KDE Plasma sets date to dump X11 as Wayland push accelerates

Steven

KDE Plasma sets date to dump X11 as Wayland push accelerates

Summary

The KDE Plasma project has announced it will go Wayland‑only by dropping X11 support in Plasma 6.8, expected in early 2027. Plasma 6.5.3 is the current release, with 6.6 and 6.7 scheduled in the meantime to give users and distributions time to adapt. GNOME is on a similar path, and wider distro adoption is helping identify and fix outstanding Wayland issues such as screenshots, screen sharing, VNC, gestures and accessibility.

Key Points

  • Plasma 6.8 is slated to remove X11 support entirely (target: early 2027).
  • Current stable is Plasma 6.5.3; the 6.6 and 6.7 releases will provide a transition period through 2026–2027.
  • GNOME is moving the same way — X11 sessions are already disabled by default in some distros and code to remove X11 is being merged.
  • Wayland still has notable issues (screenshots, screen sharing, remote control, gestures, accessibility), but broader default use is accelerating bug reports and fixes.
  • Article also highlights other desktop/terminal news: revived CDE (v2.5.3) and tmux 3.6 (adds per‑pane scrollbars plus many bug fixes).

Why should I read this?

Short and blunt: if you run, package, or support Linux desktops, this is one to watch. KDE has given a clear timetable for killing X11 — early 2027 — so start testing your apps, remote‑access setups and accessibility tools on Wayland now. It’s not flawless yet, but the momentum means the switch will happen, whether you’re ready or not. We’ve done the legwork and pulled out the bits that matter.

Source

Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/11/28/kde_6_8_wayland_only/