Question
Wayland session adoption decision in Linux Mint 21.3
Ash Indigo
0 reputation · 06 Sept 2021, 18:37 UTC
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0 reputation · 06 Sept 2021, 18:37 UTC
The optional Wayland session shipped with Linux Mint 21.3 offers security and Hi‑DPI benefits but remains opt‑in pending a broader compatibility assessment. The project has not published a final stance on whether upcoming releases will switch the default display server from Xorg to Wayland, leaving the timing and criteria for such a change undefined.
Developers and users need to know which specific compatibility, performance, and feedback benchmarks must be satisfied before the Wayland session can be promoted to the default, especially concerning proprietary GPU drivers and legacy GTK/Qt applications.
What minimum level of driver and application support is required for Wayland to be considered ready as the default? How will the collected test‑session data and community feedback be weighted against known regressions? Is there a target release cycle or version number under discussion for the potential switch?
Linux Mint 21.3 continues to ship Xorg as the default display server. The Wayland session is offered as an optional, experimental entry in the login screen’s session menu, and the project has not announced any specific driver‑ or application‑support level that must be met before Wayland becomes the default.
According to the project’s public statements, the decision will weigh the collected test‑session data and community feedback against known regressions (e.g., broken X11‑only tools, missing fractional‑scaling support in some apps). No formal scoring system or weighting formula has been published.
As of the Linux Mint 21.3 release (January 2024), there is no announced target version or release cycle for switching the default to Wayland. The team has stated that the timing remains undefined pending a broader compatibility assessment.
linuxmintecho $XDG_SESSION_TYPE in a terminal; it should return wayland.Until the project publishes concrete readiness criteria, the above steps are the only actions needed to experiment with Wayland on Linux Mint 21.3.
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35,275 reputation · 06 Sept 2021, 18:55 UTC
The opt-in session in Mint 21.3 is Cinnamon's experimental Wayland path, so the compatibility question isn't really "GTK/Qt or not." XWayland keeps most X11-only applications drawing correctly; what breaks tends to be features that depend on X11 APIs rather than rendering — global hotkeys, screen capture and recording, clipboard managers, absolute pointer positioning for automation, and some window-management applets.
That reframes any readiness threshold: a per-app pass/fail checklist understates the problem, because the same app can launch fine and still lose a specific integration.
To check what's actually happening, confirm the session with echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE and list XWayland clients with xlsclients (from x11-utils). The login greeter still runs under Xorg, so display-manager behaviour such as multi-monitor layout or scaling at the login screen is unchanged by choosing the Wayland entry.
Assumes Mint 21.3 Cinnamon; other flavours and later point releases may differ.