After almost three years of development, the release of the composite server wayfire 0.8 has been published. This release uses Wayland and allows users to create user interfaces with 3D-plugin-style interfaces to COMPIZ. It supports various features such as switching screens via a 3D cube, spatial layout of windows, and morphing while working with windows. Wayfire also offers extension through plugins and provides a flexible system for settings. The project code is written in C++ and is spread under the MIT license.
The wayfire project is built on the basis of the library wlroots, developed by the developers of the user environment of SWAY. This library provides basic functions for organizing the work of a composite manager based on Wayland. To control the sessions, wayfire supports systemd, elogind, or seatd. It also supports the launch of X11 applications using XWayland. Users can choose to use the wf-shell from Wayfire developers or a third-party panel lavalauncher as their panel. Additionally, the project is developing a library for working with configuration files called wf-config and a graphic configurator named WCM.
In the new version of wayfire 0.8, several updates have been made:
- Added the plugin “Wsets” (Workspace Sets) which allows users to work with collections of virtual desktops. Users can combine desktops connected by a certain topic, such as work on the main project, work on a personal project, or entertainment, and view them simultaneously on the screen. Users can switch to another collection at any time and get a different set of virtual desktops. Each screen can show its own collection of desktops, allowing users to have different collections on different screens. The movement of collections between screens is supported. [Watch Video]
- Provides the opportunity to manage a composite manager via IPC commands transmitted through a network socket. This functionality is implemented through the IPC plugin and additional plugins for command processing. For example, the IPC-RURES plugin includes basic window control commands. In the future, support for additional commands and events will be added.
- Added the possibility of navigating between virtual desktops using the keyboard.