Can I remove Xorg from Linux now?

Hello world,

I’ve understood that we X11 is being phased out by certain organizations and other features like audio is also being handled now by Wireplumber (or something).

I have so many xorg packages in my Distro and I want to get back under a thousand.

I’m running SK Arch with GNOME and ZEN kernel on my laptop a Lenovo Thinkpad with bluetooth and a fingerprint reader.

alvast bedankt for het antwoort.

Well unless you are trying to achieve Unix P*rn status or just trying to flex, why remove X11? There are still applications that have not moved over to Wayland support so they are using x-wayland in the background.

But yes, you can remove X11 if you want to, but you may encounter issues of certain applications not launching.

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I’ve been running Wayland since the inception of SK Arch. So X11 is not going to be an issue and has not been one.

I still have these:

xorg-bdftopcf 1.1-3
xorg-docs 1.7.2-1
xorg-font-util 1.3.3-1
xorg-fonts-100dpi 1.0.3-7
xorg-fonts-75dpi 1.0.3-7
xorg-fonts-alias-100dpi 1.0.4-1
xorg-fonts-alias-75dpi 1.0.4-1
xorg-fonts-encodings 1.0.6-1
xorg-iceauth 1.0.9-1
xorg-mkfontscale 1.2.2-1
xorg-server 21.1.4-1
xorg-server-common 21.1.4-1
xorg-server-devel 21.1.4-1
xorg-server-xephyr 21.1.4-1
xorg-server-xnest 21.1.4-1
xorg-server-xvfb 21.1.4-1
xorg-sessreg 1.1.2-3
xorg-setxkbmap 1.3.3-1
xorg-smproxy 1.0.6-4
xorg-util-macros 1.19.3-1
xorg-x11perf 1.6.1-3
xorg-xauth 1.1.2-1
xorg-xbacklight 1.2.3-3
xorg-xcmsdb 1.0.6-1
xorg-xcursorgen 1.0.7-3
xorg-xdpyinfo 1.3.3-4
xorg-xdriinfo 1.0.6-3
xorg-xev 1.2.5-1
xorg-xgamma 1.0.6-4
xorg-xhost 1.0.8-3
xorg-xinput 1.6.3-3
xorg-xkbcomp 1.4.5-1
xorg-xkbevd 1.1.4-4
xorg-xkbutils 1.0.5-1
xorg-xkill 1.0.5-3
xorg-xlsatoms 1.1.3-3
xorg-xlsclients 1.1.4-3
xorg-xmodmap 1.0.11-1
xorg-xpr 1.1.0-1
xorg-xprop 1.2.5-1
xorg-xrandr 1.5.1-2
xorg-xrdb 1.2.1-1
xorg-xrefresh 1.0.7-1
xorg-xset 1.2.4-3
xorg-xsetroot 1.1.2-3
xorg-xvinfo 1.1.4-3
xorg-xwayland 22.1.3-1
xorg-xwd 1.0.8-1
xorg-xwininfo 1.1.5-3
xorg-xwud 1.0.6-1
xorgproto 2022.2-1

Yeah, you might have applications installed which use X, or some library that’s a part of it as a dependency, so removing it might not be as simple as you think.

As an exercise to see exactly how things are setup on your system it’s not a bad idea, but there’s not a whole lot to gain here otherwise.

2 Likes

Yeah, I have been running Wayland exclusively since 2015. There are still applications that I use that fall back on x-Wayland because they do not support Wayland. this means that they require x11.

you won’t find out until you uninstall them. Good luck.

