Using Wayland: Difference between revisions

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The goal of this page is to relate experiences using Wayland working implementations, software replacement from the X11 world and so on.
The goal of this page is to relate experiences using Wayland working implementations, software replacement from the X11 world and so on.


Duck: also please note I'm an AwesomeWM user so I'm not looking into major desktop implementations like GNOME or KDE but more on mixing interesting pieces to fit your needs better. You can have a look at my configuration [https://vcs-git-viewer.duckcorp.org/?p=people/duck/duckland-infra.git;a=tree in my repository] (Ansible rules).
Duck: please note I'm a former AwesomeWM user thus I'm not looking into major desktop implementations like GNOME or KDE but I'm trying to mix interesting pieces to fit my needs better. You can have a look at my configuration [https://vcs-git-viewer.duckcorp.org/?p=people/duck/duckland-infra.git;a=tree in my repository] (Ansible rules).


== Compositors ==
== Compositors ==
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=== [https://swaywm.org/ Sway] ===
=== [https://swaywm.org/ Sway] ===
(updated for 1.6)


Status: very active project, create a wlroots framework to share with other compositors, version 1.0 is usable with some glitches, seamless xwayland integration
Status: very active project, created a wlroots framework to share with other compositors, version 1.1+ is usable with some glitches, seamless xwayland integration


Packaging: in Debian with wlroots and swaybg
Problems:
* <del>DRM issues when switching VT or when going out from idle (DPMS off and on)</del> (disappeared when switching to kernel 5.0, probably a driver issue)
* [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/3395 damage tracking issues with xwayland] (ugly but not not annoying with most applications)
* contextual windows in need of relative positioning are not displayed or not at the right location (tray contextual menu, IM selections)
* games under Wine may not draw or grab input correctly if run fullscreen (but windowed using the full screen size is fine and anyway often better especially with older games when you switch back and forth between workspaces)
* <del>tabbed mode switch tab if mouse over</del> (fixed in 1.1)


Notable problems:
Packaging: not ready in Debian yet but [https://salsa.debian.org/swaywm-team WIP in Salsa]: wlroots builds fine, Sway 1.0 final needs a patch (added ''-Wno-error=date-time'' to ''meson.build'' build options to work around a failure because some macro uses the build time and makes the build unreproducible)
* <del>copy-paste problems between Wayland and XWayland ([https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/5852 segfaults], [https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots/issues/2425 freezes], or [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/4007 simply stops working])</del> fixed in 1.6

* games under Wine may hang if run fullscreen and switching workspace (but windowed using the full screen size often works; using a virtual desktop is also a working option)
Tools:
* [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/2425 dialogs hidden under their parent] (annoying with specific applications relying on child windows but most don't and there is a workaround)
* swaybar (display workspaces, current window title, tray, time, CPU infos…)
* contextual popup or menu not working yet (affects tray and IME completion selection, see below for IME solutions)
** integrated with sway, can use various commands to display stuff (i3status works fine and is packaged in Debian)
** Status: works fine but [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/3799 tray support is limited] (icon may be missing, contextual menu not working, WIP)
* [https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar.git Waybar] (more fancy bar)
** not packaged in Debian
** Status: tested only a short time, tray working better than swaybar but contextual menu currently displayed in the middle of the screen, [https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/issues/223 passing TZ to clock widget is not yet implemented]
* swaylock (lock screen)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
* swayidle (run custom actions on idle and back from idle)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine but stopped using it because of the DRM issues listed above
* remote desktop
** integrated with sway
** Status: [https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots/pull/1578 wlroots support has been implement], [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/2939 Sway now needs to make use of it]


=== [http://way-cooler.org/ Way Cooler] (spiritual successor of AwesomeWM) ===
=== [http://way-cooler.org/ Way Cooler] (spiritual successor of AwesomeWM) ===


Status: being rewritten on top of wlroots, far from being usable yet (as of early 2019)
Status: was being rewritten on top of wlroots but was [http://way-cooler.org/blog/2020/01/09/way-cooler-post-mortem.html unfortunately abandoned] at the beginning of 2020. I need some time to cope with the sadness and remove this entry.


