify systemd configurations.
• Confirm environment variables are set correctly.