Mir 2.15 Released With Cleaning Up Some APIs, Improved Alt+Tab

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Mir 2.15 Released With Cleaning Up Some APIs, Improved Alt+Tab

Mir 2.15 is out today as the newest version of this Ubuntu-focused Wayland compositor developed by Canonical that makes it easy for building out Wayland-based shells...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mir-2.15-Released

[SyXbiT]

Can someone remind me why Mir exists?
Mir is just Ubuntu's wayland client right? Why not use mutter or kwin? What does Ubuntu gain from all this extra work?

[Steffo]

Can someone remind me why Mir exists?
Mir is just Ubuntu's wayland client right? Why not use mutter or kwin? What does Ubuntu gain from all this extra work?

Well, it's not a client. Qt or GTK are Wayland clients. Mir ist a Wayland display server. Mir is used for embedded devices with restricted resources.

[SyXbiT]

Thanks. I'm probably confusing terminology. But isn't Mir filling the same role as Mutter, just lighter on resources?

[tildearrow]

Can someone remind me why Mir exists?
Mir is just Ubuntu's wayland client right? Why not use mutter or kwin? What does Ubuntu gain from all this extra work?

Mir is a Wayland implementation - a display server and compositor.
Ubuntu does not use Mir though.

[tildearrow]

Thanks. I'm probably confusing terminology. But isn't Mir filling the same role as Mutter, just lighter on resources?

Not really. MirAL is an alternative to libweston or wlroots (I think).

[Ironmask]

Can someone remind me why Mir exists?
Mir is just Ubuntu's wayland client right? Why not use mutter or kwin? What does Ubuntu gain from all this extra work?

Sunk cost fallacy. You know how Google insists "Stadia isn't dead, now we're just focusing more on business clients instead of consumer clients" as an excuse for why it is indeed completely dead? Same thing.
Canonical went hard into Mir back when it was going to be a display protocol, they insisted it would kill Wayland in the crib. They're a megalomaniac company that desperately wants to be the next Apple, they're not just going to say one of their darling projects flat-out failed. So they slapped together a Wayland compositor and said "actually this is Mir now. We did it reddit!"

[CochainComplex]

Can someone remind me why Mir exists?
Mir is just Ubuntu's wayland client right? Why not use mutter or kwin? What does Ubuntu gain from all this extra work?

well as written by Ironmask. They have started it as wayland, x11 competitor especially for their ubuntu - Desktop/mobile swapping thingy. Didn't take off so they transioned it calmly to a wayland compositor

[Vistaus]

Speaking of servers, I wonder if anyone has tried to port/run Google's display server? They have a homemade one on Chrome OS, so no X11, Wayland or Arcan.

[oiaohm]

Speaking of servers, I wonder if anyone has tried to port/run Google's display server? They have a homemade one on Chrome OS, so no X11, Wayland or Arcan.

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/components/exo

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/ash/README.md

Not quite what people think. Aura Shell is what you would be thinking of horrible as it sounds technically not a display manager. Aura Shell really does not have it own stable protocol for applications other than chrome itself to use. When Aura Shell is being a display server to general applications exo comes into play and it wayland. Yes Android applications on a chromeos device connect to exo wayland then to Aura Shell. Yes Lacros the form of chrome web browser on Chrome OS also connects to exo Wayland then to Aura Shell.

So no X11 and no Wayland is not right for Chrome OS. Chrome OS display server is exo and that is Wayland display server.

Yes Chrome OS is Wayland environment. Aura Shell and exo have not been used outside Chrome OS.

Chrome OS has custom wayland system in more ways than one that starts to comes clear when you try chrome lacros on a normal Wayland desktop yes it works but now have a stack if individual windows with no tabs is not exactly nice. Its a interesting feature of the chrome os Aura Shell feature that windows that are individual windows can be tab with each by the shell.