== Tools ==
== Tools ==
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** packaged in Debian
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine to run Wayland sessions but runs on X11 itself
** Status: works fine to run Wayland sessions but runs on X11 itself

=== Bars ===

* swaybar (display workspaces, current window title, tray, time, CPU infos…)
** integrated with sway, can use various commands to display stuff (i3status works fine and is packaged in Debian)
** Status: works fine but [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/3799 tray support is limited] (icon may be missing, contextual menu not working, WIP)
* [https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar.git Waybar] (more fancy bar)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: tested only a short time, tray working better than swaybar, [https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/issues/668 the date module is not compiled])

=== Session ===

* swaylock (lock screen)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
* swayidle (run custom actions on idle and back from idle)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine and handle various events


=== Application Menu Runner ===
=== Application Menu Runner ===


* wofi:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
** Usage: wofi --term=x-terminal-emulator
* j4-dmenu-desktop + [https://github.com/Cloudef/bemenu.git bemenu]:
* j4-dmenu-desktop + [https://github.com/Cloudef/bemenu.git bemenu]:
** j4-dmenu-desktop only is packaged in Debian
** j4-dmenu-desktop only is packaged in Debian
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** Usage: dmenu_path | dmenu -p "Run:" -l 10 | xargs swaymsg exec
** Usage: dmenu_path | dmenu -p "Run:" -l 10 | xargs swaymsg exec


=== Notifications ===
=== Notifications / Screen Overlay ===


* [https://github.com/emersion/mako.git mako]:
* [https://github.com/emersion/mako.git mako] (notifications):
** not packaged in Debian
** packaged in Debian (mako-notifier)
** works fine
** works fine
* wob (progressbar)
* xfce4-notifyd:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
* xfce4-notifyd (notifications):
** packaged in Debian
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine but display in the middle of the screen thus not very practical
** Status: works fine but display in the middle of the screen thus not very practical
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=== Input Method ===
=== Input Method ===


* fcitx4:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: untouched config from X11 works but completion menu may not be displayed (it works on one machine and not another but I could not figure out why yet)
* fcitx5:
* fcitx5:
** has Wayland support
** has Wayland support
** packaged in Debian (now includes the [https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=974894 mozc binding] patch)
** only the core is packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine with both Wayland and X11 applications but selection popup does not show up ([https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots/pull/2550 input_method_v2 popups] support is WIP)
** Status: i was not able to make it work and quit
* fcitx4:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: untouched config from X11 works but completion menu may not be displayed; running ''fcitx-autostart'' fixed it (you may need to ''killall fcitx'' first)
* ibus:
* ibus:
** packaged in Debian
** packaged in Debian
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=== Terminal ===
=== Terminal ===


* foot: (native Wayland support)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine but lacked IME support; it was [https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot/issues/134 recently fixed upstream], now waiting for a release and new package
* termite: (native Wayland support)
* termite: (native Wayland support)
** not packaged in Debian
** not packaged in Debian and requires a patched libvte
** works fine
** Status: works fine
* xfce4-terminal:
* xfce4-terminal:
** packaged in Debian
** packaged in Debian
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** packaged in Debian
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
** Status: works fine
* xdg-desktop-portal-wlr: (screenshot, screencast, and possibly remote-desktop)
** packaged in Debian
** Status: [https://github.com/emersion/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr/wiki/Screencast-Compatibility experimental], requires pipewire >=0.3 and FF >=84; tested screencast with FF and GMeet, it worked but takes a few seconds to initialize and sometimes hang (switching presentation mode off and on worked without having to restart the service)


=== Screen Brightness ===
=== Screen Brightness ===


* light:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
* brightnessctl:
* brightnessctl:
** packaged in Debian (brightness-udev is needed to be usable as non-root)
** packaged in Debian (brightness-udev is needed to be usable as non-root)
** Status: works fine

=== Browser ===

* firefox:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine on XWayland, works fine on Wayland too but [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635134 officially it is still WIP]
* chromium:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine on XWayland, [https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=578890 native Wayland support is WIP]

=== Electron Apps ===

The [https://www.electronjs.org/ Electron]framework is based on Chromium/Ozone which now has a Wayland backend. [https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/10915 Support in Electron] came in version 12 which enables Ozone. Detection of Wayland environment is not automatic yet. Currently Electron does not support client-side decorations at the moment, but on tiling compositors like Sway that's not a problem though.

