X11's 20-Year Deadlock: Why Per-Screen Virtual Desktops Are Stuck in a Standards War Against Wayland
The core problem centers on X11’s EWMH specification, which fails to account for multiple, independently managed virtual desktops across different physical monitors.
The community discussion shows a deep split. Kjetil Kjernsmo initially flagged this issue over two decades ago. Technical experts point directly to the X11 architecture as the primary roadblock. KDE Plasma Developers are visibly pushing feature parity, suggesting the solution requires abandoning X11 limitations. Meanwhile, general Linux users see this as a necessary step toward a 'mobile-friendly' desktop experience.
The weight of evidence points to a fundamental architectural conflict within X11. Achieving per-screen desktop separation requires a core standard overhaul, with Wayland cited as the superior, viable path forward.
Key Points
X11's EWMH specification is the root cause of the per-screen desktop failure.
The consensus technical view attributes the historical limitation to the display server standard itself, not just implementation gaps.
The issue has a 20-year history of unresolved bug reports.
The persistence, evidenced by over 15 duplicate bug reports, proves this is a deep, systemic architectural flaw.
Wayland offers the technically superior solution for independent desktop management.
Technical focus is clearly shifting attention and development momentum toward Wayland's inherent capabilities to solve this problem.
KDE Plasma development is actively moving away from X11 constraints.
Developer efforts are focused on implementing Per-Screen Virtual Desktops, implying a departure from legacy X11 rules.
Source Discussions (3)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.