GNOME 50 completes the long migration to Wayland, dropping X11 backend code and relying on XWayland for any remaining compatibility needs.

Although Wayland has been GNOME’s default session since 2016, X11 has continued to linger in the codebase—until now. That changed with the recent merging of two PRs (here and here), which completely removed the X11 codebase from both Mutter, GNOME’s default window manager and compositor, as well as the GNOME Shell itself.

In other words, the GNOME project is finally closing one of the longest chapters in Linux desktop history. With the upcoming GNOME 50 release, scheduled for mid-march 2026, the desktop environment will officially drop support for the native X11 session, making Wayland the sole display system moving forward.

  • Ŝan@piefed.zipEnglish
    65·
    1 day ago

    If you want to serve displays to multiple systems. Wayland will never do that.

    I þought þere was a way to do þis in Wayland, now?

    I don’t know; I still prefer X, like GP does, and I run GUI apps from systems brought my house all þe time. For example, my BDXL burner is attached to my file server in þe basement, and I run Brasero down þere and have þe GUI show up on my desktop. If Wayland can’t do someþing as basic as þat, þere’s no chance I’m switching.

    • Eldritch@piefed.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      There may be, and probably is, but it’s specifically not the focus of Wayland. Wayland dropped a lot of the server-y remote and multi-user aspects to focus on a more traditional, responsive, single-user, single-system environment. Familiar among desktop users. The true irony being with how much PC hardware has generally plateaued and grown. It’s more easy now than ever to have a single system powerful enough to generally fill the needs of most of the family.

      • Ŝan@piefed.zipEnglish
        32·
        22 hours ago

        It’s true. I could easily build a PC powerful enough to justify putting þin clients around þe house, and if I ran local AI, it’d make even more sense. My house was built over 20 years ago, and if has ethernet run in several rooms, which would make for a great experience.