They want to make Xfwl4 a Wayland mode that's indistinguishable from xfwm4

Xfwl4’s main focus isn’t on a dramatic transition to Wayland, but rather on making that transition seamless for the user. The developers want switching between Xfwl4 and the familiar xfwm4 to require no relearning or reconfiguration of the desktop.

Xfwl4 is written in Rust using the Smithay library and is developed separately from the xfwm4 codebase. At the same time, the project’s goal is quite practical: to replicate all the functionality of the existing Xfce window manager, including support for xfconf settings and the familiar configuration interface.

Compromise is key here. The developers aren’t simply trying to port the old component from X11 to Wayland. They need to preserve the familiar behavior while taking into account that Wayland works differently. Therefore, compatibility with current settings isn’t an automatic inheritance but a separate task.

But it’s not worth rushing to view Xfwm4 as a ready-made replacement. This is the second preview release, and the project’s statement indicates an intention to bring functionality up to the required level, not that this level has already been reached. It remains to be seen how complete xfwm4’s compatibility will be and when the transition will truly be seamless across all usage scenarios.

If you use Xfce, what’s more important to you when switching to Wayland: fully preserving the behavior you’re used to, or gaining new capabilities at the cost of reconfiguring your desktop? Source: OpenNews.opennet.ru: General News Feed