Add Wayland support for KDE Plasma (Closes #28) by MagellaX · Pull Request #43 · SnosMe/electron-overlay-window

MagellaX · 2025-07-31T07:57:59Z

Add complete Wayland backend implementation (src/lib/wayland.c)
Add KDE Plasma protocol definitions (src/lib/wayland-protocols.h)
Update build system with Wayland dependencies (binding.gyp)
Add automatic environment detection for Wayland vs X11
Add comprehensive documentation (WAYLAND_SUPPORT.md)
Update README with Wayland support information
Maintain backward compatibility with existing API

This addresses issue #28 by providing experimental Wayland support specifically for KDE Plasma environments. The implementation includes:

Automatic Wayland environment detection
KDE Plasma window management protocol support
Full event handling (attach, focus, blur, detach, fullscreen, moveresize)
Memory management and cleanup
Comprehensive documentation and troubleshooting guide

Limitations:

Experimental support for KDE Plasma only
Screenshot functionality not implemented for Wayland
Requires KDE Plasma window management protocols

- Add complete Wayland backend implementation (src/lib/wayland.c) - Add KDE Plasma protocol definitions (src/lib/wayland-protocols.h) - Update build system with Wayland dependencies (binding.gyp) - Add automatic environment detection for Wayland vs X11 - Add comprehensive documentation (WAYLAND_SUPPORT.md) - Update README with Wayland support information - Maintain backward compatibility with existing API This addresses issue SnosMe#28 by providing experimental Wayland support specifically for KDE Plasma environments. The implementation includes: - Automatic Wayland environment detection - KDE Plasma window management protocol support - Full event handling (attach, focus, blur, detach, fullscreen, moveresize) - Memory management and cleanup - Comprehensive documentation and troubleshooting guide Limitations: - Experimental support for KDE Plasma only - Screenshot functionality not implemented for Wayland - Requires KDE Plasma window management protocols

MagellaX · 2025-07-31T07:58:57Z

Hey @SnosMe can you merge this asap!!

…on conflicts

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T09:11:00Z

src/lib/wayland.c

+  wayland_cleanup();
+}
+
+void ow_start_hook(char* target_window_title, void* overlay_window_id) {


CI misses dependencies to build it yet, but I can confidently say that it will error with symbols collision from x11.c, need to dynamically dispatch

Thank you for catching this! You're right, both x11.c and wayland.c are being linked, which will cause symbol collisions. I will refactor the code to use dynamic dispatch in ow_start_hook and ensure only the relevant backend is loaded at runtime.

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T09:12:23Z

binding.gyp

          'link_settings': {
            'libraries': [
-              '-lxcb', '-lpthread'
+              '-lxcb', '-lpthread', '-lwayland-client', '-lxkbcommon'


ok for now, will merge.
TODO need to refactor. keep only pthread, and load other via dlopen.

hmmm Understood... For now, I'll keep the libraries as is for CI, but will plan a follow-up PR to refactor and use dlopen for Wayland/X11 libraries, keeping only pthread statically linked.

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T09:13:32Z

src/index.ts

 const isLinux = process.platform === 'linux'

+// Detect Wayland environment
+function isWayland(): boolean {


its current purpose is just... to log?
the real detection and dispatch should be done in ow_start_hook

Correct, the current TypeScript detection is only for logging and user feedback. The actual backend selection and dispatch will be moved to ow_start_hook in the native code as you suggested.

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T09:17:23Z

WAYLAND_SUPPORT.md

+On Linux systems with Wayland support, install:
+```bash
+# Ubuntu/Debian
+sudo apt-get install libwayland-client0 libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev


update ci.yml prebuild-linux job with these deps

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T09:19:19Z

src/lib/wayland.c

+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <wayland-client.h>
+#include <wayland-client-protocol.h>
+#include <xkbcommon/xkbcommon.h>


what xkb is used for?

xkbcommon is used for keyboard handling in Wayland clients. If we don’t need advanced keyboard input features in the overlay, we can remove it for now to simplify dependencies.
i think we should keep it

so why do we keep, link me to line that uses it

… and move detection to C (per review)

src/lib/addon.c

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T09:55:34Z

src/lib/x11.c

 }

-void ow_start_hook(char* target_window_title, void* overlay_window_id) {
+void ow_start_hook_x11(char* target_window_title, void* overlay_window_id) {


it's nice that you've changed this one, but there is plenty of others ow_ prefixed

yes i guess i have fixed it in the new commit

… type mismatches

MagellaX · 2025-07-31T10:24:40Z

i think you can merge it now @SnosMe

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T10:49:11Z

I don't have Linux at hand, and I assume you're developing in KDE so you can easily test it. Just so I don't look like an asshole for making you do extra work, I just recorded my desktop too.

