diff --git a/hosts/modules/gui/phosh.nix b/hosts/modules/gui/phosh.nix
index 422e9463..291ff2e5 100644
--- a/hosts/modules/gui/phosh.nix
+++ b/hosts/modules/gui/phosh.nix
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ in
       # qt.style = "gtk2";
 
       # docs: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/nixos-22.05/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/phosh.nix
+      # docs: <repo:gnome/phosh:src/phoc.ini.example>
+      # docs: <repo:gnome/phosh:src/settings.c#config_ini_handler>
       services.xserver.desktopManager.phosh = {
         enable = true;
         user = "colin";
@@ -113,6 +115,18 @@ in
         NIXOS_OZONE_WL = "1";
       };
 
+      systemd.services.phosh.environment = {
+        # PHOC_DEBUG: comma-separated list of:
+        # - ``auto-maximize``: Maximize toplevels
+        # - ``damage-tracking``: Debug damage tracking
+        # - ``no-quit``: Don't quit when session ends
+        # - ``touch-points``: Debug touch points
+        # - ``layer-shell``: Debug layer shell
+        # - ``cutouts``: Debug display cutouts and notches
+        PHOC_DEBUG = "layer-shell";
+        # G_DEBUG, G_MESSAGE_DEBUG for glib debugging: <https://docs.gtk.org/glib/running.html>
+      };
+
       programs.dconf.packages = [
         # org.kde.konsole.desktop
         (pkgs.writeTextFile {
@@ -142,7 +156,11 @@ in
       services.xserver.displayManager.job.preStart = ''
         ${pkgs.systemd}/bin/busctl call org.freedesktop.Accounts /org/freedesktop/Accounts org.freedesktop.Accounts CacheUser s colin
       '';
-      # services.xserver.displayManager.defaultSession = "sm.puri.Phosh";  # XXX: not sure why this doesn't propagate correctly.
+      # XXX for some reason specifying defaultSession = "sm.puri.Phosh" breaks cross-compiled display-manager startup
+      # - causes an attempt to load x86-64 glib-2.76.2/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
+      # - likely <repo:nixpkgs:nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/account-service-util.nix>
+      # - but i believe some variant of this issue existed even during emulated compilation
+      # services.xserver.displayManager.defaultSession = "sm.puri.Phosh";
       services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm.extraSeatDefaults = ''
         user-session = phosh
       '';
diff --git a/nixpatches/list.nix b/nixpatches/list.nix
index a7b197b9..7b29cbbc 100644
--- a/nixpatches/list.nix
+++ b/nixpatches/list.nix
@@ -80,17 +80,20 @@ in [
     saneCommit = "a0186a5782708a640cd6eaad6e9742b9cccebe9d";
     hash = "sha256-f8he7pQow4fZkTVVqU/A5KgovZA7m7MccRQNTnDxw5o=";
   })
-  (fetchpatch' {
-    # phoc: 0.25.0 -> 0.27.0
-    # TODO: move wayland-scanner & glib to nativeBuildInputs
-    saneCommit = "12e89c9d26b7a1a79f6b8b2f11fce0dd8f4d5197";
-    hash = "sha256-IJNBVr2xAwQW4SAJvq4XQYW4D5tevvd9zRrgXYmm38g=";
-  })
-  (fetchpatch' {
-    # phosh: 0.25.1 -> 0.27.0
-    saneCommit = "c8fa213c7cb357c0ca0d5bea66278362a47caeb8";
-    hash = "sha256-I8IZ8fjJstmcIXEN622/A1w2uHDACwXFl1WbXTWOyi4=";
-  })
+  # (fetchpatch' {
+  #   # phoc: 0.25.0 -> 0.27.0
+  #   # TODO: move wayland-scanner & glib to nativeBuildInputs
+  #   # TODO: once i press power button to screen blank, power doesn't reactivate phoc
+  #   saneCommit = "12e89c9d26b7a1a79f6b8b2f11fce0dd8f4d5197";
+  #   hash = "sha256-IJNBVr2xAwQW4SAJvq4XQYW4D5tevvd9zRrgXYmm38g=";
+  # })
+  # (fetchpatch' {
+  #   # phosh: 0.25.1 -> 0.27.0
+  #   # TODO: fix Calls:
+  #   # > Failed to get emergency contacts: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.Calls was not provided by any .service files
+  #   saneCommit = "c8fa213c7cb357c0ca0d5bea66278362a47caeb8";
+  #   hash = "sha256-I8IZ8fjJstmcIXEN622/A1w2uHDACwXFl1WbXTWOyi4=";
+  # })
 
   # (fetchpatch' {
   #   # phosh-mobile-settings: 0.23.1 -> 0.27.0