How-To: Find Out Whether Your Desktop Runs Xorg or Xwayland

The new X.Org fixes cover both the Xorg server and Xwayland. Here’s how to tell which one you have to worry about, and confirm the patched version is the one actually running.

1. What session am I in?

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE   # wayland or x11
loginctl show-session $(loginctl | awk 'NR==2{print $1}') -p Type

2. Is Xwayland running?

pgrep -a Xwayland

On Hyprland (Omarchy) it’s usually running as soon as an X11 app is open. To see which windows are X11:

hyprctl clients | grep -E "class:|xwayland:"

3. Check the installed version

# Arch / Omarchy
pacman -Q xorg-xwayland xorg-server 2>/dev/null
# Debian / Ubuntu
dpkg -l | grep -E "xwayland|xserver-xorg-core"

You want xwayland 24.1.15 / xorg-server 21.1.26 or your distro’s backported fix.

4. Make sure the new one is running

A running Xwayland keeps the old binary until it restarts. Log out and back in, or reboot, after you update. Then run pgrep -a Xwayland again.

God Bless, and Use the Source!

References & Further Reading

• Xwayland (ArchWiki)
• X.Org patches eight server vulnerabilities (Help Net Security)