The Kwinft composite window manager developers have rebranded their project to Theseus SHIP, as announced in a recent post. The project, available on GitLab and GitHub, has seen a significant release, Theseus SHIP 6.0, which now supports work using Wayland and X11, aimed at utilizing KDE Plasma and serving as a transparent replacement for Kwin. The project is written in C++ and distributed under the license GPLv2.
The composite window manager Theseus SHIP is known for its advanced internal processing and utilization of the como libraries (compositor modules) to create composite managers for Wayland and X11. The COMO modules, designed for integration with KDE but not limited to it, heavily leverage C++ templates for simplified function replacement and logic modifications. OpenGL is used for output information.
The development focus of Theseus SHIP revolves around delivering high-quality and comprehensive Wayland protocol support, addressing integration challenges stemming from Kwin’s architectural features. Notable enhancements include additional Wayland protocol extensions, full support for rotation, mirroring of output, and fractional scaling for Wayland-based sessions.
The latest release features a transition to QT 6 and compatibility with the upcoming KDE Plasma 6. Support for rendering using Lima OpenGL drivers (Mali 400), VC4 (Videocore IV), and V3D (Videocore 3D) has been added, along with expanded and improved visual effects. X11 applications surrounded by Wayland can now be automatically launched using XWALAND. The release also includes support for Wayland anticipation for configuration devices and security context for sandbox insulation.
In addition to the major release, the developers have also introduced the library project wrapland 0.600, which leverages libwayland for Qt/C++ linking. This project continues the development of Kwayland but is now independent of QT, allowing for standalone use without Qt installation.