Although Wayland has been GNOME’s default session since 2016, X11 has continued to linger in the codebase—until now. That changed with the recent merging of two PRs (here and here), which completely removed the X11 codebase from both Mutter, GNOME’s default window manager and compositor, as well as the GNOME Shell itself.
In other words, the GNOME project is finally closing one of the longest chapters in Linux desktop history. With the upcoming GNOME 50 release, scheduled for mid-march 2026, the desktop environment will officially drop support for the native X11 session, making Wayland the sole display system moving forward.
However, it should be mentioned that the removal doesn’t mean X11 applications are dead—far from it. XWayland remains fully supported, serving as a compatibility layer that allows traditional X11 applications to run inside the Wayland session. For most users, this transition will be transparent.
According to devs, this change is a necessary evolution rather than a break. By retiring the X11 session, GNOME can focus entirely on advancing Wayland-based workflows—particularly around fractional scaling, HDR, color management, and input handling—all of which are now progressing faster without the need to maintain X11 code paths.
What are the practical implications for users and distributions? In short:
- If you rely on running GNOME under an Xorg/X11 session (i.e., not Wayland), this will likely become unsupported (or at least non-default) with GNOME 50. Distributions are already being prepared for that.
- If you use X11-only applications, you’ll still be okay via XWayland — the migration isn’t eliminating that compatibility layer.
- For extension authors, window managers, or tooling that assumed Xorg/X11 session support, now is the time to test Wayland compatibility (or plan fallback strategies).
At the end, let me put it this way: for GNOME, the future is Wayland—and with GNOME 50, that future is finally here.
The X11 Truthers are out in force in the comments section! Before y’all are allowed to post a screed about Red Hat sabatoging Linux, you HAVE to disclose whatever ancient piece of software or workflow do you don’t want to update.
Get over your little self. Nobody owes you an explanation for being content with or needing to stick with X11. If Wayland provides no advantage for these people then there is no reason for them to bow to pressure to abandon whatever software or workflow they’re accustomed to just to satisfy *your* religious allegiance to Wayland. And it does you no harm so it’s bizarre that Wayland “truthers” heap such sneering abuse on those who continue using X11. Is it a sign of insecurity, perhaps?
This is probably the end of Gnome for me until they bring back X11 support which is crucially needed. Wayland simply can’t get a lot of jobs done at the moment.
The headline is misleading. GNOME 50 does NOT end the X11 era after decades. The Gnome project isn’t even relevant for a lot of people and certainly it is not in the position to end anything besides Gnome itself.
I like Wayland, and it’s time to move forward. Unfortunately, the GNOME project needs to purge all of its public relations mouthpieces. They are spewing large amounts of left wing hate and toxicity. Focus on the damn software.
Wayland = Red Hat land
I’m excited for this Wayland transition to be done! Been a long process. I just hope legacy/slow to adapt applications keep up and support Wayland natively, like DaVinci Resolve
Red Hat pushing their own NIH broken software, locking users into their narrative and removing choice. Same old.
I’m using wayland myself, although obviously not on Gnome as Mutter is way too buggy and unreliable (by far the worst compositor among all) but most people are still using X, as there are still too many workflows that rely on it (because of this or that important industrial-level app, and the wayland protocol is too broken to adapt to them).
It’s like closing all gas stations because 20% people drive electric or hybrid, this is exactly how you disrespect therefore alienate your users and ultimately lose momentum.
Which is what’s massively happening to Gnome right now, loss of market share and huge loss in popularity, it is basically becoming a 2nd tier DE. I’m not sure it’s still even worth relaying their software updates, as very few people are still interested in this outdated DE.
😂
In broad strokes, he is not wrong. I don’t/can’t use Wayland because it does not work. If it worked, I would use it. Now that Gnome has dropped X11 support, I will no longer be able to use Gnome.
For all of it’s faults, X11 is still significantly better than Wayland – because X11 is actually usable.
What doesn’t work?
no idea since I use wayland at work and at home without any issues.
Mock all you want. It’s the end of the Gnome era for me. Went back to Openbox. X does everything I need and is totally reliable. I have software that doesn’t run in Wayland or Xwayland. Polybar now supports Wayand but doesn’t run in Gnome because Gnome doesn’t support all the necessary protocols.