Hyprland, the innovative Wayland compositor known for its high customization capabilities and performance-driven design tailored for a seamless and pleasant Linux desktop experience, has announced a groundbreaking update with its latest version, 0.42. Here’s what it’s all about.
In a bold move, Hyprland has eliminated the dependency on wlroots, a commonly used library in developing Wayland compositors that provides standard functionalities such as handling outputs and inputs.
By developing its components in-house, Hyprland aims to offer users a unique and efficient experience, differentiating itself from other compositors that rely on wlroots.
Including explicit sync support in this update is another technical leap that will significantly enhance rendering performance and reduce latency on supported hardware.
It allows the compositor to manage the timing of screen updates more precisely, ensuring that the rendering process is completed before the display is refreshed – a feature particularly beneficial for users with NVIDIA GPUs.
However, users with select NVIDIA configurations should note that this feature may introduce glitches and can be disabled if issues arise.
Another novelty is the introduction of an in-house XCursor implementation, which supports legacy themes and enhances compatibility and user customization.
Developers and users need to be aware of some breaking changes. Notably, the configuration settings related to direct scanout have been modified, which could require adjustments in user setup.
Additionally, the “fakefullscreen” feature has been removed and replaced by a more robust fullscreen state dispatcher. Input handling has also seen refinements, such as emulating discrete scrolling events and fixes for multiple keyboard setups.
For those involved in packaging and development, Hyprland 0.42 introduces a new dependency: aquamarine. The update also removes the wlroots submodule, aligning with removing wlroots as a dependency.
But the new version isn’t just about major changes. It also includes an extensive list of fixes (49 in total), from minor graphical glitches to significant system crashes. For instance, a notable fix addresses an issue with the Hyprctl tool that previously led to extended timeout settings to accommodate certain commands.
You can refer to the changelog for more information about all changes in the new version or visit the announcement.
