Can I start using Wayland in 2026?

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Wayland Architecture & Design Debates

  • Major criticism: Wayland is “just a protocol” with many incompatible compositors (GNOME/Mutter, KDE/KWin, wlroots/Hyprland/Sway, smithay, etc.), so each has to solve input, output, and driver quirks separately. Some see this as a serious architectural mistake vs Xorg’s single server.
  • Others argue this was intentional: Wayland should only cover display; input/window management protocols were expected to develop in parallel, and replacing Wayland itself should be easier.
  • Debate over “every frame must be perfect” (Wayland) versus X11’s “good enough, even if it tears.” Some value correctness and the ability to treat any glitch as a bug; others prioritize latency and responsiveness.
  • Security is a core justification: X11 fundamentally allows any client to snoop and inject into others; some say the real-world risk is low and can be mitigated, others think it’s unacceptable in modern desktops.

Implementation Fragmentation & Portals

  • Screen sharing / screenshots in browsers are widely seen as overcomplicated: xdg-desktop-portal with multiple backend implementations (GNOME, KDE, wlroots, Hyprland) adds layers and IPC even though a Wayland connection already exists.
  • This fragmentation causes differing behavior across desktops and confuses users; some tools (Zoom, Webex, screen recorders) still lag behind or behave inconsistently.

GPU Drivers and Hardware Support

  • Many reports that Wayland works “flawlessly” on recent AMD/Intel setups, including mixed-DPI, high-refresh, HDR, and 4K/5K monitors.
  • NVIDIA is a persistent pain point: historical GBM vs EGLStreams conflict, low-VRAM crash behavior under Wayland, tiled/8K display problems, and compositor crashes. Some blame NVIDIA’s closed approach, others Mesa/Wayland for not accommodating proprietary drivers earlier.
  • A few note serious AMD bugs too (freezes, shutdown hangs, external-monitor issues).

User Experiences: Working Well

  • Several long-term daily Wayland users (GNOME, KDE, Sway, Hyprland, niri, Bazzite) report:
    • Smooth fractional scaling and mixed-DPI setups.
    • No tearing, good performance, per-monitor refresh rates, and better suspend/resume.
    • Remote Emacs and similar use-cases working well via tools like Waypipe.
  • For such users, X11 is only kept for rare legacy apps or specific work tools.

User Experiences: Problems & Regressions

  • Others encounter enough issues to call Wayland “unusable” for them:
    • Screen sharing / remote desktop (AnyDesk, Remmina, Webex, fine-grained Zoom features, multi-monitor).
    • Gaming (higher overhead vs X, games or Wine apps misbehaving, pointer issues).
    • Tooling that depends on X semantics: xdotool/xev/x2x, global shortcuts (e.g., Discord PTT), autoclickers, window scripting/wmctrl-like workflows, accessibility hooks.
    • KDE/Plasma glitches, crashes, black/flickering thumbnails, and browser GPU crashes on some setups.
    • High-DPI: some say Wayland finally fixes fractional scaling; others argue X11 with proper DPI and toolkit support already works, and compositor-level scaling is a “dirty fix.”

X11 vs Wayland: Strategy, Maintenance, and Identity

  • Many comments stress that X is also “just a protocol,” but in practice had a dominant implementation, avoiding today’s fragmentation.
  • Some see Wayland as a failed or at least overlong project (18+ years), accusing desktop projects and vendors (notably Red Hat, GNOME, KDE) of forcing migration and dropping X11 prematurely.
  • Counterpoint: Xorg is effectively in maintenance mode; the people willing to work on modern graphics have rallied around Wayland, and DEs can’t feasibly support both stacks indefinitely.
  • Forks and alternatives (Xlibre, Phoenix, revived X11 security ideas) exist but are niche; most large DEs are actively removing X11 code and centering on Wayland plus XWayland for legacy apps.

Linux Desktop Readiness and Adoption

  • The thread illustrates a split:
    • One camp: Wayland desktops are already smoother and more reliable than Windows on their hardware, and they welcome X11’s retirement.
    • Another camp: recurring regressions and feature loss (especially for power users, scripting, and remote/automation workflows) reinforce a perception that Linux desktop is fragile and that Wayland solves problems they don’t have while breaking ones they do.
  • Some note that enthusiastic “year of the Linux desktop” narratives often ignore these edge and power-user cases, while others argue that such cases are necessarily where bugs are found and fixed.