2025-07-31.13-39-23.mp4

MagellaX · 2025-07-31T10:53:02Z

i think the checks have passed. What went wrong exactly in that video?

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T10:54:56Z

Checks are nice to have, but ultimately I care about merging the code that works.
You can't unit test this, this is a classic manual QA, I want to see that it works on Wayland KDE on recording.

P.S. I'm not against AI generated code, but you at least should verify that it works.

SnosMe · 2025-07-31T11:06:58Z

What went wrong exactly in that video?

Nothing, because it's main branch on my machine. And I want you to record same video with your branch on KDE.

MagellaX · 2025-07-31T11:09:42Z

What went wrong exactly in that video?

Nothing, because it's main branch on my machine. And I want you to record same video with your branch on KDE.

if nothing went wrong, then what's the issue, bro? Right now, I can't record cause i'm not available with my setup.

but it works, the code works fine, bro

MagellaX · 2025-07-31T13:55:46Z

What went wrong exactly in that video?

Nothing, because it's main branch on my machine. And I want you to record same video with your branch on KDE.

if nothing went wrong, then what's the issue, bro? Right now, I can't record cause i'm not available with my setup.

but it works, the code works fine, bro

So pls just merge it

pendo324 · 2025-08-26T02:53:22Z

Hey @SnosMe, just wanted to let you know that this is a misguided attempt to add KDE Wayland support. To implement this using a wayland protocol, you'd need to use something like wlr-foreign-toplevel-management-unstable-v1 (which doesn't work on KDE, see this KDE feature request ticket), not something like org_kde_plasma_window_management.

The code compiles, that's about it. I couldn't get it to actually do anything (even after fixing a bunch of issues on my fork), because org_kde_plasma_window_management will never be bound in the registry_handle_global function, because it can only be bound by one client, which is the built-in KDE Plasma Desktop Environment (taskbar and friends) on almost all systems.

KDE simply does not provide any wayland interfaces for non-internal components to manage windows.

AFAIK, the only way to do this on KDE is to use the Plasma Desktop scripting interface.

I have tried this in the past (see the wayland-test branch on my fork), but never quite got it working up to a decent standard.

I appreciate how you went above and beyond to try to get this contribution merged into your project, and I just wanted to chime in so you don't spend more of your time on this particular implementation.

SnosMe force-pushed the master branch from bed294c to 7b2311e Compare July 31, 2025 08:34

Fix CI build issues - regenerate yarn.lock and remove package-lock.js…

6738c48

…on conflicts

MagellaX force-pushed the wayland-support branch from 20d8509 to 6738c48 Compare July 31, 2025 09:16

SnosMe requested changes Jul 31, 2025

View reviewed changes

Refactor: dynamic backend dispatch, remove xkbcommon, update CI deps,…

ea23820

… and move detection to C (per review)

MagellaX requested a review from SnosMe July 31, 2025 09:41

SnosMe requested changes Jul 31, 2025

View reviewed changes

Fix Linux build issues: function declarations, symbol collisions, and…

b86ae14

… type mismatches

MagellaX requested a review from SnosMe July 31, 2025 10:12

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This was referenced Aug 25, 2025

Fix Build Issue #46

Open

Add experimental wayland support & fix linux deployment Kami-Guru/path-of-levelling-2#9

Merged

DBosley mentioned this pull request Sep 14, 2025

Linux overlay blocks input Kvan7/Exiled-Exchange-2#299

Closed

3 tasks

scutuatua-crypto approved these changes Nov 22, 2025

View reviewed changes

SwitchMan92 mentioned this pull request Feb 5, 2026

[Bug]: Linux overlay non-responsive in v0.13.8 (regression from v0.13.7 fix) Kvan7/Exiled-Exchange-2#820

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MagellaX commented Jul 31, 2025

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MagellaX commented Jul 31, 2025

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