The KDE developers have published a blog post that might make more than a few people nervous. Starting from plasma 6.8, expected by the end of 2026, the popular graphical environment will become exclusively WaylandX11 app support will be provided by Xwayland, and X11 sessions will not be included. Is this the end of the world? No, and it's a necessary step if we want to advance the graphical interface of Linux.
So and how do they explainThe change won't be noticeable in most scenarios. Most users are already using Wayland, since it's the default session on the two most popular desktops (GNOME and Plasma). This change opens up new opportunities for features, optimizations, and development speed.
Plasma 6.8 will arrive in late 2026
Now, The X11 session will be supported by KDE until well into 2027They haven't provided an exact date because they're considering applying additional patches to Plasma 6.7. In other words, since 6.7 will be the last version to support X11 and they don't want to abandon any users, it's likely that this series will become a sort of LTS (Long Term Support) version for those who prefer it. But in 2027, it will reach the point where it will no longer be supported, and users will have to upgrade to 6.8 or higher.
Should you still need X11 at some point, KDE recommends using distributions such as Alma Linux 9which includes Plasma X11 and will be supported until 2032.
X11 via Xwayland
For X11-based applications that are not upgraded to Wayland, Plasma will rely on the Xwayland compatibility layerIt works perfectly in most cases, and there shouldn't be any major issues. Regarding KDE applications, they will continue to support X11 and have no plans to discontinue support, not in the short term. The explanation here only affects Plasma's X11 session, which will not be available in 6.8.
We'll have to see how it performs in the long run, but this step will encourage developers to migrate to Wayland, and Linux-based systems will become more consistent. That's the minimum expectation.