- cross-posted to:
- linux@programming.dev
- cross-posted to:
- linux@programming.dev
Some of you have probably seen the blog post a few months ago about how GNOME is more strongly depending on systemd. The changes mentioned there have landed into the latest stable versions of the mentioned software (GNOME 49) and do affect us. In particular, the main culprit is the removal of the non-systemd fallback code in gnome-session. This makes it currently impossible to launch gnome-shell/mutter on a non-systemd system. A fairly straightforward patch of using elogind, like what was previously done, no longer works either.
Since we don’t have the time or interest to write a new non-systemd codepath for gnome-session, this means that all support for gnome-based desktops has to be dropped. In particular, the affected packages would be gnome-session, gnome-shell, mutter, and gnome-settings-daemon. For now, the old versions are still in the repos but because there is so much intertwining between other gtk/gnome packages, there is no guarantee they actually work and will later be removed from our repos.
Standalone gnome applications will still continue to be packaged, but it is simply not feasible anymore to support gnome desktops without systemd.
I take it you’re against transistioning from X11 to Wayland then?
On two versions of debian on two computers I have tried to use wayland and both times I have had really bad graphical problems and lag/stuttering of multiple visual elements. I’m sure it is fine when it works, but my problem with Wayland is that for whatever reason, it just does not work on my systems.
Each time, this was on fresh installs of the operating system as well, so I have no idea why it doesn’t like me.
I’ve always been against Wayland, and after I tested it, I knew problems immediately rose. My producer did the exact same thing, and realized that it was a bad idea for our workflow. My producer, Neigsendoig, and I have always needed X11 as content creators. We were also willing to try XLibre as well when that became stable.
They should have jsut named it X12 less hate I imagine. x11 is unmaintainable which is why wayland was created.
XLibre, while in alpha right now, is actively being maintained as X12, technically speaking. Wayland is its own separate thing, which divides the Linux community.
Case in point: this scathing report from actual Linux developers.
The current version of XLibre is 25.0.0.12 and it used by many of our users as a daily driver so quite stable. Technically, XLibre is still X11 and compatible to all X11 clients as laid out in Compatibility of XLibre · X11Libre/xserver Wiki. We will shortly be releasing version 25.1.0, which we aim to stabilize for general availability in version 25.1.3 at the latest.