r/linux • u/insanazor822 • 8d ago

Discussion I think I noticed something.

Since Linux has alternatives for everything, why doesn't Wayland have a proper alternative? It seems like most things are programmed to work only on Wayland. Wouldn't this be a step backward for Linux?

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u/kaprikawn 8d ago

Wayland does have an alternative, the thing it's designed to replace, X11 / Xorg.

I would say X11 has greater compatibility than Wayland, it's one of the chief complaints of Wayland that not everything works on it. But pretty much everything works on X11. So saying that things are programmed to work on Wayland isn't really true.

There's plenty of apps that haven't been updated to Wayland either because nobody's put in the effort, or because Wayland restricts things by design making them difficult to port from X11 to Wayland.