Wayland is not yet ready to fully replace the X Window System due to some limitations. It lacks features that some applications rely on such as global key bindings, stacking order manipulation, screenshots, and access to the window tree. While progress is being made through contributions to projects like Weston, more development and review is still needed from the larger desktop communities to address these and other issues holding Wayland back from widespread adoption.

1. 1Samsung Open Source Group
Wayland: Is it Ready?
Derek Foreman
Samsung Open Source Group
d.foreman@partner.samsung.com (or
derekf@osg.samsung.com)

2. 2Samsung Open Source Group
X Server and Friends
X
MIT-SHM
GLX
Xv
Composite
24 More!
DRM/KMS EVDEV
Compositor
Window Manager
Application
libGL (via GLX)

3. 3
Wayland Compositor (Weston)
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
DRM/KMS EVDEV
Application
Weston
Wayland
GL (via EGL)

4. 4Samsung Open Source Group
Simple drawing API
 Wayland has a single drawing primitive
 wl_buffer
 Bring your own API
 X has a full featured vector drawing API
 That nothing uses anymore (really!)
 Also pixmaps

5. 5Samsung Open Source Group
Simple drawing API
 Wayland has a single drawing primitive
 Even a video frame is just a buffer
 DMABUF now supported

6. 6Samsung Open Source Group
The compositor is the server
 X – the compositor is a separate process
 The server doesn’t know where it put the windows
 Wayland – compositor is the server and WM
 Input works regardless of transformation
 Easier CPU and memory profiling

7. 7Samsung Open Source Group
Wayland design goals
 Every frame is perfect
 No tearing artifacts
 No partially rendered frames
 Be descriptive, not prescriptive
 Provide meta-data, not instructions
 Compositor makes best handling decisions
 Coming soon – Atomic mode setting…

8. 8Samsung Open Source Group
Wayland: Is it Ready?
Derek Foreman
Samsung Open Source Group
d.foreman@partner.samsung.com (or
derekf@osg.samsung.com)

9. 9Samsung Open Source Group
Wayland: Is it Ready?
Derek Foreman
Samsung Open Source Group
d.foreman@partner.samsung.com (or
derekf@osg.samsung.com)
NO

10. 10Samsung Open Source Group
Conky
 No manipulation of stacking order
 Conky wants to be on the bottom

11. 11Samsung Open Source Group
Guake and Yakuake
 Not the same problem, really
 Ok it’s the same problem - stacking
 But also another problem
 No global key bindings

12. 12Samsung Open Source Group
Taskbars
 This again?
 Want to be at the top of the stack
 See also: Icons (My fault?)
 And also: notifications
 Notifications currently being discussed on list
 And also: pagers

13. 13Samsung Open Source Group
Menus
 Why is that menu cut off at the
 Apps don’t know where they are
 This is by design

14. 14Samsung Open Source Group
Menus
 Solved problem
 wl_probe extension
 The solution re-introduces the root problem
 Can be abused to get absolute co-ordinates

15. 15Samsung Open Source Group
XRANDR
 No client can reconfigure display positions
 No client can change display resolution
 Half true – full screen mode is pretty clever
 Resolution change can’t outlive client

16. 16
Screenshots
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 But we saw one earlier
 No screenshots taken by external applications
 See also: No color picker
 Design goal – no client can see other client buffers

17. 17
Other Really Important Stuff
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Xeyes
 No global pointer tracking

18. 18
Other Really Important Stuff
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Xeyes
 No global pointer tracking
 Devil’s Pie
 No X Properties

19. 19
Other Really Important Stuff
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Xeyes
 No global pointer tracking
 Devil’s Pie
 No X Properties
 Xroach
 No access to the window tree

20. 20
Other Really Important Stuff
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Xeyes
 No global pointer tracking
 Devil’s Pie
 No X Properties
 Xroach
 No access to the window tree
 xmodmap –e “keysym F1 = Pointer_Button1”
 What?

21. 21
Other Really Important Stuff
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Xeyes
 No global pointer tracking
 Devil’s Pie
 No X Properties
 Xroach
 No access to the window tree
 xmodmap –e “keysym F1 = Pointer_Button1”
 What?
 Network transparency

22. 22
Full Screen Video Games
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Relative pointer motion
 Pointer confinement
 Patches under review…
 (Since December 2014)
 Release blocker for Weston 1.10

23. 23
What’s the Delay?
Samsung Open Source Group © SAMSUNG Electronics Co.
 Need more (many more) reviewers
 Nobody knows all areas of the code
 Need more participation from Big Desktop
 GNOME and Enlightenment are getting on board
 Need more developers – come join us!
 http://wayland.freedesktop.org/
 IRC: irc.freenode.net #wayland
 ML: wayland-devel@lists.freedesktop.org

24. 24
The Open Source Group at Samsung
Wayland Contributions
• Samsung’s upstream
contributions to
Wayland have gone
from zero to 10% of all
lines committed.
• Our group is
responsible for most of
the lines of code
added, and is helping
other teams get
involved.
0 K
20 K
40 K
60 K
80 K
100 K
120 K
140 K
160 K
180 K
200 K
2014 2015
Not Samsung Samsung OSG

25. 25Samsung Open Source Group
Thank You!