# Eight open-source projects keep X11 alive as KDE, GNOME drop native support

> **Key takeaway:** As mainstream desktops abandon X11 for Wayland, a mix of forks, new implementations, and compatibility layers are emerging to preserve X11-based desktop environments and applications.

**Published:** 2026-10-23T17:14:00+00:00 
**Source:** It's FOSS Community News 
**Category:** distro-news 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/eight-open-source-projects-keep-x11-alive-as-kde-gnome-drop-.html 

## Summary
KDE has confirmed Plasma 6.7 as its last release with native X11 session support, while GNOME has already removed its X11 session. In response, at least eight active open-source projects are working to maintain X11 functionality through different approaches: desktop environment forks, X.Org Server forks, new server implementations, and a minimal Wayland compositor that runs Xwayland in rootful mode to host full X11 desktops.

## The eight projects and their approaches
- **SonicDE**: KDE Plasma 6 fork that puts X11 first; began as patched KWin/X11, evolved into sonic-win window manager/compositor with Vulkan backend in progress; strips Wayland-only code from KDE components
- **Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE)**: Maintains KDE 3.5 codebase as independent desktop; R14.1.6 released April 2026 with window tiling fixes, transparency fixes, 3D Kicker panel borders
- **Wayback**: Alpha-quality minimal wlroots-based Wayland compositor that runs Xwayland in rootful mode to host entire X11 desktops without traditional Xorg binary; targets Alpine Linux; MIT-licensed; by Ariadne Conill
- **XLibre**: Community fork of X.Org Server with TearFree modesetting default, optional atomic modesetting, Xnamespace extension for client separation, seatd support; CI builds for Linux, BSDs, macOS, Windows
- **Yserver**: Early-stage project by Jos Dehaes; single main contributor
- Three additional X server or port projects mentioned but not detailed in source

## Why it matters
The fragmentation reflects divergent community responses to the Wayland transition: some distributions like PeppermintOS are already adopting XLibre as a direct X.Org replacement, while others may benefit from Wayback's approach of eliminating the traditional Xorg binary entirely.