To enable Wayland on the following applications you need to add the following options on the command line (or edit you .desktop file): --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland

* signal-desktop:
** not packaged in Debian but upstream provides a package for Ubuntu that works on Debian
** Status: works fine on XWayland, [https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/issues/3411 native Wayland support is WIP] and working fine so far
* [https://vscodium.com/ VSCodium] (OpenSource distribution of Visual Studio Code without telemetry and tracking)
** not packaged in Debian but upstream provides a working package
** Status: works fine on XWayland, [https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/109176 native Wayland support is WIP] and working fine so far

=== Misc Apps ===

* Emacs:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine on XWayland, has little chances to work on Wayland as it is (since [https://emacshorrors.com/posts/psa-emacs-is-not-a-proper-gtk-application.html it is not a real GTK application)
* libreoffice:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine on XWayland, native Wayland support if using the GTK3 backend (with the extra ''libreoffice-gtk3'' package) and working well too
* [https://github.com/Blub/netevent netevent]: (Input-Event device cloning utility)
** use case: if you wish to control several machines with the same keyboard and mouse, like with a KVM switch, then you can use devices from one to control others and switch machine using a special key
** not packaged in Debian but materials provided upstream (needs [https://github.com/Blub/netevent/pull/15 this update though])
** Status: works fine
* thunderbird:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine on XWayland, works ok now on Wayland but [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635134 officially it is still WIP]
* wl-gammactl:
** not packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
* wl-clipboard:
** packaged in Debian
** Status: works fine
** Status: works fine


== Workarounds ==
== Workarounds ==

=== GUI Frameworks ===

GTK uses GDK to draw and support for Wayland exists but [https://wiki.gnome.org/Initiatives/Wayland/GTK%2B a few things are missing] thus it is not enabled by default. Other frameworks do not always enable Wayland by default depending on distro and version.

Currently this works fine (in ''~/.xsessionrc''):
# ensure GUI frameworks use Wayland
# breaks a few apps or behaviors (Chromium, Emacs…)
export GDK_BACKEND=wayland
export CLUTTER_BACKEND=wayland
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland-egl
# breaks a few apps or behaviors (Unity…)
#export SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland
export ELM_DISPLAY=wl
# enable Wayland on Mozilla apps
export MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
export MOZ_WEBRENDER=1


=== Java Applications ===
=== Java Applications ===


Set ''_JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1'' in your environment and menu and always on top issues (and maybe others) will be fixed.
Set ''_JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1'' in your environment (in ''~/.xsessionrc'') to fix behavior with menus and ''always on top'' issues (and maybe others).


== Readings ==
== Readings ==

Revision as of 07:37, 13 May 2021

Introduction

The goal of this page is to relate experiences using Wayland working implementations, software replacement from the X11 world and so on.

Duck: please note I'm a former AwesomeWM user thus I'm not looking into major desktop implementations like GNOME or KDE but I'm trying to mix interesting pieces to fit my needs better. You can have a look at my configuration in my repository (Ansible rules).

Compositors

There's many Wayland compositor projects around but a lot are very experimental and many even already abandoned.

Working or prospective compositors follows.

Sway

(updated for 1.6)

Status: very active project, created a wlroots framework to share with other compositors, version 1.1+ is usable with some glitches, seamless xwayland integration

Packaging: in Debian with wlroots and swaybg

Notable problems:

  • copy-paste problems between Wayland and XWayland (segfaults, freezes, or simply stops working) fixed in 1.6
  • games under Wine may hang if run fullscreen and switching workspace (but windowed using the full screen size often works; using a virtual desktop is also a working option)
  • dialogs hidden under their parent (annoying with specific applications relying on child windows but most don't and there is a workaround)
  • contextual popup or menu not working yet (affects tray and IME completion selection, see below for IME solutions)

Way Cooler (spiritual successor of AwesomeWM)

Status: was being rewritten on top of wlroots but was unfortunately abandoned at the beginning of 2020. I need some time to cope with the sadness and remove this entry.

Tools

Display Manager

  • lightdm:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine to run Wayland sessions but runs on X11 itself

Bars

  • swaybar (display workspaces, current window title, tray, time, CPU infos…)
    • integrated with sway, can use various commands to display stuff (i3status works fine and is packaged in Debian)
    • Status: works fine but tray support is limited (icon may be missing, contextual menu not working, WIP)
  • Waybar (more fancy bar)

Session

  • swaylock (lock screen)
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
  • swayidle (run custom actions on idle and back from idle)
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine and handle various events

