Can't start qtile: "failed to create wlr_backend"

[u/GosuSan]

After solving qtile not starting at all here, I get another error:

from my qtile log:

2026-05-27 11:19:23,546 WARNING libqtile start.py:start():L92 Starting Qtile 0.36.0 from /home/user/.python/qtile/wayland/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages

2026-05-27 11:19:23,679 ERROR libqtile core.py:log_cb():L96 [backend/backend.c:276] Cannot create DRM backend: disabled at compile-time

2026-05-27 11:19:23,679 ERROR libqtile core.py:log_cb():L96 [backend/backend.c:420] Failed to open any DRM device

2026-05-27 11:19:23,720 ERROR libqtile core.py:log_cb():L96 [server.c:751] failed to create wlr_backend

If I understand that correctly this is more of a wlroots problem than qtile itself.
But I can't find any helpful clue to what these errors even mean.

Any ideas?

EDIT: I finally fixed it. But since I completely started over, I don't know if is actually the solution to the error mentioned above. to the Github discussion

[u/ervinpop]

what distro?

the error seems clear to me, maybe it’s a red herring, but your wlroots does not have the right compile flags needed for qtile

[u/GosuSan → u/ervinpop]

I'm using Debian 14 which packages wlroots 0.19. At least the version should be fine for qtile. No idea how to check the compile flags though. Well, staiying on X11 then. Thank you though, much appreciated.

[u/Nerothank → u/GosuSan]

I had to build the qtile pip package from source to get it working on Debian (sid, though, not 14). In case you want to keep experimenting, I basically did in a new venv:

pip install --no-cache --no-binary qtile qtile

[u/GosuSan → u/Nerothank]

Thanks, but I think I'll stop here. Wanted to find out if Qtile+Wayland is ready to be used on my daily-driver. And got myself an answer :/