# Install wayland with Homebrew, apk, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, apt, dnf, zypper Protocol for a compositor to talk to its clients. Version 1.26.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-16. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install libwayland-bin. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:wayland ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install wayland ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install wayland ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: devel/wayland/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add wayland ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: wayland from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#wayland ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: wayland from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S wayland ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: wayland from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libwayland-bin ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-bin from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install libwayland-client ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libwayland-client from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libwayland-client0 ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libwayland-client0 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:wayland - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 1.26.0 - **Source summary:** Protocol for a compositor to talk to its clients - **Homepage:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-16T19:35:15Z - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - wayland-scanner (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 1.26.0 ## Project history and usage Wayland is a display protocol, C IPC library, and Linux graphics architecture that moves the display server role into the compositor. It is the long-running successor architecture to X11 in modern Linux desktops, while `wayland-scanner` and libwayland remain the package-manager-facing pieces developers install. ### Project history The official Wayland site describes Wayland as a replacement for the X11 protocol and architecture, intended to be easier to develop, extend, and maintain. Its architecture page explains the core shift: under X, the X server sits between clients, compositors, input, and rendering; under Wayland, the compositor receives input, manages the scene, and accepts client buffers directly. Wayland and Weston reached 1.0.0 on 2012-10-22, a release the project says marked stable protocol and client-side APIs. The core stack later split into a family of release streams: Wayland for the protocol and C libraries, Weston as a reference compositor, wayland-protocols for shared extensions, and wayland-utils for inspection/debugging. The first wayland-protocols 1.0 release appeared on 2015-11-24. That extension repository became the place where desktop and application protocols could be reviewed and staged, including stable, staging, deprecated, and legacy unstable protocol phases. ### Adoption history Wayland adoption was gradual because it replaces a core desktop substrate and depends on graphics drivers, compositors, toolkits, screen capture paths, remote desktop flows, and XWayland compatibility. GNOME's 3.22 release notes in 2016 framed Wayland as the next-generation display/input technology for GNU/Linux, and Fedora's Fedora 25 change moved GNOME's display manager/session default to Wayland with Xorg fallback. KDE followed a slower route through Plasma and KWin. Fedora's Plasma Wayland-by-default change for Fedora 34 stated that KDE Plasma Desktop would use Wayland while X applications continued through XWayland, and KDE's Plasma 6 mega-release in 2024 made Wayland the preferred modern Plasma path. ### How it is used For application and compositor developers, the Homebrew-visible tool is `wayland-scanner`, which turns XML protocol descriptions into C headers and glue code. Runtime use is usually indirect: a toolkit such as GTK, Qt, SDL, GLFW, or a compositor such as GNOME Shell, KWin, Sway, Weston, or gamescope links against libwayland and speaks the protocol. For users and packagers, Wayland is not a command-line application so much as a foundational runtime component. It is installed because compositors, toolkits, screen portals, XWayland, and protocol extension packages need a shared ABI and protocol generator. ### Why package nerds care Wayland is package-nerd significant because it changed Linux desktop dependency graphs. Installing a graphical application stack now often pulls in libwayland-client, libwayland-server, wayland-protocols, xdg-desktop-portal, and XWayland rather than assuming an Xorg-only world. It also turned protocol XML into a build-time artifact: packages commonly use `wayland-scanner` to generate source from protocol definitions, which makes the small `wayland` package important even on systems that never launch Weston. ### Timeline - 2012-10-22: Wayland and Weston 1.0.0 are released, marking stable protocol and client-side APIs. - 2015-11-24: wayland-protocols 1.0 is released. - 2016-09-20: Wayland and Weston 1.12 are released around the Fedora 25/GNOME Wayland default transition period. - 2018-04-09: Wayland 1.15 and Weston 4.0 are released. - 2024-02-28: KDE Plasma 6 ships as part of KDE's MegaRelease 6 with Wayland as the modern default path. - 2026-03-19: Wayland 1.25.0 is released. ### Related projects - Closely related projects include Weston, wayland-protocols, wayland-utils, XWayland, Mesa, Linux DRM/KMS, GNOME Shell/Mutter, KDE KWin/Plasma, wlroots, Sway, xdg-desktop-portal, GTK, and Qt. ### Sources - - - - - - - - ## Security Notes broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. - **Geiger risk:** blue / medium - broad file, network, media, or database tool signal ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libwayland-bin - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-bin from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - binary utilities | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-client0 - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-client0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - client library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-cursor0 - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-cursor0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - cursor library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-dev - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - development files | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-doc - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - documentation files | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-egl-backend-dev - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-egl-backend-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - EGL backend development files | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-egl1 - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-egl1 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - EGL library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Debian apt - libwayland-server0 - 1.23.1-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwayland-server0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | wayland compositor infrastructure - server library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Nix - wayland: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: wayland from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-bin - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-bin from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - binary utilities | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-client0 - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-client0 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - client library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-cursor0 - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-cursor0 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - cursor library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-dev - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - development files | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-doc - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - documentation files | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-egl-backend-dev - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-egl-backend-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - EGL backend development files | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libwayland-egl1 - 1.22.0-2.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwayland-egl1 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | wayland compositor infrastructure - EGL library | https://wayland.freedesktop.org/ ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/wayland.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/wayland.yml) ## Sources - pkg.so package database - Geiger risk classifier - curated package history - pkgdb category and tag curation - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph