Wayland - ArchWiki

# Wayland

Related articles

- KMS
- Xorg
- Mir

Wayland is a protocol for a compositor to talk to its clients, as well as a library implementing this protocol. All major Linux desktop systems like Gnome, KDE do support Wayland, and there is also a reference implementation for a compositor called "Weston". XWayland implements a compatibility layer to seamlessly run legacy X11 applications on Wayland.

## Requirements

Wayland only works on systems using KMS. As Wayland is only a library, it is useless on its own: to replace the X Server you need a compositor such as #Weston.

### Buffer API support

For the GPU driver and Wayland composer to be compatible they must support the same buffer API. There are two main APIs: GBM and EGLStreams.

Buffer API | GPU driver support | Wayland compositor support
--- | --- | ---
GBM | Most* | All
EGLStreams | NVIDIA | GNOME (from 3.24)

*: "Most" GPU drivers (supporting GBM) include AMDGPU, ATI, Intel and Nouveau. Not included are AMD Catalyst and NVIDIA

## Weston

Weston is the reference implementation of a Wayland compositor.

### Installation

Install the weston package.

### Usage

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements.

Reason: Violates Help:Style#Keyboard keys. (Discuss in Talk:Wayland#)

Keyboard Shortcuts (super = windows key - can be changed, see weston.ini) `Ctrl-b`
Cmd | Action
--- | ---
Ctrl + Alt + Backspace | Quit Weston
Super + Scroll (or PageUp/PageDown) | Zoom in/out of desktop
Super + Tab | Switch windows
Super + LMB | Move Window
Super + MMB | Rotate Window !
Super + RMB | Resize Window
Super + Alt + Scroll | Change window opacity
Super + K | Force Kill Active Window
Super + KeyUp/KeyDown | Switch Prev/Next Workspace
Super + Shift + KeyUp/KeyDown | Grab Current Window and Switch Workspace
Super + Fn | Switch to Workspace n
Super + S | Take a screenshot
Super + R | Record a screencast.

Now that Wayland and its requirements are installed you should be ready to test it out.

It is possible to run Weston inside a running X session:

    $ weston

Alternatively, to try to launch Weston natively, switch to a terminal and run:

    $ weston-launch

Then at a TTY within Weston, you can run the demos. To launch a terminal emulator:

    $ weston-terminal

To move flowers around the screen:

    $ weston-flower

To display images:

    $ weston-image image1.jpg image2.jpg...

### Configuration

Example configuration file for keyboard layout, module selection and UI modifications. See weston.ini(5) for full details. The Weston outputs differ slightly from `xorg.conf`'s Monitors:

    $ ls /sys/class/drm
    card0
    card0-VGA-1
    card1
    card1-DVI-I-1
    card1-HDMI-A-1
    card1-VGA-2

`card0` is the unused built-in video adapter. The add-on adapter `card1` is cabled to one HDMI and one DVI monitor, so the output names are `HDMI-A-1` and `DVI-I-1`.

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    # xwayland support
    modules=xwayland.so

    [libinput]
    enable_tap=true

    [shell]
    background-image=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Aqua.jpg
    background-color=0xff002244
    panel-color=0x90ff0000
    locking=true
    animation=zoom
    close-animation=fade
    focus-animation=dim-layer
    #binding-modifier=ctrl
    #num-workspaces=6
    ### for cursor themes install xcursor-themes pkg from Extra. ###
    #cursor-theme=whiteglass
    #cursor-size=24

    ### tablet options ###
    #lockscreen-icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/256x256/actions/lock.png
    #lockscreen=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Garden.jpg
    #homescreen=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Blinds.jpg
    #animation=fade

    ###  for Laptop displays  ###
    #[output]
    #name=LVDS1
    #mode=1680x1050
    #transform=90

    #[output]
    #name=VGA1
    # The following sets the mode with a modeline, you can get modelines for your preffered resolutions using the cvt utility
    #mode=173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
    #transform=flipped

    #[output]
    #name=X1
    #mode=1024x768
    #transform=flipped-270

    [input-method]
    #path=/usr/lib/weston/weston-keyboard

    [keyboard]
    keymap_rules=evdev
    #keymap_layout=gb,de
    #keymap_options=caps:ctrl_modifier,shift:both_capslock_cancel
    ### keymap_options from /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst ###
    numlock-on=true

    [terminal]
    #font=DroidSansMono
    #font-size=14

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/utilities-terminal.png
    path=/usr/bin/weston-terminal

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/utilities-terminal.png
    path=/usr/bin/gnome-terminal

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/firefox.png
    path=/usr/bin/firefox

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/weston/icon_flower.png
    path=/usr/bin/weston-flower

    [screensaver]
    # Uncomment path to disable screensaver
    path=/usr/libexec/weston-screensaver
    duration=600

Minimal `weston.ini` :

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    modules=xwayland.so

    [keyboard]
    keymap_layout=gb

    [output]
    name=LVDS1
    mode=1680x1050
    transform=90

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/utilities-terminal.png
    path=/usr/bin/weston-terminal

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/firefox.png
    path=/usr/bin/firefox

#### XWayland

Install the xorg-server-xwayland package.

When you want to run an X application from within Weston, it spins up Xwayland to service the request. The following configuration is shown above:

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    modules=xwayland.so

#### Screencast recording

Weston has build-in screencast recording which can be started and stopped by pressing the `Super+r` key combination. Screencasts are saved to the file `capture.wcap` in the current working directory of Weston.