Application Menu Runner

  • wofi:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
    • Usage: wofi --term=x-terminal-emulator
  • j4-dmenu-desktop + bemenu:
    • j4-dmenu-desktop only is packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
    • Usage: j4-dmenu-desktop --dmenu='bemenu --list 10 --wrap --ignorecase --no-overlap --prompt "Run:" --fn "pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 12"' --term=x-terminal-emulator
  • dmenu:
    • packaged in Debian (suckless-tools)
    • Status: works fine but impossible to switch back to it if you loose focus (need to kill it in a term)
    • Usage: dmenu_path | dmenu -p "Run:" -l 10 | xargs swaymsg exec

Notifications / Screen Overlay

  • mako (notifications):
    • packaged in Debian (mako-notifier)
    • works fine
  • wob (progressbar)
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
  • xfce4-notifyd (notifications):
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine but display in the middle of the screen thus not very practical

Input Method

  • fcitx5:
    • has Wayland support
    • packaged in Debian (now includes the mozc binding patch)
    • Status: works fine with both Wayland and X11 applications but selection popup does not show up (input_method_v2 popups support is WIP)
  • fcitx4:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: untouched config from X11 works but completion menu may not be displayed; running fcitx-autostart fixed it (you may need to killall fcitx first)
  • ibus:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: ibus-wayland is available and was switched to using a newer version of the wayland input protocol (see Debian#905001 and linked upstream BR) but Sway use an even newer version (and this one only); anyway these changes are mostly untested so I would not have too much hopes; without this plugin I was not able to make completion work at all, even when forcing the engine on the command-line

So here are the various protocols:

Terminal

  • foot: (native Wayland support)
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine but lacked IME support; it was recently fixed upstream, now waiting for a release and new package
  • termite: (native Wayland support)
    • not packaged in Debian and requires a patched libvte
    • Status: works fine
  • xfce4-terminal:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
  • terminator:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine (with Sway >=1.1)

Screen Capture

  • grim: (screenshot)
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
  • xdg-desktop-portal-wlr: (screenshot, screencast, and possibly remote-desktop)
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: experimental, requires pipewire >=0.3 and FF >=84; tested screencast with FF and GMeet, it worked but takes a few seconds to initialize and sometimes hang (switching presentation mode off and on worked without having to restart the service)

Screen Brightness

  • light:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
  • brightnessctl:
    • packaged in Debian (brightness-udev is needed to be usable as non-root)
    • Status: works fine

Browser

Electron Apps

The Electronframework is based on Chromium/Ozone which now has a Wayland backend. Support in Electron came in version 12 which enables Ozone. Detection of Wayland environment is not automatic yet. Currently Electron does not support client-side decorations at the moment, but on tiling compositors like Sway that's not a problem though.

To enable Wayland on the following applications you need to add the following options on the command line (or edit you .desktop file): --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland

  • signal-desktop:
    • not packaged in Debian but upstream provides a package for Ubuntu that works on Debian
    • Status: works fine on XWayland, native Wayland support is WIP and working fine so far
  • VSCodium (OpenSource distribution of Visual Studio Code without telemetry and tracking)
    • not packaged in Debian but upstream provides a working package
    • Status: works fine on XWayland, native Wayland support is WIP and working fine so far

Misc Apps

  • Emacs:
  • libreoffice:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine on XWayland, native Wayland support if using the GTK3 backend (with the extra libreoffice-gtk3 package) and working well too
  • netevent: (Input-Event device cloning utility)
    • use case: if you wish to control several machines with the same keyboard and mouse, like with a KVM switch, then you can use devices from one to control others and switch machine using a special key
    • not packaged in Debian but materials provided upstream (needs this update though)
    • Status: works fine
  • thunderbird:
  • wl-gammactl:
    • not packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine
  • wl-clipboard:
    • packaged in Debian
    • Status: works fine

Workarounds

GUI Frameworks

GTK uses GDK to draw and support for Wayland exists but a few things are missing thus it is not enabled by default. Other frameworks do not always enable Wayland by default depending on distro and version.

Currently this works fine (in ~/.xsessionrc):

# ensure GUI frameworks use Wayland
# breaks a few apps or behaviors (Chromium, Emacs…)
export GDK_BACKEND=wayland
export CLUTTER_BACKEND=wayland
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland-egl
# breaks a few apps or behaviors (Unity…)
#export SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland
export ELM_DISPLAY=wl
# enable Wayland on Mozilla apps
export MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
export MOZ_WEBRENDER=1

Java Applications

Set _JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1 in your environment (in ~/.xsessionrc) to fix behavior with menus and always on top issues (and maybe others).

Readings