KDE Marks 30 Years With Plasma 6.8 and an End to Native X11 Sessions

Software developer KDE released version 6.8 of its Plasma Linux desktop environment on October 14, marking the 30th anniversary of the organization. The update is called the "30th Anniversary Edition", and it ends Plasma's native support for X11 sessions. As a result, the aging X11 display protocol loses another major desktop environment. KDE also debuted a film alongside the release.

Move to Wayland

Plasma will fully adopt the Wayland display system, and new X11 sessions can no longer be started in it. Older X11 applications will keep working through the XWayland compatibility layer. KDE applications will also continue to support X11 when used in other desktop environments. Users who choose to remain on Plasma 6.7 will keep their existing sessions for now.

X11 has been in service for 42 years. The change was expected, since GNOME officially dropped X11 sessions by default in 2025. KDE's announcement describes the update as preparing Plasma for the future.

Other changes

Plasma 6.8 includes several improvements. Support has been expanded for adding window decorations, such as shadows and rounded corners, to third-party applications, and the Union theming system has been streamlined. Triple buffering is now enabled by default for Nvidia graphics hardware. Kup, KDE's backup utility, is now integrated into Plasma. Power users also get kscreenctl, a command-line tool for adjusting display configurations.