KDE Plasma 6.8 Will Go Wayland-Exclusive in Dropping X11 Session Support

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Wayland Readiness & User Experience

  • Many consider dropping the X11 session “too early”: reports of KDE-specific Wayland bugs (window management regressions, graphical glitches, touchpad gesture conflicts, font rendering issues, DPI scaling quirks, and gaming glitches).
  • Others say recent Plasma/Wayland (6.5+) is “extremely stable” and smooth, especially on Linux with AMD or modern Nvidia drivers; some find it clearly better than X11 for stuttering/tearing and power use.
  • Experiences vary sharply by hardware (notably Nvidia vs AMD) and distro; some note Wayland in VMs and on FreeBSD still crashes or performs poorly.

Legacy Apps, Games & Tooling

  • Heavy reliance on X11-only workflows: old scientific/SunOS-era tools, KiCad’s earlier Wayland issues, KeepassXC autotype, xpra/xdotool, enterprise VPN clients, some older or specific games (OpenMW, Minecraft, Godot editor).
  • XWayland generally works for standard apps, but commenters stress that accessibility tools, UI automation, some tray icons, and niche apps often break or degrade.
  • Concern that toolkits like GTK dropping X11, plus GNOME and KDE going Wayland-only, will eventually strand X-based workflows despite XWayland.

Remote Desktop, Screen Capture & Automation

  • Common need: SSH into an already-logged-in graphical session and attach a remote desktop, as with x11vnc/freerdp-shadow. Under Wayland this is fragmented:
    • wlroots: wayvnc; KDE: KRDP/KRfb; GNOME: gnome-remote-desktop; generic options like RustDesk, waypipe.
    • Portal permissions and “must be pre-authorized / pre-running” semantics are seen as clumsy compared to X11.
  • Screen recording: some success with OBS, Kooha, Spectacle; others find tools broken or over-complex for quick captures.

Security, Architecture & Motivation to Replace X11

  • Pro‑Wayland arguments: X11’s design allows any client to snoop input and window contents and doesn’t align with modern GPU and HDR workflows. X is viewed by its own maintainers as unfixable tech debt laden with legacy cruft.
  • Counterpoints: X had security extensions (XACE, SECURITY), hardware accel “hacks” work well in practice, and Wayland’s strict model has badly hurt accessibility, scripting, and automation.
  • Some see Wayland’s protocol and permission design as over‑modular, under‑specified, and the cause of 17+ years of slow, fragmented progress.

Being “Forced”, Fragmentation & the Future

  • Some users feel “forced” off X11 when major DEs and toolkits drop it, arguing that “freedom of choice” is eroding and corporate interests dominate.
  • Others reply that nobody is owed free maintenance; users can stay on LTS distros, move to other DEs (Xfce, MATE, fvwm, etc.), or adopt projects like Wayback to keep X11 workflows alive atop Wayland.
  • Fragmentation across compositors (different protocols for screenshots, remote desktop, a11y) is a recurring complaint and a key reason some say they’ll abandon KDE when X11 sessions disappear.