The WCAP format is a lossless video format specific to Weston, which only records the difference in frames. To be able to play the recorded screencast, the WCAP file will need to be converted to a format which a media player can understand. First, convert the capture to the YUV pixel format:

    $ wcap-decode capture.wcap --yuv4mpeg2 > capture.y4m

The YUV file can then be transcoded to other formats using FFmpeg.

#### High DPI displays

For Retina or HiDPI displays, use:

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [output]
    name=...
    scale=2

#### Shell font

Weston uses the default sans-serif font for window title bars, clocks, etc. See Font configuration#Replace or set default fonts for instructions on how to change this font.

## GUI libraries

See details on the official website.

### GTK+ 3

The gtk3 package has the Wayland backend enabled. GTK+ will default to the X11 backend, but this can be overridden by modifying an environment variable: `GDK_BACKEND=wayland`.

### Qt 5

The qt5 package from the repositories has the Wayland support if qt5-wayland is installed. To run a Qt 5 app with the Wayland plugin, set the `QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland-egl` environment variable. For Arch, most QT applications do not work because of QTBUG-58423, will be fixed with qt-5.8.1: https://codereview.qt-project.org/#/c/184278/ .

### Clutter

The Clutter toolkit has a Wayland backend that allows it to run as a Wayland client. The backend is enabled in the official package in extra.

To run a Clutter app on Wayland, set `CLUTTER_BACKEND=wayland`.

### SDL

Experimental wayland support is now in SDL 2.0.2 and enabled by default on Arch Linux.

To run a SDL application on Wayland, set `SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland`.

### GLFW

Experimental wayland support is now in GLFW 3.1 and can be enabled with the `-DGLFW_USE_WAYLAND=ON` CMake option at compile time. You can also install the package glfw-wayland-gitAUR from the AUR.

### EFL

EFL has complete Wayland support. To run a EFL application on Wayland, see Wayland project page.

## Window managers and desktop shells

Name | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
GNOME | Stacking | See GNOME#Starting GNOME.
sway | Tiling | Sway is an i3-compatible window manager for Wayland. Github
Enlightenment | Stacking | More Info
KDE Plasma | Stacking | See KDE#Starting Plasma
Orbment | Tiling | orbment (previously loliwm) is a tiling WM for Wayland.
Velox | Tiling | Velox is a simple window manager based on swc. It is inspired by dwm and xmonad.
Orbital | Stacking | Orbital is a Wayland compositor and shell, using Qt5 and Weston. The goal of the project is to build a simple yet flexible and good looking Wayland desktop. It is not a full fledged DE but rather the analogue of a WM in the X11 world, such as Awesome or Fluxbox.
Liri Shell | Stacking | Liri Shell is the desktop shell for Liri, built using QtQuick and QtCompositor as a compositor for Wayland.
Maynard | (Unclear) | Maynard is a desktop shell client for Weston based on GTK. It was based on weston-gtk-shell, a project by Tiago Vignatti.
Motorcar | (Unclear) | Motorcar is a wayland compositor to explore 3D windowing using Virtual Reality.
Way Cooler | Tiling | way-coolerAUR is a customizeable (lua config files) Wayland compositor written in Rust. Inspired by i3 and awesome.
Maze Compositor | Floating 3D | Maze Compositor is a 3D Qt based wayland compositor
Grefsen | Floating | Grefsen is a Qt/Wayland compositor providing a minimal desktop environment.

Some of installed wayland desktop clients might store information in `/usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop` files about how to start them in wayland.

## Troubleshooting

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements.

Reason: Many of these subsections should go into a "Known issues" section (i.e., there is no solution currently). Additionally prepending a date is not needed. (Discuss in Talk:Wayland#)

### LLVM assertion failure

If you get an LLVM assertion failure, you need to rebuild mesa without Gallium LLVM until this problem is fixed.

This may imply disabling some drivers which require LLVM. You may also try exporting the following, if having problems with hardware drivers:

    $ export EGL_DRIVER=/usr/lib/egl/egl_gallium.so

### Slow motion, graphical glitches, and crashes

Gnome-shell users may experience display issues when they switch to Wayland from X. One of the root cause might be the `CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling` set by yourself for Xorg-based gnome-shell. Just try to remove it from `/etc/environment` or other rc files to see if everything goes back to normal.

### nemo

(20161229) prevent that the desktop is created <ref>nemo issue 1343</ref>

    gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons false

### gparted

gparted wants to run as root. Before starting it, allow root user to display applications on your desktop by typing the following in a command line. Refer GNOME bug 772875.

     xhost si:localuser:root

### X11 on tty1, wayland on tty2

(20161209) windows of gnome applications end up on tty2 no matter where started (gnome issue 774775)

### gnome wayland on tty1, weston on tty2

(20170106) apps started on gnome with WAYLAND_DISPLAY set to westen make it not respond any more (wayland issue 99489)

### weston-terminal

(20161229) core dump when started on gnome

### liteide

(20161229) core dump] on gnome and weston.

### screen recording

(20161229) As of November 2016 there is an ongoing discussion how to implement screen recording. Currently the compositors implement at least basic functionality.

### remote display

(20161229) there was a merge of FreeRDP into weston in 2013, enabled via compile time switch. The arch linux weston package currently has it not enabled.

### Remote desktop and vm applications don't grab input

Per design Wayland doesn't allow for an application to grab input devices and constrict the region of the input device to the application, a much wanted feature when using a remote desktop app or running a desktop vm, which means that modifier keys and hotkeys will not be sent correctly to the remote machine or vm and also the mouse pointer will not be restricted to the application's user interface (which might cause a parallax effect). [1] [2]

## See also

- Cursor themes
- Arch Linux forum discussion
- Wayland documentation online

Category:

- X server

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