Separating the Wayland Compositor and Window Manager
8 hours ago
- #Window Manager
- #Open Source
- #Wayland
- River 0.4.0 introduces a non-monolithic Wayland compositor architecture, separating the window manager from the compositor.
- The river-window-management-v1 protocol allows window managers to control window position, keybindings, and other policies without affecting compositor performance.
- Traditional Wayland compositors combine display server, compositor, and window manager roles, which river's new architecture avoids.
- River's protocol ensures frame perfection and low input latency, adhering to Wayland's advantages.
- The state machine in river-window-management-v1 divides window management and rendering states for atomic updates.
- Separating compositor and window manager lowers the barrier for writing window managers, enabling development in high-level languages.
- River's current limitations include no support for VR or complex visual effects like wobbly windows.
- Future plans for river include improving the UX for starting and switching between window managers, with a roadmap towards version 1.0.0.
- Financial support is sought to sustain river's development, with options for recurring donations.
- A gallery showcases various window managers running under river, highlighting the diversity and visual appeal of available options.