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A new era is arriving in the Linux desktop world, one that marks the sunset of X11 and the full embrace of Wayland. With GNOME and Ubuntu leading the charge, the long-anticipated shift from the legacy display server is finally reaching a point of no return. While the transition has been slow and filled with compatibility challenges, it now has undeniable momentum — one that all Linux distributions will eventually need to follow.
X11’s Final Chapter: the Original
Wayland, the modern replacement for the aging X11 display server, is gaining irreversible traction in the Linux ecosystem. Although it’s been in development for years, Wayland adoption has been hindered by legacy dependencies, compatibility gaps, and certain use-case limitations. However, a seismic shift is underway as GNOME, one of the most widely used Linux desktop environments, has officially announced plans to disable the X11 session in GNOME 49 and completely remove all X11-related code by GNOME 50.
This decision aligns with Ubuntu’s strategy for version 25.10, dubbed “Questing Quokka.” Ubuntu confirmed that, starting with this release, the default session on GDM will exclusively use Wayland. These announcements were coordinated between the GNOME Release team and Canonical (Ubuntu’s developer), with feedback loops and planning meetings to ensure the transition goes smoothly.
One of the primary roadblocks historically impeding Wayland adoption has been incomplete application support. Many apps still rely on X11, forcing distributions to use XWayland, a compatibility layer that has been known to cause issues. Moreover, niche workflows and tools have struggled on Wayland, which further delayed its broader rollout.
Despite these challenges, momentum is building. Most major distributions now offer Wayland as the default, and GNOME’s full commitment effectively forces others to follow. KDE Plasma, another popular desktop environment, has not yet declared its full transition but is making progress. According to KDE developer Nathan Graham, 70–80% of Plasma users are already on Wayland, even though notable issues still remain. Some KDE-focused distributions — including KDE Neon, openSUSE Tumbleweed, KaOS, and CachyOS — already ship Wayland by default.
The article concludes with optimism that KDE Plasma won’t be far behind GNOME, completing the shift away from X11 that has been in the making for over a decade.
What Undercode Say:
The transition from X11 to Wayland is not just a technical upgrade — it’s a strategic evolution for the Linux desktop experience. X11, originally developed in the 1980s, has long outlived its design purpose. Its patchwork security model, performance bottlenecks, and outdated architecture have created a brittle foundation that modern Linux desktops can no longer rely on.
Wayland offers a cleaner, more secure, and performance-optimized approach. Unlike X11, Wayland doesn’t require complex workarounds or trust all client applications equally. It was built with sandboxing, per-application control, and high-DPI awareness from the ground up. These are crucial features for today’s increasingly complex desktop environments and display configurations.
GNOME’s bold move to eliminate X11 entirely, beginning with version 49 and completing in version 50, is significant because GNOME isn’t a fringe project — it powers Fedora Workstation, Ubuntu’s main edition, Pop!_OS, and many enterprise environments. Ubuntu 25.10 dropping the Xorg session accelerates this inevitability. Canonical’s involvement ensures long-term support, documentation, and community readiness — something that smaller desktop environments may lack.
The slow adoption of Wayland over the past decade was never just about technology. It was about compatibility, user resistance, and the inertia of legacy workflows. But GNOME’s switch changes the equation. When major distros and desktop environments drop X11 support, developers will have no choice but to fix their Wayland compatibility or fade into irrelevance.
KDE’s hesitation, while understandable, reflects its broader user base’s need for stability and flexibility. KDE Plasma is a feature-rich environment that caters to power users, and some of its key tools still struggle under Wayland’s model. However, with 70–80% of KDE users already using Wayland, it’s clear the groundwork is being laid for full transition soon.
For users, the message is clear: whether you like it or not, the Wayland future is coming. It’s time to start testing your workflows under Wayland, identifying edge-case issues, and giving feedback upstream. Because by the time GNOME 50 lands, X11 won’t just be deprecated — it will be gone.
🔍 Fact Checker Results:
✅ GNOME confirmed X11 code removal timeline for versions 49–50 in official team meeting notes.
✅ Ubuntu 25.10 will ship Wayland-only sessions, per announcement on Ubuntu Discourse.
✅ KDE Plasma Wayland usage stats (70–80%) match statements from KDE developers like Nathan Graham.
📊 Prediction:
As GNOME finalizes the removal of X11 and Ubuntu follows suit, most mainstream Linux distributions will be forced to abandon X11 support by mid-2026. KDE Plasma will likely announce its official deprecation of X11 within the next 12 months. XWayland will remain as a fallback for legacy apps, but its importance will rapidly diminish as more developers update their software stacks. Expect distributions like Arch Linux and Fedora to push even more aggressively toward a Wayland-only experience, reshaping the Linux GUI landscape permanently.
References:
Reported By: www.zdnet.com
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