Issue of the package Wayland-Protocols 1.39 has been published. This package contains a set of protocols and extensions that complement the base protocol of Wayland and provide necessary opportunities for building composite servers and user environments.
All protocols go through phases of development, testing, and stabilization. After completion of the development stage (category “unstable“), the protocol is moved to the branch “staging” and officially included in the set of Wayland-protocols. Protocols from the “Staging” category can already be used in composite servers and clients, where their functionality is required. The new version has introduced an additional phase of protocol promotion called “Experimental,” aimed at reducing barriers to include protocols in the Wayland-Protocols set.
If a protocol enters the “Staging” phase, a support command must be formed and a certain number of confirmations (ACK) from review participants are required. In the “Experimental” phase, changes that violate compatibility can be made and “raw” protocols can be gradually brought to the proper level. Protocols recently added to the “Staging” category include:
- ext-data-control – allows privileged clients to manage data processing, for example, to implement exchange buffer managers.
- ext-workspace – implements the concept of virtual desktop and offers events with desktop state information, as well as capabilities for activating and deactivating desktops.
Currently, Wayland-Protocols includes stable protocols that ensure reverse compatibility.