Gnome Developers in Discussion to End Support for X.Org
In a move that should surprise no one, the team behind the GNOME desktop environment is hinting at removing support for X.Org so they can focus on Wayland.
In this merge request, the GNOME development team stated, "This is the first step towards deprecating the X11 session, the gnome-xorg.desktop file is removed, but the X11 functionality is still there so you can restore the X11 session by installing the file in the appropriate place on your own."
That was then followed by the suggestion to remove the rest of the X11 session code for the next cycle, which could then be followed by removing the X11 code altogether.
This makes perfect sense, as X11 has been getting less and less testing over the last few years and Wayland development continues to go full steam. On top of that, Wayland is far more secure than X11 and offers features better suited for modern displays and interfaces.
Of course, not every developer is keen on dropping X11 so soon. One commenter in the thread mentioned how Wayland isn't ready for graphics professionals (as it has yet to implement basic color management).
However, the GNOME team isn't pulling the plug on X11 just yet. This proposal only removes one 8-line text file that can be added back if a user wants to continue with X11.
Removing support for X11 is an inevitability, as Wayland is the future of the Linux desktop. Chances are good that X11 will be fully deprecated by the end of 2024.
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