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I went ahead and tried uninstalling the list

sdel xorg-bdftopcf xorg-docs xorg-font-util xorg-fonts-100dpi xorg-fonts-75dpi xorg-fonts-alias-100dpi xorg-fonts-alias-75dpi xorg-fonts-encodings xorg-iceauth xorg-mkfontscale xorg-server xorg-server-common xorg-server-devel xorg-server-xephyr xorg-server-xnest xorg-server-xvfb xorg-sessreg xorg-setxkbmap xorg-smproxy xorg-util-macros xorg-xauth xorg-xbacklight xorg-xcmsdb xorg-xcursorgen xorg-xdpyinfo xorg-xdriinfo xorg-xev xorg-xgamma xorg-xhost xorg-xinput xorg-xkbcomp xorg-xkbevd xorg-xkbutils xorg-xkill xorg-xlsatoms xorg-xlsclients xorg-xmodmap xorg-xpr xorg-xprop xorg-xrandr xorg-xrdb xorg-xrefresh xorg-xset xorg-xsetroot xorg-xvinfo xorg-xwayland xorg-xwd xorg-xwininfo xorg-xwud xorgproto
doas (usr@hku) password:
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing xorg-xrdb breaks dependency 'xorg-xrdb' required by gdm
:: removing xorg-server breaks dependency 'xorg-server' required by gdm
:: removing xorg-xhost breaks dependency 'xorg-xhost' required by gdm
:: removing xorg-fonts-encodings breaks dependency 'xorg-fonts-encodings' required by libfontenc
:: removing xorgproto breaks dependency 'xorgproto' required by libx11
:: removing xorg-xwayland breaks dependency 'xorg-xwayland' required by mutter
:: removing xorg-xmodmap breaks dependency 'xorg-xmodmap' required by orca
:: removing xorg-xset breaks dependency 'xorg-xset' required by xdg-utils
:: removing xorg-xprop breaks dependency 'xorg-xprop' required by xdg-utils

I guess GDM is GNOME Daemon?

Gnome Desktop Display Manager? Used at least for login and such?

Yes. GDM is the greeter. It can log you into a Wayland session or an X11 session. Looks like it has a hard dependency on X11.
Edit
If you want to get around this, you will have to compile the packages for GNOME from source and remove the dependencies on X11/Xserver/Xorg.

So like I was saying, you most likely are using X11 items via x-wayland, whether you know it or not. Not everything has made the transition. x-wayland allows a mostly seamless experience to the end user. You won’t know if you are using Wayland or X unless you look at the debug information per application.

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Would LightDM have the same? Or some other thing?

Maybe SystemD has some LoginD to take over instead?

I believe that still requires x-server to be installed at a minimum for the startX binary.

Okay; was not sure if it even existed- more a joke about the ever expanding scope of the former Pottering’s monstrosity.

RHEL does use wayland by default? Even if it does not use some of the SystemD components, like networkD and some others.

Doesn’t help rogue agent. Sorry OP.

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To be fair, the idea was great. The initial execution was poor but things have been getting better since he left the project.

With that said, soon Stallman will not have to remind everyone that it is Lignux or GNU/Linux because it will eventually be systemd/Linux → systemdOS as they have basically replaced all need for and all functionality of the GNU user land. They have basically created a busybox with kernel tendrils at this point.

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REHEL built on fedora or CentOS?

Bug For Bug RHEL. Wayland default been a thing since RHEL 8

It doesnt matter which flavor you use:
Fedora
Rocky Linux
CentOS Stream
Alma

Good question. In the past, RHEL was built on Fedora Core. Cent should be built from RHEL, but I don’t know if RHEL has a base anymore or if it is the Base for itself.

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Its behind closed doors now. Its the base for itself. Fedora is now just bleeding edge testing and mostly its own separate project

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Hang on, how do I get to the desktop from a CLI login (via CTRL+ALT+F2) if there is no X11? If it is not startx what should I run?

Run your greeter. So gdm, gdm3, kdm, lightdm, and etc. May have to sudo.

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i foresee font problems in your life.

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If may derail the topic a bit, I find the Linux font situation is such a sh*tshow. While I agree that respecting the different languages and its font variants is indeed a very good thing, I find Window’s implementation appear cleaner.

I dont need to see all the font variants in the dropdown menu. I wish it was just grouped together under one font when it comes to the GUI and it somehow senses how it should be implemented in the backend.

1 Like