The new xdg-session-management protocol finally brings session saving and restoration to Wayland, eliminating a long-standing annoyance for Linux users and paving the way for a smoother desktop experience.

There is a new merge on the Wayland GitLab repo. This new merge (of an old pull request) adds xdg-session-management protocol to Wayland. This is a big development and certainly a feature Linux users will enjoy.

As per the brief message in merge request:

For a variety of cases it’s desirable to have a method for negotiating the restoration of previously-used states for a client’s windows. This helps for e.g., a compositor/client crashing (definitely not due to bugs) or a backgrounded client deciding to temporarily destroy its surfaces in order to conserve resources.

This protocol adds a method for managing such negotiation and is loosely based on the Enlightenment “session recovery” protocol which has been implemented and functional for roughly two years.

In simpler words, session recovery is finally coming to Wayland.

  • lambaliciousEnglish
    67·
    21 hours ago

    My use case is pretty much having a normal, usable, standard desktop environment where I can do workflows supported by features such as:

    • using a screen recording program to, ya know, record the screen;
      • …without having to buy more into the so-called portals cartel (that is also adding age verification);
    • opening programs with their windows being opened in the workspace, screen and at least approximate positioning where I last used then;
      • being able to drag-and-drop or relocate windows across screens, workspaces or any such entities;
    • launch graphical applications as a different user and have them interact natively with the rest of the desktop (eg.: fullscreen correctly);
    • have a fucking clipboard!;
      • with the Linux-classic middle-click alternate clipboard, too.
    • assign a hotkey or keycombo for an application, that can be fired from anywhere else in the desktop;
    • being able to manufacture input events for keyboard, mouse, joystick etc… for when there are issues;
    • being able to launch the window of a program opened remotely;
    • programs using the graphical theme I’ve assigned for window decoration, instead of inventing their own titlebars and min/maximize buttons;
    • being able to drag-and-drop files from one window to another;
    • and many others.

    The last time I tried Wayland was in 2023-ish. The fucking thing could not even finish the startup for a desktop session in my machine. It’s honestly the worst vaporware I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been around since the '90s. I feel like these things will never ever be truly fixed, because from what I understand of the Wayland model, it is intrinsically about treating the user as an enemy:

    “We’re treated like hostile threat actors on our own workstations” [1]

    [1] https://gist.github.com/probonopd/9feb7c20257af5dd915e3a9f2d1f2277

    Which is, ultimately, worrying. Things like Pulseaudio, systemd, Wayland, …, feel like they are making Linux less for the user and more for corporations. It’s enshittification, and comes from a culture of enshittification (Potter-ing etc).

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      5·
      7 hours ago

      The last time I tried Wayland was in 2023-ish.

      A lot has changed in 3 years.

      And no clipboard? What? The things in your list that I’ve actually had to do just work. I can’t speak to the rest.

    • owsei@programming.dev
      4·
      7 hours ago

      I’m using a tiling window manager, so the placement and window decoration stuff I’ve never tried, but these things worked out without any tinkering for me:

      using a screen recording program to, ya know, record the screen;

      with wf-recorder or something

      launch graphical applications as a different user and have them interact natively with the rest of the desktop

      clipboard

      assign a hotkey or keycombo for an application, that can be fired from anywhere else in the desktop;

      being able to manufacture input events for keyboard, mouse, joystick etc… for when there are issues;

      all of these just came in with hyprland and appear to be common case. Hope all your requirements will be met soon!

    • TehPers@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      7 hours ago

      On the contrary, I have a 1440p 120Hz primary monitor and a 4k 60Hz vertical side monitor, and I can only seem to make that setup work with Wayland. I’ve been using only Wayland this whole time as a result.

      As for all your issues with it:

      • I’m able to record my screen just fine with multiple applications. Are you trying to write your own screen recorder, or use existing ones?
      • I have not had any issues with fullscreen. If anything, it works better for me than Windows. (I can’t compare it to X11 because I can’t use X11.)
      • I don’t really understand what you mean by having a clipboard. Do you not have one on Wayland somehow?
      • Hotkeys seem to work for me, so I’m confused here too.
      • I’m not too sure what you mean by “manufacture inputs” but my keyboard supports programmable macros and that works for me, though I believe that works by flashing the keyboard instead of through software.
      • Programs I use often use their own themes regardless of Wayland/X11 so the client-side decorations doesn’t matter nearly as much to me. I would like it to be more consistent, but that’s on both sides (Wayland+application devs) to figure out.

      The rest of these aren’t issues I’ve had to deal with at all, but I can see them coming up. Wayland does have some issues, but nothing I’ve come across that’s major enough to bother me all that much.

      • Khleedril@cyberplace.social
        1·
        5 hours ago

        @TehPers @lambalicious To be honest this whole business of running a desktop across monitors with different geometries and possibly running off of different video cards is the whole reason why X11 needed to be forgotten and Wayland came into being.

        That guy who was just running a desktop on a monitor can stick to what they know. Going forward only Wayland will improve.