Fedora 35 Aims For Better Experience Running Vintage Linux Games

Fedora 35 is looking to replace the unmaintained SDL 1.2 packages with using the sdl12-compat compatibility layer for better handling of vintage Linux games by this upcoming distribution release.

The hope is to replace the existing SDL 1.2 packages with sdl12-compat, which is basically the SDL 1.2 interfaces mapped over SDL 2.0. This SDL 1.2 compatibility layer is using SDL 2.0 "behind the scenes" and continues to see new commits unlike the unmaintained original SDL 1.2.

Many old Linux games still rely on SDL 1.2.

There are many vintage commercial games out there still making use of SDL 1.2 and unlikely to ever see updated support targeting SDL2. Making use of libsdl12-compat will allow these old games to run better in a modern Linux environment. By going through libsdl12-compat, there is Wayland support, native support for PipeWire audio, better input support, and other enhancements provided by SDL2 that are not found with SDL 1.2.

sdl12-compat can help out those wanting to still enjoy vintage Linux games on modern distributions without using the obsolete SDL 1.2 packages.

Over this change proposal for the autumn release of Fedora 35 is an exciting one if all goes according to plan.