[Plasma] X11 Support

[Richard Troy]

On Thu, 27 Nov 2025, Valder N. wrote:
>
> I hope you understand that even according to the data provided in the
> article, X11-session is used by 30% of active users. In reality, this
> number is significantly higher, and to verify this, you can refer to the
> statistics on the use and downloads of individual software packages in the
> repositories of active distributions. However, even 30% (!) should be more
> than enough to justify the need to continue supporting this protocol.

Valder, you get a BIG thank-you from me:

Wayland JUST DOES NOT WORK in my environ at all. Full Stop. I've tried and 
gave up.

Valder's right: I'm not in the KDE statistics, but the repo-fetches would 
show my downloads of the X versions.

I've looked into the WHY of Wayland and so far as I can tell - and I could 
be wrong - the real motive is to move into a "containerized" 
"virtualization" world that most of us just don't need. The only reason 
Wayland can "get away with" all the extra overhead is because many users 
just don't use all the power of their machines.

If you think I'm wrong don't just TELL ME I'm wrong or ignore this: 
EXPLAIN WHAT THE USE CASE IS without resorting to containerization and / 
or virtualization - that is, the addition of overhead for the sole purpose 
of "isolation" as if one box is more than one. If there's another 
important use case, I've never heard it.

This is, in my view, unconscionable on other grounds: YOU may see it as 
noise, but as a member of the EBT ("Electricity Brain Trust" - arrogantly 
named, I know!), I'm very well aware of just how much power is going to 
computing these days, even before the recent "AI" boom, and the power 
consumption by data centers is both driving up electricity rates around 
the USA and mostly polluting and "going the wrong way" with the current 
biosphere's vital decarbonization needs.

Ignore all that if you want, but what's NOT arguable is that Wayland is a 
LONG, LONG way from ready for prime-time and anyone who tells you 
otherwise is ignorant of important facts such as Valder just articulated.

Further, there's no real need to change OFF of x-11. It's MORE WORK to 
switch to Wayland. Why do it? Because we can? Well so far you can't!

ALL talk of eliminating support for x-11 is hugely misguided and, dare I 
say it, a stupid move.

...If x-11 support ever is removed, I might end up a source-code-warrior 
like Cristian, "fighting to keep the stupid at bay" or however he might 
articulate his willingness to go hack source code to keep the tools 
useful, but I'd rather not!

LET Wayland PROVE ITSELF FULLY before any such talk. As I said, it's a 
long way off.

Richard

--
Richard Troy, Chief Scientist
Science Tools Corporation
510-717-6942
rtroy at ScienceTools.com, http://ScienceTools.com/

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