For: Linux distro developers
Subject: Switched my Linux distro to XLibre

This is a copy of a post that I made just now in the Github issues section for XLibre. Link to the original post:
github.com/orgs/X11Libre/discu…

I've been developing a Linux distro, #Laclin, for 30 years. In the past 24 hours, I've switched, for now, from the old #Xorg framework to #XLibre. This includes, so far, xserver and some of the video drivers. I'll comment below on the rest.

This is my desktop running on XLibre:

The desktop is original. The parts add up to only a few MB. I like light and stable. I'm not a fan of sumo-wrestler size layers that gobble up GB of RAM and drag performance down to Windows level.

I'm also the type that holds up a cross and recites "Get thee behind me, Satan" when I see systemd and Wayland. No offense to fans of systemd and Wayland is intended. But I don't plan to switch to either. So, XLibre is a positive development.

I've had no "build" or runtime issues with XLibre xserver so far. I needed to switch some of the video drivers to the XLibre forks in order to get them to build. I'd switch other components as well, but here's the thing:

Did I mention that I have 30 years of work invested in the distro? I don't want to break 2,000 packages.

The distro includes legacy packages, some of which no other distro has. The code goes back as far as the 1990s. [The 1970s to 1980s, in a few cases.] If XLibre drops ".pc" or ".la" files [as I gather it did in one case] the packages won't build. [Yes, I understand that that change was reverted.]

So, I have four requests:

1. Keep up the good work. The fork needs to continue or the distros that are switching will be between a rock and a hard place.
2. Prioritize backwards compatibility to the extent that old packages can be built in the new framework.
3. Use of systemd should be optional.
4. Set up a #Fediverse account and post there. LibreOffice, The GIMP, G'MIC, Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, Dillo, LibreWolf, and many other projects do. It's a FOSS friendly environment.

The desktop in the screenshot is based on jwm with features added using lightweight scripts. It's got Start button, Boss button, taskbar, workspaces, systray, launch buttons, and dockapps. Plus Alt-Tab and single-instance support. I figure that that is most of what is needed.

It runs fine so far in XLibre. I'm not going to port 30 years of work to a new framework [Wayland] that intentionally breaks things and that isn't going to support old software or hardware.

what don't you like about Wayland?

I've been running it on all but one system and it's as good or bad as xorg in my experience. One system wont run KDE over Wayland - which bugs me. I've had issues with both, but can't say one is drastically better than the other at the moment.

#Debian #kde #XOrg #Wayland

Oh my, I didn't realise the state of develop-for-Wayland was this bad. As a sometimes hobbyist developer I can feel the pain.

It really does feel like one of the Linux non-profits could usefully somehow "take ownership" of the protocol level to at least standardise on one way to do things like virtual keyboard input. You'd think at least Gnome and KDE could have saved both their selves some time by co-operating on these things.

I'll continue with Xorg-based X11 until there's good reason not to. Yes, I know about recent security issues, lack of maintainer-ship, and the shit show that has been the forks/alternatives...

... but my current X11+fvwm3 setup *works for me*.

#wayland #linux #x11 #xorg

Jordan Sissel

2026-07-25 23:18:19

"Supporting Wayland isn't a one-off feature. Every compositor update, every new distribution release, every configuration change adds to the testing matrix. The thousands of permutations we described aren't a historical problem; they're an ongoing reality that demands permanent engineering commitment."

Avalonia did the math on Wayland support and the numbers weren't good, lol... best of luck to us all. <3

avaloniaui.net/blog/bringing-w…

Same math I did 8 months ago and with the same conclusion: semicomplete.com/blog/xdotool-…

Bringing Wayland Support to Avalonia - Avalonia UI Blog

A Pragmatic Approach to Linux's Display Server Future

^{Nikita Tsukanov (Avalonia UI)}

This morning I did get #kde #plasma #wayland up and running, had first fight with #sddm , this for my old monitors had really big colour difference, one darker and a grey/yellow taint. So I thought one of the monitors was breaking down, I spent weeks to looks for what next and spent money on new monitors. I have the same issue, so I decided to switch #Xorg for wayland, sure the issue is till there... and gosh wayland ain't the best on handling sessions IMHO, as which VT seems to be a bit randomish, you are stuck with "Switch User" and gosh it's SLOW like hell and easy to make plasmashell to crash on a session you are switching to. sddm don't allow you to specify the VTs you want to use, not even which VT to start with.

Plasma had the nice feature where you could scale old #X11 applications that don't have built in scaling, but then it would affect all X11 applications, this should have been a Special Window/Application rule, then it had been a lot more useful. Enabling #HDR , it works just for one monitor.

When #plasmashell crashes when you try to switch back, the view port seems to change to something a lot smaller. I can't get #yakuake to appear (either it's for it's far outside the view port or shift-f12 don't work when plasmashell wyaland crashes (in Xorg it works and the view is still full resolution).

It feels like everyone nowadays only develops a single user experience, desktop manager that can't handle multiple session (darn I miss #KDM , best ever desktop manager), desktop environments just don't handle that they aren't active. Multi monitor setups is nowadays a lot more experimental than it was in the 1990's.

As my main issue didn't get solved, I will revert back to Xorg and get a bit more stability. Maybe there will come something better to replace wayland, once in the time I was enthusiastic about it, but with time I just think it's just been a waste of time which could have been spent on gutting out all the old in Xorg and add new features.

Hmmmmmmmm

#Fedora44 #crash #wayland #xorg #xwayland