Mesa 17.3.3 graphics stack is now used by default as well

Feb 9, 2018 21:59 GMT  ·  By

Canonical announced today that it switched the daily build ISOs of its upcoming Ubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system to use the older X.Org Server display server by default instead of the more secure and modern Wayland.

The decision to switch the display server from Wayland back to Xorg by default for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" was taken a few weeks ago when Canonical's Director of Ubuntu Desktop Will Cooke said the main reasons are the inability for Wayland to support screen sharing and remote desktop services, as well as recoverability from GNOME Shell crashes.

As of today, the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS daily builds are using Xorg as default display server, but you can still use the Wayland session if you manually select it from the login screen. "The default session has now been switched back to use Xorg by default. Wayland is still installed and can be selected from the login screen," says Will Cooke in a recent Ubuntu weekly update.

While all new Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installations will be using the older and unsecure X.Org Server display server by default instead of Wayland, it would appear that Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) users that decide to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS this spring will still be using Wayland by default. Ubuntu 17.10 was Ubuntu's first release to ship with the Wayland session by default.

Canonical recommends Wayland to those who don't use the screen sharing and remote desktop functionality

Even if Canonical decided to go back to Xorg for its next long-term supported Ubuntu release, the Bionic Beaver, it doesn't mean that you can't use the Wayland display server. Even the company recommends Wayland to those who don't use the screen sharing and remote desktop functionality. On the other hand, Wayland still doesn't handle recoverability from GNOME Shell crashes.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will be released this spring, on April 26, 2018, while the Final Beta release is expected to arrive earlier that month. The operating system will be using the latest GNOME 3.28 desktop environment by default with the older Nautilus 3.26 file manager to support desktop icons, and it could ship with Snaps pre-installed. Early adopters can download the daily builds and try it out right now.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS running on Xorg
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS running on Xorg

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (2 Images)

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS running on Xorg
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