Wayland 1.4 Challenges X11
X marks the target for the next-generation windowing system.
The Wayland project has announced Version 1.4 of the promising X11 alternative Wayland. Wayland is getting ready to break up almost 20 years of domination by X11 protocol as a standard for communication between the input and output devices such as a mouse, screen, or keyboard. Currently Wayland runs on virtually any Unix-like system with graphical user interface and an implementation of the X11 protocol.
The new version brings new features, including several improvements to the Wayland reference compositor implementation known as Weston. Enhancements include new buttons and decorations, as well as a window selection tool offering an overview of all existing windows. In addition, Weston 1.4 brings an improved touchscreen support and expanded drag-and-drop features.
Also appearing with the latest Weston is the new XDG Shell protocol, which regulates communication between applications and the desktop environment.
Download Wayland 1.4 from the project website, or wait for it to trickle out through the repositories and product releases of your favorite Linux distribution.