KDE Plasma 6.8 to remove X11 session in favor of Wayland

KDE is set to release Plasma 6.8 in mid-October, a version that will officially remove the X11 session from the login screen, leaving Wayland as the sole session option. The development team stated that maintaining X11 consumes resources that could otherwise be used for new features, noting that most users have already transitioned to Wayland.

While the X11 session will be removed from Plasma 6.8, X11-based applications and games will continue to function via Xwayland. Users requiring X11 can remain on the 6.7 branch, which will receive its final update on January 19, 2027. Certain distributions with long-term support, such as AlmaLinux 9, may continue to provide X11 sessions until 2032.

Plasma 6.8 will introduce several new features, including a ‘Dwell Clicker’ accessibility tool that triggers a mouse click when the pointer remains stationary for a set duration. This feature is designed to work under Wayland. Additionally, the update will include an optional ‘Autoscroll’ toggle for the middle mouse button, mimicking functionality found in Microsoft Windows.