The release of the package Wayland-protocols 1.43 has been published, containing a set of protocols and extensions that complement the basic protocol of Wayland, providing necessary opportunities for building composite servers and user environments.
In Wayland-Protocols 1.43, a new protocol has been added called “xDG-toplevel-tag“, allowing Wayland clients to attach tags to the top-level surfaces for identification by the composite server. This identification is useful for restoring window positions, sizes, and properties after an application restart, as well as for determining rules for specific window types.
Among other improvements, information on restrictions on operations with the upper-level edges has been added, which can be used by a composite manager to inform WayLand clients about existing limitations. For example, this information can be added to the XDG-SHELL protocol to determine if windows can change their sizes.
All protocols undergo phases of development, testing, and stabilization. After development (under the category “unstable“), the protocol is moved to the “staging” category and eventually to the stable category. Protocols in the “Staging” phase can be used in composite servers and clients where related functionality is required.
To accelerate the implementation of protocols in projects, an “Experimental” phase was added. Protocols must pass through a review process to move between phases and ensure compatibility.
Currently, the Wayland-Protocols set includes stable protocols such as “viewPorter“, allowing clients to scale and clip surfaces on the server side, and “presentation-time“.