Just three days after the release of the KDE Plasma 6.4 desktop, it’s already available in the Arch Linux repositories. However, this time around, there’s an important detail that the distro is reminding users to keep in mind. Here’s what it’s all about.
As you probably know, Plasma 6.4 is bringing a notable change for users still on X11—and if that includes you, a quick manual fix will be needed to avoid login issues. With the recent split of KWin into separate kwin-wayland and kwin-x11 packages, the default installation will no longer include the X11 session unless explicitly requested.
Previously, Plasma installations automatically supported both Wayland and X11 sessions. However, starting with 6.4, only the Wayland session will be installed by default. So, if you rely on X11, you must manually install plasma-x11-session and kwin-x11 before upgrading—otherwise, you might find yourself locked out of your desktop.
sudo pacman -S plasma-x11-sessionCode language: Bash (bash)
As noted in Arch Linux’s announcement, Pacman can’t automatically detect a user’s preferred session. Installing X11 components for everyone would be unnecessary for Wayland users, so the responsibility now falls on X11 holdouts to make the switch themselves.
Once installed, the upgrade to Plasma 6.4 should proceed smoothly, preserving your X11 workflow.
To summarize, if you’re still using X11, ensure you install plasma-x11-session manually before updating to Plasma 6.4. Failing to do so could result in login issues, leaving you without immediate access to your familiar desktop environment.
For more information, see the Arch’s announcement.
Just a note, it would not let me update the packages “before” I upgraded..
However, upgrading to the new plasma, logging into wayland and “then” doing your command gave me back X11 🙂
good to know-thanks