Wayland - ArchWiki

# Wayland

Related articles

- KMS
- Xorg
- Mir

Wayland is a new windowing protocol for Linux. Utilization of Wayland requires changes to and re-installation of parts of your system's software. For more information on Wayland see its homepage.

## Requirements

Currently Wayland will only work on systems utilizing KMS.

## Installation

Note: Wayland is most likely installed on your system already, as it is an indirect dependency of gtk2 and gtk3.

Install the wayland package.

## Usage

As Wayland is only a library, it is useless on its own. To replace X Server, you need a compositor (like Weston).

## Weston

### Installation

Install the weston package.

### Usage

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 | Resize Window
Super + RMB | Rotate 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 test the frame protocol (runs `glxgears`):

    $ weston-gears

To display images:

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

### Configuration

Example configuration file for keyboard layout, module selection and UI modifications. See `man weston.ini` for full details:

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    ### uncomment this line for xwayland support ###
    #modules=xwayland.so

    [shell]
    background-image=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Aqua.jpg
    background-color=0xff002244
    panel-color=0x90ff0000
    locking=true
    animation=zoom
    #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

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

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

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

    [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

    [launcher]
    icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/arts.png
    path=./clients/flower

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

    [input-method]
    path=/usr/libexec/weston-keyboard

    ###  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

Minimal `weston.ini` :

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    modules=xwayland.so

    [keyboard]
    keymap_layout=gb

    [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

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

#### 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 from the official repositories now has the Wayland backend enabled.

GTK+ 3 gained support for multiple backends at runtime and can switch between backends in the same way Qt can with lighthouse.

When both Wayland and X backends are 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.

### 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 | Compositing | See GNOME#Starting GNOME.
Hawaii | (Unclear) | See Hawaii.
sway | Tiling | Sway is an i3-compatible window manager for Wayland. Github
Enlightenment | (Unclear) | Long running minimal Window Manager-turned Wayland compositor. E19 originally had Wayland support but this was removed and now only E20+ Wayland is considered stable enough for regular use. More Info
KDE Plasma | Compositing | 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 | Compositing | 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.
Papyros Shell | (Unclear) | Papyros Shell is the desktop shell for Papyros, 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.

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

## Troubleshooting

### 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

### Weston fails to launch after update to 1.7

This is possibly caused by the `desktop-shell.so` module being loaded by your `weston.ini`. This used to be required, but is not anymore.

Remove it from the `[core]` section:

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    modules=xwayland.so,desktop-shell.so

So that you end up with:

    ~/.config/weston.ini

    [core]
    modules=xwayland.so

## See also

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

Category:

- X server