documentation/docs/alpine-desktop-setup/graphical-session/session-manager.md

Session manager

To be able to run a graphical enviroment it's necessary to run a seat and session manager. It's recommended to use seatd in conjunction with pam_rundir for a minimal setup:

# apk add seatd-launch pam-rundir

Then make sure pam_rundir exports XDG_RUNTIME_DIR by uncommenting its line in /etc/pam.d/base-session:

session optional pam_rundir.so

dbus will also be necessary for a functional desktop enviroment:

# apk add cmd:dbus-launch

Any graphical session launched has to be prefixed with:

$ dbus-launch -- seatd-launch -- <program>