Xfce Breaks New Ground with Rust-Based Wayland Compositor
The open-source desktop environment Xfce is making a bold technological leap forward with the announcement of xfwl4, a completely new Wayland compositor that signals the project's commitment to next-generation display server technology.In a move that demonstrates the growing maturity of the Rust programming language in systems development, the Xfce team has decided to fund longtime core developer Brian Tarricone to build xfwl4 from the ground up using Rust and the smithay library framework. This represents a significant departure from traditional C-based development that has characterized most Linux desktop environments.The decision to rebuild rather than retrofit reflects broader industry trends toward memory-safe languages for critical system components. After initially attempting to modify the existing xfwm4 window manager to support both X11 and Wayland protocols simultaneously, the team concluded that a clean-slate approach would yield better long-term results."The goal is that xfwl4 will offer the same functionality and behavior as xfwm4 does, or as much as possible considering the differences between X11 and Wayland," the development team explained in their announcement on Alexxcon's Software Development Blog. The new compositor will maintain backward compatibility by reusing existing configuration dialogs and settings, ensuring users experience a seamless transition.The choice of smithay over the more commonly used wlroots library indicates Xfce's preference for Rust-native solutions over C-based alternatives. This technical decision aligns with a broader industry movement toward memory-safe programming languages, particularly in security-critical system components like display servers.Beyond achieving feature parity with the current X11-based window manager, the xfwl4 project encompasses additional modernization efforts that could position Xfce as a forward-thinking desktop environment in an increasingly Wayland-centric Linux ecosystem.The project is being funded through community donations via Open Collective, demonstrating how grassroots financial support can drive significant technological advancement in open-source projects. With Tarricone already beginning development work, the team anticipates releasing the first development version around mid-2025.This initiative represents more than just a technical upgrade—it's a strategic repositioning for Xfce in the evolving Linux desktop landscape, where Wayland adoption continues to accelerate and memory safety becomes increasingly paramount.
