No Systemd password hints are shown.

[IPlayZed]

When using BGRT (the default Plymouth theme) the correct password prompts are shown.
For instance, it shows the message from Systemd specifying if I can use a LUKS2 password/passsphrase/TPM2 PIN/etc. It also shows the device it asks it for.

Most themes I have tested in the repo, there was only an "Enter password" prompt, so I do not know which method I should use and for which design.

Also, there is no keyboard layout and Caps Lock indicator shown.

It would be cool if these hints were carried over from Systemd, just like BGRT does for a better UX.

[manueldeljesus]

I came to ask more or less the same thing. Which one theme did ask for the password? None of the ones I tried did.

[IPlayZed]

I came to ask more or less the same thing. Which one theme did ask for the password? None of the ones I tried did.

Ok, so I am not sure if you understood the issue properly. My problem is not that if it asks for it, but the way it does.

One instance would be the owl theme.

[manueldeljesus]

Hmmmm, ok. In my case the problem is that I see the animation going on but the system is asking for the LUKS password in the background, that is, I need to press ESC to see the message where the password is being required. My default theme shows a proper prompt and then changes back to the animation, so I wanted to get something similar with one of the themes on this repo.

I will try the owl theme and have a look to see if it works for me and how to adapt the themes I like to get that behavior, again, if it is the one I am looking for.

[IPlayZed]

My guess is that it seems like themes handle user input and forwarding the init system's messages in a proper format. If that is the case, this is really annoying because most theme creators are not aware or do not care about more complex setups probably other than a basic LUKS passphrase input...

Of course that is their choice, but it compromises the user experience bc of customization :/

[manueldeljesus]

I have been revising the BRGT's files and I do not understand how it makes the password prompt appear. I have tried to modify the themes in this repo to look the same, that is removing the functions on the script file -since BRGT's does not seen to have it- but to no avail.

Even more, rereading your message, I have seen that you get a password prompt. I do not get to that point, I only get the animation but no password prompt unless I press ESC. Did you do something to get the password prompt to show on screen?

[IPlayZed]

Not at all. Standard Plymouth binary from Pacman + mkinitcpio hook.

[manueldeljesus]

I have continued to investigate this issue and I have discovered that the theme that I am using abstract_ring seems to work properly when testing it with plymouth --show-splash and plymouth --ask-for-password. However, during the boot sequence, for some reason, the ask-for-password functionality is never activated.

@adi1090x Any idea of where to look for finding the reason for this behavior?

[IPlayZed]

However, during the boot sequence, for some reason, the ask-for-password functionality is never activated.

Isn't this determined by how the initramfs is generated? Probably plymouth is called without those launch options.

[TheRedCyclops]

I managed to fix the prompt not appearing by copying any font to: /usr/share/fonts/Plymouth.ttf
It checks for the font specified in the theme or it uses the one in that location
@manueldeljesus

[AverageHelper]

So I never saw any password prompt from these themes as-is until I hit ESC (e.g. #4 and #10). But I got the password prompt to work after porting the theme from the script module to two-step 😅 Idk about password hint, but I'm guessing that would show up if using two-step.

I copied the plymouth config and password UI files from one of the default two-step themes (e.g. spinner), changed the VerticalAlignment key to .4, renamed the progress-*.png files to throbber-*.png, then removed the spinner.script file, and 👍

Could probs use VerticalAlignment=.5 if I wanted the animation centered, but I wanted it to line up with the password prompt and a custom watermark.png so I used .4. Personal preference I guess.

[AverageHelper]

There is a bit of flicker between showing the animation and the password prompt, but that's probs a two-step bug. I wonder if the behavior would be different if I used animation-*.png instead of throbber-*.png 🤔

EDIT: should note I tried this with the seal_3 them and it works well imo

[manueldeljesus]

I works for me too and I also experience that flicker. But still, it is much better now that it works than before that it didn't.

I am using it currently on Linux Mint, in case the information may be useful for someone.

[AverageHelper]

Came back to mention that while I ported the seal_3 theme and liked that result, I later tried with rings_2 but the animation turned out much faster than was pleasant to see. idk what's up with that 😅