Gnome Mutter Now "Completely Drops the Whole X11 Back End"

GNOME just slammed the door on its old “X11” setup and is going full send on Wayland, the newer display system for Linux desktops. The code for X11 inside Mutter (GNOME’s window manager) is being ripped out for GNOME 50, with a compatibility layer called XWayland keeping many older apps and games alive. That’s the news — but the comments? Pure chaos.

One user summed up the vibe as GNOME’s trademark “you’re holding it wrong” attitude, claiming the project has long pushed users along whether they’re ready or not. Another joked they had to look up what “Mutter” even is, linking to Wikipedia like, “Wait, this thing started on X and now it’s ditching it?” The loudest chorus is the “too soon” crowd: “Wayland is still years away,” gripes one commenter, citing missing conveniences like auto-typing passwords from KeePassXC and shaky remote desktop options.

Paranoia and memes collided when a commenter declared GNOME devs are “on a mission” to “fight down all xorg users.” Meanwhile, worried admins rolled in with real-world questions: Will Hyper‑V virtual machines and XRDP remote logins still work? Fans of progress say XWayland should cover most needs; skeptics are muttering (sorry) that their workflows are toast. It’s not just a tech change — it’s a turf war.